Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (40 page)

When she opened the door to her
room, she nearly knocked the eavesdropping Angel in the head with the
door. “I knew it!” They both laughed and made their way
to the bed. Angel sat down first and Morgan was about to plop down
next to him when he wagged his finger in a
no
fashion, then
pointed to the other bedroom.

“Don't just stare at me,
take your candy ass in the other room and look!” Angel told her
when she brought her eyebrows together in confusion. Morgan looked to
the room, then back at Angel and he nodded toward the room, then
shooed her away.

She slowly walked toward the
cracked open door, then even more slowly, began pushing it open.
“Bitch, there isn't a serial killer in there, open the fucking
door like you mean it!” Angel snapped his fingers toward the
door, hoping she'd stop acting like there was a rabid mountain lion
on the other side.

“Okay, okay!”
Morgan pushed the door open all the way, then took a few steps into
the bedroom to examine what was on the bed. It was the most beautiful
dress she had ever seen, laid delicately across the silk comforter.

“It's from Finny, and I
went through hell and back twice trying to sneak this bitch up here
for him! You kept watching me go to the restroom, when I was trying
to come up here! But I managed, barely.” Angel leaned against
the door frame and pushed Morgan into the room further.

The dress was black with white
trim at the chest, but cut in the same style as her red gown.
Except, she noticed, it was cut much lower. It had an open back and
halter style closure at the neck, and the white silk wrap that was
stretched across the pillows was the perfect accessory. “It's
beautiful!” Morgan's tears were exactly what Angel had
expected, so he produced a tissue right on cue.

“Wipe your snot, then get
your little buns back in the other room so we can talk about
everyone.” Angel straightened his shirt and left the room with
Morgan close behind him. Settled back on the bed, both doing a
perfect cannonball, Angel was ready for Morgan to open her gifts, and
then he expected the gossip to begin. “Open them! I can't
take it any longer, Sticky!” He also threatened to open them
himself if she didn't get to it fast enough.

“Alright! I'll open
Sean's first.” She tore the pink wrapper from the box, and
threw it in Angel's lap. He quickly picked it up and folded the
beautiful paper neatly, and placed it beside him on the nightstand.
Inside the box was a DVD, with a note. She read the note out loud to
Angel. “Morgan, this is a DVD of our night together (just the
karaoke part). The owner was nice enough to make me a copy since he
has cameras in the bar. When you visit again, we'll watch it
together. Happy Birthday, Morgan. Love, Sean.” The water
works started again, but Angel wasn't as prepared. He ran to the
bathroom and grabbed the entire box of tissue. “Thank you,
Angel. Did you hear that? Wasn't that the sweetest thing?”
She was still crying when Angel put the second box in her hands, he
was far too close to tears himself to offer a reply.

Tanner's gift was wrapped in
white foil paper, with a beautiful small pink ribbon on top. Angel
plucked it from the box and filed it safely with the other paper,
then waited for Morgan to open it. “Hurry!” He motioned
with his hands again that he would do it himself if need be.

She carefully removed the
paper, and opened the lid. The first thing she saw was a note, and
she read it to Angel, and to herself. “Morgan, I had something
made for you as a reminder that you're not only welcome in my home,
but you're also wanted. Whether I'm here or not, you will always
have a place in Australia. Love, Tanner.” With shaking
fingers, she removed the square of cotton and picked up her gift. It
was a key, a key to the front door of Tanner's home. Underneath the
key were a pair of oval cut diamond earrings, something that would
have been completely out of character for the handsome Aussie to
purchase. She was beyond touched and flattered with both gifts, and
Angel moved the box of tissue onto her lap as she released her
gratitude through a flood of tears that took several minutes to
contain.

“Sticky, if there's any
truth to reincarnation, I'm coming back as you! These men are crazy
about you, girl! Lucky as shit, that's what you are!” Angel
fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling as Morgan laughed.

“Angel, they're my
friends... that's all.” She too fell back and shared Angel's
fluffy white pillow. He turned his head and looked at her, declaring
that any of the men would drop anything to be with her, and she
should count her lucky stars. Again, Morgan laughed. “Do you
want to know what Fin will be doing later?” When Angel nodded
slowly, she answered. “Erika. A girl from Julianne's service
is waiting for him right now. Do you want to know who answered the
phone when I called Tanner last week? A woman who was waiting for
him to get out of the shower, and I doubt she was his maid.”
Angel's mouth opened wide and his hand covered his lips.

“Really? I would have
thought that they were all love sick for ya, Sticky! Really-really?”
Morgan nodded then snuggled against Angel's shoulder.

“Really-really. And the
truth is, I don't care. Well, that's not true...I care..and
sometimes I feel so jealous that I want to pull any woman bald who
even talks to them...but deep inside, I know that they're free to do
what they want and I've grown more than used to it.” She
laughed and yawned at the same time. “I'm going to get my
jammies on, I'll be right back.” She got up slowly and walked
to the bathroom, leaving a baffled Angel to make sense of what she
had told him. It made sense, the men were all single and certainly
hot-blooded, but he still had trouble believing that they could all
care for her as much as they did, and still go on with their lives as
if they didn't know her at all.

She turned around before
reaching the bathroom door, “before you get all deep on me,
Angel, remember what I do for a living...I'm not exactly sitting by
the window waiting for my true love.” They both laughed, and
Morgan finally brought the man to his senses. At last, he was able
to understand the bizarre relationship that she had with all of them.

When Morgan came out of the
bathroom, she grabbed her laptop and sat back on the bed. She knew
she'd have to have a little collateral if she were to hear the whole
story about Kole. She climbed in beside Angel, their shoulders
brushing against each other. Angel had also changed into more
comfortable clothing, which she hadn't noticed until she sat down.
His pajama bottoms were covered in... “PoPo!” she yelled,
poking one of the blue and gold macaws on his thigh. His soft black
pajamas were covered in the little birds and the sight made Morgan
laugh, but not as much as the shirt which had one large 'PoPo'
looking back at her.

“GiGi says that this,”
he spread his arms down the length of his legs and back up to his
shirt, “should be burned, but I know he's just jealous.”
Morgan imagined Gio wearing such an outfit and she burst out into
laughter again.

“I don't think I'd want
to see Gio wearing that!” They both laughed again, then Morgan
dropped the question. “So, are you ready to tell me what
happened outside?

Chapter Five

“
Sugar, how about you just
relax tonight and I'll tell you
all
about it tomorrow?”
Angel put his hands under his chin and worked his best puppy dog
eyes.

Morgan sighed loudly, then laid
her back against the fluffy white pillow and lifted her laptop open.
“Okay, well, do you want to see my next client?”

Angel brought his knees up to
his chest and leaned far over Morgan's shoulder to look at her
computer. “Can Finlay crack a walnut between his ass cheeks?”

“Spill it,”Morgan
cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at him.

“Arghhhh! You're
unbelievable!”

“I knew you wouldn't be
able to resist. Tell me and I'll show you.”

“Alright, alright,
alright!” Angel took a deep breath and sat back on his own
pillow. “It was a dark and storming like a motherfucker night,”
he began.

“Angel!”

“Calm your tits, I'm
getting there,” he took another deep breath and prepared
himself to tell her. It wasn't that he wanted to keep the story from
her, he just wanted her to enjoy the rest of the evening without
thinking about it, but there was no way out of it. “You know I
hate seeing you cry, Boo Boo, so when I saw that furry elephant made
you spill them little tears...mmm, mmm. He made a mistake on that
one.”

“You followed him
outside?” Morgan leaned her head on the backboard of the bed
and watched him as he explained.

“Hell to the yes, I did,
and Michelangelo went out there too. I told Kole that he best
apologize to you.” Angel put his head down, dreading having to
tell her the next part. “Son of a bitch didn't apologize
though...”

“What did he say, Angel?”
Morgan could see the expression on his face and knew it probably
wasn't going to be good.

“He said...he called you
a whore. That he'd learned his lesson...Morgan, he's just a little
bitch, don't worry about it!” He grabbed the box of tissues and
put it on her lap, just in case, but she pushed them away with a
smile.

“Well, in all fairness, I
kind of am, you know...” Morgan smiled, but Angel didn't.

“Sticky, don't, no. Don't
you blame yourself!”

“Oh, no...I just
mean...well, he doesn't know why I lied. I guess I can see his side
of it all. I
did
lie and not once, but twice...I just...”
her voice trailed off and her smile disappeared. “He was just
drunk. I guess I wouldn't have liked it if Finlay invited me to a
party and there were a million girls there hanging all over him.”

“Boo, he's a dick.
Straight the fuck up. I ain't going to sugar coat this either. He
wasn't even invited for one, so he had no damn right to be upset
about the meat parade down there. For two, you only
lied
to
protect him. When it comes to that shit, that isn't lying. And for
three, he doesn't have a side. His side is shit. Fuck all that.
Oh...and point four...he knows now.” Angel snapped his fingers
as if he were proud of himself. It took Morgan a second to realize
what Kole 'knows now', and her face lit up.

“Aw, you told him?”
She didn't know how she felt about it. The secret she had tried so
hard to protect, out there in the open for everyone. Angel nodded and
she did as well. “Who else heard?”

“Well, this is how shit
went down,” Angel said as he climbed off the side of the bed to
reenact the scene. “I was telling him to apologize, right, so
he was all 'no, I ain't fuckin' apologizing',” Morgan laughed
at Angel's 'Kole voice', and he continued. “So then I'm all,
'no you didn't''. I turned him around, and told him about Portugal. I
was all worked up, Sticky. That elephant gets my blood boiling, and
not in a Finlay kind of way, Boo. I pushed him, motherfucker pushed
back.”

Morgan gasped and asked if he
was alright. Of course Angel replied, “Look at me Sticky Buns,
I'm fanfuckingtastic, but I digress. I fell to the ground, then your
boy from down under came to my rescue and popped Kole a good one.”

She gasped again. “Tanner
hit Kole!?”

“Mhmm. Finny tried too,
but Aussie got there first. Finny scraped us both off the
ground...oh, Tanner fell too,” he added when he realized he had
forgotten that part. Morgan tried to keep up with Angel's fast paced
story and frantic flailing. It looked like a bad sword fighting
reenactment, without the sword, nor an opponent.
So that's why
Tanner and Fin were chummy.

“Finlay told him
to get the fuck out of there and to never speak to you again. That's
about when we came back inside.”

“Wow. Well...”
Morgan laid down on the bed and covered her eyes with her arms. “I'll
just wait and see if he listens then.”

“Damn right. You don't
call him. Not ever, Sticky. You wait and see if the dude calls you
and then you'll...”

Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Who
the...?”
No, it can't be one of the men, please no!
Morgan
sat up on the bed and stared at the door as if it were going to open
by mind power. “Who's there?”

“Chill Boo, I got this,”
Angel strut over to the door like a peacock during a mating ritual
and opened it without questioning who was on the other side. Morgan
brought her hands up to her eyes, but peeked through her finger.
Whew. Just room servi...

“Awwww! My Angel!”
The man was carrying a small red velvet cake and two forks. On top of
the cake were two rather large candles, both being the number two.

“Make a wish, Sticky
Buns. It better be good too. And involving me...like...I hope Finlay
turns gay and falls madly in love with my best friend!”

Morgan laughed and walked
slowly over to the little dessert. She closed her eyes, and thought
for a moment.
I wish for my Angel to find his true love.
She
blew out the candles in one soft blow. Angel asked her what she
wished for, but of course, she said that would ruin the wish.

He actually agreed since he
never spoke a wish out loud either, and he carried the cake to the
bed for the two of them to enjoy together. With forks in hand,
Morgan and Angel dove into the last of her birthday celebration.
Shortly after they both fell to the bed in agony, only from being too
full after finishing off the entire treat, Morgan cuddled up to Angel
and they fell asleep.