TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 311

Three hundred and eleven

Wesley POV

Purple lights washed over the hallway walls as a handful of people moved between the restrooms and the dance floor. Staff hurried past carrying buckets of ice. Women laughed on their way to touch up their makeup.

I couldn’t exactly stand outside the women’s restroom waiting. Too many people knew my face. It would only take one person recognizing me for rumors to spread through the pack by morning. The last thing I needed was for someone to start asking why the future Alpha had been lurking outside the ladies’ room when his girlfriend was upstairs.

I slipped into an alcove near an exit sign where the corridor bent around a cleaning cart and pulled out my phone, pretending to scroll through it.

I didn’t wait long. Her amber curls caught the overhead light. It was ridiculous how easily I recognized her now.

The hallway had mostly cleared, but I stayed where I was, watching her. Halfway down the corridor, she stopped. Her gaze swept the hallway as though she’d sensed something.

Two girls walked past her toward the restroom. As soon as they disappeared behind the door, Isabella changed direction and walked straight toward me.

She stopped when she found me. Neither of us spoke. We didn’t need to.

“Can we go somewhere private?”

She didn’t answer.

I reached for her hand.

Our fingers touched, and a surge raced up my arm. I glanced over my shoulder. The hallway was clear.

I led her through the side exit into the parking lot. Cool night air replaced the heat of the club. Out here, the music was nothing more than a dull heartbeat behind concrete walls. I drove us to the quieter end of the lot, where only staff cars were scattered beneath dim security lights.

Neither of us spoke.

“I see you’re enjoying the night,” I said.

She looked down at her hands and shrugged.

I couldn’t understand how someone could look so innocent and still be the most distracting woman I’d met in years.

I lifted her chin until she looked at me. Warmth softened the grey in her eyes.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you,” I admitted, my thumb brushing beneath her chin. “That kiss won’t leave my head.”

She stayed quiet, watching me.

“I haven’t wanted anyone this intensely in years,” I continued. “I don’t even understand it

I leaned in and brushed a kiss against her cheek. I lingered against her cheek before pulling away

“I want you, Isabella.”

She looked into my eyes as though she were waiting for one more sentence, one that would either gue her permission to stop fighting or finally convince her to walk away.

“So… this is you finally admitting it?”

“Admitting that I can’t stop thinking about you?” I said, leaning in to brush kisses on her face and forehead. “I thought I’d already made that obvious.”

“You’ve spent all this time talking about wanting me,” she said quietly. “You’ve never acknowledged what keeps pulling us back together.”

She took my hand. Her fingers traced over my knuckles before she placed my palm against the base of her throat. Her pulse beat beneath my palm.

“Do you feel it?” she whispered. “I’ve been calling out to you since the first night we met.”

A smile tugged at my mouth.

“You think I haven’t?” I said, holding her hand and leaning forward. “I’ve been fighting the urge to come after you since that kiss.”

I traced my tongue up her throat. She shivered.

“Let’s finish what we started in the kitchen.”

“Is that all?”

“If you want me to say I love you, I’d be lying. Love is more complicated than sexual chemistry. I like you a lot. You make me feel alive again. But I don’t know you well enough to tell you I love you.”

“No.” Her voice cracked. “I’m not asking you to love me. I’m asking you to acknowledge what’s right in front of you. What happens after sex? Are you going to reject me? Do you just want to take what you can from this and then walk away?”

“Reject you?” I echoed. “Why would you think I’d do that?”

I searched her face, trying to understand her.

“I’m not trying to use you. We’re two adults who can’t seem to stay away from each other. I don’t know whether we’re compatible outside this.” I gestured between us. “But I know I’d regret walking away from this without finding out where it leads.”

“So you need to sleep with me before you decide what I am to you?”

I groaned.

“I’m saying I want a chance to explore this.”

She dragged a hand over her face, pushed herself away from me, and reached for the door.

“Hey. What did I say wrong?”

“I can’t breathe. I… I have to go.”

“Isabella.”

She climbed out and didn’t look back. She broke into a run toward the club entrance while I stayed in the driver’s seat, watching her disappear.

She’d kissed me like she couldn’t bear to let me go. Then she’d run like I’d broken her.

What the hell had I missed?

U Luxie Author

To everyone who has been yelling, “Isabella, just speak up!”… Exhibit A has officially been submitted to the court. She spoke. He answered. They somehow still managed to have two completely different conversations. The charges against Isabella have been reduced. The broken mate bond will now take the stand. T