Page 45 of Rough Daddy
Tessa reaches back and squeezes his hand. "We're family now. The three of us. That's not changing."
"Even if..." He hesitates. "Even if I mess up? Even if I'm not good at being normal?"
"Especially then." My voice is firm, certain. "That's what family means. You show up for each other. Even when you’re different. What’s normal anyway?"
“Wait ‘til you meet his brothers.” Tessa snorts. “Nothing normal there.”
As we merge onto the highway, heading toward the mountains and whatever comes next, I feel something settle in my chest. Something that feels like purpose.
I've got my family now. My girl and her brother. And I'll be damned if I let anyone hurt them again.
Time to show them what real protection looks like.
Fifteen
Tessa
"Bathroom. Now."
Beau's voice is gravelly against my ear as his hand grips my hip possessively. We're at Jack's house, and we’re supposed to be helping set up for Sunday brunch, but my man has been wound tight all morning.
This will be the first Sunday brunch I’ve been to, but I’ve been told it won’t be the last. It’s a regular thing, and the only reason we haven’t been to one before was because I insisted Ethan needed time to adjust. I was worried about him being overwhelmed by so many new people all at once, and even though I could see it cost Beau a lot to miss it, he did it. For me and my brother.
I’ll never ask him to miss another.
Having Ethan around for the past month has been incredible. Two and a half weeks wasn’t enough. I cut my parents off with some help from a new attorney Beau hired tohelp me disentangle them from my socials, my brand, and my life.
I put the house up for sale and promised them the proceeds, to be used for Mom’s treatments, but in exchange they had to sign a temporary custody agreement so Ethan could legally stay here with me and Beau. Also, they had to promise that Mom would get real treatment this time, the kind that makes her illness go away, rather than just dulling the symptoms. They folded faster than expected, but maybe being sudden empty-nesters with no bankroll, their perspectives changed.
Watching Ethan bloom into the smart, funny kid he really is underneath all that performance anxiety has been the tonic I needed. But it's also meant stolen moments for me and Beau. Quick kisses in the kitchen. Desperate touches when we pass in the hallway.
Apparently, watching me make pancakes for Ethan this morning finally snapped something loose.
"Beau," I whisper, glancing toward the kitchen, where my brother is helping Jack's wife Delaney arrange fruit. "They'll know."
"Don't care." His teeth graze my earlobe, making me shiver. "Need you. Right fucking now."
After four weeks of being good, of keeping our hands mostly to ourselves while Ethan adjusted, I'm just as desperate as he is.
He steers me down the hallway to the guest bathroom, shutting the door behind us and flipping the lock with a quiet click.
"Finally," he growls, backing me against the sink. "Do you have any idea what you do to me? Walking around in my clothes, taking care of our boy, being the perfect woman?"
"Our boy." The words make my heart flutter.
"That's right. Our family." His hands frame my face, thumbs stroking over my cheekbones. "My beautiful girl who gave me everything I never knew I wanted."
When his mouth crashes down on mine, it's desperate and claiming. Weeks of restrained touches and careful distance evaporate as he lifts me onto the bathroom counter, stepping between my thighs.
"I missed this," I breathe against his lips. "Missed you."
"Never again." His hands are already under my sundress, skimming up my thighs. "From now on, I'm getting my wife whenever I want her."
Wife.
The word makes me arch into him. We're engaged now. We have been for two weeks, ever since he presented me with his grandmother's ring over breakfast.
I gasp as his fingers find the edge of my panties. "They'll hear us."
