TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 118

One hundred and eighteen

Watching Nadia argue twisted something in my chest. She fought for Evangeline without hesitation. She had never looked at me with that kind of certainty. With me there was always calculation, desire when she felt reckless, as if I were nothing more than an itch she scratched when patience ran out.

Nadia loved with a ferocity that left no doubt. I saw it in the way she protected Cameron and in the panic that took hold whenever Evangeline collapsed. It forced me to admit something ugly.

I had been chasing shadows.

Cameron told me to handle the arrangements for Evangeline’s surgery and contact the specialists to delay the date until we convinced her. Then he walked off, saying Alpha Kieran had arrived and needed a proper welcome.

When he left, the hallway fell quiet. Nadia still faced the direction he had gone, tears shining in her eyes before she wiped them away.

Seeing her like that twisted something in me. I wanted her, her body, her mouth, all of it.

I knew how her skin felt under my hands and how she sounded when she stopped pretending to be composed. The anger always followed. She would claim it was the last time.

It never was.

She scratched the side of her neck. “Come to my room. I want to show you something about the wedding.”

I shook my head. “I’m not your wedding planner.”

“Franklin, seriously. I’m not going to beg you. Cameron trusted you with this. If you won’t do it, tell him yourself.”

I held her gaze, then nodded. “Fine. Lead the way.”

She led me upstairs to her room. The door closed behind us and she shoved me toward the bed.

Her nails dug into my shoulders. My hands gripped her hips and fingers sank deep into her soft flesh.

With a teasing wink, she took out my cock and began stroking it.

“Beg for it,” she said, messing with my head.

“Please-” my voice cracked.

“Say my name when you beg.”

“Nadia-please-”

She smiled. “Better. Now shut up and let me ride.”

Without warning, I slammed the bitch against the mattress. Her breath punched out in a sharp gasp.

She arched up into me right away. Every thrust pushed her higher up the bed. I felt every inch of myself force inside her. I stretched her open with blunt pressure. It pushed right to the edge of too much. Her body clenched around me anyway. Her slick walls fluttered tight against me.

I gave her no time to adjust. My hips snapped forward again and again. Wet skin slapped loud against skin. The sound filled the room and covered her choked moans. Each time I bottomed out, the head of my cock hit that deep spot inside her.

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“Fuck,” she cried out.

She felt the full heavy stretch. I yanked back almost all the way out. Then I slammed home again. Her nipples scraped my chest hair. The friction stung in small sharp sparks.

She tried to push back and meet me. I pinned her wrists above her head with one hand and loomed over her.

Friction built fast. My shaft dragged rough along her swollen walls. Tears pricked her eyes from the overwhelming fullness.

I growled low against her throat. My teeth scraped her skin, enough to make her yelp and clench tighter around me. The sudden squeeze pulled a rough groan from my chest.

I fucked her faster. Each brutal thrust wound it tighter.

When she came, her back bowed off the bed. Her mouth opened in a silent scream. I pounded through every/ shudder and every pulse. My hips stuttered as heat flooded out of me.

We stayed locked together a moment longer. The room stayed thick with the smell of sex and anger and everything we never said out loud.

Nadia lay beside me, close enough that her warmth brushed against my skin while I stared at the ceiling instead of looking at her.

“Are you determined to ruin your life?” I asked lazily.

Her head turned toward me. “You’re talking like this concerns you.

I shrugged. “You’re going to regret it.”

“That’s not your concern.”

I sat up. “Desmond already keeps other women. Are you ready to add that to everything else you’ve survived?”

Her face hardened. “Don’t use what you know about me like that.”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

She pulled the sheet around herself. “I know Desmond isn’t a good man. I’m not marrying him for love. I’m marrying him for security.”

“That’s a cold reason to marry someone.”

“It’s a realistic one. At least I’m not tying myself to someone who has nothing.”

I grabbed my trousers and shook my head. “Then congratulations on your future. I suppose you won’t need me anymore now that someone else is providing security.”

“Franklin, don’t start this,” she said. “You always act like I’m using you.”

“Aren’t you?”

She waved a hand. “I thought you were enjoying it too.”

“I was. But I don’t sleep with another man’s wife. You’re already wearing his ring.”

I walked toward the door.

“You could try stopping me,” she said.

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I stopped at the door and drew a breath. I wasn’t going to keep standing in the same place, begging for scraps while she built a future with another man. She wanted security. She could have it.

“Goodbye, Nadia,” I said. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

I walked out and closed the door behind me.

As I headed downstairs, Cameron called and asked me to drive him and Alpha Kieran to the building where Lisa was staying with her mother.

I scoffed. “I didn’t realize visiting Lisa required this much ceremony. I can take him myself. You have a meeting to attend.”

“He wants me there,” Cameron said. “He wants to officially ask Susan out on a date.”

I didn’t answer. The explanation sounded reasonable, but the truth sat right in front of it.

Anyone with eyes could see he was in love with Lisa.

The tension between them kept building. Cameron wrapped himself in guilt over Evangeline while Lisa hid behind the contract. Both of them stood close to something they refused to touch.

It would have been easier if one of them acted selfish for once. Instead they kept their distance. Lisa reminded herself she was only there to give him a child, and every time I watched them I saw the effort it took not to cross the line already drawn between them.

Two people in love pretending discipline mattered more than desire, either too honorable or too afraid to admit what everyone else already saw.

“I was telling Cameron I could take you myself,” I said to Alpha Kieran in the back seat.

Alpha Kieran laughed. “My boy always finds a proper excuse to see Lisa. Don’t get in his way.”

“You two are making assumptions,” Cameron said. “Lisa is carrying my child. I can visit her whenever I want.”

“I’m not your enemy, Cameron,” I said.

“Good,” he replied. “Because I already have enough problems.”

Alpha Kieran burst out laughing. “One day that pressure will snap and you won’t be able to pretend anymore.”

“Nothing is going to snap,” Cameron said. “Lisa isn’t my mate. Evangeline has my loyalty, my heart, my duty.”

Alpha Kieran grinned. “Then we’ll drink to that.”

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