A Sinful Trap (Three Sinful Wishes 2)

She stared at him a moment before bursting out laughing. “You have no idea how much I believe, Boots. I’ve seen things that would straighten your Davide’s beautiful hair. One of my best friends is a professional psychic. She’s been here plenty of times, but she never sensed a thing.”

Davide smirked. “You don’t believe in ghosts but psychics are real?”

“I believe in proof,” she corrected, the stubborn tilt of her chin irresistible. “And Kaya proves it more often than I’d like her to. It’s horrible, really. You brush by her and… Well, you’d have to meet her to understand. She’s a huge buzzkill at parties, and it really narrows down her dating pool, that’s all I’m saying.”

A true seer then, Cam thought. He should avoid her until he had the chance to tell Bailey the truth about what he was himself. “I can only imagine.”

Now Davide was intrigued. “You say she’s been here, but has she ever been in the attic?”

“No, and I’m not going to ask her to hold a séance or anything, so don’t go there.” She studied him. “You still haven’t eaten and you’ve been out in the sun all day. Why don’t we go downstairs so you can sample one of Ava’s sandwiches?”

“Because you think I’m hallucinating? Or are you trying to take care of me, too? I could use a neck pillow.”

“Whatever works for you, D.”

Cam caught the possessive expression on Davide’s face. And something else that shouldn’t be possible. He had to be wrong. Either that, or he needed a hell of a lot more information.

“We’ll meet you downstairs,” he told Davide firmly, hoping he got the message.

“If you keep sending me away, I’m going to start feeling unloved.”

“Sure you are,” Cam said wryly. “I need a minute with Bailey, that’s all. Then we’ll go home for the day.”

Together.

Bailey covered a chuckle with her hand when Davide slapped Cam’s ass as he passed.

“I’ll be back soon, sweet,” he told her. “We’re not finished yet.”

“Promises, promises,” she teased. “Also, be aware that if Mr. Olyphant starts ghostbusting in the middle of the night, I’m blaming you.”

“But will you punish me?” With that and a wink, he jogged down the stairs toward the kitchen, leaving Cam and Bailey alone again.

He couldn’t process what he’d sensed coming from Davide, so he set it aside and concentrated on her. “Do you know how old this inn is?”

“That’s what you want to talk about?” He took an inordinate amount of comfort from the fact that she looked disappointed. “Okay, well, let me put my tour guide hat on. The building itself is over a hundred years old. It was turned into an inn around seventy something years ago? I have the paperwork Pikeson made copies of when he was trying to see if the historical society would give him a write-off.”

Cam slid his hands into his pockets so he wouldn’t reach for her. “Do you know about the first owners of the inn?”

“The sisters?” Her expression softened. “There are a lot of stories about them, but not a ton of provable information. They turned their inherited house into a bed-and-breakfast when Hollywood started filming all their westerns here. They were extremely successful for two single women alone. So successful that most of the legends about them end sticky. Because patriarchy.”

Damn, she was adorable. “Sticky?”

“Most say they were robbed and murdered, the deed stolen from them, but no one ever found the bodies.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. What had his grandfather done?

She could help you find out.

It was in her nature. The way she defended Davide, went the extra mile for her guests and gave people in need jobs to get them through a rough patch. If he were an alpha, she would be his perfect match. Strong and proud. Bright and brazen. Nurturing and empathetic.

Humanhumanhuman.

His wolf wanted to protect her and claim her as his mate. Cam knew if he pressed for too much commitment too soon, she would pull away. But she was attracted to him. To Davide. He could work with that.

“I don’t want you going up there alone.” It came out before he could stop it, but he refused to take it back.

“Why? Do you think the sisters’ killer is up there, waiting to murder the next unsuspecting innkeeper?” She swallowed her laugh when he didn’t join her. “I was kidding, Cam.”

He wasn’t. “As you’ve said, this building is a century old and you’ve never been up there before. I don’t want to use the owner card, but I’m asking you not to climb that ladder, or wander through a cluttered attic that—since you assure me it can’t be haunted—must be occupied by some species of large rodent.”

She made the face most humans did when rats were mentioned and his shoulders relaxed.

“Do you believe there are ghosts?”