Bouncer’s Folly (3 page)

She loved being a female, loved her womanly wiles and loved wielding them over the stronger sex as needed. Although she had to admit her brief stint inhabiting and sharing her brother Zack’s body during her first reincarnation after her death had been enjoyable and showed her the advantages of being born male. She really enjoyed jerking off in the shower for instance. Oh my God, that had been totally liberating!

But something about her current incarnation in this, she raised her wrist to look at the name printed on her hospital bracelet, Trevor Carmichael’s body smacked of permanence to her. This wasn’t a two-week mission.

What were her angels up to and hadn’t she redeemed herself enough to deserve a break?

Do not be an ingrate, human.

Zara smiled, relieved to hear Micah’s voice, even if he was in his usual grumpy mood.

I am not in a “mood.” There is just no place for sentimentality in our
dealings.

Yes, but you catch more flies with honey.

I am not here to catch flies.

Micah, give it a rest, why do you not?

You tell him, Jamaereh!

18

Gracie C. McKeever

Do not be smart, human. We did you a huge favor sending you back and
you would do well not to forget it.

How can I?

You are wondering what your mission is, are you not, child?

Duh.

Jamaereh chuckled and Micah grumbled.

Well, what is it?

We cannot tell you.

Why not?

Child, this one you must figure out on your own.

What? I can’t!

Do not whine, human
.

God, she could just see Micah’s scowl now, kind of looking like Ramsey Logan had last night before he left.

Zara, you do not need our help any longer. Just follow your heart and
you will not go wrong. Trust me.

Surely Jamaereh was joking? Any time in her life when she followed her heart disaster soon followed. Didn’t he know that?

Good-bye, Zara and good luck.

You are going to need it.

Micah, be nice.

“Wait! You can’t leave me like this!” Zara threw off her covers and sat up as if ready to chase after the two angels who had guided her through the pitfalls of two incarnations.

How could they do this to her?

“Leave? I just got here.”

Zara gasped, grabbing her chest before she saw Ramsey standing on the threshold of the room holding a bouquet of helium-filled, ‘Get Well Soon’

balloons with one hand and a blue envelope in the other.

He crossed the room, a warm, sexy grin lighting his features and the blatant imprint of a hard-on that he unsuccessfully tried to hide behind the card, outlining the front of his jeans.

If Zara had any doubt of Ramsey’s inclinations after last night, she didn’t any longer. Good thing too, as she’d shamelessly flirted with the man since opening her eyes in the restroom at
Zara’s
. “You came.”

“Not yet,” he teased.

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19

“Ha-ha.”

Ramsey smiled briefly before suddenly turning serious. “I said I would, didn’t I?”

His deep, matter-of-fact tone warmed her insides. She didn’t know too many men—too many people, actually—who meant what they said and said what they meant though, except Quincy and her brother Zack. “Yes, you did.”

He didn’t say another word, simply thrust the balloons and card at her before taking a seat beside her bed when she took them.

Zara tied the strings of the balloons to the railing of her bed, slid the card out of the envelope and opened it. It was a simple get-well wish, but the fact that he had taken the time to buy it and the balloons almost choked her up. She cleared her throat before saying, “You shouldn’t have.”

“It’s no big deal.”

“I appreciate it anyway. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Ramsey drummed his fingers against the arms of his chair and looked around the room, obviously nervous and doing everything he could to keep from looking at Zara.

She couldn’t imagine a big strong man, a bouncer who regularly handled difficult and often drunk club-goers, being nervous or afraid of anything, much less little old her.

Or little old Trevor.

Did he have a
reason
to be nervous around Trevor? Was there some sort of history between them that Zara was unaware of?

Last night Ramsey had come off as just a reluctant Good Samaritan, dutifully hanging around to make sure that Trevor was okay. But maybe he’d stayed out of more than just duty. Maybe he’d stayed out of want and need and now was having a difficult time dealing with these apparently aberrant and unheard of desires.

When Ramsey finally found her gaze, he didn’t seem near as intimidating as he pretended to be, and didn’t make her as uncomfortable as she seemed to be making him.

Zara reached out a hand to touch his thigh, felt the muscles twitch beneath her fingers as if Ramsey had been jolted with electricity. She stared into his brandy eyes, sinking fast through the veneer of cool restraint and seriousness to reach the sympathetic and warm man beneath.

20

Gracie C. McKeever

Ramsey scowled but made no attempt to remove her hand and Zara took it as a good sign that he didn’t snatch his leg away, thought maybe he wasn’t totally repulsed by her. She pressed her luck further and squeezed his thigh, not flirting as much as she was trying to break the ice and relieve his tension.

He cleared his throat, but still didn’t try to evade her touch. “So, um, when will Travis be here to spring you?”

“Not until a little later. They’re discharging me this afternoon.”

Ramsey nodded. “I figured as much.”

“Are you going to stay until then or do you have some place to be?”

“I’ll, uh…I’ll stay for a little while.”

Zara didn’t miss his hesitation. She almost sighed in relief but managed to restrain herself and say with as much quiet dignity as she could muster,

“Good.” She didn’t want to act too grateful and excited. She didn’t want to make Ramsey more uncomfortable than was necessary and give him a reason to leave sooner instead of later. She liked having him around. Despite his
discomfort
, he made her feel comfortable and…safe.

Zara flung her legs over the side of the bed where the railing was down and slid her feet into a pair of foam slippers. She had an instant to steady herself with a hand against the foot of the bed before Ramsey came around to her side and slid an arm about her waist.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“To freshen up” was on the tip of her tongue but she bit it back. She’d already almost given herself away a couple of times last night/this morning.

She had to be careful and try to stay in character from now on, act how this Trevor Carmichael would act, say what he would say and how he’d say it.

No mean feat since she didn’t know a lick about him except he had a penchant for drugs and wild partying.

The last she had some experience with, the drugs not so much.

“I need to go to the bathroom.”

“I’ll help you.”

“You don’t need to do tha—Hey!” Ramsey had scooped her up in his arms and was looking at her with an expression that said “What are you going to do about it?” as he walked her to the bathroom on the other side of the room as if she weighed nothing.

Safe and protected.

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21

She told herself he must have a knight-in-shining-armor complex. Why else would he be so nice, unless he really liked Trevor?

Zara shook her head as if to deny her cynicism, curved her arms around his neck. She had just enough time to appreciate the feel of his hard-muscled chest and flat abdomen against her side before he put her down just inside the bathroom door. She craned her neck to look up at him, searching as he unflinchingly returned her stare. She wanted to say something, anything to prolong the moment because she liked the way he looked at her, not just with sexual desire, but genuine curiosity and compassion, as if he cared and she was worthy.

“Call me if you need some help,” he murmured.

“Sure thing.” Zara closed the door and leaned against it, heart pounding in her ears and nipples hard and tight. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she pushed herself up off the door to walk over to the mirror.

She knew she was in a man’s body but this didn’t stop her from gasping when she finally opened her eyes, caught sight of her new reflection in the mirror and realized that Trevor was an identical twin.

Even with the undeniable similarities between him and his brother, she could still see the differences, the main one being Trevor’s stirring eyes, as if he had experienced more pain and sorrow than anyone his age had a right to.

Her next thought was that Trevor was just too gorgeous, the exact type of surfer boy slacker that she tried to avoid without much success in her previous life as a woman.

He had the kind of nonchalant beauty that she had always envied, wavy chestnut hair sleep-tousled around his head and giving him a devil-may-care look, blue eyes framed by long, curly lashes that any woman would kill or die for.

Zara reached back to untie the pathetic hospital gown, wondered what Ramsey had thought of her ass since she knew he must have caught a peek of it when he came to her side to hold her steady.

Why had he picked her up? To cop an easy feel? Was he that attracted to Trevor that even the bad boy’s reckless and crazy ways didn’t deter his desire?

Zara didn’t know whether to be flattered or question Ramsey’s judgment.

22

Gracie C. McKeever

Surely he knew Trevor Carmichael was bad news?

Hey,
you’re
Trevor Carmichael!

Zara let the gown slide from her shoulders and down her body until it puddled around her feet on the floor. She stared in the mirror, admiring the tight, sculpted body in the glass.

Not bad. Either Trevor found time to work out between his drug binges, or he had hit the genetic jackpot, one of those people who never had to work out a day in his life to maintain a runway model’s sleek figure. He could probably eat anything he wanted without gaining an ounce too. Just the sort of person she usually hated.

Zara stepped back a couple of feet to get a better look at the family jewels, closed her eyes until the very last minute. She opened one eye, and then gawked at the alien equipment. Seems this Trevor had been blessed all the way around. Now all she had to do was get him back on the straight and narrow, if he had ever
been
on them to begin with.

Like
you
know all that much about the straight and narrow yourself.

She reached for herself, getting acquainted with the soft-hard feel of a semi-erection that was attached to her and not another person, feeling strangely comfortable handling herself. Maybe her stint in Zack’s body had prepared her.

Zara dragged her gaze back up to her face. Jesus, how young was this guy anyway? She looked at her wristband again and saw a birth date of 11/30/83. He was only a few years younger than her when she’d first died, but obviously a ‘kid’ to Mr. Worldly Wise, Hardened Bouncer Ramsey Logan. She’d known Trevor had to be at least twenty-one to get into the club as meticulous and anal as Quincy was about these things, which didn’t explain how he’d gotten into
Zara’s
with drugs. Had he snuck drugs into the club himself or had he hooked up with a friend in the bathroom to score his high?

Shit, Zara had done some crazy things in her previous life, but the hardest stuff she’d ever ingested besides her favorite Apple Martinis was a little pot.

What kind of hard-core doper had her angels dropped her into? Which led her to wonder just how healthy, or unhealthy, Trevor was? How many times had he OD’d and almost died before she came into the picture? If
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23

Travis’s disapproval was any indication, Trevor must have had these episodes too many times to count.

Zara turned on the tap and splashed cold water on her face. It did precious little to eradicate the dark, puffy half-circles under her eyes or make her feel any less bedraggled, but it would have to do for now.

Ramsey pounded on the door and almost made Zara jump out of her skin, or more accurately, jump out of Trevor’s skin. “Everything okay in there?”

“Be out in a sec!” She turned back to the mirror, slicked back her hair with one hand and crouched low to retrieve her gown. She put it back on and tied it as fast as she could then opened the door to find Ramsey with one fist raised in the air and a look of growing panic on his face.

“Why the hell were you in there so long?”

“Can’t a gir—uy freshen up a little?”

“Freshen up?”

“Yes, freshen up. I feel like crap. I haven’t had a shower or washed my ass since they dragged me in here covered in my own vomit last night. Or don’t you remember the condition I was in when they brought me here?”

“I remember perfectly.”

Zara looked at him and caught the fear in his brandy eyes. “You didn’t think—”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he mumbled.

He was worried about her! How sweet.

Zara smiled and hooked an arm through his, decided not to address it further, didn’t want to upset his fragile male ego by suggesting that he cared about her or anything.

She led him over to the chair, sat him down then lowered the railing and hopped up onto the bed to face him, at a loss for words. And that wasn’t her.

Zara was never at a loss for words especially when she was with a man. She was the epitome of charming coquette, sophisticated socialite and party girl supreme. Of course, it would have helped if she had some of her designer threads with which to shield herself before going into social battle.

The cheesy hospital gown really didn’t help a girl’s image or add to her cosmopolitan mystique. And without her make-up and jewelry she felt so…so naked!