Page 17 of Rough Daddy (REAL DADDIES: Boone Brothers #5)

Fifteen

Tessa

" B athroom. 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 to help 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."

"Let them." He tugs the lace aside, stroking through my wetness with a satisfied growl. "Let them know how much Daddy loves his princess."

The first touch of his fingers makes me bite back a moan. He knows exactly how to work me, how to make me desperate and needy in seconds.

"So wet already," he murmurs, circling my clit with his thumb. "My perfect girl, always ready for me."

"Please," I whisper, gripping his shoulders. "I need—"

"I know what you need." He slides two fingers inside me, and I have to bury my face against his neck to muffle my cry. "This tight little pussy needs Daddy's attention, doesn't it?"

"Yes," I sob against his skin. "Please, Beau. I can't—"

He works me with expert precision, fingers curling to hit that spot that makes me see stars while his thumb maintains steady pressure on my clit. After weeks of stolen moments and careful restraint, I'm already embarrassingly close.

"Come for me," he commands against my ear. “Soak me, baby. I want to feel that squirt."

The orgasm crashes over me like a tidal wave, my body clenching around his fingers as pleasure whites out my vision. He swallows my moan with his mouth, kissing me through the waves of sensation.

"Good girl," he praises, and the approval in his voice makes aftershocks ripple through me. "Now let me remind you who you belong to."

The sound of his belt buckle makes my pulse race. When he grips my hips and pulls me to the edge of the counter, I can barely think straight.

"Look at me," he orders, and I meet his eyes as he slides inside me in one smooth thrust. "Mine."

"Yours," I gasp, legs wrapping around his waist to pull him deeper. "Always yours, Daddy."

He sets a rhythm that's desperate and claiming, months of careful restraint finally unleashed. I can see the possession, the love and the absolute certainty that I belong to him completely in the depths of his eyes.

"Never leaving me again," he growls against my throat. "Never running. Never hiding."

"Never," I promise, nails digging into his back. "I'm home. We're home."

The emotion in his ice-blue eyes when I say it nearly undoes me. This man who thought he was too rough, too dangerous to touch soft things, now holds me like I'm precious while claiming me with a dick big enough to re-arrange my insides.

"Love you," he rasps, rhythm faltering as he gets close. "Love you so fucking much it scares me."

"Love you too." I pull his mouth to mine, tasting the desperation and that expensive coffee on his lips. "Show me. Show me how much. You haven’t broken me yet."

He drives into me harder, deeper, and I have to bite his shoulder to keep from screaming as my second orgasm builds. When it hits, it's lights out on rational thoughts. My whole body seizes as pleasure crashes through me.

Beau follows with a muffled groan, burying his face in my neck as he fills me. He spurts and jerks and I squirt and tremble.

We’re quite the mess together. For long moments, we just hold each other, breathing hard and hanging on.

"Christ," he finally mutters against my hair. "I’m never going to stop."

"I don’t want you to." I trace patterns on his chest, not ready to let go yet. "Even if you just scandalized your entire family."

He chuckles, the sound rumbling through his chest. "They'll get over it. I told you I was filling you with all that baby batter until that test comes up with those two fucking lines."

A sharp knock on the door makes us both freeze.

"Hey!" Jack's voice carries through the wood. "I know you're already eating breakfast in there, but the waffles are getting cold. And the sausage..." There's a pause, then snickering from multiple male voices. "Well, sounds like someone's already had their sausage."

"Jesus Christ," Beau mutters.

"The syrup's getting sticky too," Cade adds helpfully. "Just like—"

"We'll be right out!" I call, my face burning with embarrassment.

More laughter echoes down the hallway, and I bury my face in my hands.

"Your brothers are terrible," I mumble.

"Yeah, well, they're your brothers now too." He helps me down from the counter, steadying me when my legs wobble. "Better get used to it."

After we've cleaned up and attempted to look presentable, we emerge to find the entire Boone clan assembled around Jack's massive dining room table. The wives are shooting us knowing looks while the brothers are barely containing their grins.

"There they are!" Cade announces. "The happy couple."

"Looking very... satisfied," Jack adds with a smirk.

"Can we please just eat?" I mutter, sliding into my chair.

Ethan looks up from his plate of waffles, syrup smeared on his chin. "Where were you guys? I was helping make bacon."

"They were in the bathroom," Jack Jr. announces helpfully. "Being loud ."

The table erupts in laughter while I want to crawl under it and die.

"Alright, alright," Delaney intervenes, shooting her husband a warning look as he opens his mouth to comment. "Leave them alone. Young love."

"Young?" Beau raises an eyebrow. "I'm forty-four."

"Geriatric," Cade agrees. "Practically decrepit."

"It’s called romance," Beau shoots back. “You’re too young to understand.”

"What do you call what just happened in my bathroom?" Jack demands.

"Tuesday," Colt says dryly, earning a swat from his wife, Emery.

I'm mortified, but watching this chaos—the teasing, the laughter, the easy affection—I realize this is what family actually looks like. Not the sterile, performance-driven household I grew up in, but this messy, chaotic, loving circus.

Ethan's eyes are bright as he watches the brothers roast each other. I never should have kept him away from all this. It’s what he needs, what he’s been missing.

He's gained weight since coming to live with us, lost that hollow look around his eyes. Yesterday, Beau taught him how to rebuild a carburetor, and I've never seen my brother happier than when he was elbow-deep in engine grease.

"Speaking of romance," Delaney turns to me, "I saw your latest video. The one about rebuilding your brand after being canceled? Brilliant."

Heat crawls up my neck, but it's the good kind now. My YouTube channel about authenticity and reinvention after public failure has exploded beyond anything I ever imagined. Our little adult toy company is building into a fun little side adventure.

Beau especially enjoys the testing phase of the process, whenever we get a stolen moment to work on the business. He keeps immaculate records of reaction time, orgasm intensity and God knows what else.

We’ve changed our business model idea. Farming out our ideas to factories overseas and dealing with all the tariffs and paperwork involved in scaling up our little Designed for Her brand didn’t fit us.

So we’re going to do limited releases, custom colors and movements. It will stay small, keep us rooted here in Wildfire, and be fun and potentially lucrative.

"It's scary," I admit, "being that honest online. But it feels right."

"Scary's good," Beau's hand finds mine under the table. "Means you're doing something that matters."

"Plus, having a hot mechanic boyfriend doesn't hurt the views," Marley adds with a grin.

"Fiancé," Beau corrects firmly.

The possessive edge in him always makes me shiver and flutter down low. Even after a month together, he still gets that territorial look when other men so much as glance at me.

"When's the wedding?" Marley asks.

"Soon," Beau answers before I can speak. "Real soon."

"Christmas," I clarify, laughing at his impatience. "We want Ethan settled first. And I want him to walk me down the aisle."

Ethan's head snaps up, syrup-covered fork halfway to his mouth. "Really?"

"Of course, really . You're my family. You're giving me away to this grumpy mountain man."

"I'm not grumpy," Beau protests, then immediately glares when Cade reaches for the last piece of bacon. "Touch that and lose a finger."

"Not grumpy at all," I agree solemnly.

The table is laughter and cursing, but I catch Ethan wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

A month ago, he was trapped in a house where he was a product, not a person.

Now he's part of this beautiful, chaotic family, where love means teasing and protecting and showing up for each other no matter what.

Beau's hand moves up my thigh, thumb stroking dangerously close to the heat still thumping between my legs. Even in the middle of family breakfast, he needs to touch me, and luckily, he hasn’t broken me yet.

"You okay, princess?" He brushes his lips on my cheek.

I look around the table—at Ethan laughing as Legend shows him memes on his phone, at the brothers ribbing each other mercilessly while their wives roll their eyes, at children sticky with syrup and dogs begging for scraps under the table.

This beautiful, messy, perfect chaos became my life when I crashed into a car wash in Wildfire and found my home.

"More than okay," I whisper back. "I'm exactly where I belong."

His smile could power the whole mountain. "That's my girl."

And when he grabs the back of my head and crushes our lips together as the kids groan and make ‘ewww’ sounds, I know he's right.

I'm his girl. His family. His home.

And he's mine, forever.