Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (69 page)

Chapter Two

“I really have to stop
doing this.” Morgan moaned at the kink in her neck as she sat
up.. “Michael?” She looked around, then listened for
any sign of the man in the house. Everything was silent, and she
knew that he was gone. “Shit.” She rubbed the pain at
the base of her neck and made her way to the bathroom.

There was very little
hesitation about her morning shower, something that she might have
skipped since she had taken her bath the night before. The hot water
would help ease the pain, and she was standing in the near scalding
stream when a loud knock came from the door. “Come in!”
Morgan peeked her head through the sliding door and yelled, then
caught a glimpse of Michael as he walked in. “I'll be out in a
sec.” She closed the shower door again, and leaned her head
back as the pain hit her again.

“Are you alright?”
Michael heard the moan from the shower, and opened the door enough to
check on her. She nodded, then grabbed her neck again.

“I slept wrong.... maybe
we could use the bed tonight.” Her half smile made him feel
terrible, and he left the room without saying a word. “I'm
alright! Honest!” It was her turn to feel bad, she never
intended to hurt his feelings. The hot water suddenly didn't feel as
good as it had, and she turned it off and stepped out.
Do I
really have to say everything that's on my freaking mind?
She
had just wrapped a towel around herself when Michael returned.

“Turn around.” He
motioned with his finger for her to face the other way and she
questioned his intentions with just a look. “Trust me.”
His smile had returned, and she put her back to him as he instructed.
Morgan heard what sounded like paper being shredded, then she felt
his hand on her shoulder. “Hold still, this will feel cold.”
She nodded and tried to look around, but the pain was too bad for
her to turn too far.

“Shit!” Morgan
felt something very cold, and very soft on her neck. “What is
that?” She tried to feel for it but he moved her hand away.

“It's a heating pad, of
sorts.” He smoothed the gel-like pad over her skin, and then
wrapped his arms around her waist. “It's going to heat up,
should have you feeling better in no time.” He kissed the back
of her wet head. “I have coffee, come out when you're ready.”
She was still feeling the pad on her neck when he left.

Morgan was beyond touched that
he had helped her. “How nice.” Her words were barely
above a whisper as she rubbed the pad that was slowly heating her
aching neck. Morgan's mind immediately awarded the man several
emotional points as she got dressed, but she managed to get herself
in check before falling in love over coffee.
Calm down girl.
Morgan laughed at herself for still not being used to nice men, and
promised herself to take it easy on the emotions.

When she walked out into the
living room, he had not only a coffee waiting, but also a whole
collection of blueberry muffins. The sight made her feel even worse
and she began to wonder more than ever why he was always so nice to
her. The men, they were so sweet. Not all of them, of course, but she
felt like she wasn't anything special, nor that she deserved all the
attention she got. Her previous life had presented her with man after
man who had only used her for sex. Free sex.
and now I'm being
paid for it and the men are nice?
She didn't understand, but she
wasn't going to dwell on it. Michael wasn't paying for anything and
he was still sweet.
Very sweet.

“You are a
godsend!” Morgan went over to the muffins and picked one off
the plate, then brought it up to her lips and kissed it. Michael
laughed and told her it wasn't a big deal. He didn't have any
breakfast items so he'd gone out to the grocery store, in which they
had no muffins, so he then went back to the hotel and bought them.

“You bought them at the
hotel? That's why they're so good!” Morgan sat herself right on
his lap and wrapped her arm around his neck, then continued picking
out the blueberries in front of his face. “Why are you so nice
to me, Michael?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean,”
she cocked her head to the side and gave him a knowing look. “Since
we met, you've been nice to me. When I was walking down the
hallway...”

“In your high heels...”

“Yes, in my heels,”
she giggled. “You should have turned the other way.”

“Why would I do that?”
He pulled her closer to his chest and rested his head on her
shoulder. Morgan popped a blueberry in her mouth and snuggled in on
his lap.

“Because I'm a wreck,”
she shook her head with her words. “Letting me stay with you
and the bath and the dinner and the muffins and the heating
pad....not to mention everything you've done for me already this
week. I guess I just don't get it.” Morgan leaned her head back
so she could see his face and it lit up with amusement.

“Morgan, I told you, I
plan to win you over.” She only shook her head again, still
unable to understand, but she realized, she didn't always need to
understand everything.
It's working.
She sighed quietly and
ate another berry.
You just don't know what you're getting
yourself into.

*****

“Come on, dance with me,”
Morgan pulled on Michael's hand, but he wasn't budging. “Let's
go. Get up!” She let go of his hand and raised her arms in an
upward motion, then started walking backwards. “Okay, I'll find
another handsome man who will dance with me,” she turned
quickly, making sure her dress flew up just enough for him to get a
peek of what was under it. She wouldn't really find another man to
dance with, but over the past few days, her
deals
usually
worked. Except the time in the tub, but that was understandable.

The whole weekend had gone by
quickly, but slow enough for Morgan to enjoy every pleasurable second
of it. It was Tuesday night and really, the first time the two of
them had left the house together aside from grabbing a bite to eat
here and there. After they'd had enough of sitting in the house and
had exhausted his whole collection of scary movies, Morgan decided
she wanted to go out. Where to? To dance of course.

“Okay, okay....I was just
going to wait until...”

“Until what?”
Morgan turned back, yelling in his direction. Michael smiled and
stood, walked a few feet, then paused as if he were waiting for
something.

“This.” He pointed
up to where the music was coming from and Morgan realized what he was
talking about. It was another one of her favorite things...another
thing that he'd remembered and made happen, just for her.

“London! They played
this in the lounge that night!” Michael smiled and walked
slowly toward her, nodding at the huge smile on her face.

“They did, and you asked
every guy there to dance with you when it came on... except for one.”
Morgan's memory was complete, and she put her head down slightly at
remembering her excitement at hearing the Barry White classic over
the speakers. She also remembered begging Sean to dance, and he said
he wasn't drunk enough to slow dance. Then she asked Tanner, who was
in the middle of telling Finlay a story, which negated both of them.
Her next choice was Angel, who gladly scooped her up and sang the
lyrics obnoxiously in her ear the whole time. 'Let's get it on'
wasn't exactly meant to be bellowed, but Angel had made it work.

“I remember. I should
have asked you first.” She didn't have time to apologize
because Michael put his hand to her back and walked her to the dance
floor.

“I have you now, that's
all that matters.” He whispered the words in her ear as he
moved slowly to the one of the greatest songs, at least to Morgan.

“Yes, you do.” She
put her cheek against his shoulder and let him lead them in one of
the most sensual slow dances she could ever have imagined. By the
time it was over, she was ready for much more than a slow dance.
“Would you be terribly disappointed if we left..... now?”
She smiled up at the man and giggled when he nodded quickly. The
girl was in full blown laughter when she saw him literally throw
money for their bill on the table, and usher her back to his car.

*****

Friday morning had made its
appearance before either one of them were ready for it. Their week
together was one of the best that either of them had spent with
anyone, and their goodbye was drawing close.

“We still have a few
hours.” Morgan tried to lighten the mood, but her tone ended
up sounding identical to the way she felt; miserable.

Michael pulled her close. “I
hate that it has to end so soon,” his mouth barely touched her
forehead with just a whisper of a kiss, “but we'll see each
other again, right?” He held her against his chest, not
knowing that he held his breath until she answered.

“Of course!”
Morgan pulled away just enough to look up at him. “Did you
actually think that we wouldn't see each other again?” Her
brows came together and she truly hoped that she misunderstood.

Michael stepped to the side and
put his arm around her as they walked to the kitchen. Once seated,
he answered her question. “I had hoped... but.... I wasn't
sure...”

“Michael, seriously, I'm
already looking forward to seeing you again.” She reached
across the table and took his hand. He looked at their entwined
fingers and held her hand tightly.

“I just.... I know that
you have options that are... well... better.” Better than him,
that's what he had meant, and Morgan understood. She got up and
walked to his side, then moved his arm out of the way so that she
could settle in his lap.

“Michael, what I do for a
living has nothing to do with my personal life.” She instantly
thought of Finlay and Tanner as the words left her lips, but they
still didn't have anything to do with her feelings for Michael. He
also saw her thoughts playing over her face, and he nodded before
speaking.

“It seems as if the men
have a way of getting to you, I just hope that I did too.” He
kissed her gently and helped her off of his lap. “But for now,
let's get you fed before you leave.” His face told her that he
was still worried, but she had already given him all that she could
for right then.

She wasn't going to tell him
just how much he had gotten to her. Just the fact that she'd spent
nearly two weeks with the man had given her more than what she'd ever
had with a client. It was time to really get to know him, and she was
thankful for that.
I do believe you've won over the fair maiden
after all.

Michael wasn't going to
attempt to make her a meal again as it had been a continuous joke
about how neither of them seemed to be very good at preparing food.
They picked out a pizza place, Morgan's choice, and had their last
meal together before she was due to leave.

“You know, Texas isn't
that far away,” Michael teased as they walked back into his
home. “I can be there in a couple of hours...”

Morgan walked over to the large
fish tank and dropped a few cubes of food into the crystal blue
water. “Will you fit into my suitcase? I can just hide you in
the closet and bring you food.”

“Hmm. Depends on the size
of the closet...” His hands wrapped around her waist from
behind, a move that Morgan loved. She knew what was coming and closed
her eyes as he softly pushed the hair from her cheek, then whispered
in her ear. “What time is your flight again?”

*****

“Dammit!” Morgan
mumbled as she saw the time change to a later hour, once again. She'd
arrived to the airport with seemingly seconds to spare for her
four-seventeen flight to Dallas, only to find out her flight had been
postponed to seven o'clock.
I could have spent this time with him.
Him, being Michael, and the reason she would have nearly missed
her flight, had it been on time. They'd milked every last second of
their time together, even to the point of arriving at the airport. It
was one of the hardest goodbyes she'd ever had to give, much harder
than when he'd left the party in London.
I wish I'd spent more
time with you then, too.

“Nine-thirty?
Seriously?” Morgan saw the time changed to another fifteen
minutes later. She'd already called Julianne to inform her of the
seven o'clock delay, but obviously another phone call would have to
be made. There were also a ton of text messages that she had been
ignoring all week, and those would also need to be read soon.

“It's been
delayed....again. We're looking at nine-thirty, maybe ten.”
Morgan looked down at her watch, it was only six-thirty and she
sighed loudly into her phone.

“Okay, I'll let Colton
know, thank you for calling. Have they said what the delay is?
Weather looks good the whole way there...” Julianne's concerned
voice brought a new worry to Morgan. She hadn't even thought about
it. She told Julianne she'd find out and walked up to the desk at the
head of the terminal.

“Excuse me, could you
tell me why the flight is being delayed?” she asked the tall
blonde who looked less than happy to be there.

“Just some slight
mechanical issues, nothing to worry about. We'll have you all out
soon,” the woman flashed a fake smile, having told at least
fifty people the same thing.