TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 29

Twenty–Nine

LISA POV

Cameron’s statement left a sour weight in my chest. Not because he was wrong about what I was doing, but because he said it so easily to his mate after spilling himself inside me.

The thought settled heavy in my stomach. I didn’t cry. I lay back and stared at the ceiling instead, trying to convince myself he was right.

So what if he used degrading words? He was paying for my service.

Then a different thought struck.

I should ask for a few days off.

Just a few nights. Tell him my body needed time to recover.

We had been doing this every night. He had knotted inside me more than once, and even though he barely spoke to me outside the act, I knew he enjoyed it more than he would ever admit.

His cock left my body aching in places I didn’t know could ache.

The worst part was that I was starting to want it. Not just tolerate it or endure it.

That made my stomach turn. If I didn’t force myself to think clearly, I would start believing things that weren’t real. His words from the night before kept echoing in my head, spoken so casually to Evangeline while I stood there naked.

He wasn’t wrong. So why did hearing him say it out loud feel like something sharp had been pushed through my ribs? And why, despite the humiliation and the way he treated me like equipment, did my body still react to him?

I tried to move on with my plan. Instead of preparing for him, I stayed dressed.

My body betrayed me anyway. Heat gathered between my thighs even though I hadn’t touched myself. I pressed my legs together and muttered a few ugly names at myself under my breath.

It didn’t help.

My body was slick and ready, and I hated it,

Despite wanting him, I had to do this. I needed a break before something inside me broke for real. If I kept letting him take me every night, my body would start expecting him.

And that was dangerous.

I was already starting to imagine things that had no place in this arrangement. What it would feel like if he stayed after. What it would feel like if he looked at me like a person instead of a transaction.

That line of thinking had to stop.

At exactly nine o’clock I heard his footsteps in the hallway. My pulse started climbing. Instead of waiting naked, I sat on the edge of the bed in loose pajamas. Sweat gathered along my back while I waited for the door to open..!!!!

Cameron stepped inside and stopped.

His gaze swept over the room before settling on me, fully clothed and sitting upright instead of lying down ready for him.

“Is there a problem?”

I forced myself to hold his gaze.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

He walked to the cabinet, poured himself a drink, and leaned back against the counter.

“No,” I admitted. “But-”

“What?”

“No,” I said quickly. “No, it’s not from that. I slipped earlier in the bathroom and landed om that. I slipped wrong. My pelvis has been hurting all day. I think I might have torn something.”

“You need to see a doctor.”

“That’s not necessary-”

“It is.” His voice hardened. “First thing in the morning. I’ll have Dr. Beauty come to the estate.”

Whether it’s safe to continue.

That was the part that stayed in the air between us.

Not whether I was alright.

Whether the arrangement could continue without complications.

I nodded.

Cameron set the glass down and left the room without another word. The door shut behind him. I stayed where I was on the bed, my hands shaking in my lap.

I had lied. And he believed me. Or at least he accepted the explanation without questioning it.

I should have felt relieved. Instead I sat there staring at the floor, feeling strangely hollow.

Because the first boundary I had managed to create in this place had been built on a lie.