Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (48 page)

The sight around her was
beautiful. The snow, the trees, the large buildings. Under different
circumstances, she would have pulled out her camera and snapped a
million photos of her surroundings, but she was kept on her guard.
After half an hour of driving, Morgan began to relax a little bit.
If
the mob wanted to kill me, they'd have done it by now right? Stop it,
Morgan. You're fine.
She stopped trying to get herself so worked
up and took a long, deep breath, then propped her head against the
cold window. “What I'd give for a hot cup of coffee,” she
merely whispered under her breath.

The men were still talking to
each other, and she was sure that even if she had spoken loud enough
for them to hear her, they wouldn't have understood anyway. After
another quick glance at them, she turned her attention back to the
window and watched the buildings pass again. A couple of minutes
later though, they made a turn. One that caught Morgan's attention.
Another minute passed and she saw the first sign of a broken down
building...
shit..no!
A few more minutes, a few more turns and
Morgan knew they were headed into the wrong part of town.

No! No, this can't be
happening. Julianne....she...said he was good.
Entertaining...entertaining men don't hang out in bad parts of town.
Shit!
Her mind was screaming and her heart began to race. She
looked at the men quickly, all of them still had smiles on their
faces and it suddenly made her feel sick to her stomach.

As soon as we stop, I'm
running. That's what I'll do, I'll run!
After two more turns,
they finally rolled to a stop, giving Morgan her chance. She looked
at the men again, they didn't move.
What's going on?
Instead,
she heard the driver door open, then through the little window
looking into the front of the car from the back, she saw the
shuffling of a man, then he got out.
He's coming back here! Okay,
fight or flight! Fight or flight...

But the man didn't stop
in front of the back door, he kept walking. He walked passed the car
and Morgan turned in her seat to continue watching him walk down the
narrow sidewalk. She watched until he disappeared into a building and
she turned back around in her seat to see all four men staring at
her.
He's getting more of them...
her worst fears felt like
they were coming to life right in front of her. She knew she couldn't
just open the door and run. They were big men, but she wouldn't
underestimate their speed nor determination. When there was a knock
on her window, Morgan yelled and all the men sitting across from her
laughed loudly.

There the driver stood on the
other side of the door, holding something for Morgan. A coffee. A hot
cup of coffee. She looked at the men, the leader still laughing
heartily, then slowly reached her hand toward the window button and
pressed it until the window was all the way down. The driver passed
her the large cup of coffee, then made his way back to the front of
the car without saying a word.

Wow, Morgan. You're an
idiot.
She really couldn't blame herself for being on her guard,
but a lesson was definitely learned. Don't judge people so harshly,
you never know. “Thank you,” she spoke clearly and loud
and the men nodded, still smiling.

“Good, yes?” the
leader asked, at least Morgan thought it was a question. Either way,
she nodded and he did too.
If they can understand coffee, I think
I'll be alright.
Morgan smiled too, and when the limo turned back
around toward the main road they had come from, she felt much better.
Body guards maybe?
Morgan wondered what kind of man Vlad must
be if he required a posse everywhere he went, but she hoped they
wouldn't be around
all
the time.

In a matter of minutes, she was
on her way to finding out just what kind of man Vlad was. When the
limo pulled up to a ten foot, wrought iron fence, and the driver
pecked in the secret code to the gate, Morgan nearly choked on her
coffee when she saw just where the driveway led.

“Holy Gotham, Batman!”
Morgan's eyes scanned the vast property as quickly as possible, it
looked like an entire city behind the high protection walls. “What
is he keeping out? Or in?” Another bolt of fear ripped
through her body as she forced Julianne's words to calm herself.

The main house, which she
thought could pass for a shopping mall in itself, was at least four
stories high. There were five pointed towers, one on each corner,
and one on top. It looked almost identical to some of the gorgeous
buildings that she saw on the way there, just more...
homey.

Then she tried to see how many
smaller buildings were speckled across the property, and only got to
the seventh one when the limo stopped.

“Come.” Leader man
had opened her door and reached his hand in her direction before she
even realized what was going on. The view was far too interesting to
focus on much else. However, when she stepped out, her focus was on
getting into the mansion as quickly as possible.

When she was shown to the front
entry, Leader started to open the door for her. “It's fucking
cold! Seriously, this isn't even cold, this is fucking torture!”
Morgan started to walk through the large front door when the man
beside her started laughing.

“Fuck.” He laughed
again and pointed to Morgan. “Fuck.” He was still
laughing when Morgan finally had to join in.

“So, you know only a few
words in English, and
that
is one of them.” He didn't
understand her, but it didn't matter, he was having far too much fun
mocking the American girl with a potty mouth. “Okay, can we
laugh inside?” She pointed to the foyer and he quickly walked
her into the house. As she stepped in, she thought of how great it
would be to get pictures of the old buildings that Vlad's home had
obviously been built after.

The warmth from the house
danced around her body in a way that made her almost moan in
pleasure. She suddenly didn't care about going anywhere, not if it
meant leaving the kind of warmth that she felt right then.

Her guide had walked a few feet
away and shouted his arrival up the stairs. They both were waiting
when Morgan started to giggle. When the man turned around, she said
the only thing that she could. “Shit.” She eyed him,
waiting for his response, and there it was. Leader smiled, then had
to hide his laughter when they both heard footsteps on the wooden
stairs.

Vlad's voice filled the room as
he made his way down the stairs, and his accent made Morgan nearly
freeze where she stood. “Morgan! So good to have you here,
was your flight a pleasant one?” He had already descended, and
was walking right toward her with his outstretched arms. “Welcome
to my home.” His arms were around her before she could think
of what to say to him.

Oh em geeee!!! Holy shit!
Morgan was released from the embrace, and she didn't try to hide the
fact that she was staring at her client. His face was clean shaven,
a little different from his picture.
Nice
. His hair was so
black, she had never seen hair so dark in her life. It wasn't just
black, it looked like the blackest ink that ever existed.
Your
eyes are almost black
. Can eyes be that dark, naturally? She
questioned herself about the man until he smiled at her.
Holy
shit!
His smile could melt the deepest snow, and mixed with his
unusually dark features, she knew that she was in trouble.
Calm
down, he's just a guy. Shit!
Gypsy! He looks like a gypsy!
She finally figured it out, the man could easily step back in time
hundreds of years, and fit right in. He was beautiful, absolutely
beautiful. Morgan was trying to picture him with long hair, saving
her from a raid to her village, when he spoke again.

“You're quiet, are you
tired from your travels?” He cocked his head to the side and
waited, he didn't think she looked tired. In fact, he thought she
looked like an angel with her light blonde hair and fair features.
That was a common look in Russia, but on her, it was perfect.

“Oh, no! I'm fine, thank
you.”

“Come then,” he
answered her.
Is that all they say? Come?
Morgan giggled to
herself again as the man grabbed her hand and began walking across
the large room.

Chapter Three

“
Wait!” Morgan
couldn't take it anymore, her feet were throbbing and she was sure
she had more than one blister at that point.
Never, ever again.
Stupid shoes.
She thought about what she would have given for
shoes so nice, even just five months prior. They were something she
would have ran her fingertip over and over again in a fashion
magazine, staring longingly. It was ironic to her that the only
thought she had on her mind regarding the heels at that point was
wanting to throw them into the center of a volcano. The girl used
Vlad's shoulder as a resting spot for her hand to keep her balance,
then brought her feet up, one at a time and removed both of her
heels. When she stood back on her bare feet, the man stood taller
than before and it made him even more appealing.

Morgan bent over to retrieve
the damned things from the tiled floor, but Vlad snapped his fingers
and Leader was there in a flash, grabbing them before she could.
“That's really not....”
necessary.
The man was
already carrying her heels in his large hands back across the floor.
She brought one of her swollen feet up to her hand and subconsciously
rubbed out the pain as she watched him delicately place them atop her
luggage. The scene made her giggle, but Vlad brought her back to
reality.

“Your feet, they hurt?”

“Oh, no...uhm...I'm fine,
thank you,” Morgan told him again. She dropped her foot back to
the floor and blushed slightly, knowing he knew that she lying. He
nodded, frowning slightly, and grabbed her hand again before
continuing their walk. Even though the place was warm, the floor felt
cool and comforting to her feet and she relished every step along the
way until they were in his huge kitchen. “Wow...”

Her 'wow' was something usually
reserved for bathrooms, but the kitchen more than deserved it. It was
monstrous, seemingly extending from one side of the house to the
other. She counted four islands, one of them including what appeared
to be a full bar along one of the walls, three sinks, two stoves and
two enormous refrigerators.
Is all of that really needed?

She smiled to herself as
she took in the beauty of the entire room. In the middle of the wall
in front of her was a large fireplace, which of course, had a large
roaring fire that warmed her even more as she got closer. The man let
go of her hand and she took a few steps forward to examine
it...something was cooking inside. “Oh!” She realized it
was a pig roast. It was on a rotisserie, she noticed, then followed
the bar with her eyes to see a large crank in which she assumed
rotated the meal. “That looks amazing!”

“You like?” Vlad
was behind her, his deep voice, mixed with the exotic accent gave her
a chill down her spine.

“Mhmm,” she
replied, but she didn't know if she had answered his question or it
was a confirmation to herself about what she
really
liked.
The mans arms wrapped around her chest from behind and Morgan let out
a soft gasp before realizing his intentions. He carefully pulled down
the zipper of her thick coat, then slid it slowly from her shoulders
and set it on the back of the chair.

“Here, sit.” Vlad
appeared at her side and she felt his hand in the small of her back
as he guided her to one of the large chairs at the even larger table.
Maybe it's like Texas. Everything is bigger here.
The chairs
had very tall backs and spread out to nearly a foot beyond Morgan's
small frame. The seats were a deep red in color and felt like a cloud
beneath her rear, and that time, she really did let out a sigh of
pleasure. If only airplanes had chairs like that, she'd never mind
flying again. The table and chair set might have looked tacky in any
other home and it was not something she'd ever choose for her own
dining room, but in his palace of a home, it worked. Not only did it
work, but it looked beautiful.

“Your home is beautiful.”
She leaned back against the chair and tried to fight the temptation
to bring her feet up so that she could keep trying to work the pain
out of them. Instead, she put her hands in her lap and tried to
focus on the beauty around her. Vlad nodded in thanks, then took a
seat beside her.

“I'll show you around
after we eat, yes?” That accent made her forget that she was
hungry, but her loud stomach reminded both of them. Vlad stood
quickly and left the room, returning seconds later with Leader and
another guy. When he joined her again, he announced that dinner
would be served right away.

“Can I go wash up first?”
He was up again and pulling her chair out before she had time to ask
where the bathroom was.

“This way.” That
smile, she was happy to follow it to the bathroom, the library, the
kitchen, the bedroom...

“Oh...” The
bathroom deserved a wow, but she just couldn't speak right then.
“I'm in love.” Morgan hobbled to the tub and ran her
finger along the top. “It's huge.” He interrupted her
before she could continue flirting with his bathroom fixtures, and
told her to take her time. Morgan nodded, but didn't look back, she
did, however, hear him laughing as he shut the door. “A
fireplace... a television...little soaps!!!” Her soft voice
echoed between the marble walls and she looked around one last time
before washing her hands and leaving the
best
bathroom ever.