Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (115 page)

“I'm
fine...just...uh, got my hair stuck in my ...jacket.” She
looked down quickly and pretended to fumble with her coat, hoping it
was a good enough excuse to hide her pain. Hiding the tears that
burned in her eyes would be a harder task, but her smile seemed to be
convincing enough because he smiled back. As they pulled out of the
hotel's parking lot, Jordy
stretched,
placing his arm around
her shoulders, making Morgan smile again, for real that time.
Not
an asshole, just confident.

Morgan
wished she was in a better mood to take in every detail of her client
that she normally did. She wanted to ask him about his home, his job,
Cedric, whoever that was, why she was there...all the regular
questions...but she still couldn't think about anything but her
stupid toe. At least when they passed by the Grand Place, she had
something to talk about on their short trip.

“I
came here yesterday, it's just beautiful!” She pressed her
finger to the glass, pointing at the little chocolate shop as they
passed by. “And I had the best chocolate in the world.”

“Yeah?
It's pretty good. I don't indulge in sweets too often, but it's a
good place to get them when you have the craving.” Morgan could
tell he wasn't the type who indulged in chocolate, but if she had her
way, she wouldn't be leaving Belgium without grabbing a few more
chunks of chocolate bliss. He was right, he lived downtown and only a
couple of streets away from the city square, which made her happy
that it was so close.

His
home was facing the street, but definitely more private than Fane's
property. Jordy's house was laid back a few hundred yards, down a
perfectly landscaped driveway, which led to an immaculate looking
brick home.

The
first thing she noticed were the two chimneys on either side of the
roof, then she noticed the ten large bay windows wrapping around the
front. Large black shutters were on either side of each of the
windows and a fancy gold design was directly front and center. It
reminded Morgan of a family crest, but she couldn't be certain.
Around the sides and leading to the door were perfect hedges and in
the middle of the circle driveway was another peeing Cupid, very
similar to the one in the town center, minus the gold plating. It was
a two-story home, but on the very top, above the second floor, it
looked like a balcony.
On the roof?
Morgan thought the
banisters might only be for decoration, so she didn't want to ask
anything stupid and kept it to herself.

Jordy
ran to Morgan's side of the car and opened the door as the driver
removed her bags. “The door should be open, I'll get your
things and be right there.” He had leaned in close as he
spoke, as if what he said had been their own little secret, and it
made Morgan's stomach flutter with that familiar feeling again. She
gripped her bag tightly at her shoulder, and willed her lustful
feelings for the might-be asshole to get under control. His accent,
a very distinct mix of German and French, called to her inner lust
and begged for him to keep speaking.

Alright,
you're not an asshole. But damn!
She took a deep breath and
nodded, then looked to the house again. It would take everything she
had to walk to that door normally, and the pain was growing worse by
the second.
Just go! Move feet!
She raised her chin and
took a step, the pain nearly taking the wind from her lungs, and then
another. In seconds, she picked up her pace to tackle the pain head
on, and to get to the house as quickly as possible. When she reached
the four cement steps to the front, the tears were rolling freely
again, but she didn't hesitate for a moment in climbing them and
nearly running through the front door. “Yes!” A large
tan sofa sat front and center to the fireplace, that he obviously had
someone light, and the scene was just too overpowering to resist.
Morgan took one look behind her and watched as Jordy had just paid
the driver, and was walking toward the house. She hobbled to the
couch, and sat down in a heap, then shut her eyes as she pulled her
boot off as quickly as possible. “Oh mother of fu...”

“Ah,
I see Cedric has lit the fire for us. I'll have him put your bags
away, and I'll meet you in the kitchen... right through there.”
He pointed to a hallway behind her, and Morgan turned as if she were
actually paying attention, then faced him again.

“Uh,
sure. In the kitchen. I'll... I'll meet you in there.” She
smiled and waited for him to leave the room, and he did so quickly as
he called out for the mystery Cedric person to help with the bags.

“Damn.”
She wasn't sure she had anything left to give, but she reached down
and pulled her other boot off. “Here goes.” Morgan
stood slowly, and the pain once again took her breath away. She
could do it, but her hurry-tactic would have to be employed once
again, so she took another deep breath and made a run for the kitchen
down the hall. “Shit!” Her tears streamed to her chin
as she pulled out a tall kitchen chair at the large round table, but
everything was under control as Jordy casually walked into the room
and joined her.

“I
assume that you don't want coffee.” He joked with her about
their shared coffee addiction, and admitted to one another in the
restaurant that they'd both reached their caffeine limit for the day.
Morgan tried to smile, and she wasn't sure if that's what came
across her face, but the nod was easily done.

“No,
no coffee. Thank you.” What she wanted was to self medicate
and go to sleep, but instead, she sat in the chair and prayed that
her client didn't insist on a long walk through Brussels.

“I'm
going to start our lunch, it should be ready in about two hours.”
Jordy simply wanted her company while he marinated the chicken
breasts for their salad, and she was relieved that there would be no
walking. “I guess I should have asked, you like salad, yes?”
Morgan again nodded, and gripped the sides of her legs as she smiled
sweetly at the man. “Excellent!”

Morgan
watched him work, and wiped her tears when she had the chance at his
back being turned. She enjoyed watching him move around the large
room, and wished that she felt better so that she could enjoy the
view even more. It was his next question that brought an audible
moan from her lips. “I'll be done here in a few minutes, then
I'll take you on a tour of the entire grounds.”

Chapter
Seven

He
was done in a few minutes as promised and Morgan had made her way
back to the couch where her boots of horror were still laying on
their sides. Jordy had excused himself to the second floor, where he
said he was going to put on some boots of his own.
What do you
have to say now, Maturity?
She didn't know whether it would be
more wise to just tell him the truth.
I broke my fucking toe and I
don't want to tour your grounds. I want to tour your bed. And sleep.
Or, was it better to keep her mouth shut and play along a bit
longer? She didn't know if she could go along with it anymore. She
wasn't even sure if she could get her foot in her bo...

“Fuck!
Shit! Dammit! Ass! Hell! Bastard! Son of motherfucking bitch!”
Her foot wasn't going back into that shoe. She rattled off curse
words through her teeth until she couldn't think of anymore to
describe her boot at that moment. “Whore.” She was proud
of herself for thinking of one more and her fingers slid into the top
rim of her socks, then she slowly began to slide them down. She
decided to do it quickly, hoping to get the pain over with and pulled
the tight socks off her bad foot with one good pull. “Fist-fucking
piss-shitter! Oh my GOD!”

Morgan
dropped her back to meet the couch and tried to catch her breath. The
tears flowed freely down her cheek and there was nothing she could do
to stop it or slow it down. Slowly, she sat up, then leaned over her
knee to get a good look at her foot. “Gross,” it was the
only word she could use to describe it. At the time of knocking her
foot on the dresser, she thought she hurt one toe, but from the looks
of it, two were injured, one of them, definitely broken. Her toes
were nearly black with bruising and the color had spread out all the
way to the top of her foot. Each of her toes, not just the banged
ones were swollen like Vienna sausages, making her tell them they
were gross looking once more.

The
top of her foot had swollen up as well, probably since taking her
boot off, which made the idea of putting her boot back on nearly
impossible. At least not if she was expected to walk. She brought
her bad foot up to her other knee, wincing in pain, hoping to see if
one or two toes were broken, but just as she bent down to get a good
look, she heard Jordy coming back down the stairs. Her first thought,
hide the evidence. She grabbed her double socks and draped them over
foot, then quickly wiped the tears from her cheek.

“Oh,
you're still getting ready,” he announced the obvious when he
was back in the sitting room.

“Just
a minute,” she forced a smile and lied. She had to think of a
way out of the tour. It disappointed her because she'd love to see
his grounds....among other things of his...but it would simply have
to be postponed. He nodded and told her to take her time, then
disappeared down the hallway. Morgan lifted the socks again when the
coast was clear, then groaned quietly as the throbbing began again.

“Oh,
and it's getting col......der.” He was back in the room and it
had been too quickly for Morgan to hide her foot that time. “No,
don't you dare,” he pointed to her hand that had moved over her
foot, stopping her from covering it with the socks again. He made it
in front of her in just a few quick strides, then softly moved her
hand away from her toes. “That's why you were limping.”
His eyes moved up to meet hers and he rubbed away one of her tears
with the top of his index finger. She felt the heat rise to her face,
embarrassed he'd noticed her small limp. “Let me see,” he
pushed her hand away again and she sighed. The small bruise that he
noticed under her eye must have a connection to the large one on her
foot.

“Look,
I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to think you
got...damaged goods. I'm fine, really.” She also didn't want
him to spend the week taking care of her. She tried to push his hand
away, but he dropped to his knees, then held her hands at the sides
of her own thighs.

“You're
going to let me see it, then we're going to find you something to
help with the pain.” There was no use in arguing. Every twitch
of his smile sent an electric current through her body, making it
impossible to even look away, let alone plead with the man to let her
take care of herself. The only thing she could do was slowly shake
her head back and forth. “Okay, we'll do this the hard way.”
He removed his grip from her hands, then moved to her side and slid
one hand under her legs, then one around her back and lifted her off
the couch.

“You
don't have to carry me, it's just a broken toe,”
or two,
she
told him, even though her arms wrapped around his neck, telling him
otherwise. He smiled again, then pulled her closer to his body and
began to climb the stairs. She could feel the muscles in his chest
against her side as he flexed with each step and for a moment, she
forgot why she was being carried. Morgan remembered when he
accidentally bumped her foot against the wall.

She
took in a sharp breath of air, then buried her head against his chest
as her eyes welled up with tears again. “I'm so sorry,”
he told her, then turned to the side to avoid making the same
mistake. A few more steps though and they were in the upstairs
hallway. Morgan didn't even lift her head to look around, she only
moved when he finally set her down on his soft bed.

Jordy
helped her pull the blanket over her body, then slowly sat next to
her. “You are staying put.” Morgan felt terrible, and
the tears that streamed down her face weren't all from the pain.
“No.. no.. don't do that. It's alright, everything is fine.”
He kissed her forehead, which brought a slight twitch of a smile to
her lips, and stood from the bed. “I'll be right back.”

The
kiss was nearly a record for Morgan, not even two hours after meeting
her client, and she actually got a little lip action. Albeit on the
forehead, but a kiss nonetheless.
Then again, Alrik was actually
the record winner,
she remembered his
greeting
at the
airport. She smiled again, then pulled the blanket up to her chin as
she looked around the room.

“Class
two.” His room reminded her of Finlay's with all of the
perfect quality antique furniture, mixed with modern dark wood
pieces. He even had a fireplace that took up at least half of the
far wall, but sadly, she noticed that it was spotless and probably
hadn't been used in quite some time. She also noticed her bags in
the far corner, stacked neatly against the wall, and once again
thought of the elusive Cedric who must have placed them there.