TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 144

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144

Lisa POV

Seeing standing outside my door made no sense. Not the timing, not the fact that he came alone, not the way he looked at me as if the morning hadn’t happened.

I held the door open without saying anything and stepped aside to let him in.

He walked past me and stopped in the middle of the room. He seemed exhausted, with tired eyes. I closed the doof and moved further inside, putting distance between us before I turned around. The silence stretched.

“Are you going to keep acting like I’m not here?” he asked.

“I’m not acting,” I said. “I just don’t have anything to say.”

“That’s not true, Lisa You always have something to say.”

I let out a quiet breath and walked toward the table, picking up the glass of water I had left there earlier. It gave me something to do that wasn’t looking at him.

“You said enough this morning,” I said. “There’s nothing left to add.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, and there was a slight delay before the last word landed. “Don’t start twisting it.”

I looked at him then. That delay sat wrong.

“I don’t need to twist anything,” I said. “You were clear.”

He held my gaze, then looked away before returning to me. “I didn’t mean it like that. I was dealing with a lot,” he said. I needed to shut things down and focus.”

“You told me what I was here for. You made it clear.”

He went quiet again. This one felt like he was choosing his next words instead of knowing them already.

“I was trying to control the situation,” he said. “It came out wrong.”

I stared at him. “You don’t get to say things like that and then call it ‘coming out wrong.’ You’re not careless with your words. You don’t make mistakes like that.”

He seemed lost. “Then call it stress.”

“That doesn’t fix it.”

“I’m not trying to fix it,” he said. “I’m telling you why.”

I shook my head. “No. You’re avoiding it.”

He took a step closer. I didn’t move.

“What do you want from me?” he asked.

“I want to understand what happened,” I said. “You blocked Franklin. You made decisions that don’t match anything you’ve done before. Then you came here and spoke to me like I was nothing more than a task. Now you’re standing here acting like that didn’t happen.” 1

“I told you,” he said. “Things were not aligned.”

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103

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I’m giving you.”

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There it was again. That slight gap before he settled on the words. It made him feel different.

“If I didn’t see you this morning, I would think someone was exaggerating. I would have laughed and said you were drunk or something. But I was there. I heard everything.”

“I know. It won’t happen again.”

“That doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know why it happened in the first place.

He dragged a hand over his face. “You’re overthinking this.”

“And you’re under-explaining it,” I’shot back.

Silence fell again. I could feel the pull of it, the same pull that had always been there with him, but now it sat on top of something I couldn’t place.

“What are you doing here, Cameron?”

He looked at me for a long second before answering. “I came to see you.

“That’s obvious,” I said. “I’m asking why.”

Another pause. Longer this time.

“I needed to see you,” he said.

“Needed?” I repeated.

“Yes.”

I let out a huff and folded my arms. “You told me this morning not to get emotional. That I’m here for a role. So which one is it?”

He stepped closer again, closing the distance I had created earlier. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Push me away while pretending you’re not,” he said.

I held his gaze. “I’m not pretending anything. I’m reminding you of what you said.

“That’s not what this is right now.”

“Then what is it?” I asked.

He didn’t answer immediately. His eyes stayed on mine, but I could feel that same hesitation underneath.

“I want you,” he said finally.

The words hit, not because of what they were, but because of how they came out. I laughed under my breath.” That’s convenient.”

“It’s not about convenience.”

“It sounds like it,” I said. “You don’t get to reduce me to a function in the morning and then come here at night

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talking about what you want.’

His gaze hardened. “Then tell me to leave.”

I blinked. “What?”

“If you mean everything you’re saying,” he continued, “tell me to leave, and I will.”

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