Page 55 of A Sinful Trap

Bailey narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

Dani shrugged. “Because you seemed different yesterday. Happier. And when you mentioned the spider, I was hoping it was a good sign.”

She thought again about Cam and Davide. The link was still humming, but it was definitely different today. Was it because her wall was up, or had something changed?

“Spider or not, most men aren’t Liam,” she finally said. “You got the last good one.”

“He’s not perfect, Bailey,” Dani said, frowning at her. “Do you remember that he lied to me? Or that I was a mess?”

“You were not a mess.”

“A flaming, hot mess,” she insisted. “Before I moved here, I had no real family. No true friends other than Liam, and I didn’t trust him enough to tell him everything Sal had done. After being with someone like that? I had a hard time believing I deserved something good. Something magical. It took you and Kaya, falling stars, a pitcher of liquid courage, plus Will and several supernatural assists to get me to take that leap.”

“When you put it that way,” Bailey muttered into her cup.

“That’s the only way to put it,” Dani declared. “We are not the couple to judge other relationships by. We’re right for each other, but everyone is different. Now tell me what your situation is and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong and you should go for it.”

Bailey groaned as she looked in Dani’s eyes. She couldn’t believe she was considering this, but she had to talk to someone. If anyone was going to understand being sexually attracted to a man who could turn into an animal, it would be her. “You asked for it.”

“Still asking.”

“They’re sort of like Stax, I guess? They’re shifters. Cam’s grandfather came here and found a mate—that’s how the Enchanted sisters died, by the way—so Cam bought this place to find out what happened. Now he and Davide both think I’m their mate, only you’re not supposed to be able to mate two at a time, so if I don’t release them, they could fight over me and die. Over me, when they’ve been in love with each other for decades.”

Dani’s eyes had grown wider with every word, and when Bailey was finished, she stared at her for a good thirty seconds, before whistling. “Wow. I’m so glad I promised not to freak out. You don’t do anything halfway, do you? Not even wishes.”

“Do you even remember my wish? I ordered two Ewan MacGregor lookalikes who could cook like Liam and secretly lusted after bossy women. Oddly, that seems much more realistic now.”

“That’s not what you really wished for,” Dani admonished. “You wanted to be cherished and loved. If a mate means the same thing in real life as it does in a paranormal romance, I doubt you could get more cherished than that.”

“That’s the thing. I’m not sure it does.” She set down the cup on the night stand and ran her hands through her hair. “They were complete before me, Dani. We’re connected somehow, and I’ve felt what they feel for each other. I saw their lives together, and I don’t fit into that anywhere. I’m not in this romance. It isn’t really my story.”

“How can you say that?” Dani tilted her head. “What are the odds? You told me as soon as you saw the inn you knew you had to live here. And I’m going to be brutally honest—Pikeson treated you like cheap labor and stuck you in a closet-sized room, and you took it for more than ten years. You knew he’d never really sell you the inn for a discount. That guy? Come on. But you still stayed.”

Bailey couldn’t deny it.

“He tried to sell this place for more money for years, but because he was never willing to put any in for repairs, it stayed on the market. For years, Bailey. And then who buys it?” Dani took her hand and shook it for emphasis. “Cameron Locke. Your big, sexy shifter mate who happens to already be conveniently in love with your other sexy shifter mate. You’re telling me there aren’t supposed to be two mates for one person, but you got a happily matched set? You want to ignore the wonder of that? And now, because you weren’t there at the start of the love story, you don’t want to be in it at all. That doesn’t sound like the Bailey I know. You’re braver than that.”

“When you put it like that,” Bailey said again, amazed at the different perspective Dani had on the situation.

“I’m telling you, I’m right about this.”

“I almost went to them yesterday,” Bailey confessed. “But then Will brought my guests to the attic and I’d just seen…everything. Felt everything they were feeling.”

“The connection you mentioned—do you think that’s the tether Kaya was talking about?”

Bailey nodded. “They chased after me, but I wouldn’t talk to them. I couldn’t.”

She’d never forget it, though. The shifting. All that gorgeous, bare skin.

“You aren’t busy right now. I’m here and so is Ava. Maybe you need to do something about that. After you shower and put on sexy underwear.”

“I do need to take them the trunk,” Bailey said thoughtfully. “Stan the ghost wanted Cam to have it.”

“Ghosts. I still can’t believe it. But that settles it.” Dani smacked the bed and got to her feet. “Go make your delivery, and while you’re there, maybe you can have an honest conversation about where you stand with them before all the epic, marathon sex you were planning on having.”

Anxiety replaced her anticipation. “What if there’s no way to make it work?”

What if she had to let them go?

“If you want to, you’ll find a way, Bailey. It’s what you do.”

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