Sunday rolls around quickly, too quickly for my liking, and before I know it, it's almost time for brunch with Knox's parents.

Although I know it's something that I can't put off, and I shouldn't even bother trying, I'm trudging around the house as though if I walk slowly enough, time will pass. It doesn't.

"Babe, come on." Knox says placatingly when he walks into the kitchen and sees me still cleaning the same spot on the island that I was ten minutes ago.

"Why can't you just go without me? Tell her...tell her I came up with the flu last minute." I let out a cough into my hand.

Knox shook his head, a small smile on his face. "It won't be all that bad, I promise. And Kat is going to be there too." He said like the mention of his elder sister, who recently gave birth, being at the brunch should make me power walk to the bathroom and shower.

Rolling my eyes, I turn to the sink. "Great, just great."

Knox doesn't hear the sarcasm in my voice, or if he does, he doesn't acknowledge it as he wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me into him. Slowly, but not entirely reluctantly, I turn around. His silvery grey eyes stare at my face, as if searching for something before moving to my eyes.

"It's gonna be okay. You just be your normal, lovable self and before you even say mortal combat, it'll be over."

I don't laugh at his video game reference, instead standing up on my toes slightly since Knox is taller than me with a few inches, and pecking his lips. "Or before I can even say orgasm, hmm?"

The presence of his body so close to mine was reminding me of something that I haven't had in a while. Sex. Passionate, hot, sweaty sex. Not for lack of trying on my part, but it just seemed that Knox was hardly ever up for it. He was either too tired, asleep the moment he came home from work, or too busy doing one thing or the other, or at some moments, straight up not in the mood.

It was crazy to me because according to what I've heard, it took married couples at least two years to get tired of sex but here I was, barely at my first year anniversary and I was one month celibate. It's bad enough that the novelty of being a newlywed for me wore off pretty quickly, after Knox lost his job to be specific, now our sex life (or lack there of) was nothing to write home about.

I was willing and ready to rectify that.

"We still have some time before we're supposed to begin the drive." We didn't. Not if I wanted to go there showered and dressed up properly, but I didn't care. Darlene would no doubt go off on us if we arrived late but that was inevitable regardless.

Knox kissed me. A sweet, almost chaste kiss that barely contained any passion.

Didn't contain, or it's not just the pair of lips you want?

I hated my conscience for pointing that out to me because before I knew it, a picture of Ryder showed up behind my eyelids and the mere imagination of kissing him was enough to heat me up inside out, and make me put more passion into my kiss with Knox. The more we kissed, the more desperate I became, my panties growing damp quickly as I chased the high of the thought that I was passionately kissing the one man that I wasn't supposed to.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Knox chuckled as he pulled away from me. "Easy, vixen."

His lips were a beautiful shade of red, and I stared at them with lowered lids as I wondered what mine looked like. They felt swollen and almost uncomfortable. Then my eyes shifted up to his eyes and it was like the force of what I just did slammed into me. Regret pooled fiercely in my belly and I pulled away from Knox, completely this time so as to put some distance between us. "Maybe I should go shower after all," I muttered lowly.

Without looking back or waiting for a response, I quickly walked away in hopes of restoring my sanity in private. It seemed to have taken off momentarily.

Going under the shower, with the warm water sprinkling down on me in rapid torrents, I realized that the arousal I felt hadn't eased up. Despite my regret, despite my embarrassment at what I just did, the thought of Ryder still made me unapologetically wet.

Before I could talk myself out of it, needing a relief badly, my hand tentatively slipped between my legs, sliding between my wet, swollen folds. I winced, the effect of my own touch almost too much to bear, but then an image made its way into my brain. Of a heated moment with Ryder's lips on mine, his big hands tugging possessively on my blonde curls as he took my lips in a salacious kiss.

And then the image shifted to Ryder shirtless, the incredibly sexy body that I had no doubt laid underneath those tailored suits on display to my wide, hungry eyes. And then his cock. Oh fuck, that cock.

I had no doubt it would be long and thick and everything that I needed. A whimper escaped my lips as my hands rapidly rubbed on my clit to the images in my own head and before I knew it I was coming, a loud breathy moan escaping my lips, but I couldn't help myself as an orgasm ripped through me.

Releasing an exasperated breath, I leaned into the wall to keep myself from collapsing on the floor as my knees turned into jelly.

A knock on the door startled me back into reality. "You good, babe?" Knox's voice came from outside.

Did he hear me moan while I came to thoughts of another man?

Not knowing what to say, not being able to even speak, I simply hummed, "Mhm."

"Alright. Don't take too long, okay?" And he left after that.

I wanted to regret what I'd just done—wanted to mentally berate myself for it— but it was next to impossible to do because I knew without a doubt in my mind that if I could, I'd do it all over again.

— — —

"Knoxy!" Darlene gushed as she opened the door for us. I tried to inconspicuously roll my eyes at that silly nickname, one that made her dress her son as a fox simply because it rhymed with Knox for Halloween for six consecutive years. The woman was nuts and I knew that before I even met her. I wonder what rhymes with nuts.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when she turned her beady looking, charcoal grey eyes to me, so much like her son's but yet so different. "Hi, Darlene. How are you doing?" I tried to fake a smile and even inject some enthusiasm into my voice.

"Fine," she bit out. "Come on in." She finally shifted from the door, her body pushing it back long enough for Knox to walk inside, if I didn't have a hand on it as well, it would have closed shut in my face, what she wanted I was certain.

Releasing a low annoyed sigh, I walked in. Their house was a bit above average sized, located just outside of Bellevue but not exactly in Seattle. The drive, however, wasn't a long one so we'd gotten here in record time.

Unlike the person living in the house, the decor was warm and homey, ivory colored loveseats in the living room with a beautiful crystal chandelier in the middle of the room. Knox's parents were well to do, more so than my own nonexistent family, and I think that was one of the many reasons the woman despised me.

If a stranger had heard her calling me a gold digger early on my relationship with Knox, they would've thought that she was related to Bill Gates or at least had millions to her name but nope. They were just an upper middle class American family, yet she made me feel like the dirt under her shoe for not coming from wealth.

Katherine, Knox's elder sister, was seated on one of the loveseats with a baby held closely to her chest and a towel positioned slightly over his face. I could immediately tell that he was being nursed.

"Hey, Kat." I greeted her with a warm smile which she replied with a stiff, close lipped one. Well I guess motherhood didn't change her much after all.

"How are you, Nicole?" She asked but I got the impression that she didn't really care to know.

Clinging on to my patience and self control, I replied in a tone as cherry as I could muster, "I'm great, Kat. Is that him?"

She smiled then, a genuine one it seems as she looked down at her baby. She detached her nipple from his mouth and began pulling him up to rest on her shoulder. I could make out his face now, big electric blue eyes, soft pink patched skin, and pink lips which had been pulled into a pout—beautiful.

"Aww, he's so cute. And he has Jon's eyes." I gushed, unable to help myself. I'd always loved children, not as much for myself as for other people, but nonetheless.

She surprised me by saying, "Do you want to hold him?"

My eyes widened. "Seriously? Yes, I would love to."

Carefully, she transferred the little boy who was no more than four months old into my arms and I couldn't help the giddy smile I wore on my face.

"He hasn't burped yet, so just slowly rub on his back otherwise all that food will come right up. Okay?"

I nodded in understanding.

"Nicole." Roger's voice carried as he approached us, his steps fairly slow but a dashing smile on his lips. Knox's father was the only one in the Smith clan who didn't openly dislike me. If he did in private, it never showed.

He kissed my cheeks before pulling back and staring at me appraisingly. "Are you well? I hope my son is taking good care of you?"

"He is." I laughed. "And you look well taken care of too. Was that a bounce in your step that I noticed, old man? You still got that charm."

"And I forever will." He grinned wide, his cream yellowish teeth on display.

"Okay." I wagged my finger at him, shaking my head.

After that, still carrying the baby, I greeted Jon, Katherine's husband who worked as a dentist. The two made a handsome pair no doubt with Katherine being a brunette beauty and Jon, a blue eyed redhead.

Brunch began on a good note which I knew was only made possible because I had put in extra effort to avoid Darlene. However, being seated at a dinner table with her put me right in her peripheral view and I knew it was only a matter of time before she said something brash.

"So, Nicole, have you gotten a job now or are you still living off my son's money?" Darlene said assertively, shooting me a hard glare from across the table.

Her words made me pause in the middle of chewing. Roger, who already knew where this was going, looked awfully uncomfortable. Jon had his attention on his phone, and Kat had hers on Baby Kev. Knox, who was seated right next to me, kept eating like his mother hadn't just hurled that insulting question at me.

This was my battle, he practically said without any words. It was ironic to me seeing as he'd been jobless before I was and never told his mother, but the minute my job was shut down, he ran straight to her. I don't need to plainly state that my husband is a mama's boy.

Clearing my throat, I said, "Actually, I have. I'm currently working as the assistant to a billionaire so don't worry Darlene, I'm not living off of your son's money."

Her eyes turned malicious at her deflated attempt to annoy me, which she'd succeeded at but I didn't allow to show.

Jon looked up then, his attention piqued. "That's great. Who?"

"Ryder Stone."

"The CEO of Stone Incorporated? No way." Jon looked amazed by it which made sense as despite being a dentist, he dealt with high profile clients which made him quite popular in his field.

I nodded.

"Well, hopefully now, you'll finally stop playing around and give me a grandchild like Jon did. Or, are you even capable of that?"

I froze, swallowing her words like a bitter pill. I couldn't believe this woman had just said that at first but then again, I did. Darlene Smith was one of the most vile and obnoxious people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting and it was just my fucking luck that she happened to have spawned the man I ended up marrying. As if my bad luck in every other aspect of life was not enough.

"Mom." Knox finally chastised her but she shrugged, unbothered as a smirk tugged at her lips. "Nicole and I aren't ready to have kids yet, I told you that."

I didn't understand why he was explaining our decision to his mother, didn't see why she needed shit to be spelled out to her like she was a child. Our decision was none of her business quite frankly.

"You aren't ready, or she isn't?" Darlene inserted.

I was still unmoving, my anger multiplying by the second when Knox asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, I don't know," Darlene said nonchalantly with a flick of her wrist. "Maybe the problem here really lies in her not wanting to be a failure like her drug addict mother. What was her name again? Aria." She snapped her fingers like she suddenly remembered but I was sure that she never really forgot, keeping it in her mind as she waited for a moment to use it against me. "Shame. Such a pretty name for such an ugly woman." Her face took on a fake look of sympathy. "I mean, what type of woman drops her child off with her mother before running off with a drug dealer?"

This is too much.

The sound of my chair scraping against the concrete of the patio was loud and scratchy to my ears but I never registered it, too full of anger to think of anything other than to get the hell out of here.

What kind of human beings says that about another person? If this were an animation, steam would have been pouring out of my ear with how pissed I was. But more than anything was the gut wrenching pain because she was right. Every single thing she fucking said was right. And then my mind turned on where she could have possibly gotten such information from and I got even more angry.

Knox took his sweet time meeting me outside where I stood by the car and I knew better than to think he was in there putting his mother in her place. He never did have a backbone when it came to the woman and that never infuriated me as much as it did today.

The moment the car beeped to indicate it was unlocked, I entered, slamming the door shut as hard I could. Tears rimmed my eyes, my lips trembling as I fought the urge to cry. No, not here. I wouldn't give that snake the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

The man who bore the title of my husband slipped into the car and I found myself almost disgusted with his presence in that moment. Releasing a deep breath, Knox asked, "Are you sure you want to leave? I'm sure she didn't mean it."

I couldn't believe my ears. "After all the things your vile mother just said to me you want me to go back in there! Is that it, Knox?" His face twisted at his mother being called vile but I couldn't find a flying fuck to give because that is exactly what that woman was. "If you want to stay, you can. God forbid that I separate you from your precious mother."

I was done with the conversation because anymore, and I would have burst into angry tears, something I did when I got too emotional. I couldn't allow myself do that, not here.

Knox let out a frustrated sigh before starting the ignition of the car and pulling out of the driveway slowly, as if he was trying to avoid leaving in the first place.

I counted down the long minutes before we made it home, eager to be out of the same space with this man. But then again, I still had to share a space with him. Suddenly, I wished that I didn't.

The sound of the door being closed shut was loud and echoing in our small apartment and I could immediately tell that Knox too was becoming angry. I wasn't sure at what and I couldn't care why because I was about to give him a piece of my mind.

"You know, all those times when your mother spoke to me disrespectfully in the past, I took it. I didn't say shit because I kept telling myself, 'she's his mother and I'm just his girlfriend'. We got engaged and I kept telling myself the same shit. But we are married for Christ's sake, Knox! I'm your fucking wife! I am not supposed to take second place to anyone in your life, least of all your fucking mother so why the fuck would she be speaking to me like that and all you can do is sit there and allow it?"

He looked speechless as the words, so full of anguish and disgust, came out of my mouth:

"I am so sick, so sick and tired of you being quiet while all of this is going on. I respect you as my husband and my man enough to not speak back at her, because Lord knows if it was anyone else who spoke to me that way, she would've had it. But it's becoming increasingly obvious that you do not share the same sentiment so fuck you, Knox. And just know that the next time that your mother speaks to me that way, I will not take it lightly."

I was proud of myself for getting through that without bursting into the tears that had welled up behind my eyes, and I wasn't sure exactly what I was doing but I picked up my purse and hightailed it out of there. I didn't want to be in the same vicinity as him and I came to realize, I didn't have to.

The sound of the door shutting closed behind me almost felt like a finality although I wasn't sure what was ending. But what made my chest ache even more as I walked out of that building was the fact that my husband didn't come after me.
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