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“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Bailey told her, not quite as optimistic as her girls. Okay, it was more that she was afraid to be so optimistic. “Besides, did all three of us not once agree that it would be best if my mate isn’t overbearing, controlling, and overprotective—all things that can be applied to Deke?”
“He does indeed have those traits,” Havana allowed. “But it hasn’t worked against you so far, has it?”
“We kept things light and easy, though,” Bailey pointed out. “That’s not going to apply as of today.”
“Yeah, he likely didn’t unleash the full force of his personality on you,” Havana mused. “Now that you’re taking things up a notch, he’ll push and be bossy and try to fix all your problems because, hello, he’s a dominant male shifter. You’re capable of pushing back. You’ll handle him just fine.”
Aspen dipped her chin. “You’ve been handling him perfectly fine since the day you guys first met, haven’t you?”
“I guess.” Bailey watched as a skater landed hard on the floor a few feet away. She would have headed over to check on him, but the laughing juvenile scraped himself off the floor and hurried after his chuckling friends.
“You truly didn’t think Deke would want more, did you?” It wasn’t a question from Havana. It was a confident statement.
“No. As it happens, I didn’t think I’d want more either. Truthfully, I don’t want to want more. Things are simpler when I don’t have other people’s wants and needs to think about.” Bailey then didn’t have to worry she’d let them down or that they’d get sick of her. “But then he went and told me that he wouldn’t change me even if he could, the asshole.”
Havana smiled. “Oh, how dare he say something sweet.”
“I know!” The dude was unbelievable.
Chuckling, Aspen slung an arm over Bailey’s shoulders. “Did you throw something at him for saying something so nice to you?”
“No.” But she should have.
“Ah, my girl is growing up.” Aspen sighed, happy. “I was starting to think you’d be stuck in the Peter Pan stage forever.”
Bailey frowned. “Is he the fox shifter we used to work with?”
“No, you donut. Peter Pan,” the bearcat repeated, as if that would clear everything up. “The boy who could fly and lived in Neverland.”
“Where’s that? Don’t think I’ve been there.”
Aspen rolled her eyes. “Of course you haven’t. It’s a fictional place.”
“How can someone live in a fictional place? And how the hell does he fly? Is he a bird shifter?”
“No, he is fictional too.”
“Oh. That doesn’t explain how he flies.”
“He has—you know what, it doesn’t matter.” Aspen lowered her arm. “Let’s get back to the subject of Deke. You haven’t told us how he is in bed yet.”
Bailey pursed her lips. “Well … he doesn’t snore or hog the covers. I count those as wins.”
“Don’t play stupid.”
“But it’s one of my favorite games.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“Then you’re just mean for asking me not to play it.” Bailey folded her arms. “My contentment should matter to you.”
Aspen tipped her head to the side. “And yet …”
Havana shook her head, fighting a smile. “If it wasn’t for me, you two would have murdered each other by now.”
It was in fact highly probable.
Once their shift was over, they headed outside to the parking lot and made their way to the new car that had been assigned to Bailey. Like the last one, it belonged to the pride. Two enforcers, JP and Joaquin, waited in another vehicle parked nearby. The enforcers followed them until Bailey pulled up outside the Alpha pair’s house, at which point the males went their own way.
Once Havana was safely inside her home, Bailey parked in the lot outside her apartment building. She and Aspen then parted. The bearcat made a beeline for their complex while Bailey headed to the deli to meet Deke.
Glad she’d slipped on a thick coat today, since it was pretty chilly, Bailey stuffed her hands in her pockets as she walked along the busy street. It was loud as usual. Horns beeped. Engines rumbled. Voices murmured. Footsteps slapped the pavement.
But it wasn’t all the noise that made her snake coil herself to spring. It was the sight of Therese casually heading in her direction. The pallas cat had made an enemy of both Bailey and her snake after all the recent smack-talk she’d been doing.
Therese slowed to a stop in front of her, seeming awkward. “Hey.”
“Yo.” The word came out flat and unwelcoming, but Therese didn’t let it faze her—she remained in place and flashed Bailey a nervous smile.
“How are you?” Therese asked.
“Good.”
“I heard all about the crash.” Therese absently prodded at the back of her golden braid. “Must have been scary.”
“Why?”
Therese’s bow mouth curved. “I probably should have known better than to think you were rattled by it.”
“Hmm.”
“Look, I’m sorry for talking crap about you.” Regret glimmered in Therese’s powder-blue eyes. “I don’t truly believe you set out to seduce Deke so you could draw him away from Dayna for the heck of it.”
