Meadow’s POV:


    After his mother had so rudely interrupted us, ric chased her out. He kissed me on my mouth, but the moment was already far gone. “Fuck,” he cursed. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t know she wasing.”


    I swallowed the ufortable lump in my throat. “Um… it’s fine. I can just….”


    “I’ll ask her to leave,” he murmured as something shed in his eyes. “I know you don’t feelfortable


    around her.”


    My heart swelled, and for a second, I was tongue–tied. I didn’t know how <i>to </i>respond to ric saying he was going to send his mother away on ount of myfort.


    “Not exactly…” A nervousugh escaped me. “But ric, she’s your mother. And honestly<b>, </b>if I’m going to stay married to you, I’m going to have to get used to her being around.”


    And not just his mother. rissa.


    I was going to have to get used to my aunt being his ex and probably seeing her more often now.


    “Fine, then<i>,</i>” he grunted. “You want to go shower while I head down? Or do you want me to shower with


    you?”


    Before I could respond, he stood up with my thighs still wrapped around his waist. ric was still inside


    me and I could feel him growing all over again.


    I let out an airyugh. “ric, seriously. If you get hard inside of me, I’m not sure I’ll be able to go again.”


    “Of course you would,” he replied without hesitation. He carried me to his bathroom and there, he let me down, groaning low in his throat as he pulled out of me. An involuntary whimper left my mouth and ric delivered a spank to my ass.


    Before he left, he told me to stay upstairs if I wasn’tfortable with going down and seeing his mother,


    but…


    Of course, I didn’t stay upstairs.


    “I don’t appreciate you barging into my room, Mutti,” I heard ric say as I descended the stairs a few


    minutester


    “Well, I sent you a text to let you know that I was on my way, but you never responded-”


    “Because I was with my wife.” ric’s tone was ice cold–a huge contrast to how he sounded when we were together only a few minutes ago. “And what the hell are you doing here this early? Even Mel isn’t here yet.”


    “The housekeeper?” I heard Ingrid scoff. “Please, you take it too easy on her. It’s probably why she feels the need toe to work whenever she wants. You know how things were when you were younger.”


    I could feel the atmosphere shift.


    I knew that ric cared about Mel on a maternal level, and maybe he even considered her as a mother


    more than he did his own, so Ingrid saying this had to upset him.


    Hell, it upset me too.


    “What are you doing here, Mutti?”


    I held my breath, holding on to the bannister as I waited for her response.


    “Schei?e,<i>” </i>she cursed just as I heard the coffeemaker beep. “Coffee first, okay? It’s been a rough morning.


    Which reminds me, you need to fire your assistant. He is so ipetent.”


    Tyler. Tyler was ric’s assistant. I wondered if Juniper had already told Tyler that I was married to his


    boss.


    A few seconds passed before ric spoke.


    “So, you came all the way to my home, interrupting a private morning with my wife, to talk to me about


    my ipetent assistant? Also, I thought I asked you to stop making my assistants do your bidding.”


    ric’s voice sounded calm, but I could sense the underlying tension and agitation. I took a deep breath. I didn’t like Ingrid, but I wasn’t going to hide in the shadows when she was around.


    I stepped toward the kitchen, and right as I turned the corner, Ingrid was speaking. “Well, you have all the time in the world to be with your… littlepanion, and I needed your assistant to get rissa’s things from the airport.”


    I froze. ric tensed. And Ingrid? Her gaze slowly drifted to me, as if she knew I’d been standing there all this while. And then she smirked. “You know I do all my best for the woman you love. Oh, hello, Medlyn.”


    My stomach twisted in disgust.


    “Mother” ric’s voice was stern. “You’ll show some respect or you’ll leave.”


    The smirk on Ingrid’s face faded for only a moment before she rolled her eyes. “Rx, Mein Herz. I am only joking. You are always so serious.” She sighed, looking at me again. “Hello, Meadow.” She poured some coffee into her cup and one for ric.


    ric’s shoulders dropped slightly as he turned to face me. I couldn’t read the expression on his face, but his brows pulled together like he was worried about me.


    Like his mother hadn’t just casually mentioned that she had Tyler pick up rissa’s things from the airport. Which meant rissa really was staying.


    I opened my mouth to say something–not sure what exactly–but all of a sudden, Ingrid let out a loud, exaggerated gasp. “Son, what are those marks on your back?”


    Without thinking, I rushed toward him, confused on what she was referring <i>to</i>, but then ric turned to face his mother and I finally understood what she was talking about.


    Laughter bubbled in my throat and I had to bite down hard on my bottom lip to keep myself from bursting


    outughing.


    I knew without seeing ric’s face that he had a proud, smug look on.


    “Oh, you mean the scratch marks?” he muttered, lifting his coffee mug to his mouth and taking a sip.” They’re just a little present from my beautiful wife.” Then he turned to me. “Coffee, baby? You can have


    mine.”


    Something warm fluttered from my stomach up to my chest.


    God. ric.


    His eyes darted to my mouth and I immediately released my bottom lip, letting out a silentughter as I took the mug from his hand and took a sip, cing my lips over the same spot his had just been in.


    He scraped his teeth over his bottom lip, amused, and Ingrid cleared her throat loudly, interrupting the


    moment.


    “Meadow!” she eximed. “I would love to have you over for dinner one of these days. I’m sure rissa


    would love to meet <b>you-</b><b>” </b>


    “She lives with you now?” ric asked, irritation shing in his eyes.


    Ingrid shrugged. “Well, yes. Someone has got to keep mepany. And if my boys won’t do it, then I know someone who’s more willing.”


    Someone being… My aunt Yvonne. Or rissa. Or whatever the fuck her name was. I still thought of the way she had spoken to me in the bathroom that day. Lied to me that she had only been with ric once and somehow missed telling me that ric used to be the love of her freaking life.


    She held out on me on purpose. And now she was getting close to his mother.


    I didn’t like that. I really didn’t.


    “Sorry to break it to you, Mutti, but your sons have their own…” His phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket. I didn’t see the name shing on the screen but it seemed to be someone important, because ric cursed.


    “Need to take <b>this</b><b>,</b>” he murmured, nting a <b>kiss </b>to my temple before he walked past me.


    I held my breath, and when he was out of sight, I let it out.


    I didn’t want to fall for him.


    Not now. But with the way things were going, I knew it was already out of my control.


    When I turned back to look at Ingrid, her red lips were pulled into a deep scowl as her blue


    over me from top to bottom.


    And then she asked-


    “How long have you and my son been trying for a child?”


    eyes


    raked


    C