Their Ex's Redrock Twilight (Texas Alpha) (Texas Alpha Series Book 4) (6 page)

“You’re just so hot to look at, sugar.”

She shrugged and smiled a little.

He didn’t look mad, but when she said what she said, he looked surprised, then pleased. Did her Deek not know how incredibly mouth-wateringly hot he was? Well, that was certainly one thing she could assure him of, as she remembered his lowlife wife had played games with him about sex.

Coco bet that included something that was lowdown, which now made Deek think he wasn’t attractive, and that was a crime.

“You keep saying ‘sugar’ like that and we’ll be back in bed.” He said each word while bending down, then getting closer to her lips, until he finished and kissed her. When he straightened, he muttered, “And I still have work I’ve got to do to close down this ring of bad guys, as much as it pains me to leave you now.”

He started to turn away, but she grabbed the edge of his open shirt, really liking that he’d been very tempted to take her back to bed. But then she was curious as reality woke her out of total Finn lust.

“Ring, like a criminal ring?” she asked.

He nodded, grasping her hands to pull her to her feet. “Yeah, that’s what that whole sting was about. Taking down a very bad and very big crime ring, and something I’ve fucking worked on for over two years.”

Two years? She was amazed and impressed. It couldn’t have been easy. “Is that who called me and threatened me? Criminals?”

One thing she’d learned was her Deek didn’t seem to be able to keep his big hands off her, and he cupped and then rubbed her bare bottom under his dress shirt.

“They sure as hell weren’t Boy Scouts, bella.” She frowned, but then she got nervous when he added, “Not sure who the hell they were, but I get clear of this, I need to figure out why they’d threaten you and I need to figure it out fast.”

Coco wanted him to figure it out fast too, and she wanted to figure it out herself, but she’d been trying to for a long time, while looking for Gordon, and she still hadn’t been able to yet. She also had other things she had to figure out, like how her boring and passionless husband could be having an affair.

She really needed to figure that one out. But now she was worried about criminals again, when she’d kind of forgotten about them after so long, with none showing up to do anything criminal to her, because she was looking for her missing husband, when they’d threatened her not to do that.

“So you can take me back to my room and car at Rowdie’s—” she started to say.

But Finn interrupted her sharply: “No fucking way.”

Coco scrunched her nose at him. She was willing to overlook a lot with Finn, because of the smoking-hot sex, but—

“You said we were back to give and take,” she reminded him.

Lord, he was so handsome that just looking at him nearly gave her instantaneous climaxes. But she worked hard, trying not to be affected, while she petted his ripped chest muscles.

“This is different,” he informed her.

It wasn’t, but Coco decided there were other ways to do what she wanted, and that was without telling him about it. So because she knew it would earn her points and she was pretty sure she’d redeem those points in bed underneath him, she lifted on her toes and kissed his hard jaw.

“Okay, honey,” she said. “Let’s go eat bacon.”

Finn watched Coco munching on a strip of bacon between sips of coffee. She’d made a couple eggs with his bacon, but she’d stuck with just bacon and coffee. Doing all of it while wearing only one of his dress shirts, which hit her petite height right above her knee, but strained the buttons over her large breasts.

He’d silently debated which part he liked the best: the part on the bottom showing her bare legs with glimpses of her thigh and bare ass a few times, or the top, where those breasts he now coveted looked like they were going to pop the buttons every time she moved. Maybe the tits part was the best, sitting across from him with her bare toes curled on the bottom rung of his kitchen chair.

Who the hell was he kidding ... he damn well liked all of it; every last bit of her, everything about her, and everything she’d done so far. In fact, he liked it so much it bothered him. But he wanted it bad, so he was overriding his hidden doubts, and trying not to give them life.

“You can’t just keep me here, sugar,” she said.

Yeah, he could, but to her he said, “A few days. Let me get straightened out where my busts are leading, and during that time I’ll look into who is threatening you, yeah.”

He’d found her ... he was keeping her.

She sighed, tilting her head at him. “Explain ‘get straight where my busts are leading,’ please.”

Finn opened his mouth to tell her he didn’t explain shit about his undercover work. But then he realized he was finished with his undercover mission and he really wanted to tell someone and share, after living deep on his own for so long.

He took Coco’s hand next to her coffee and he caressed the tops of her fingers, noticing the light impression where wedding bands had been. Seemed Coco was moving on, like he was.

“Been working this mess for over two years. Started as me trying to infiltrate local drug action, and it grew much bigger as I was able to poke the edges. But some of these busts are spilling their guts, hoping for better deals, and that information is leading to higher criminals than I knew existed.”

“Human trafficking,” she whispered, reaching forward to smooth the hair on the side of his face.

“Yeah, that bad shit, I had no clue it was at my motel. I knew it was around. I’ve been out on reservation land trying to track it and get a line on it. But the biker gangs are pulling with the Indian thugs, and they’re wrapped in the damn local Mafia, with all of them possibly doing the trafficking of women.”

Finn shook his head slightly as her hand cupped his cheek and he deeply felt her touch. Probably the thing he’d wanted the most, living in the hell of undercover for so long, was to share what was happening to him with someone who gave a damn.

“Honey,” Coco murmured.

Yeah, that was it, right there. He fucking needed that.

“Okay, no more talk about me leaving. You just do what you have to do,” she whispered.

Finn took her hand and kissed her palm. “You always this sweet?”

She smiled with a heated look at his lips on her palm. “Southern sweet,” she drawled softly.

––––––––

F
inn had left Coco back at his house drinking coffee, sitting in one of his dress shirts, and he was hoping like hell when he returned that night he’d find her dressed in as little or nothing at all. He might call her that day and see if he could coax her into doing some naked waiting.

She had completely blindsided his life, but he was damn well rolling with it.

He’d told her at the front door to his lake house he’d bring takeout and be back home by six. Man, it had been damn nice saying that—her doing it—then double amazing having a woman who was going to be waiting for him.

They’d done a make-out session at the door, so hot he’d nearly picked her up and fucked her on the stairs. The only thing that had stopped him was his cell constantly ringing. But he’d left Coco wet, hot, and exquisite.

Now he had something to come home to.

That made him start whistling as he entered the police station with accompanying jail, where the ATF, which were his men, the DEA, and a team of U.S marshals had set up shop for the big takedown. A lot of people in town thought he was a lowlife, but by that morning, it was known who the hell he really was, at least in local law enforcement, so he even got chin nods as he entered the station.

He could not say that didn’t feel fucking good.

“Detective special agent,” Justice Walkinghorse said. He was the U.S. marshal that had been assigned to the reservation and surrounding area for the last several years, and he gave Finn a knowing half-smile. Justice seemed pleased to be able to finally call him his correct rank in public, and Finn shook Justice’s hand. “Hell of a takedown, man,” Justice said.

Finn released his hand with a nod, then Finn’s AFT handler Ty Booth came into the office area they’d commandeered. Ty was tall, with spiked blond hair and wicked eyes that looked so intense they appeared electrified.

“Ghost dick,” Ty greeted Finn, and they slapped hands, then shook.

Finn got his dig in by saying, “Ghost dick’s handler, how’s it hanging.”

Some of the street people had called him “Ghost” while he was undercover.

Justice chuckled, while Ty looked pissed, but then he smiled. “Okay, buddy, you deserve a couple after what you’ve been through.”

They finished shaking hands, then let go, as Justice said, “Bad mess here last night.”

Finn raised an eyebrow, looking at Ty. Ty set his paperwork down on a desk and stuffed a hand in his front jeans pocket.

“We have one dead, Finn,” he said.

“Jesus,” Finn muttered. “How the hell?”

Justice answered, “They’re like magicians, and one got enough to make a shank.”

Finn made an irritated sound as Ty told him the rest. “Good thing is Runningtree is ready to spill after that. If we get him safe.”

Finn felt his heartbeat speed up. They’d not gotten Creed yet, but Runningtree was in the thick of it.

“Let’s see what he has to say,” Finn said.

An hour later and Finn was pissed. Runningtree was playing games. He’d given them some useless information, not really enough to do anything with, except one piece that kept nagging Finn.

“Did he say he heard their bookkeeper was from out of town?” Finn asked Ty.

“Yeah, then proceeded to tell us he didn’t know the dick’s name, what he looked like, what he drove, or anything.”

“You know the head over all of this has got to be Coronado, don’t you?” Finn asked. “No one will say his name, but it’s got to fucking be him.”

“I think so too, Finn. We just have to turn one of these bastards so we can get to him.”

“Look, Ty, I left my mission logs hidden at Rowdie’s. I need to go get them and look through them. Maybe something will line up. Back then, I didn’t know the local mafia was the top dog of all of it.”

Ty tapped Finn’s shoulder. “See you this afternoon. I’m going to work on a couple others we pulled in on the sting. See if I can get them to slip up with some more information.”

Finn nodded and went to go get his hands on his mission logs.

***

C
oco got out of the taxi in front of her room at Rowdie’s. Everything looked normal, and not as if there had been a huge multi-agency bust there the day before. She looked over her car, and then over at the office of the motel. She was thinking that she’d never exactly told Finn outright that she wasn’t coming back there, on her own, to get her things.

But a woman could only stand so much time without her necessities. Men would just never understand that. How was she supposed to pull off a smoking-hot affair unless she had some perfume, lingerie, and lipstick? And that was just grazing the surface of what she needed.

However, that wasn’t what was making her hesitate, because she couldn’t lie to herself about why she was really at the motel, where her car and room were.

“Maybe I can make Finn believe I just came for my things,” she muttered hopefully. “He might never know about the rest, if I do it right.”

Lord, it was so hard having any thoughts about doing something that might jeopardize what she’d just found with Finn. She was batshit crazy even thinking about doing something that had the smallest chance of losing him. She wanted the thing they had started so badly, and she didn’t think she’d ever desired anything as much.

But if she didn’t do what she had to do, it could mess she and Finn up anyhow. He would just have to see that if he caught her. She had to be clear of her old life so she could give herself fully to Finn, because it certainly looked and felt as if that was what he was after.

Shaking off her doubts, because she had to—there just wasn’t any other way—she went to her motel room to pack, and then put her luggage in her car. Once that was done, she drove her car up to the motel office. Taking her room key, she went inside to check out and to try to sneak some information anyway she could get it.

The nice young man with a Mohawk that she’d dealt with before was at the counter. That was good, because he was talkative and bribable.

“Hey, lady, hope everything’s okay with the room,” he said, as she clicked her heels up to his counter.

She had changed into the best outfit she’d brought along, which was a black sheath dress with a lace insert down the front, and black platform heels that raised her height four inches. She wanted to tower for her confrontation.

“You going on a date?” he asked, leaning over the counter to look down at all of her.

Coco was ready to admonish him for the once-over he gave her, but then she realized she could use it.

“I’m giving out an award today for selling the most beauty products. I’m their top seller for this area,” she told him, setting her purse on his counter, along with a bright pink and very recognizable product bag. She really was a dealer and a top seller, just not in this town.

“That’s cool,” he said, straightening. “Going out to party after, you think?”

He winked at her.

She shook her head and bit her tongue so she wouldn’t scold him.

“Maybe with our biggest prize winner, if I can find her.” Then Coco used her more distressed look, tilting her head. “I lost her address and they are going to kill me. I looked it up in the phone book, but you know with cell phones these days.”

“What’s her name? I know everybody in town,” he said, and he’d fallen right into her trap.

“Well, let’s see,” Coco said, pulling the pink bag over to look inside it. “It says Katie O’Neil. Do you know her?”

“Hell, lady, Katie O’Neil is my boss’s ex-wife. She lives on River Avenue. It’s the brown house across from the school.”

Coco smiled at him.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely, and she handed him the key. “I’m giving up my room for now.”

Once she’d assured Mr. Mohawk that she’d swing by if she did go partying, which she’d never do, but she didn’t want him telling his boss about this customer that had pissed him off, Coco left to go find her lying, cheating husband, who just had to be at Katie O’Neil’s house. Or if he wasn’t there, that witch Katie would know where he was.