Page 14 of Coco and the Misfits

They jump two feet into the air when June and I sneak up on them and put our arms around them.

“Hi, ladies,” I say, making my voice low and growly. “Who’s up for some fun?”

“Coco!” Gigi laughs and turns to hug me back. “Stop scaring people, you little gremlin.”

“I’ll make you scream my name,” I continue in my faux-alpha voice. “I’ll show you heaven!”

Ruby is laughing so hard she’s crying tears. The girl is totally smashed. “More, more,” she chants.

“I’ll push you up against the wall and see how slick you are for me,” I go on. “I’ll eat you up until you?—”

“I see you ladies know how to have fun,” a growly, deep voice, a real male deep voice, says from behind me and I almost have a heart attack. “Do go on.”

June is laughing so hard she’s in hysterics. “Coco...”

Ruby hiccups. “Oh. And who are you?”

“Yeah,” Gigi says, “who are you?”

I turn around and come face to face with a dark-haired, tall man. He has a face like an angel and a gaze like a devil, and his muscular body screams alpha. Tattoos scroll up his neck all the way to his chin. His arms are covered in full sleeves. A silver hoop glints on his full lower lip.

Good God...

Trouble personified, I think randomly as his gaze moves over me in a long, lazy stroll. The god of mischief and sex in person.

I hadn’t expected him. Whoever he is. I came out here to find a sexy alpha but this one has not only my thighs clenching but also all the strings in my mind twanging, and I’m not sure what it means.

“I’m Ryder,” he says. “Who are you?”

He’s still looking at me. No doubt about who his question is directed at. His gaze is so intense I can feel it on my skin like a touch.

“Coco,” I say, then I have to clear my throat. “I’m Coco.”

“I’m June,” June pipes up. “And these two are Gigi and Ruby.”

He doesn’t even seem to hear. He stalks closer until he’s towering over me. “Pink candy,” he whispers. “You smell like it, too.”

I take a step back. He’s pulsing with heat and strength, though his scent feels slightly sweet and bitter, but I love it. Too much. It’s too much. “Um...”

“So Coco.” He reaches out and puts a finger under my chin. “Wanna dance?”

My heart is pounding. Someone is talking behind me but I can’t make out the words. My body is trembling—with need, with fear, with arousal, with emotion. I don’t know what is happening to me. I draw in more of his scent and I’m both drawn to him and struck still.

Then his touch disappears and another scent invades my senses: deep musk and whiskey laced with wood smoke.

“She doesn’t want you touching her,” the new arrival growls, the sound so deep the hairs on my arms lift. “So get your hands off her.”

Atticus, the owner of the Alpha Bet bar. Even more bulky and hulking than this Ryder guy, he looms over me, his brows drawn together in a scowl, his gaze forbidding.

“Or what?” Ryder snarls. “You’ll challenge me to a duel? See who’s the fastest pistol in town?”

“I’ll just have you kicked out of the bar. How about that?”

Ryder looks confused. It’s obvious he doesn’t know who Atticus is. “You and what army?”

“I don’t need an army,” Atticus says. “I’ll kick you out myself.”

A savage grin spreads over Ryder’s face, and oh boy, is that a handsome face, all clean, sharp lines and a sensual mouth. “Fight me, then. I’m not going.”

---