Big Gator: A BBW shape shifter paranormal romance (13 page)

             “
So
who is the person, and where are they?”

             “
I
can't tell you,” Jenny said.  “Only those of us who are
assigned to this task are allowed to know any details.”

             “
But
the person is in Florida for sure?”

             “
Most
definitely.”

             “
But
it sounds like maybe there's more than one.”

             “
There
were three,” Jenny said.  “But one of them died last month. 
Now there are two. We have to deal with them both. And they are BOTH
in Florida.”

Chapter 14

             
McEvans
noticed that Rachel had been distracted lately.  When he came
home in the wee hours of the morning after finding Shirley, Rachel
was sound asleep in his bed.  The next morning, she didn't yell
at him, but she didn't give him the cold shoulder either.  That
was weird.  She just acted completely understanding and said
that they could go out to dinner over the weekend to make up for
their postponed anniversary.

             
It
seemed too easy, and he didn't trust it.

             
What
could he really do, though? Ask his girlfriend why she was being
so
nice?

             
He
had postponed their moving in together while Shirley was temporarily
living on the premises, but he still had given Rachel a key. 
After Shirley ran away, there was no reason not to move forward as
planned.   But still, he wasn’t feeling so eager about
it.

             
Rachel
was gorgeous, but Jake kept having intrusive thoughts – like maybe
both of them could do better.   He would never say to a
woman the words “I love you, but I'm not IN love with you”
because Jake felt like that was a cop out.  Rachel was great,
but he was never really EXCITED to see her, and quite frankly, he
wasn't sure that he was Rachel's soulmate either. 

             
She
wanted to get married and have kids with him – she had been clear
about that.  But didn't Rachel deserve more than just
stability? 

             
He
needed a woman's advice.  But he didn't really have any women in
his life that he could talk to just as a friend. He started to
consider confiding in Brandy – maybe get her perspective on the
matter – but he wondered if that was entirely appropriate given the
fact he was her boss.               

             
Also,
McEvans was a bit intimidated by Brandy.  He caught himself
watching her on the sly with the gators at Animal Sphere. Sometimes
he had to admit that she was better at handling them than he was. 
He'd even had a couple of dreams about her that were, well, strangely
erotic. Usually it would start off where they would be swimming in a
murky swamp together, and then they'd end up underwater for a very
long, long time...

             
Anyway,
he would have to figure things out for himself.

             
He
had started having headaches, too – he figured he was just
internalizing stress. A headache would come on whenever he started
thinking that he and Rachel should take a break for a little bit to
figure things out.

             
One
Friday night after work, McEvans took the crew who worked the gator
pit out for drinks at a nearby bar, where he could blend in easily
despite the fact he was a celebrity.  The bar owner had known
McEvans since he was a kid, as did most of the regulars.  To
them he was just Jake, Bill McEvans’ son.

             
Animal
Sphere’s latest documentary series finally had been released on
DVD, so that night the gator crew was celebrating.

             
Brandy
joined them, of course, and McEvans more than noticed that on that
night she cleaned up nice. A lightweight turquoise wrap sweater clung
to her figure, highlighting her upward assets in the cleavage
department. Her hair was twisted up and held in place with a couple
of what looked to him to be chopsticks, from which a single tendril
had escaped and cascaded down the nape of her neck.

             
As
he shot pool with the crew, Brandy slipped passed him at one point,
bringing him a cold beer.  McEvans caught a whiff of what
smelled like pure, clean coconut oil mixed with something lightly
floral. It was nice to have her out with the guys that night. 
Rachel never really liked to hang out with his friends or employees. 
She was more interested in going to upscale charity events that cost
$10,000 per plate and, quite frankly, were more about the wealthy
showing off how generous they were than actually helping people. 
The reality was, who really knew where that money actually went.

             
McEvans
was seriously considering letting Brandy play a role in the
production of his next documentary film, which would involve
traveling down to Mexico. She was pretty focused on the American
Alligator as a species, but he wanted to introduce her to the Central
American Morelet’s Crocodile, which was specifically native solely
to Mexico. 

             
With
any luck, they’d all even be able to take a few days break after
filming just to hang on the beach. McEvans was overdue a vacation,
and he thought he wouldn’t really mind spending his vacation with
Brandy.

             
And
with the rest of his crew,
of
course
.

             
He
had to keep reminding himself that he was Brandy’s boss, and he
didn’t want to overstep his boundaries. Actually, the problem was
that he DID want to overstep the boundaries.  He just didn’t
know how she would take it, and he wasn’t a cheater by nature.

             
Brandy
wasn’t his usual type.  Rachel was. Then again, he had been
accused more than once of being a serial monogamist.  Really, he
thought it was just impossible to find a woman who didn’t become
resentful of the demands of his job after about six months. 
Women didn’t seem to understand that to run the type of enterprise
that he did actually took genuine, hard work.

             
Plus,
McEvans was one of the few men out there who truly had been lucky to
be able to follow his real passion, no matter where it took him, with
a large measure of success.

             
The
area around the pool table was tight. McEvans attempted to squeeze
past Brandy at one point as she was sharing a joke with a couple of
the guys.  Without thinking, he put his hand on her waist, and
then slid it quickly across her lower back, to nudge her out the
way.  He needed room to take a shot at the 8-ball he had lined
up on the pool table.

             
Brandy’s
smile froze for a second, he could tell, at the touch of his hand.
But then she went on laughing and joking with her coworkers like
nothing had happened.

             
And
McEvans suddenly got blindsided by a 60-second migraine headache that
caused him to miss his shot, forfeit the game, and have to pay up $50
to one of his employees.

Chapter 15

             
Brandy
didn't take the swamp for granted just because she was a shifter. 
She truly was intrigued by swamp ecology.              

             
In
Florida, the term “swamp” described several variations on wetland
habitats, all of them valuable ecosystems. Alligators certainly
weren't the only reptiles in the swamp, and in addition to the
endless varieties of birds and insects, a number of medicinal plants
and intriguing fauna made up the general ambience of the whole swampy
deal.

             
She
wasn't satisfied at all with Animal Sphere's alligator exhibit. 
Obviously, it was manmade – that was the point – it was TOO
manmade.  She wanted McEvans to redesign and expand it – to
recreate a true microcosm of what a descent self-respecting swamp bog
should look like – and that visitors could travel through. 
This would not be inexpensive, and it would be a real challenge to
get it done right, but McEvans had the money and she certainly had
the time.

             
So
Brandy tried her hand at drafting up a proposal.  This was the
first time she'd ever attempted to pitch a professional project to
someone, so she was kind of flying by the seat of her pants. She
worked on it on the sly when McEvans wasn't around, because she
wanted to surprise him.  She didn't want to just toss the idea
out at him casually.  She wanted to look like she knew what she
was doing.

             
Well,
Brandy DID know what she was doing because she had been swimming
around, hunting, and fighting in swamps all her life – she knew
every nook and cranky of most boggy areas around the state.  She
just wanted to make sure she looked like she knew how sell and pull
off such a large scale project.  She was still just an intern at
Animal Sphere, after all.

             
Brandy
had another challenge.  She was going to have to bring 'Shirley'
in for a reappearance at Animal Sphere.  Time was ticking, and
McEvans was counting on her to deliver.  This was not something
she could pull off alone, because that meant she would actually have
to DELIVER Shirley, and she could not drive herself – in alligator
form – to the theme park.

             
She
couldn't ask RAY for help.  He probably WOULD (not knowing she
had the hots for McEvans) but he would expect some kind of payment in
kind. She was going to have to ask Marianne, who was going to freak
out about it.

             
So
during another Florida early morning – the time of day where things
haven't gotten sticky humid yet – while she and Marianne were
exfoliating themselves and drinking sweet tea on the back porch,
Brandy came clean with her best friend.

             “
You
want me to do what?!  Are you
nutso
?”

             “
Look,
he's already agreed that Shirley can come and go.”

             “
Oh
sure, like your an alligator's booking agent.”

             “
I
already pulled it off – sort of,” Brandy told her.

             
Then
she explained to Marianne the incident where she played
Victor/Victoria for McEvans, so he got to see Shirley again for a few
minutes.

             “
This
is getting to be dangerous, Brandy,” Marianne warned her. “I know
you like your job, but come on.  You're starting to put
everything at risk.”

             
Brandy
didn't dare tell her how she explained to McEvans that there was an
“unknown, alternate” species of alligator swimming around out
there.

             “
It's
not really that bad,” Brandy replied. “I'll do it maybe once a
month.  That's enough.  He'll come to accept that's all he
can have with her.”

             
Marianne
put down her body brush and picked up a glass of sweet iced tea that
was sweating in the sun.  She took a long, cool drink, then set
the glass down firmly.

             “
What's
really going on here?” Marianne demanded.

             “
I've
already told you.”

             “
No,
you haven't.”

             
The
two women stared at each other in a kind of psychological face-off.
Marianne knew Brandy better than anyone in the world, and vice
versa.  They'd been there for each other through all kinds of
shit.