Meadow’s POV:
The moment ric’s lips captured mine, fireworks exploded in my heart. I melted, knees buckling underneath me, but the firm grip he had on my waist held me up.
He pulled back for a second, his chest <b>heaving </b>as his gaze shifted from my lips to my eyes. I didn’t <b>say </b>a
word. I couldn’t
But ric seemed to be way past the point of patience.
“Fuck me,” he rasped right before his lips crashed down on mine again in an even fiercer kiss this time.
I sighed into his mouth.
The kiss was nothing like I thought it would be. It far exceeded my expectations. ric’s mouth was warm, his tongue firm and demanding, taking what it wanted without asking permission. I held onto thepels of his jacket to ground myself even as he pressed me further into the side of the car.
My arms slid to his neck and I wrapped them <b>around </b>it, sliding my hand through his hair. ric shuddered beneath my touch, groaning into my mouth as he quickly lifted me up.
I moaned in response, wrapping my thighs around him as he slipped his tongue into my mouth.
“Thought you were saving the best forst,” I rasped, teasing him by repeating what he’d said to me
before.
ric tensed, but only for a second. He moved to my cheek. My jaw. “Yes,” he growled softly against my
skin. “But I’m done fucking waiting.”
His mouth dragged down my throat, hot and open, sending a spark straight to my core. My back arched, my fingers tightening in his hair. “Oh God.”
ric’s hands cupped my ass, squeezing it hard as he licked a path up the sensitive skin of my throat once. And then his lips found their way to mine again.
“Wow,” I breathed between kisses. “If I’d known you were such a good kisser, I’d have begged you to kiss
me a long time ago.”
He froze. And <b>for </b><b>a </b>second, I thought I’d said something to offend <b>him </b>as he pulled away from me. But then, his lips twitched slightly.
ric let me down, both of us breathing hard as we stared at each other. Resting his <b>head </b>against mine,
he murmured<b>, </b>“Damn it.”
Now, I was no expert on people, but I wasn’t a stranger to feeling weird energy. And the way ric <b>had </b>just cursed made me feel uneasy. His words wereced with an emotion I recognized as regret. Not just
regret, but guilt,
But what was he feeling quilty about? Surely, it couldn’t be because of that lie he’d told me, could it?
I chose not to question it. Chose not to ruin the moment. ric just kissed me like he was tired of holding back, and I wanted to revel in that moment.
He brushed his lips softly against my cheek, and then he pulled away from me.
“You need toe back inside,” he murmured. “Before people start asking where my wife ran off to.”
My heart thudded at that word. Wife.
If only it wasn’t just a pretense.
I chewed on my bottom lip, deciding to tease him again. “I’ll go if you kiss me again.”
Something shed in ric’s eyes, and my breath hitched as I thought he would take me up on my offer. But instead, he forced another smile, looking away from me.
“Later<b>.</b><b>” </b>
My stomach twisted. Just…ter.
ric didn’t say anything else. He just offered me his arm. I grabbed onto it and he led me back into the
house.
“Is there any reason we have to be here much longer?” I asked through my teeth, already overwhelmed by the crowd and the events that had happened tonight already.
Overhearing ric’s call. ric’s mother pulling me aside and using me of pretending to touch her. son. Meeting my aunt who I hadn’t seen in five years.
ric kissing me and then regretting it almost instantly….
Yeah, maybe that was the worst of it all.
“Not long, I <b>hope</b>,” he murmured. “But I need to talk to my mother before we leave or she’ll just hunt me
down.”
I didn’tugh. ric nced at me. “You haven’t told <b>me </b>what you think of her, by the way.”
My heart stuttered. “I-”
“I know she may be <b>a </b>little intense sometimes, but I’ll make her behave. She just hates that she couldn’t throw a huge fucking wedding party.” His hand drifted down to my waist and he pulled me in, kissing the side of <b>my </b>head.
“Is that <b>all </b>she hates? My mouth moved before my brain could catch up.
That made ric freeze. <b>“</b>What?”
Fuck.
I looked away, clearing my throat as I watched waiters pass by with more drinks, watching people talk and talk and never stop fucking talking. All because I didn’t know how to take back what I just said.
“Hey, look at me.” His voice was a murmur, but it was firm.
I looked at him, at the way his brows furrowed as he searched my eyes. “Did something happen?<b>” </b>
When I didn’t say anything, he scoffed, mild anger shing in his eyes. “You were in that bathroom for so long but I didn’t think she would–fuck I’m going to find her.”
I stopped him. “ric, wait.”
It wasn’t just his mother. Yvonne held me up in the bathroom for even longer and I didn’t want him to start investigating. “Wait, okay? Your mother didn’t-”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice cut through the atmosphere, resounding through a microphone.
I froze. ric’s mother.
Everyone’s attention turned to the podium at the front of the room, and ric didn’t take his hands away from my waist as he led me forward.
Ingrid Ashford stood at the front, a microphone in her hand and a huge, toothy smile on her face. This woman was beautiful Fucking beautiful. Although, the same couldn’t be said about her character.
My cheek stung just watching her, but I was slightly relieved that ric didn’t notice anything off on my face Which meant the redness must’ve cleared.
That didn’t change the fact that she’d pped me, all because she was jealous that her son could feel me.
“Thank you foring, friends.” She paused. “Family. I couldn’t have been able to hold this party if none of you epted my invitation. So, Danke sch?n.”
“Thank you.‘
When my eyes shifted to ric, I noticed his jaw was clenched. I chewed on my lower lip nervously. I didn’t want him to get cross with his mother because of me.
A waiter approached her with a tray and she picked a wine ss off of it. “And while we’re still in <b>the </b>spirit of celebration, I want to say that this isn’t just any party. It’s a wee party.”
ric tensed beside me, and I shot him a nce, confused. But he wasn’t looking at me. In fact, it looked like he was deliberately avoiding my gaze as his eyes remained focused forward.
“Now, you’re all aware that my oldest son, ric, tied the knot recently with a lovely girl.” Her eyes found
mine like she’d known where I was all along. “But this isn’t for her, if that’s what you <b>were </b>thinking.”
My grip tightened around ric’s arm. She was speaking directly to me.
Ingrid chuckled, looking away. “This wee party is for a woman after my very own heart. A woman who, despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding her earlier detachment from our <b>family</b>–my son especially–never stopped reaching out to me. She has been like a daughter to me.”
My stomach twisted. “ric, what is she-”
“We’re leaving,” he said coldly. “Now.”
Confused, my gaze darted around, narrowing when they focused on Nn, who was already watching us with a worried look in his eyes.
“Why?” I turned to ric. “What’s going on?”
He shoved out a breath. “Meadow-”
“Well, it has been a long time since she was in this city, but now, she’s here to stay.” Her grin widened<b>. </b>This is a woman I thought would bear my grandchildren. Come, sweetheart.”
L
ric didn’t say a word. Probably because he figured he wasn’t going to be able to move me out without
causing a scene.
But when I saw the slender woman who was walking over to Ingrid from the corner of the room, I wished I had just let him take me away.
Because it wasn’t just any woman.
It was my aunt. Yvonne.
And it looked like ric and Yvonne had just more than one intimate night together.