Around the World in 80 Men Series: Boxed Set 21-30 (61 page)

“
I
guess that answers that.” Morgan rolled her eyes and huffed a
sarcastic laugh, then walked towards the mirror to check her hair. It
was a mess, mostly from having her head held to the pillow and her
lipgloss was a smudged disaster due to his hand, stifling her loud
cries of pleasure.
We didn't even kiss and I just did the dirty
with him. What's wrong with me!?
The realization made her feel
even more guilty, even though she had no reason to. Morgan sighed
quietly at her reflection as she tried to flatten what was left of
her hairstyle.

“
You
enjoyed it.” He seemed to read her expression and wanted to
make her feel a little more comfortable. Even though Morgan was a
call girl, she wasn't used to just 'jumping into it' with any of her
clients. The truth, she had to admit to herself, she
did
like
it. The excitement of not knowing who he was or what was to come, it
was almost a high.

“
I
did,” Morgan admitted, then walked into the bathroom to find
her lipgloss.

“
Hurry,”
Vaughn yelled, no sooner than she had pressed the applicator of light
pink gloss to her lips.
Did he just tell me to...aw, hell no!

She'd
intended to simply touch up her makeup, but there was a little change
of plans. Morgan poked her head out of the door and sweetly smiled.
“Okay, Dear. I'll be right out.” She smiled even wider as
she turned and closed the door behind her.
This eyeshadow just
isn't working with this sweater. In fact, this sweater isn't working
with my...hair....and....

The
smirk never left Morgan's lips as she went through her whole look,
changing everything she could. Her boots were in the other room, but
her zebra print bag was in the bathroom and it had just the outfit
she wanted. Her favorite red sweater went well with her dark jeans,
and instead of lipgloss, she went with her red lipstick that was only
reserved for that article of clothing.
And of course, one never
wears their hair straight with an outfit this bold.

“
I'm
hungry. Hurry up.” His voice urged her to wrap her hair even
more slowly around the hot curling iron.

“Just
a minute!” She just needed a couple of curls, they could be
accomplished in about two minutes, but she made it five. Finally,
after making him wait nearly fifteen minutes, he had grown too
impatient. Morgan heard the doorknob wiggle behind her, then his
voice again.

“Let's
go, Morgan.” He tapped his knuckles on the door, then wiggled
the knob again.

“You
know I'm in here, is the knock really necessary?” She puckered
her lips in the mirror, then with one final smile to herself, she
opened the bathroom door. If she couldn't have any say in bed, at
least she could find a little control elsewhere. “I'm ready.”

*****

Their
first afternoon together went better than Morgan thought it would and
she realized, she was very wrong about her client. Yes, he liked
control, even down to where Morgan had sat at the table, but he was
to her surprise, a gentleman. It was a weird combination, but perhaps
it was only weird because she wasn't used to it. That night, he left
for work and Morgan took the opportunity to call her best friend. She
also changed her mind about not allowing Julianne to pick her
clients, because he couldn't have been more perfect for what she
needed.

She
stared at her toes poking out from the thick comforter as the phone
rang. “Sticky, I know your ass met Holly this morning and I've
been sitting here wondering if he's...”

“Oh,
he's...nice”

“Nice...
I don't like the sound of that shit. Nice how? Nice like, Te, nice?
Baby girl, the suspense is killin' me!”

“No,
no..I mean...
nice. I...I
don't know. He's...mysterious and
sexy as hell and in bed....whew! Angel, oh my god. He's like, don't
speak. Don't move.”

“I
love when they do that shit,” Angel interrupted.

“He's...different.”
That's the only word that came to mind. Of course she and Vaughn had
talked over lunch, but not one thing had been mentioned about him or
her...at least not on a personal level. She had no idea where he
lived, or what he did for a living. Hell, she didn't even know what
he drove. She knew nothing about him and yet, that was okay. “I
told Julianne that I wanted a guy this week who really liked sex. I
mean, I wanted a week without hand holding and questions about my
childhood. I don't think Julianne could have picked a better person
for that. It's just...fun.” Fun, that's the word she was
looking for. Vaughn was fun...a little quirky, even at one point he
asked her what she wanted to eat, but then told her what to try, and
it was exactly what she had wanted that week. Maybe being told what
to do was what she needed to give her own brain a break.
“As
long as you're having fun, Baby Girl. Princess Gi-Gi is calling my
ass downstairs though, I got to go. I'm sure his majesty wants me to
dig a mothafuckin' mode or some shit!”

“Moat,
Angel.”

“Whatever.
Call a bitch when you ain't busy riding the holly-go-round.” He
blew a couple of loud kisses into the phone, then hung up.

Morgan
smiled at the phone as she placed it on the dresser, then threw the
blanket off her body and grabbed her room key. She was hungry, and
in need of a glass or two of her favorite drink. Life was sweet at
that moment, and she happily walked down the hall towards the
elevator, all the while, looking forward to the rest of her time with
her
fun
client.

*****

Finlay
pulled into his driveway and stopped beside the large fountain before
pulling the rest of the way forward. It was as if he and Morgan had
just stepped out of the freezing water, yet, it felt so very long ago
as well. He needed to call her, he wanted to call her, but the words
to use were still a mystery to the man. He hated feeling almost
helpless, his life was easy to navigate, but he was right in the
middle of a situation that could cost him something that he wasn't
willing to lose.

He
put his head down and rested his forehead on his hands that were
tightly gripping the top of the steering wheel. “Bloody hell,
Morgan. What if yer mad at me? What if..”

He sat up quickly and reached into his pocket, grabbing his phone
tightly as he pulled it out. Finlay took a deep breath and found her
name, and clicked it. One ring. He closed his eyes and let out a
long breath. Two rings. He opened his mouth when he heard her
voice, but dropped his head when he realized he'd reached her voice
mail. Should he tell her everything right then? What was the
version of
everything
that he wanted her to know? Should he
just tell her that he's thinking of her? Those questions raced
through his mind, and he finally spoke. “Fook.” He
couldn't speak, and when he hit the button to end the call, he
realized that all he managed to do was curse at her voice mail, his
situation became that much worse.

“Ah,
Lass. I want ye to come home te me. I fooked it all up, aye? I
miss ye, Love. So verra much.” He spoke the words as his eyes
roamed slowly over the fountain. Those were the words that he wanted
to say, but he only spoke them to the inside of his truck.

*****

Morgan
arrived back to her room with a fresh bottle of Moscato, and a box of
fried fish that she couldn't resist. “Don't go anywhere, ya
little fuckers.” She giggled at her own nonsense as she
prepared another spot on the bed to relax with her meal. Her spot
was almost perfect when she heard a soft tune come from her phone,
letting her know that she had a voice mail. Morgan stood in the
middle of the room, trying to debate on checking her phone right
then, or waiting until she was done with dinner. “Shit.”
It could be Julianne, that was her only thought as she picked up the
phone and looked at the screen. “Oh... Finny. Hmm.. you
finally have words for me, huh?” She stared at the phone for a
few more seconds, then dropped it back on the dresser. “You
can wait.” She smiled at the feeling she had, or rather, the
lack of feeling. There was no anger. No sadness. No wonder. It
was absolutely perfect to have the new ability to control her
emotions to a more mature level, and deal with her own life first.

It
was nice being at that place of mind. “Where I just don't give
a damn!” She didn't have to work things out with Finlay...if it
was meant to be worked out, it would happen. She didn't have to worry
about Tanner, things were good....even though she didn't quite
remember the conversation. She didn't have to worry about
Abby....she'd talked to Clay the night before and they were back to
their morning walks. She didn't even have to worry about Vaughn. He
was independent and really only wanted company, in the bedroom.
“Which is r
eally
like having another week to myself.”

Morgan
could tell he wasn't going to be the sightseeing type and he made it
clear that he had a lot of work to do, so he obviously wouldn't be
around much. She'd still get to do her sightseeing and get to have
hot sex to get her mind off of life. “Win win!” Morgan
giggled as she walked across the room, on her toes, and nearly
dancing.

Before
going back to the bed though, she grabbed her laptop, scrapbook,
camera and printer. There weren't many pictures left to print, but
there were a few of Haghen that she wanted to add to her book, and a
few pictures from that morning of the sunrise. It had been pretty
cold, but it was beautiful and worth it. She also wanted to pick her
client so she knew where she'd be spending the week after that with
“A girl's gotta make plans!”

The
best part about taking a week off between clients was that she could
do what she loved most, see the world around her. After all, the
greatest incentive to taking Julianne up on the job offer had been
the traveling aspect and yes, she got to travel, but not always did
she get to see. A lesson learned from her week alone in Holland,
there were a few things that required booking at least a week in
advance, and she hoped to never miss out on another opportunity like
that again. It was also nice to have her hotel booked.

“And
since you're not here with me,” she spoke to the one picture of
Vaughn she'd taken during lunch, “I'm going to stare at other
men.” Her giggles lasted until the database was loaded.

“Okay,
where to?” Instantly, as the words left her mouth, she knew.
“Germany.” While she waited for the page to load, she
grabbed a filet of crunchy fish and took a bite. “Wow. Oh, wow.
This is good. Oh, man. Even my dog wouldn't get a bite of this....if
I had a dog.” She laughed again, and as the page was taking
longer than usual to appear, she took the time to get herself a
glass, and not a cup that time, of wine. When she came back, there
was a long list of men waiting for a check of approval. “Damn,”
she spoke with a full mouth of food, spraying crumbs all over her
keyboard. “Oops.”

Morgan
brushed off the crumbs quickly, then got back up to grab her phone.
On the way to the bed, she called Angel again. “Are you done
digging?” She sat back down in front of her computer and leaned
back against the headboard.

“Boo,
the shit this man has me do! No, listen to this mothafucka!”
Angel held the phone out and Morgan could hear Gio in the background,
just barely over multiple PoPo screeches.

“Is....is
he....singing?”

“Baby,
if that's singing then I ain't gay. I was thinking that shit sounds
more like rabid baboons fucking while being held underwater and
strangled by a jungle vine. I don't think I've ever seen his ass that
drunk. His bitch ass wanted some CD and I had to go three, did you
hear that, THREE hours away to find that shit. Then, I had to go up
in the mothafuckin' attic to find the goddamn CD player. Who the fuck
listens to CD's anymore?”

“I
do,” Morgan barely managed to answer before she fell to her
side in laughter.

“Alright,
some
people do, but this isn't the time for him to be getting
all Nosferatu about music.”

“I
think you mean nostalgic...”

“No,
baby. Nosferatu. He's fixing to wake the dead with that voice. I
don't have much more time, he said something about shining the
spoons.” That was Morgan's cue to speak, but all Angel heard
was more laughter. “Mhmm. I'm glad you're laughing. I'd rather
have your job. I mean, we both gettin' fucked, but at least you like
it.” Louder laughter, followed by gasps of air.