TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 157

One hundred and fifty seven

Cameron POV

The gated entrance, with security cameras, blinked red as the car drove down the winding asphalt drive, the garage doors yawning open automatically. I cut the engine, sitting there for some minutes before getting out.

The petal-soft flower stems brushed my fingers in a hurried grab, and I picked up the box of chocolate, as well as the apology card, and headed upstairs.

I knocked on Evangeline’s door. No response, but her door was unlocked. I pushed it open and stepped inside.

She was asleep, her face peaceful, her breaths rising and falling steadily.

I watched her, the failure from last night pausing in the face of that stillness.

I walked over and looked at her, leaned down, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

The warmth of her skin and her lotion had once turned me on.

Now, I felt nothing.

I straightened and placed the flowers, the note, and the chocolate beside her. An apology, even if I couldn’t put it into words that made sense.

She didn’t stir.

I stood there a moment longer, then turned and walked out.

The study stayed quiet except for the faint sound of paper shifting under my hand.

Reports sat open in front of me. Numbers and names, all laid out orderly. Something I could usually move through without effort.

Tonight, none of it held. I read the same line twice and still didn’t process it. My pen hovered over the page, then tapped against the desk before I set it down.

Focus, Cameron.

I picked up the file again, forcing my attention back to it, when my phone buzzed against the table.

I ignored it at first. Messages came in all the time. Most of them didn’t need immediate attention.

The phone buzzed again.

I reached for it.

Lisa.

My chest tightened before I even opened the message.

She seldom texted me.

My mind jumped ahead, running through everything that could have gone wrong before I even read a word. I opened it.

I shouldn’t be texting you. Please ignore this.

1/4

dad y rom

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Another line came in before I could respond.

I didn’t like how we left things earlier.

I leaned back in my chair, staring at the screen.

Then the last one.

I need you… but don’t come.

I bit my lower lip.

Her conflicted message messed with my head.

She needed me, yet didn’t want me there.

I stared at the message, letting it settle, as though that would make the decision easier.

It didn’t.

I typed, erased it, then typed again.

Are you okay?

I watched the screen.

No response.

I added another line.

Tell me what you need.

Still nothing.

I dropped the phone on the table, then picked it up again almost immediately.

Nothing about this situation had a clean direction. I set the phone down again and dragged a hand across my face, forcing myself to look back at the documents in front of me.

Work.

That was what I was supposed to be doing.

I picked up the pen and signed the first page without reading it. I stopped halfway through the second line, realizing I didn’t even know what I had just approved.

I crossed it out and started again.

The words blurred into Lisa’s soft and supple body.

My attention kept drifting back to the same place.

Her message.

I reached for the phone again, unlocked it, and read it one more time.

I need you… but don’t come.

I set the phone down again and forced myself to sit still.

2/4

nundred and fly seven

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Five minutes passed.

Then ten.

Then more.

I tried again, this time reading slower, forcing each word into place, but nothing held. The same sentence looped in my head, cutting through everything else.

I pushed the chair back and stood pacing across the room before stopping myself.

I could ignore it.

I should ignore it.

I went back to the desk and sat down again, opening another report, reading it from start to finish.

Every attempt to work broke halfway through. At some point, I stopped pretending. I stood, grabbed my keys, and left the study without looking back.

The house was quieter now. Late enough that most of the lights were off. I made it halfway to the door before I heard her voice.

“Where are you going?”

I turned.

Evangeline stood at the base of the stairs, looking at me in a way that told me she had been awake for a while.

It was late.

“There’s an issue,” I said.

“With what?”

“Pack matters.”

“At this hour?”

“Yes.”

She stepped down, stopping a few feet away. “You couldn’t send someone else?”

“No.”

“What kind of issue requires you personally?”

“The kind I don’t delegate.”

She held my gaze.

I adjusted my grip on the keys. “I’ll be back… in the morning.”

Silence stretched between us, then she stepped aside. I walked past her, out the door, and into the night air without slowing down.

The drive started before I could think about stopping it.

I shouldn’t be doing this.

3/4

weared and fity seven

That thought stayed, but it didn’t slow me down.

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