Chapter 15 #2
“If you get overwhelmed, we can just leave,” he said. “Heck, they’re my friends, and I get overwhelmed.”
She grinned at him, her dark hazel eyes sparkling with joy. “It’s a birthday party. We’ll dance, we’ll drink apple cider, and eat birthday cake. It’ll be a good time.”
Colt nodded, and he stepped through the door and into the barn, where music filled the space up to the rafters and talking and laughter accompanied it.
“Oh, I have a gift,” she said, and she reached into her purse and pulled out an envelope.
Colt blinked at her. “You brought a gift for a man you don’t know?”
“He’s your friend.” She elbowed him playfully and stepped over to the gift table to put the envelope on it.
Colt moved further out of the way, because he hated people who lingered in doorways and blocked the entrance. He looked around, and wouldn’t he know it? His eyes landed on Elaine, because she stood only feet from him, over on the right, at the back corner of the gift table.
“Howdy, Colt,” she said, her voice bright and chipper as always. It followed him into his dreams, especially when she said his name like that.
Colt managed to smile at her. “Hi, Elaine.”
He turned toward Sariah as she eased to his left side and laced her arm through his. He looked back to Elaine just in time to see her gaze switch from his face to Sariah’s.
For a brief moment, Colt thought he saw surprise on Elaine’s face, but ever the sophisticated one, she smoothed it away and stepped forward. “Introduce me,” she said, her smile so beautiful.
Colt hated being ordered around, but he recognized that Elaine was teasing him, so he said, “Elaine, this is my date, Sariah Long. Sariah, this is Elaine Walker. She’s from one of the prominent families in town. They own Seven Sons Ranch.”
“Oh, of course,” Sariah said, snapping her fingers. “Our bank handles your accounts.”
“So you work at the bank?” Elaine glanced at Colt and then looked back at Sariah.
Sariah leaned in and gave her a quick hug, her hands barely touching Elaine’s shoulders before she fell back to Colt’s side and linked her arm through his again.
“Yes,” she said. “I just transferred here a few months ago. I’m the account specialist over some of our—” She cut a quick look at Colt and cleared her throat. “—larger accounts.”
Elaine glanced at Colt, her eyes holding fast. “Is that how you two met?”
“Yeah,” Colt said. “I got an erroneous letter in the mail with false accusations.” He grinned at Sariah, who rolled her eyes.
“He’s never going to let me live that down.”
Elaine looked back and forth between the two of them, and Colt had no idea what she saw.
He didn’t know what he wanted her to see.
He knew she’d been talking about him, and not necessarily in a bad way, but in a way that told him she’d noticed his odd behavior around her, and that was the last thing he wanted.
Perhaps having a girlfriend would get him off Elaine’s radar, and maybe the weirdness that had gone on between them could be chalked up to stress or the summer heat.
“Ah, your date did make it,” Trap said as he arrived next to Elaine. He smiled at Sariah too. “I’m Trap Walker.”
“Another Walker.” Sariah looked at Colt and then back to Trap. She leaned in and gave him the same hug, and he swept a kiss across her cheek too, as he was one of the most proper Texas boys Colt had ever met.
“You must be the Sariah Colt’s been talking about.”
“Oh, brother,” Colt said. “I did not talk to him about you.”
“Mm, he knows my name,” Sariah said, and she grinned with all the customer service personality that she possessed.
“This is my girlfriend, Lila Mae,” Trap said, beaming over to the blonde beauty at his side.
Colt pulled in a breath and met Trap’s eyes. “I didn’t realize you guys were going with labels.”
“It’s very new,” Trap said, looking at Lila Mae. “We’ve been…exploring things, I guess, for a couple of weeks.”
“Is that what you call it?” Lila Mae asked. “Exploring things?”
“I guess I need a vocabulary lesson,” Trap said dryly. “Thanks a lot, Colt.” He flashed a smile at Lila Mae and ducked his head closer to hers. “You have to admit we’re kind of new,” he said as he guided her away from the gift table.
“They’re not as new as us,” Sariah said. “We don’t have any labels yet.”
“Nope, not yet,” Colt said, and he realized in that moment that Elaine still stood there.
She smiled at him and quickly turned away before he could read her expression. “It was lovely to meet you,” she said over her shoulder, giving no excuse for leaving. Nope, she simply left, because Elaine Walker did what she wanted to do.
Relief poured through Colt, as did a healthy dose of disappointment, which made absolutely no sense whatsoever. He got along great with Sariah. He could talk to her, and he liked her. Colt felt good about himself with Sariah, and he didn’t need Elaine Walker to complicate things.
“Howdy, Colt.” Ty said, and Colt turned toward him.
“Hey, brother. How you doing?”
“It’s a Tuesday, and we’re at a party.” Tyson lifted his plastic cup of drink to his lips. “The best thing about it is this apple cider.”
Colt chuckled and indicated Sariah. “Sariah, this is one of my best friends, Ty.”
“Yes, I know who you are,” she said, her voice taking on a hint of animation.
Colt watched as Ty’s expression darkened, and his pulse picked up. “Sweetheart, he doesn’t want to talk about the rodeo.”
“Yes, he does,” Winnie said as she joined them. “Are we talking about the rodeo? Ty loves the rodeo.”
“Winnie,” he said, plenty of disdain in his voice.
She grinned at him. “Fine. He doesn’t love talking about the rodeo, but he should. Otherwise, why would he have done that article?” She cocked her eyebrows at him and linked her arm through his, the four of them making a square.
“Guys, this is my date, Sariah,” he said. “This is only our second date, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything too….”
“Revealing?” Ty guessed.
“Personal?” Winnie grinned at him.
Colt laughed, hung his head, and shook it. “Both of those work, I suppose.”
“Come on.” Sariah gave him a playful shove. “I want all the personal stuff.”
“Yeah, but not from them.” He leaned closer, sliding his arm around her and tucking her right against his side. He breathed in the scent of her dark hair, getting honey and orange. “Ty’s a little grumpy about his rodeo career is all.” He looked over to Ty, and then past him to…Elaine.
“A safer topic would be their wedding.” Colt straightened and smiled at Winnie and Ty.
Sariah gave an almost imperceptible nod and then faced them again.
Colt cataloged the looks on both Winnie and Ty’s face as surprise, and he supposed he hadn’t dated anybody he liked in a long time, and they certainly wouldn’t know how he acted when he did.
Their expressions alone reminded him that he liked Sariah and wanted to continue this relationship with her.
Even if he was still attracted to Elaine, she wasn’t the one on his arm that night, and maybe it was time for him to move on to someone a little bit more in his league.