Their Ex's Redrock Twilight (Texas Alpha) (Texas Alpha Series Book 4)

by Shirl Anders

  “Gordon, I thought you were dead or kidnapped or terribly hurt so you couldn’t contact me for six weeks!” Coco screeched the last three words, which turned his and Katie’s eyes toward their battle.

  “I was protecting you,” Gordon declared. “You don’t understand how noble I was being.”

  Finn saw that Coco had managed to back Gordon up into the built-in bookcases in the living room. She’d grabbed the front of Gordon’s button-down shirt, fisting her hand in the material.

  “Leaving your wife without a word!” Coco exclaimed. “Screwing another woman!” Coco’s finger on her free hand lifted and pointed at Katie with sharp jabbing motions. “Doing that was being noble,” she spat.

  “You’re doing her,” Katie muttered, at Finn’s side. “You must be hard up,” she said snottily, and then she amazed him by adding, “You should come home, babe. Let me show you what I’ve learned in bed and you can get away from that shrew.”

  A rumble of disgust filled Finn’s chest as he twisted his neck with an irritated pop, then he strode past Katie, while not even bothering to respond to her craziness. He stopped at Coco’s back and he smoothed his hand down it.

  The dress she was wearing was a dick-stirringly sexy dress. She shuddered at his touch, and then stilled slightly beneath his hand, as he dipped his mouth to her ear.

  “I need to know what this talk is about protecting you, bella,” he murmured.

  Coco moved back into him with a nod, but her fingers were still clenched in dickwad’s shirt.

  “You can’t possibly be with this biker,” Gordon exclaimed, pointing over Coco’s finger at Finn. “You’re just trying to get back at me with your lies about being with him.”

  Finn started to rumble an irritated growl, but Coco grabbed his hand behind her and squeezed it.

  “Please, baby,” she whispered.

  Finn noticed both he and Gordon’s attention moved to Coco, as if that “baby” was for each of them. Fuck this, Finn thought, grabbing Coco around the waist from behind and holding her obviously close.

  “You can talk like this,” he growled.

  Gordon’s eyes widened, and then widened more when Coco didn’t break the hold.

  Coco tugged hard on Gordon’s shirt.

  “I’m with Finn and he’s the best man I’ve ever been with, Gordon, and I won’t have you trying to put him down. But you are so dense you don’t even know it’s more of a compliment, because I’ve got a hot man doing me five times a night, with six orgasms every time!”

  Whoa. Finn bit back his chuckle while forcing a mean-ass look to stay on his face, and further forcing himself not to pick up his babe and kiss her silly.

  Gordon sputtered, as if he was choking, while Coco dropped her hand from his shirt.

  Her head tipped back onto Finn’s shoulder and she turned up to his face, saying, “I’m done. I thought I needed something here, but I just don’t.”

  Finn tightened his arm around her. She’d said the “don’t” with finality.

  “Coco, what you need to do is go back home!” Gordon exclaimed. “I’m not asking, Coco, I’m telling you as your husband!”

  Coco stiffened under Finn’s arm, but it was he that let go of her, to step forward with a growl.

  “You do not fucking talk to my woman like that, asshole.” Finn got in Gordon’s face, and Gordon paled. “Ever,” Finn snapped.

  Gordon twisted his face away from Finn’s venom. “She’s just a housewife. She needs my direction,” he muttered. “I need to get her away from here.”

  Before Finn could explode, he was lucid enough to catch a very important reference, and his anger cooled by degrees as he demanded, “What are you protecting her from, dickwad? Why does she need to get away from here?”

  “It’s not like that!” Gordon yelled. “I didn’t say that!”

  “All right, fuck this,” Finn muttered back. “I’m taking you in, get some answers.”

  “Taking me in?” Gordon wailed.

  “He’s a dirty cop,” Katie yelled at Gordon. “But a cop!”

  Coco flinched at Katie’s nasty accusation, then she got very angry and she clicked her heels up to Katie, which put her just below eye level.

  “Finn just broke up the biggest criminal ring this town has ever seen. That shows how much you know as his wife, and honey, that is plain pathetic.”

  “Oh, you Southern witch!” Katie screeched. “Take your cheating husband and get out of here!”

  Coco looked Katie up and down, and then she smiled.

  “Honey, I’ll gladly take them both out of here. You just remember when I’m snuggled up to Finn, and you have nothing, that you threw him away for that.” Coco pointed at Gordon with disgust.

  “Coco, a wife doesn’t act like this,” Gordon declared.

  Then Finn grabbed him and turned him to face the bookshelves, while pulling out handcuffs from his back pocket.

  Coco decided that apparently hot, sexy special agents always carried handcuffs, just in case.

  But she was devastated and confused over Gordon’s behavior and actions, even though there were a lot of amazing and wonderful things that had happened during the confrontation she’d produced. The first one was that, when put together, the differences between Gordon and Finn were meaningful ... as in Gordon was a limp wimp compared to Finn’s smoking-hot animal attraction.

  The second was, as she’d argued with Gordon, she became less and less interested in knowing why he’d done what he’d done. Maybe it was because Gordon didn’t seem to regret just disappearing from his faithful wife.

  And there was the third thing—shouldn’t she feel more jealous that Gordon was doing Katie? But all she felt was amazement and bitter disappointment, because Gordon had never, ever showed such passion in their marriage.

  The fact Gordon could get upset and mean after all she’d been through worrying and looking for him. Then when she’d found him, he’d acted like a dickwad, as Finn called him—well, she simply didn’t care any longer what his reasons were. She was just thankful that she’d been able to throw something’s into Gordon’s face, and she was really grateful that Finn was handcuffing Gordon and hauling him away.

  “This is one of those Punk’d shows, right?” Gordon yelled. “This is all a joke!”

  Finn grasped her wrist as he started to push Gordon ahead of him, until they were out the front door and down the steps to the front sidewalk leading from the house. Gordon was exclaiming all kinds of nonsense, while Finn held his wrists from behind, pushing him toward his Jeep.

  Suddenly, Finn stopped and turned to her.

  “What’d you say this bastard does, babe?”

  “Accountant,” she answered, looking up at him, puzzled.

  “Hell.” Finn shook his head and looked down at Gordon with some kind of speculation on his face that she couldn’t get, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

  “What?” Coco asked, trying to prompt him.

  Finn turned back to her and shrugged, avoiding her question.

  “Babe, that dress looks amazing on you,” he said, which totally diverted her thoughts about what he’d been thinking that he wasn’t telling her—instead she felt excited pleasure over his compliment. That he did it in front of Gordon was absolutely amazing. That he did it at all made her feelings sing and made the bitterness that she’d been feeling over Gordon fade.

  Then Finn blew her away even more. “I had time, bella, you’d be on my arm out at some place in town where I could buy you a drink and have all the men jealous over who I have by my side.”

  To his honest comment about Coco being a hot babe, Finn heard a clueless Gordon as he muttered, “Not my wife.”

  Gordon tried to twist around, but Finn stopped him, while both he and Coco ignored the ass.

  “I can’t believe you did all this the way you did,” she said.

  Finn raised a questioning eyebrow.

  “You could have stopped me at the front door, but you didn’t,” she whispered.r />
  Then Finn understood, and he smiled. “You need to remember now, babe, I’m the man who has your back.”

  “Oh, please,” Gordon said. “You cannot have my wife’s back, ever!”

  Finn felt Coco’s sexily painted fingernail scrape up his chest before she grabbed his tee shirt, then she used it to tug him forward. It wouldn’t have moved him, but he went with it, following her direction.

  The next second, Coco was up on the toes of her high heels, kissing him with a warm, soft, and amazing mouth he wanted to kiss forever. Gordon freaked as Coco French-kissed Finn until his cock was banging hard, while he tightened his grip on Gordon so he couldn’t get loose.

  The fucking wimp.

  It took all Finn’s willpower not to pant when she kissed the breath out of him. Then he had to toughen up his voice.

  “You go home now, yeah.”

  He’d said it like a statement, rather than a question, and he loved how full and damp her lips looked after their marathon kiss.

  To which Gordon muttered things like “She reads too much damn romance” and “It’s just a phase.”

  Coco ignored Gordon, but Finn could tell by the hurt in her eyes that it wounded her. Still, she smiled as if she was thinking about licking Finn’s body from head to toe, and then, with her sultry Southern drawl, she said, “I promise, Deek.”

  Her fingernail trailed up his chest again and he caught her hand, lifting it, to kiss her palm.

  “I’ll bring dinner,” he told her. “You call me when you hit the door back home.”

  “Please,” Gordon drawled sarcastically. “How much did you pay him to put on this show, Coco?”

  “I will,” Coco said. Then, turning to glare at Gordon, she snapped, “From now on we talk through divorce attorneys.”

  “You can’t do that!” Gordon exclaimed, ineffectually fighting Finn’s hold. “I won’t let you divorce me. That’s crazy!”

  Finn watched Coco flip her hair up on one side.

  “Whatever,” she said snottily to Gordon, and then she turned and swung her amazing ass, for all it was worth, back to her car.

  Finn groaned in approval, shaking Gordon’s wrists.

  “You fucking idiot, losing that,” he said with a sneer, as he noticed Gordon watching Coco’s sexy ass swinging too.

  “She’s just been watching too many soap operas,” Gordon grumbled. “You’ll see. She’ll be gone and back to the home I provide her by tomorrow.”

  “Idiot,” Finn muttered, then he shoved Gordon into the passenger side of his Jeep.

  Eight] I’m Taken, Sugar

  She did promise Finn she’d go right home, and she really liked calling it that, but she made one stop before going there. It was a necessary stop, and she was pretty sure Finn would understand. However, when she came out the attorney’s office, one she’d picked randomly as the first one she’d seen when driving down Main Street, she wondered why a tall and very good-looking man of Native American heritage was looking over her car.

  She nearly didn’t notice him, because she was so caught up with thoughts about hiring an attorney to file for a divorce. But the man, who was looking at her license plate, would catch any breathing woman’s attention. He was that fine.

  He had long, thick black hair tied in a ponytail down his back, and he wore black jeans and a black button-up shirt over a strong body. She bet he worked out as much as Finn did.

  Yum.

  She licked her lips slowly, wondering if the town just naturally had such ruggedly good-looking men. Like maybe it was a southwestern small-town thing, or was she simply amazingly lucky to have seen five of them now, from Zeb and Vincent, to the best of the best, which was Finn.

  But she didn’t blame herself for being enticed, because she was female and the man was hot. Besides, she’d just got done dealing with her rat husband, so she was entitled to a bit of looking.

  When she approached him, her breath caught as he turned to her and she saw his eyes. They were some light crystal color that was emphasized by dark lashes, and they gave his handsome Native American features an intense quality.

  As she approached, he wasn’t moving away from acting as if he’d casually noticed her license plate. Instead, he was looking her up and down, and each swipe of his gaze gave her shivers in places that should only shiver for Finn.

  Wow.

  That was one hunk of a man with his attention centered completely on her.

  Coco bit her bottom lip, wondering if maybe she’d forgotten she met the man at some time or other. Maybe he was a friend of Vincent Whitehorse. But then she tossed out that idea, because there was no way she would not remember this man.

  “Coco Maxwell?” His voice was as deep as Finn’s, but it was raspier and rough, where Finn’s was as smooth as dark whiskey.

  She was completely startled that the man knew her name.

  It brought her high heels to a stuttered stop as she hung on to her purse and tilted her head, looking around to make certain there was enough public around them for her to feel safe. That close to him, and she finally realized the smoking-hot Indian looked pretty dangerous—and he knew her name.

  “I’m not sure I should answer you,” she said, as politely as she could.

  She was glad to see that he didn’t move closer, while his firm lips lifted slightly and his ethereal eyes sharpened.

  “I don’t normally take gigs like this,” he said mysteriously, and his voice was growly and deep, making the shivers he could magically induce come on stronger. She had to fight against going closer to him, because his masculine aura was that strong. “That’s some dress, princess,” he said, with a look that told her he really liked her dress.

  The two things he’d said didn’t go together and that made him seem edgy and maybe a little off or crazy.

  “Um,” she muttered. “Thanks ... mister ...?”

  “Smart and sexy too.” He put his hands in his suit jacket pockets. It was a relaxed stance, and made her a little less nervous. “I love that combo,” he said.

  Coco tapped the toe of her high heel. Even as attractive as the man was, it didn’t mean she should stand out there and play the game he was playing. He obviously knew her and she didn’t know him, and that made her remember the threatening call she’d gotten back home.

  “Well, I’m glad you like them,” she said, with a toss of her hair. “But I’m leaving this very strange conversation, honey. And I think I’ll probably tell my friend Special Agent Finn O’Neil or my other friend Vincent Whitehorse about a hot guy who knows my name, when I don’t know him.”

  She started toward the driver side of her car while her mysterious hot Indian chuckled. “Southern sass and possibly fucking sweet.”

  Then, without realizing that he’d moved from slightly behind her to the side of her, suddenly his rather large hand was on the handle of her driver-side door.

  “I’ll scream,” she promised him tightly.

  But he lifted the latch and opened the door for her. When she looked sideways at him, she saw that he’d stepped back. The place he’d settled wasn’t in a position on the other side of the open door, where he could have snatched her.

  She looked up at him worriedly and she stepped closer to the seat, but she didn’t try to sit yet.

  “That would be a good first tactic to use, princess,” he told her. “Another would be to elbow me high on my stomach, right below my ribs, when I was standing next to you. That would double me over and you could have shoved me pretty easily, and then gotten into your car and slammed the door and locked it.”

  Each word made Coco’s eyes widened as she watched his attractive lips move while thinking. “Are you crazy?” she asked.

  He laughed outright at that. “I really fucking am. But princess, I know your men Vincent and Finn, and I will be talking to them shortly about why I was tracking you down.”

  “Tracking?” she whispered, with real fear finally making an appearance.

  “I’m a PI, princess,” he rasped
. “That’s private investigator, and I’m also an all-the-time mercenary, who on occasion tracks people down for other people that want them tracked down. I don’t work cheap, so as you can guess, a lot of cash was laid down on this gig. But I don’t go for tracking sweet and sexy women, especially ones who are under the arms of men like Vincent and Finn.”

  Coco clutched her purse.

  “Okay.” She thought about asking who it was that was tracking her, and then she decided she didn’t want to know. Finn would tell her if she needed to know, and she really didn’t want to be more scared right then. “I’m just going to go,” she said.

  That was when things became really scary, because her mystery PI stepped around the door and grasped her elbow.

  “Can’t let you do that, princess. Not alone.” Coco filled her lungs to scream, but her would-be abductor caught her intent, and he said, “Why don’t we call Finn on your cell, and he’ll tell you I’m not out to do you bad. He’ll also tell you you shouldn’t be alone at the moment.”

  He let go of her arm and he stepped back with a crazy, intense look in his eyes. Coco could only nod while glancing around, wondering if there were other people after her. He’d said that he knew Finn and Vincent, and he wasn’t, at the moment, trying to push her into the car or pull her away with him.

  His voice got very low. “You got no reason to trust me, babe. But I’d rather take a bullet than to see a woman like you, in a dress like that, hair the fuck all shiny long and curly, beautiful lips, and legs going to heaven, ever hurt in any way.”

  Coco was stunned, and she whispered, “You like my hair?”

  Ten minutes later, she and Caval Rome were sitting in the front seat of her car. She was on the driver side and he was on the passenger side—she’d just finished telling him about her cruel and sleazy husband and what he’d done to her. Then, since they had talked, they both realized that they knew many of the same people in town. And they realized that they’d both been to Carly and Zeb’s Fourth of July party at the same time and must have missed each other.

  When she called Finn and told him that Caval Rome had been tracking her, and Caval told her she shouldn’t be alone now, Finn ordered her to hand the phone to Caval.