I had pretty much the exact same situation. Exact except for one detail.

I told a woman I wanted no relationship, I didn't plan on sticking around, I have my own personal demons, I'd be a terrible BF. But then she says "you wouldn't be a terrible bf etc etc." Basically trying to convince me into a relationship. I ended up ghosting her for months/years at a time.

She's still whipped on me somehow. I tried cutting her off like that cold turkey so she could find someone better than me because she deserved that. When she did find someone, they were bf gf for a few months and she would actively try and cheat on the dude with me and I wouldn't do it. Not only was it immoral to me but I wasn't really attracted to her anymore.

But anyways back to OP. Even though it was safe to assume she knew what was up you should have been straight forward with her. No one deserves to be strung along like that. Loneliness is a fickle bitch. Try that meet up site or something if you're feeling lonely. That would be a lot better than playing with a person's emotions.