She said “I love you....by the way.”. I didn’t know what to say, so I said “Thank you.”. She said she wasn’t saying it to get me to say it back.
Is this what is meant by a temp check?
Absolutely! Look at how well it almost worked. Good job at not saying it back.
Remember one the 37 rules being not to believe what she says? Well, telling you that she loves you, fall in that category. Just ignore and see it has her trying to manipulate you. Sad to say, but it happens all the time to LBH's.
It is not about what you feel should work in your M. It is about doing the work that gets the right results. Do what works!