Hope on the Rocks by Annabeth Albert
Forty
Quinn
“What do you mean?” My voice was as shaky as my hands, which hadn’t calmed down from Ramona’s precipitous labor, and now Adam was looking at me all expectantly as he pulled something from his pocket.
“Marry me.” Two gold rings lay in the center of his palm, and I might have gasped. I shouldn’t have been that surprised. We’d been house-hunting and daydreaming for a good two months now, and every other sentence started with someday. But somehow, I was still gobsmacked, all the air leaving my lungs at once because someday was apparently right now, this minute.
“Really?” I sounded not unlike Darren earlier, all befuddled.
“I’ve had these for weeks now. Kept debating on where to ask. Wanted to ask you at the house, but that kept getting pushed back.”
“I know.” The house we both wanted had been delayed coming on the market, the property caught up in probate court, and while we’d seen other places in the meantime, we kept coming back to that one place we’d first seen the day Adam got his new truck. We’d finally gotten word that very morning that the property would clear probate and be listed within the week. I tilted my head. “You sure this isn’t about the house?”
“It’s about you,” Adam insisted, almost vehemently. “You, Quinn. I want you. Screw the house and screw being practical. I choose you. No matter what.”
“Wow.” Now I sounded more like Ramona, absolutely amazed and more than a little panicked at this turn of events.
“Good wow?” Adam asked cautiously, hand closing around the rings. I opened his fingers back up and plucked both rings out so I could admire them more closely.
“Good wow.” I held them up closer, glasses more than a little smeary after the night we’d had. “Yes. I choose you too. I want to be family for real.”
“We will be.” Adam sounded so certain that I had to believe him. I chose him, letting hope win, and kissed him with everything I had.
We spent the rest of the evening curled up together on the couch dreaming more about those someday plans that now seemed closer than ever. I was far too giddy to even think about sleep, and for once, Adam seemed the same.
Good thing too because Ramona’s couch was not built for anything more than a quick doze. By the time Patsy came to send us on back to the condo, dawn was breaking, a beautiful coral sunrise over the ocean, making the world all pink and new.
As weary as I was, I still had a powerful need for Adam, one that cuddling on the couch had done nothing to lessen. Pushing him against the hallway wall, I kissed him again with way more purpose than I’d been able to at Ramona’s place.
“In a hurry?” Chuckling, Adam kissed me right back, more lazily than me, but the way his hard cock was grinding against my hip said neither of us was sleeping any time soon.
“For you, Daddy? Always,” I teased, then stilled.
“What?” Adam frowned. “Don’t tell me you think rings mean leaving kink behind? I wanna be a proud homeowner and a kinky-as-fuck husband.”
“I want that too,” I admitted. “Sometimes I still have those old thoughts, feeling like I should outgrow the kink, move on.”
“You don’t have to,” he said firmly. “No matter what else happens, whatever other titles we acquire, I’m always going to be your Daddy when the bedroom door shuts, okay?”
“Even when I’m eighty-three?” I managed a wobbly laugh.
“Even then. And hey, I’ll always be younger, so you can be eighty-three, and I’ll have all the stamina of a seventy-eight-year-old who loves you like crazy.” Leering at me, he gave me a fast kiss. “I’ll remember how to make you scream, don’t you worry.”
“Good.”
“And Quinn? I saw you with that baby. I know what you want for the future. You can have that and me and all the kinky private times we can both handle. I promise.”
I exhaled hard. That was the real reason I’d paused, but I shouldn’t have. Adam made it safe to hope and dream all my dreams, little ones and big ones and even ones I tried not to let myself think about. He was right. We’d figure it out, find ways to be kinky, to be us even as we grew and changed.
“To eighty-three,” I whispered, pulling him down for another kiss, this one both sweet and filthy, exactly like him. His tongue swept into my mouth, making me shiver. “And to bed. Now.”
He raised an eyebrow at that. “Who’s in charge?”
“You are, Daddy.” I squeaked as he reversed our positions, pushing me firmly against the wall.
“Maybe I don’t want to wait for a bed.” Winking at me, he lowered himself to his knees in a smooth motion, hands already on my belt. “Maybe I want to gobble my good boy up.”
“Yes, Daddy.” My head clunked against the wall the second his hand touched my cock. Already he had me hard and ready to beg. “Please.”
Mercifully, he didn’t make me wait, swallowing me deep. I was more often the one on my knees, crazy for the taste of him, but for all my claims of being oral obsessed, he was absolutely amazing at this. I wasn’t ever going to get tired of this, the way he made me weak in the knees and heart both.
He set a fast, hard rhythm as if he were as desperate for it as I was, and it wasn’t long at all before I came on a series of shouts, spilling down his throat. Spent, I collapsed next to him in an untidy heap, head on his chest.
“Hey, now, you better not be falling asleep.” He poked my ribs. “That was only the appetizer. We still gotta make it to the bed.”
“Oh, yes, please.” Even exhausted, my cock still loved the sound of that and the rest of me was eager to see what he had in mind too. “I love you, Daddy.”
“And I love you too, baby. So fucking much.”
“And so much fucking.” I laughed, so much freer and easier now, thanks to him.
“That too.” Chuckling, he held me closer. “I think eighty-three is a low estimate.”
“Oh?”
“I’m going for an even hundred. Hundred for me. Hundred and five for you. We can set a record or something.”
“I’ll take it.” I tucked my head under his chin. And I would. I’d take all the time we got together, every hour, every minute, every precious second. Forever wasn’t too much to hope for.
Dear readers,
Want more Rainbow Cove books? You can find the series page here! Did you enjoy the kink in HOPE ON THE ROCKS? If so, you might love CUP OF JOE which also has mild Daddy kink, lots of steam, and low angst.
Next up from me is the start of a new military romance series, SAILOR PROOF, which is a super fun and sexy older brother’s best friend fake dating romance. And coming in November 2021 is THE GEEK WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS, which has everything I love about holiday romances with a neighbors-to-lovers grumpy/sunshine plot.
Want ficlets, contests, and updates on other favorite characters? Make sure you’re in my Facebook fan group, Annabeth’s Angels, for all the latest news, contests, and freebies. And newsletter subscribers always get the latest news on releases, freebies, and more! Subscribe here. Missing some past ficlets? Check here.
Want even more books? Be sure and check out my other series and single title books! Thank you so much for all your reviews, likes, shares, social media posts, and other support! I love my readers!
Love,
Annabeth
