Page 58 of A Sinful Trap

Davide looked at him, obviously disappointed by his response, and Cam sighed in frustration.

Sliding to his knees beside the couch, he said, “Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, I’ll ask you to tell me all about it. But we have more important things to discuss, and I realized last night that I’ve been wasting time looking for an answer that I didn’t need instead of focusing on the things that matter.” He stared into her eyes, willing her to understand. “My grandfather left. End of story. And sometimes, selfish people don’t think about the things they leave behind.”

She exhaled slowly, obviously recognizing her own words. “The mental TMI was a two-way street then. Good to know.”

When she crossed her arms, he shook his head.

“You always do that when you’re feeling defensive.”

“And you always—” She set her hands on her thighs, laughing under her breath. “A dozen things you always do just popped into my head. You’ll have to give me a minute, Boot Boy. Nothing magical has ever happened to me before, and I can’t even enjoy it, because I know you didn’t open the door willingly.”

“Why would you say that?” Davide asked, looking troubled.

“You can be honest with me, D. You always were in your emails. I know it’s the push to mate, I understood that much after the psychic download. If this were purely about emotion and desire, Cam would be sharing his pon farr mind meld with you.”

Cam frowned. “What the hell is a pon farr? Another vampire reference?”

“Star Trek.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Before Ava, if I wanted to eat a homecooked meal, I went over to Dani and Liam’s place, and they are on a Trek binge. Some of it stuck. But it doesn’t matter. I’m trying to apologize for the way I acted when you stopped me yesterday. Everything came at me too fast and I needed to process.”

“This isn’t processing. This is you trying to diminish what we feel for you,” Davide corrected carefully. “What I don’t know is why. Did I—did we—do something wrong? Say something that hurt you?”

“This is my fault, Davide.” Cam set his hand on the couch near her thigh, needing to be closer even if he couldn’t touch her yet. “You misunderstood what you saw, Bailey. What you felt? It wasn’t everything I feel.”

A sad sort of tenderness stole across her expression. “You say I didn’t get everything, but neither did you. You don’t know the day-to-day boring story of me. The one-horse-town human who’s only left the state once to go to Vegas for a bachelorette party. Even then I stayed in the hotel the entire time, and after the first day I couldn’t wait to get home. I didn’t know any of this existed. I didn’t know anything like you existed until Stax. I tried to ignore it or joke about it because, even though my best friend reads minds for a living, the truth was too hard to wrap my head around. And then you two showed up and blew my mind again.”

Cam sighed. “I didn’t think about how the link would affect you.”

“Why would you?” she asked without a trace of judgment. “You didn’t believe mating was real a few days ago, the same way I didn’t believe in wishes a few months ago. I’m right, aren’t I? You thought if Davide wasn’t your mate, it couldn’t be real. That’s how much you love him, and it’s beautiful. What you have is what everyone deserves to have. So don’t tell me it isn’t everything.”

Cam met Davide’s gaze. There was love, yes, a lifetime’s worth and never in doubt. But now there was more. A longing for this woman who was trying so hard to put her own desires aside to do the right thing. Because even though it would cause her pain, that was who she was. And it was just one of the things they loved about her.

“You’re not wrong,” he finally managed. “But you’re not right either.”

“Oh?” Her eyes glimmered with unshed tears. “How did I pull that off?”

“You’re under the mistaken impression that love has limits,” Davide said.

Knowing there were no words they could say to make her believe them, Cam took her hand.

“Let us show you.” He could feel everything riding on this moment. “We have until the sun rises tomorrow to be together without expectations. Give us today. All of it. Let us show you how we feel. How it could be between the three of us.”

She licked her lips, her eyes filled with doubt—and an unmistakable glint of interest. “I’m trying to let you off the hook and you’re propositioning me?”

Davide kissed her shoulder, instantly on board with Cam’s impulsive plan. “Absolutely. Interested?”

Bailey hesitated. “Is it possible for us to…? Without making it official, I mean?”

Without marking her.

His wolf grumbled in denial but Cam squeezed her hand. “We can do anything, Bailey.”

She was weakening. He could feel it. “It’s not even noon yet.”

His shoulders shook with silent laughter. “Is that a human rule I didn’t know about?”

“An observation.”

“Let’s make a deal that, until tomorrow, time doesn’t matter. Rules don’t matter. Life-altering decisions don’t matter. Only pleasure. Only us.”

He sensed the moment she decided to say yes. There was a change to her scent, her heartbeat. It seemed contradictory, but he knew this was the only way to show her that what they had was more than she thought it was. That she meant more to them than she knew.

She’d been watching them for days, but now she would feel them. Know them in every way possible. Then she might finally be able to listen and believe.

“Bailey, I need you to say it out loud—that you know what we are and accept us. That you’ll let us touch you and taste you and make you come.”

She blew out an unsteady breath. “How could anyone say no to that?”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”

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