TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 318

Three hundred and eighteen

Isabella POV

The relief on Harrison’s face as he dropped into the chair beside my desk made me hide a smile. He looked like someone who had just won the lottery.

“He approved it,” he said, still sounding like he couldn’t believe it himself. “He said, GOOD JOB. The same report he rejected twice.”

I smiled into my coffee. “See? I told you it would work out.”

Harrison kept shaking his head. “It was like someone swapped him overnight. I swear that fucker is bipolar. It’s like he has a switch in his head.”

I pretended to share his confusion, but my thoughts drifted elsewhere. All I could think about was Wesley’s hands, the softness of his lips, and my body wanting more.

I hid the smile threatening to betray me behind my mug.

“Let’s just hope he never remembers I exist again,” Harrison muttered, making me chuckle.

That was the beginning of my ravenous desire for Wesley’s touch.

I found reasons to pass by his office, and he too always found reasons to send cues that he was free, pulling me behind his office door for five stolen minutes before I returned to my desk looking as though nothing had happened.

We never went further than kissing and making out inside his office, but that somehow made it worse. My body had begun craving more than those hurried moments could satisfy. As the mate bond grew louder, nights became the hardest. I’d lie awake thinking about him, remembering every place he’d touched me until my skin tingled all over again.

As though that wasn’t enough, he hadn’t let me leave his office that day without taking my number.

For someone who barely seemed to have enough hours in the day, Wesley texted the strangest things. On Thursday, he casually mentioned that he was having his standing lunch with Anita and Emma. During a council meeting, he sent one dry message calling the entire thing boring. Some evenings he’d text to say he was finally heading home after another endless day at work. None of it was information I needed to know, yet he kept giving me little pieces of his day until I found myself expecting them.

I couldn’t tell whether he simply enjoyed talking to me or whether, beneath all that confidence, he was looking for reassurance just as much as I was.

Friday morning, I was heading downstairs while Wesley was coming up. Harrison was beside me, talking about something I’d already stopped listening to.

The moment I saw Wesley, my pulse jumped and heat climbed into my cheeks. I kept my eyes fixed on the stairs as we exchanged nothing more than a polite good morning before continuing in opposite directions.

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“What’s with that grin on your face?” Harrison asked later that day after work.

Thankfully, he hadn’t noticed me checking my phone every few minutes.

“I guess I’m just happy,” I said. “We got paid, and we’re eating good food.”

“Cheers to that,” Iris said, lifting her glass.

Saturday morning arrived quietly. After breakfast, I let Maverick go downstairs with Harrison. Most of the males had returned from their morning run and had started a football match in the open space behind the lodge.

My phone buzzed.

Wesley: Are you busy today?

A smile appeared before I could stop it.

No. Why?

His reply came almost immediately.

I’m coming over.

My eyes widened.

I typed: What?

Deleted it.

I typed: You can’t. People know you. They work for you. They’ll follow you straight to my room.

Deleted that too.

Coming where?

The staff lodge.

Please don’t. Everyone here knows you. They’ll talk.

The typing bubble appeared.

I want to see Maverick.

The message caught me off guard.

He remembered my son’s name. A warmth spread through my chest.

Another message followed.

We can take him to the park if that makes you feel better.

It was still a terrible idea. Rumors spread about him and his family faster than wildfire, and Wesley was

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the last person who could walk in unnoticed.

But I also knew that if Wesley decided he was coming, telling him no probably wouldn’t change his mind.

What time? I asked.

Four.

I didn’t reply. Still, every glance at the clock made me wish the afternoon would hurry up.

By four o’clock, I was already standing in the open corridor outside my room. The staff lodge was a three- story building arranged around long exterior walkways with metal railings running the length of each floor. Every room opened directly onto those corridors, making it impossible for anyone to arrive

unnoticed.

Leaning against the railing, I looked down into the parking area below.

A black SUV rolled to a stop. It wasn’t one of the official Alpha vehicles with the pack flag mounted on the front. This one looked like his personal car.

The driver’s door opened, and Wesley stepped out wearing a charcoal Henley and dark jeans, looking nothing like the intimidating Alpha heir everyone answered to during the week.

As though sensing me, he lifted his head.

Our eyes met. I smiled and motioned for him to stay where he was while I went to get Maverick, since the last thing I needed was Harrison or Iris walking out at the wrong moment.

Wesley and Maverick bonded in the car, and Maverick couldn’t have been happier to play in the park.

Wesley got us an ice pop from one of the vendors. He adjusted the baseball cap lower over his face before hooking the sunglasses hanging from his shirt into the collar. Anyone passing by would see nothing more than another man spending his Saturday at the park.

Maverick darted across the playground with a little girl close behind him, their laughter carrying through the afternoon. Wesley caught Maverick around the waist as he tried to run past, swinging him high into the air until he laughed so hard he started hiccupping.

“What a ball of energy,” Wesley said, setting him back on his feet.

Maverick rushed over to me for a drink of water before racing back to the playground without waiting for either of us to say another word.

It was clear Wesley wasn’t trying to impress me. There was nothing performative about the way he played with Maverick; even if I weren’t sitting here watching, they would have still been laughing just the same. He pushed Maverick on the swings until he squealed with delight, bought him cotton candy, let him climb onto his back while pretending to be a horse, and somehow left the kiosk every single time carrying more snacks than one little boy could ever finish.

I sat with my legs tucked beneath me on the bench, smiling.

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After another race around the playground, Wesley returned and dropped onto the bench beside me, slightly out of breath from chasing Maverick around. Our thighs almost touched.

He leaned toward me, trying to steal a kiss against my temple.

“Stop,” I whispered. “Others could see us.”

“Swear you don’t want to kiss me.”

I rolled my eyes with a groan.

“Please behave.”

Thankfully, his phone rang.

He answered it, but even while talking, his hand found the small of my back, idly tracing circles that sent warmth spreading through me. I doubted he even realized what those absent-minded touches were doing to me.

When the call ended, he stole a quick kiss against my cheek before stretching his legs in front of him.

“So…” he said casually. “What happened to Maverick’s dad?”

The question landed hard, causing every comfortable thought in me to scatter.

He noticed the silence.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

I kept my eyes on the playground.

“I don’t know who he is.”

It was the same lie I’d told his mother.

He searched my face, waiting for more.

“Someone took advantage of you?”

His conclusion was that I was assaulted. The painful part was that it wasn’t entirely untrue. Maverick hadn’t been conceived through love or consent, but saying I didn’t know who his father was, was a lie.

“Can you tell me where it happened?” he asked quietly.

I sighed.

“Even if I did, you wouldn’t recognize him.”

He remained silent, and I wondered what was running through his head.

“I understand now,” he said at last.

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I looked at him.

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“I couldn’t understand why you resisted me so hard that night at the club. I never stopped to wonder whether every time I got close, you said things I didn’t understand. Now I get it, it’s all trauma response,

and I feel like shit.”

Oh, Goddess.

I reached for his hand.

“That’s not why I-”

“You don’t have to protect my feelings.”

“I’m serious.” I squeezed his hand gently. “You never made me feel unsafe.”

He watched me before lifting a hand to cup my cheek.

“I haven’t felt this pull toward anyone since I lost my partner. I honestly thought that if I got you out of my system, everything would go back to normal.”

A smile tugged at his mouth. His thumb brushed across my cheek.

“It hasn’t, and I don’t blame you anymore for resisting me. I’ll never hurt you.”

Then, almost as though he realized the moment had become too intimate, he lowered his hand.

“What about Barbara?” I asked. “Everyone knows you’re together.”

A weary look crossed his face.

“We have an arrangement.”

“But you’re going to marry her.”

He turned toward the playground where Maverick was chasing the little girl.

“Marriage is a very distant conversation.”

Then he looked back at me.

“Don’t convince yourself that I want your body while planning a future with someone else. I’m not that man.”

Silence settled between us until Maverick ran back clutching a bright red ball against his chest.

“Time to play!” he declared, grabbing Wesley’s hand with all the determination his body could muster as he tried to pull him off the bench.

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