TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 355

Three hundred and fifty-five

Wesley POV

The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the penthouse was the darkness. I always left the light near the entryway on. It had become a habit after years of coming home late, when I didn’t want to walk into a dark apartinent. Tonight, the switch was off.

I stopped with my hand still on the door. Someone was here. I scanned the room, listening to the faint hum of the air conditioner and the rain tapping against the glass windows.

I reached for the switch and turned on the lights.

“Surprise!”

I flinched, then stared at the people waiting for me.

“Fuck.”

Emma burst out laughing. Anita grinned. Charlie stood beside them, sipping wine, and then my eyes landed on Isabella. My fake annoyance turned into a grin.

“You too?”

She smiled. I crossed the room and pulled her into my arms. She laughed against my chest, and I held her close, enjoying the fact that she had been part of this.

“Look at him,” Anita groaned. “He’s so stupidly in love. He didn’t even hug the rest of us. So annoying.”

“I tolerate you.”

Emma laughed from behind her. Isabella was still in my arms, and I wasn’t interested in letting her go.

My gaze drifted toward Charlie. He watched me, perhaps seeing me openly affectionate with Isabella for the first time. We hadn’t talked much since the gala. He hadn’t exactly supported the relationship when it started, and lately, it seemed he had been avoiding me. Still, I was happy to see him tonight.

“How does it feel to be twenty-six and slowly becoming an ancestor?” Charlie asked.

Everyone laughed.

Emma pointed toward the table. “Before Wesley eats the cake by himself, can we at least light the candles?”

My chef had been there all along and brought out trays of grilled chicken, along with bottles of wine and other drinks. The cake had chocolate frosting, which meant I was already considering how much I could get away with eating before everyone noticed.

Anita connected her phone to the speakers, and music filled the living room. She started dancing before anyone could complain, laughing as Emma joined her.

I watched them with a smile. After everything I’d been through, birthdays had never meant much to me. They were reminders of another year spent fighting a body I couldn’t trust, another year of wondering whether I’d make it through the next episode without hurting myself or someone else.

But this felt different. The people I cared about were here, and Isabella was beside me.

When everyone settled with their drinks and food, I reached for her hand beneath the table. She looked at me, and I leaned closer.

“You kept this from me despite seeing me earlier.”

Her lips curved. “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

I shook my head. I’d begged her to come home with me earlier, and if I hadn’t gone to see Joanna, I’d have picked her up myself.

+15 Bonus

She shot me a wink

I wanted to announce to everyone that my wolt had stayed quiet for two fortnights. For the first time in years, I could imagine a life that didn’t revolve around controlling the next episode.

But Isabella was here.

I’d told her pieces of my condition, enough for her to know that my wolf was dangerous and that I sometimes lost control. I hadn’t told her that my wolf was fragmented from me.

Even thinking about it made shame crawl through me. Some part of me still feared that when she knew the truth, she’d look at me the way Beatrice had before she died, as though loving me came with a burden she hadn’t agreed to carry.

I wasn’t ready to face that reality.

Emma dragged Isabella onto the dance floor. Charlie had moved toward the windows and was talking on his phone, his attention fixed on whatever was happening on the other end of the call.

Emma was a good dancer, but I barely noticed her. My attention stayed on Isabella.

I’d seen her dance at Anita’s gig months ago. She knew how to move. Tonight, though, she wasn’t dancing for the room. She was dancing for me.

She turned away from me, her hair falling down her back as she moved with the music. She wasn’t looking at me, but she knew

exactly where my eyes were. Her hips moved with the rhythm as she arched lower.

I whistled, tightening my grip around my glass.

She kept dancing beside Emma, laughing at something she said, but every movement made it harder to focus on anything else.

Heat spread through me. I wanted to cross the room and pull her against me. I wanted everyone else to disappear so I could have her to myself.

Instead, I sat there like a horny schoolboy.

Isabella glanced over her shoulder. Our eyes met, and her mouth curved.

“Bad, bad girl,” I mouthed, knowing she understood exactly what she was doing.

About an hour later, Isabella and I slipped through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors into the backyard. The night air cooled my skin as we moved behind the flowers lining the patio. A chair sat tucked among the plants, hidden from the living room by the thick blooms and leaves. I’d planned to make love to her in the bedroom, but when she suggested staying outside, I didn’t see a

reason to argue.

The music and laughter from inside faded behind the glass, leaving us with the quiet of the night.

Isabella looked at me with a smile that told me she knew exactly what she was doing. I pulled her closer, grateful for the privacy the flowers gave us.

I sat on the balcony chair with my back to the moon. She climbed over me and straddled my lap, facing the silver light spilling across the mountains. Her knees pressed into the chair on either side of my hips. I gripped her ass with both hands and squeezed.

“You spent the whole night moving your hips like you wanted me to lose my mind.”

Isabella smiled. “Did it work?”

I lifted her and let her drop, guiding the movement of her body against mine.

“You’re about to see how.”

+15 Bonus

She sank down and took me deep. The wet sound of her movements filled the night ait. I leaned forward and closed my mouth over one nipple, sucking while my tongue flicked across the peak. Her body jerked as she kept riding me, rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Moonlight washed over her shoulders and the curve of her breasts. I loved the way her skin caught the light each time she moved against me.

Our eyes met. Hers looked heavy and dark. My breath caught.

“Is

“I love you,” I said, my voice rough.

“I love you,” she answered, and sank down again, taking me deeper.

She moved with more force and hunger. Maybe the moon was having an effect on her. My hands tightened on her ass, helping her move faster. Each movement drew a reaction from her, making her thighs shake around me. The wet sound grew louder.

“I love you,” I said again, almost a growl this time.

“I love you,” she gasped back, and kept moving.

My control started to slip. I stood without pulling away, still holding her close. Her arms wrapped around my neck as I carried her the few steps to the glass railing and pressed her back against it. The cool surface met her skin as I drove into her. The new angle made her cry out, the sound raw and loud.

That broke me. I drove into her one last time and came, holding her tightly against me.

My legs gave a little, and I sank back into the chair with her still on me. She stayed there, moving in gentle rolls of her hips. Her hands rested on my shoulders. I watched her face while she rocked against me, feeling every small tremor between us. Pleasure built inside her until it crested. She came with a shudder, clenching around me.

I pulled her into a kiss. It started deep and stayed that way. Our tongues slid together, tasting each other as though we’d spent the whole night doing nothing else. We stayed locked together, months and bodies joined, until the heat between us settled into something softer.

Isabella’s warm body against mine was the best thing to wake up to. I stayed still, unwilling to move and wake her. Seeing her face and her hair splayed across the pillow made me enjoy the rare peace that had settled over me. Unfortunately, my bladder had other plans and forced me out of bed. 1

I slipped into the bathroom, and while washing my hands, I heard the familiar sounds of movement from the gym down the hallway. It had to be Charlie. I put on some clothes and headed there.

He was finishing his workout when I walked in.

“You disappeared last night,” he said, wiping his face with a towel.

“I was celebrating my birthday.” I raised an eyebrow, making him shake his head with a chuckie.

“I see you’re serious about that girl.”

“I was never joking.”

I picked up a dumbbell and reset it while Charlie took a drink of water.

“My parents have no issues with her. Even Anita has warmed up to her. Everyone except Barbara, apparently.”

Charlie paused, then toyed with the cork of his bottle.

“What are you going to do about Barbara?”

“You tell me. What am I supposed to do with someone I had a fake relationship with?”

He said nothing.

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