Their Ex's Redrock Twilight (Texas Alpha) (Texas Alpha Series Book 4) (20 page)

Before they got their drinks, Finn pulled her into it, and then set her down on his lap. He insisted on kissing her through the first set, until she knew her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were glowing. Then they took some cutesy pictures, which they laughed over, and next they got serious. Those were her favorite, because she could see that they looked so good together, it was amazing.

Why was it she had ever thought she didn’t fit Finn? That was crazy.

“Man,” he muttered, looking at the last set of pictures as they sat cuddled together. “You are so damn gorgeous.”

Coco kissed him on the cheek, moving toward his mouth, as she mumbled, “And you are so damn sexy, sugar, you twist my panties.”

He laughed against their kiss. “Is that a Southern thing, ‘twisted panties’?” he asked, after he’d pulled back to look at her.

“It sure is, baby,” she said, then she got really brave, because everything was too perfect not to. “I’ve decided it means to me that I think I am falling in love with you.”

Finn stilled, and then his aura got hotly intense, as he said, “I know I’m falling in love with you, Coco.”

She squealed and she kissed him hard. When she pulled back, she said, “I know it’s awfully soon for us to feel this way, but—”

Finn finished for her. “When you know, you really know it deep, and there’s no doubt you found the love.”

––––––––

M
onths later...

“Babe, you got more than will fit in the truck I rented,” Finn yelled, because Coco was upstairs from where he stood.

Finn looked up the stairs when Coco came into view. She had on jean shorts, a halter top that had drawn his gaze all morning, her hair was pinned up with some of it falling free, giving her a tousled look, and she wore these wedged sandals that had to be three inches high. To move in—

He shook his head. It was not practical, but he fucking loved it.

“Good thing you asked Caval for the week off, baby,” she told him. “If it’s going to take two trips to move my stuff.”

She blew him a kiss, and then she wiggled her fine, round ass out of view. He thought he could get pissed, because once again what she’d said and what actually was were not lining up. But he just couldn’t. Instead, he decided he would use the second trip back to pick up her things, which they were moving to their house by the lake, to fuck her in her old house until she begged to come on his cock.

“Now that plan has some damn merit,” he said.

He could exorcise all kinds of ghosts with some hip-thrusting action. Which he got every day, from a woman that wanted it every day, now that things were right in his world. Since Cabe and Rusty’s wedding, he and Coco had spent every day together, and their relationship just kept getting better.

From Patty Ann he had learned some of the lengths Coco had gone to in her previous marriage to entice her ex. It had floored him how a man could ignore Coco doing those sexy things, and he’d made a point to do most of those with her, which had led to some memorable marathon sex between them.

So he was the damn winner all over.

Now that Patty Ann was coming into town at least a few times a month, and both he and Coco thought it wouldn’t be long before Link convinced her to move in with him. Coco was all about that.

Since he’d left the ATF and hired on with Caval Rome, he’d worked enough with Link to know the man was serious, where he’d not been like that about a babe before.

“We might need three trips, if I keep this bedroom set,” Coco called from upstairs.

Finn planted his hands on his hips. “Babe,” he called. “We are not keeping your old fucking bed.”

Coco peeked downstairs at him. “It was my grandmother’s.”

Finn shook his head.

She didn’t look upset when she said, “You’re probably right. It would just be weird.”

Then she disappeared. It was all settled.

See, easy.

Sweet.

Passionate.

That was his woman.

“Two trips, if you want to make it to Justice and Angel’s engagement party, babe,” he called up to her, reminding her.

Just then, his cell rang, and he thumbed the call open. “O’Neil here.”

Ty Booth said, “Finn, just a heads-up that Gordon Maxwell is done testifying and into the program tomorrow. I heard his divorce went through, so we are clear.”

“Yeah, it was good timing on the divorce,” Finn said. “How much time do you think Coronado will get?”

“Looks like the full amount. The arrogant bastard wouldn’t take a deal. He thought to the very end he could beat it.”

“Good,” Finn said. Then he asked, “Any word on Creed yet?”

“Hell no,” Ty said, sounding aggravated. “He’s on reservation land some damn place, and looking on that land with the ATF has its own problems.”

“Yeah,” Finn said. He knew that. “I’ll keep a lookout.”

“Good. Thanks,” Ty said. “You like your new job, then?”

“Yeah,” Finn said. He wouldn’t tell Ty he loved it, as that might not go over well with his old boss, but he was really glad he’d made the switch. “The money is unbelievable.”

“Really,” Ty said, sounding slightly interested. “Next time I’m in town, we will talk. Gotta go, buddy.”

“See you soon,” Finn said, as a goodbye.

Finn went to load a damn loveseat Coco just had to have out of a house she’d said she only wanted a few things from. But he figured her being happy now eased those feelings she’d had, which had hurt her into saying that, and besides, she was worth moving the whole damn house, boards and all.

Coco looked at the picture of her mother and father, with her standing in front of them as a little girl. She’d asked Finn last night if he ever wanted children, and his immediate answer was, “Hell yeah.”

“It might happen, Mom,” Coco whispered to the picture, before she packed it away.

Maybe she had the baby fever after being around Tess, who was halfway through her pregnancy. But Finn being so easy like that had loosened the last tight place she had inside her from her old life. It was as if she could move past all that now, without it hurting.

Maybe that was why it didn’t bother her to come into her old home and pack it up. Except for anything of Gordon’s, which was going in a burn pile she would happily light, she found that she wanted to keep most of it.

When she and Finn had moved all his things from his old house with Katie, he had said it didn’t bother him much, that he was long over it and just wanted all his stuff in their new place. Right after that, Katie had sold the house she’d gotten in the divorce, and moved out of town.

Finn had barely blinked an eye at that.

It was pretty lucky for them that both their ex’s were going to be out of the town they lived in and therefore completely out of their lives so—

“A perfect place to start a family,” Coco said.

Something she’d always wanted.

So when she came downstairs to find Finn struggling with the huge entertainment center, she said, “Leave it, baby. Let it sell with the house.”

Finn let go of the dolly and looked at her. “I’ll get it in the truck,” he told her.

She shook her head.

“No. I don’t need it. I only need you.” Then she moved into him and wrapped her arms around him. “I love you, Finn.”

His eyes went dark, and he got the sexy aura she knew well that meant her hot alpha man was going to get all hot and bothered and give her climaxes like in the next minute.

“Love you too, Coco,” he growled, right before he started untying her halter top from behind.

****

T
hank you so much for reading Finn and Coco’s story!

Next, you will find a short story about the first Redrock couple, Tess and Vincent Whitehorse. Chronologically, this short story happened before the one above, and I have given it away free in my newsletter. But I thought I would add it here for those that missed it.

By Shirl Anders

“W
hat the fuck,” Vincent growled into his cell, as his body turned lethally tight. “Luna, no!” he yelled.

“
If
I kill her,” Luna screeched, “you’ll come back to me!”

***

T
ess looked at Navaho; he was preteen, maybe eleven or twelve. Nobody knew for certain, because he was an orphan and no one had kept track. It broke her heart that he didn’t even know his birthday. He was probably more than half Native American, a little muscular, especially since he’d been working out with Vincent.

Out of nowhere, the two had hit it off.

She was pretty sure Navaho worshipped Vincent, and she was kind of surprised with the way Vincent had taken to the boy. Sure, Vincent mentored young abused women, and he was good at it, in a very no-nonsense way. But it was different with the boy, whom she agreed was infectious with his slash of a smile seen more and more. But Vincent treated him more like a son than a duty to fix.

Navaho was wily and smart. He also protected the younger orphans. Tess smiled. He was a bit of a con man, and she thought Vincent liked that best about him, calling him fearless. So maybe she and Vincent spent more time at the orphanage because of Navaho, and she was going to talk to Vincent about that soon. There were so many kids at the home, it broke her heart, but Navaho was working his way under their skin.

Vincent probably thought she’d never consider adopting, especially an older child. They’d never discussed anything about it, except for Vincent’s newest desire to “put a baby in her belly,” as he called it.

And she absolutely loved the way he worked at that.

“Missy!” Navi called as a greeting, from out front of the five-story brick orphanage building.

Navaho called her “Missy” because at first he’d gotten jumbled between Miss and Mrs. And she and Vincent called him Navi for short.

“Navi,” she called, greeting him back, while she wandered his way to see what he was doing. “How come you didn’t go on the outing to the picnic at the fairgrounds, Navi? There are going to be families there who are looking.”

Tess saw that he was sanding wooden planks, and she bet they were for the big porch Vincent was working on with him. But sometimes Vincent was too busy and pulled in so many directions, with tribal council, running Redrock casino, and working his charity Whitehorse Training and Security.

“Missy, they are looking for the younger ones,” Navi said with a grin, which showed he wasn’t disappointed at all.

She reached him and stood beside him to ruffle his thick black hair as he kept up the long rhythm of hand-sanding the board.

“I wanted you to go,” she said. “There are many different people, Navi. Not all of them want the babies.”

He shrugged and kept sanding. “I don’t want to do foster. I’m done with that. It’s good here now with you and Boss helping.”

Tess hugged him from behind. “Okay, I’ll quit nagging you, and once I talk to Julia inside and drop off these papers, I’ll come back out and help you with your sanding. It looks like fun.”

Navi turned and looked up at her cross-eyed for a second, and then he laughed. “You are crazy if you think this is fun.”

He hadn’t teased at all in the beginning. She loved it that he did it with her and Vincent now, and she hip-bumped him.

“You’re doing it, so you must be crazy too,” she teased.

She laughed, and then went inside to find Julia and drop off the papers that were needed to secure the orphanage property in trust to the tribe. As soon as she and Vincent had started coming out to the orphanage to offer their help, Vincent had looked into their books and deeds. He’d found that the land and property weren’t secure enough, and he’d set about securing it for the tribe.

He amazed her so much ... she never would have thought about that. She was so lucky to have such an exceptional husband, but lately even with her help, everyone was pulling him in so many directions—it was getting hard for them to find time alone.

She didn’t want to complain and make it worse for him, but she really wanted to talk to him about giving some of it up. She thought Sam could run Redrock Casino and Vincent could be the second or even just an advisor.

Then at WTSF, Cabe and Tag could handle it more, because if she did get “a baby in her belly,” she didn’t want it to be just her and the baby, always waiting for Vincent.

Tess fluffed her hair as she walked one of the long hallways in the orphanage, while thinking about how she could approach Vincent about her thoughts. Her head was down while she was thinking, and that was why she never saw what was ahead of her before it was too late.

“Oh,
Miss
Perfect, you think you have it all, don’t you!”

Tess’ head jerked up at the sound of the venomous voice. Holy hell, it was Luna, Vincent’s ex-wife.

Tess gasped, lurching to a stop. Then she saw that Luna was holding a big-ass gun!

Ah—

All the defense classes Tess had taken flashed through her mind. One or two of them had dealt with knives ... but never guns.

Tess put her hands out in front of her, waving the papers as if she could ward off the .357 pointed at her.

“God, you look freaking amazing, Luna!” Tess exclaimed, knowing she had triggered Luna’s ego by doing the same kind of ego-boosting thing before. “There are so many babies around here, Luna. Let’s you and I go out back to talk.”

“Bitch, you do
not
tell me what to do!” Luna shouted, with the gun waving back and forth, but always back toward Tess.

Tess cringed; she didn’t think she should try to attack Luna, because of the gun she held.

“Okay,” Tess whispered.

“Now move! Back the way you came,” Luna ordered.

Oh no, Navi was that way! Tess nearly whimpered. The last thing she wanted to do was go back out the front of the building where Navi was, and her mind whirled with thoughts about what she could do, and her cowboy boots shuffled, instead of tapped, while she tried to keep her pace really slow.

But that only got her poked in the ribs from behind with the gun, and then Luna painfully grabbed her arm to shove her forward.

“Luna, you can’t get away with this, honey. Just tell me what is wrong,” Tess pleaded.