Around the World in 80 Men Boxed Set 31-35 (43 page)

“
Okay,
you win. But I'm going to order some food. What do you want?”
He walked over to the nightstand to grab the phone, and picked up his
cell as well. Morgan answered him with her order of steak and eggs,
but he was too busy reading John's message to hear her. “Fook.”

“
Fook?
What are we fookin'?” Morgan giggled as she stood behind
Finlay, waiting for him to turn. Finlay didn't want to tell her what
was going on. His plan had been simple; find the person who killed
Mustafa's parents, then return to Scotland as soon as possible. If
Morgan knew that Mustafa was in Madrid, she wouldn't hesitate to head
straight to him. Finlay took a deep breath and turned to face her.

“
Just
work, Love. What did ye want for breakfast?” Morgan laughed and
told him again, then went back to the bathroom to finish her hair.
Finlay turned back to face the nightstand, and took another long deep
breath. The last thing he wanted to do right then was keep something
else from Morgan, but he had chased her through a desert just to talk
to her. There was no way he would ruin his chances of losing any time
with her. But he wondered how long he could her keep her from finding
out that Mustafa was gone?
Can I just have one fookin' day
with ye, Morgan? Just one?

Chapter
Two

“
What's
taking the food so long?” Morgan slipped her feet into her
boots and zipped one. It had been twenty minutes already, and the
food still hadn't arrived. Finlay joined her on the side of the bed
and helped her zip the other boot.

“
Change
of plans. I want a proper meal, so we're going out.” Morgan's
brows came together as confusion washed over her face.

“
Steak
and eggs are proper.” Morgan's stomach growled and she stood to
head towards the coffee on the island. She wished he would have told
her that their meal wasn't on the way, but she too wanted to enjoy a
nice sit-down breakfast for a change. “Next time you have a
change of plans, could you let me know?” It wasn't that big of
a deal, but considering food had been involved, it was important to
Morgan. Finlay laughed and stood as well, then grabbed his phone and
hotel key.

“
Fair
enough. Let's go.” Morgan finished preparing her coffee and
took a quick sip. Coffee was something that she would never wait for,
if she had a choice. She put a lid on the small cup and followed
Finlay out of the room, with her purse in the other hand. All of her
camera batteries were charged again, and her pictures had been
transferred to her laptop, just in case she needed to capture
something along the way. It wasn't twenty seconds after the door to
their room closed before she was glad she had done so.

Stay.
She smiled silently to herself
as she snapped several quick photos of Finlay's backside. He was
waiting for the elevator to reach their floor, and the way his butt
looked in the light denim jeans made her heart flutter. It was rare
that she saw the man in a tee, and his broad shoulders pushed all
boundaries of the thin cotton. It was definitely something she wanted
to keep in her memory bank forever.

“
Did
ye just...” Finlay turned as she was stuffing the camera back
into her purse.

“
Nope.”
Morgan shook her head back and forth, but the heat rushing to her
cheeks made it difficult to lie or keep a straight face.

“
Give
it tae me,” Finlay spoke as he outstretched his hand for her
camera. He wanted to take a picture of his own, but she shook her
head in defiance once more.

The
elevator chimed loudly as it arrived to their floor, and the doors
began to open. “Oh, look!” She took the opportunity to
step inside and pushed her purse behind her back so Finlay couldn't
reach it.

“
Yer
a wee pain in muh arse, Morgan Holland.” He wrapped his arm
around her shoulders as the doors closed and kissed the top of her
head lightly.
But I love ye, so damn much.
If
Morgan didn't love him in return, she would have told him that he was
pulling her hair that she had spent so much time on, but she closed
her eyes and enjoyed the warmth of his skin against hers instead.
When the doors opened once more, Finlay allowed Morgan to walk ahead
of him, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Love?”
Morgan
stopped and looked over her shoulder as a smile spread across her
rose tinted lips, and her hair caught in a subtle breeze. The
sunlight hit her face which spread a light glow on her forehead and
cheek. The white free flowing tank top flared out behind her,
catching up to her subtle turn. He took a picture of the beautiful
woman in that perfect moment, and that would become his new favorite
photo of Morgan.

*****

John
sat down on the edge of the bed as he waited for someone to answer
the phone. After four rings, he wasn't sure if that was going to
happen, but at the sixth, a familiar voice answered the phone.

She
spoke in Spanish, but he translated with ease. “Put that right
over there. Yes. No! Right there. Will you...”

It
was clear she had answered the phone while she was busy doing
something else. “Hello?” John interrupted, but Marisol's
mother continued ranting.
Still being a rude bitch, I see.
He cleared his throat loudly and
tried again. “Hello!?”

“
What?”
She straightened her posture defensively and pulled at the top of her
dress to cover some of the boob that had escaped, but failed as her
clothing was several sizes too small. John was taken aback by the
rude greeting, and before he could speak, the witch asked again.
“Hello? What do you want?”

“
Good
morning,” John poked at the hornet, with a cheerful tone.
“Breakfast would be a nice start.”
“Breakfast
ended at..” she looked down at her watch and sighed loudly. It
was still breakfast time, and she started her sentence over. “What
can we bring you?”

Her
tone was still rude, but John bit his tongue and continued being
polite.
How in the fuck do you keep business here?
“I'd
like the scrambled eggs,”
keep it simple
“and
some toast.”

“
Ten
minutes.” Miss Congeniality hung up, and left John even more
bothered.

“
Sure,
I'd love some juice! Oh, and how about some extra butter.”
John's sarcasm was never heard, but it did make him feel a little
better. He finally hung up the dead phone and finished his third cup
of coffee.

His
ten minute wait turned into twenty minutes, and John was just about
to call Broomhilda again when he finally got the knock to the door.
He took a quick breath, hoping it would be Marisol, and opened it.

“
Marisol.
Good morning.” The young girl walked in and placed his cold
breakfast on the dresser. She smiled politely, obviously now knowing
that her mother had delayed his meal intentionally, and stood by the
open door in the hopes of another tip. “Thank you. Oh..,”
he pulled his wallet from his jeans, and hesitated, “I remember
there was some issue with my money. I still don't have Euro's, is
this alright?” He pulled a twenty a few inches from the
opening, and stopped, forcing her to answer.

“
Si.”
She started to reach between them, but he stepped away and took the
cover off of his eggs.

“
I
wonder...why wouldn't a resort such as this, that caters to a large
American tourist population, take the dollar?” Marisol took a
few steps in his direction and stood next to the dresser as he
inspected his breakfast. He refused to look at her, again, forcing
her to answer.

“
My..,”
her mouth grew dry and she quickly wet her lips to continue, “I
believe my mother forbids it. The previous owners did, but she
doesn't want to.” Marisol reached again, but John covered his
food and walked to the bed. He didn't know what was nagging at him
about the money, but he had to press.

“
So,
she refuses to do any business with the dollar, huh?”
Your
family enjoyed the thousands of dollars that were stolen that night.

“
Si.
But I don't mind.” She smiled up at him and reached out once
again. John nodded and finally removed the money from his wallet. He
handed it to her and she quickly turned and headed for the door. He
was about to walk her out, when she turned again to face him. “If
you need anything else, just ask for me.” She wanted to lock in
the next twenty dollar tip, and she wasn't afraid to let him know. It
was what all of the employees did when they came across a good
tipper, and John had her exactly where he needed her.

“
I
will, and thank you.” She nodded, and left his room. “And
I see that your English is much better when a good tip is involved
too.” He whispered to his side of the closed door, then took
out his phone. It was time to call Finlay and tell him what he knew
so far, then he would work on the next part of his plan.

Morgan
and Finlay were trying to talk around the noise of the busy cafe, and
were leaning far back in their seats as the extremely busty older
woman placed their food on the table. Her chest took up half of the
area, and it made both of them hold back their laughter at how close
Finlay was to getting a left boob on his shoulder. “Stop it!”
Morgan slapped his leg playfully when Finlay wiped imaginary sweat
from his brow after the woman left. “Imagine lugging those
things around all the time. It has to be awful!” Finlay leaned
over and nudged her, laughing as he shoved a piece of toast in his
mouth.

“
Don't
play innocent, Morgan. You were smiling too.” She couldn't deny
it, but still, she had to stick up for her fellow woman.

The
two continued their banter as they began to eat, and were interrupted
when Finlay's phone rang out. Morgan grabbed it from the table for
Finlay since he had a fork in one hand, and a knife in the other. She
hit the answer button and put it up to his ear. Finlay laughed and
swallowed his food as quickly as he could.

“
Aye?”

“
Finlay,
it's John. Did you get my text?” John's voice was loud enough
on the phone for Morgan to hear, and she stopped chewing to hear any
news that John may have on Mustafa. Finlay hesitated as he looked at
Morgan, and she caught the look of guilt in his face. “Finlay?
I sent you a text earlier. Mustafa was sent here... to Madrid, this
morning. I haven't heard back from you and...”

Finlay
grabbed the phone and moved it to the other ear. It was too late,
Morgan heard enough. She looked forward, refusing to meet his gaze,
and took a slow bite of her overcooked steak. Just as slowly, she
raised her napkin to her lips and discarded the meat. Finlay watched,
waiting for the outburst, but her silence was all he received.

“
Mate,
let me call ye back.” He ended the call and turned to face
Morgan. She wouldn't meet his gaze as she lifted her coffee to her
lips, and took a small sip. “Love... I just..,” Morgan
finally turned slowly and faced him directly.

Chapter
Three

“
You
just what, Finlay? You know what? I don't want to know. What I want,
is to give
you
information for a change.” She reached in
her bag and removed her phone. Finlay ran his hand over his face and
waited to see who she was calling.

“
Yes,
this is Morgan Holland. I'd like to know the progress on my home. It
is? And you'll repair the two windows on the second floor? No, I need
it done first, then you can move to the guest bathroom. Of course,
I'll be expecting to hear from you no later than next week. Yes,
thank you.” She ended that call, and moved to the next.
“Julianne, I chose a man in Norway. His name is Markus. Please
let me know at your convenience what my travel itinerary is. Thank
you.” She left the message on Julianne's voice mail, then
started to make another call before Finlay stopped her.

“
Morgan,
what are you doing? Is now the time to make yer wee calls?” Her
face warmed with anger as she turned slightly in the opposite
direction and continued.

“
Tanner,
it's me. Hi. Look, Finlay told me everything. I'm so sorry. We need
to talk soon, when I have more time, but I just wanted you to know
that I know the truth. I'm sorry for the way that I acted, and we'll
talk soon. Okay. Yes. Me too, Tanner. Me too. Bye.” Finlay's
temper began to flare, but he leaned back to allow Morgan to finish
whatever it was she was doing.