Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (78 page)

“You still have to be
careful though. He may not be mean, but if a fly bites his ass and he
twitches in the wrong way...” Colton warned and Morgan took his
advice, taking a few steps backward.

“What else do you have in
here?” she asked, looking around the large barn.

“Come with me,” he
took her hand and guided her to a ladder in the middle of the barn.
She watched him easily climb to the top, then he waved his hand for
her to follow.

“I'm not so sure,”
she grabbed one of the wooden rungs, then stepped a foot on the
bottom one. It made her feel uneasy, but she was in Texas, she
couldn't be afraid of a ladder. There were rattlesnakes and big bulls
and bucking broncos. A ladder?
Pfft. I've got this.
Morgan
took a deep breath and climbed the tall thing, then Colton helped her
up the last bit.

She was in the loft of the
barn. “From here...,” he stood in front of three large
openings on the far side of the wall, “you can almost see the
entire ranch.” Morgan met him and the view nearly took her
breath away.

“Wow. It doesn't even
look real... it's like... a painting.” The soft waves of green
stretched as far as she could see. She was still enjoying the view,
wrapping her arm around Colton's waist, when something grabbed her
ankle. “Oh shit! Oh... oh... awwww.” A tiny black and
white kitten, a little guy that couldn't have more than seven weeks
old, was holding tightly to Morgan's pant leg when she looked down.
“Look at you!” In seconds, she had him in her hands and
was smothering the cutie with kisses. Colton laughed and watched the
two of them for several moments.

“Careful, barn cats can
get pretty attached if you let 'em.” Morgan shook her head at
the man, but kept loving on the fluff ball.

“Who wouldn't want to get
attached to you? Huh? You're just the cutest thing... yes you are.”
A dozen more kisses later, the kitten's mother came out from behind
a hay roll and called out for her baby. “Okay, get back to
your momma.” She gave him one more kiss for the road, and put
him down next to his mom.

“What does a guy have to
do to get
that
kind of attention?” He pulled her back
to him, and they both watched the two cats turn the corner behind the
hay. Morgan giggled and looked up at the man. She wanted to tell
him that getting naked would be a great start, but a voice from below
the barn interrupted their moment. “That's John, he's one of
the men that work year round here.” He put his hands on the
bottom of the opening and leaned out slightly. “Up here!”
Morgan moved to the back of Colton, and ran her hands over his back,
smiling at the quiet moan that only she could hear.

The man below asked Colton
where the new horses would be housed, something about the 'old' barn
or the new one. Morgan wasn't paying much attention to either one of
them, because she had something much more interesting to think about.

“What...” Colton
turned his head quickly and looked behind him to see a very wide and
naughty smile. Morgan had reached to his front and unbuttoned his
jeans, and pulled down the zipper while he was discussing the stall
plans with John.

“Talk to your friend,
Colton.” Her hand flattened against his stomach, then she
moved it down and wrapped her fingers around him. She felt him
growing hard in her hand, and she leaned against his back as she
began to move along his length.

John could only see Colton from
the waist up, and he had no idea that a woman was even with him at
the time, so Morgan was enjoying the sweet torture that she was
putting the man through. “You'll pay for this.” He
whispered softly with his head slightly turned to the side, and
Morgan giggled again, feeling him jerk in her hand as her fingers
squeezed him tightly.

“I hope I do.” She
brought her other hand around and pulled his jeans down, then his
briefs. Her free hand then wrapped around his waist and she held him
against her as her other hand continued to move quickly.

“Fuck... slow down....,”
his whisper only made her move faster, and he put his hand up above
his head and rested his cheek against his forearm as he continued to
explain to John that Kyle would work out the plans when he returned.

“Why can't you work it
out? He's just asking which stalls to get ready.” She grinned
against his back, and moved even faster.

“You're a funny
girl....huh? You.... slow... damnit!” He grabbed her hand
quickly and stopped her from taking him too far, but she moved her
free hand again to his back and raised his shirt. Her tongue played
across his tattoo that crossed his shoulders, and he moaned again,
letting go of her working hand to continue.

“You okay up there?”
John wasn't sure why Colton kept looking to his side.

“Yeah, just.... the...
uh..”

“Kittens?”
Morgan's suggestion made him laugh, which he quickly covered with his
arm.

“The kittens are playin'
around up here, one was crawlin' up my leg.” Morgan put her
forehead against his back and laughed quietly.

“Hold on tight, cowboy.”
Her warning was so quiet that he almost asked her to repeat it, but
he knew within seconds what she had meant. Her fingers wrapped even
tighter around his hard cock, and she moved as close to his back as
she could. Her body pressed against his was the last thing that he
could tolerate while feeling her sweet hand stroke him so quickly.

Colton knew that she wouldn't
stop, that she wouldn't even slow down, and he nodded toward John as
the ranch hand suggested where the new stock could be placed while
the old stalls were renovated. He groaned against his arm when John
explained that it wouldn't take much effort to repair the two broken
doors, and that hay could be transferred before Kyle even returned.
Colton's large hands moved above his head, gripping the wooden frame
of the loft's opening.

“Hmm, you know what I
want, Colton.” Her soft voice drove him wild, and his body
tensed under her lips that were pressed against his back. His
breathing increased and then held in his lungs as he began to throb
within the tight grip of her fingers. His release was long, and she
squeezed again as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the last of her
amazing touch.

“Ya sure you're alright?”
John was walking closer to the barn when Colton finally opened his
eyes again.

“I'm good. Thanks. Do
that... thing.. with the stalls. See ya later!” He waved at
the confused man, and moved to the side and out of his employee's
view. “You're an evil woman, Morgan.” She laughed as he
brought her against him, and nodded into his chest.

Chapter Eleven

By Friday afternoon, Morgan was
an absolute nervous wreck. Throughout the week, she'd been so caught
up with the carefree fun of Colton that she hadn't even thought about
picking her next client until Thursday...it was a downhill snowball
from there.

Of course, there was no cell
phone or internet service at Blair Ranch, but Colton had been more
than happy to drive Morgan toward town until she had enough of a
reception to make a phone call. She was going to apologize to
Julianne for once again, making her wait until the last minute, and
she had hoped to pick a client from her phone like the times she'd
done before she had her laptop.

That was the first issue.
Julianne didn't answer and Morgan couldn't access the internet on her
phone. The signal wasn't quite strong enough, so Colton drove all the
way into the city, in the middle of downtown rush hour traffic. It
took nearly an hour to find a place with internet, but a fast food
restaurant with “WiFI access” on their billboard came
into view, and they pulled into the parking lot.

Their internet was free of
charge, with purchase of a meal. How convenient. So Morgan and Colton
shared a box of chicken nuggets as she tried again to call her boss.
Julianne still wouldn't answer and when Morgan finally connected to
the internet through her laptop, the database was down. Another dozen
phone calls, another box of nuggets, at least two large coffees and
three hours later, the database was still down and another fierce
storm was approaching.

It was already dark outside and
she was supposed to leave the next day. “Why am I so
irresponsible!?” Morgan had asked herself as she folded her
laptop up. Colton had told her it wasn't her fault, but it really
was. She should have chosen a client already, and she hadn't and she
had to face the consequences. Julianne's words had played over in her
mind, over and over again.
Always be prepared.
They both
ordered another coffee to go, then they'd made a quick run to the
truck, making it inside just as the first droplets of rain began to
fall.

The ride home hadn't been great
either. Torrential downpours, insane wind and pitch blackness all
around didn't exactly help calm Morgan's nerves. It took nearly two
hours to get back to the ranch, the whole time, Colton reassuring
Morgan that it would all be alright.

“I know. I'm sure
Julianne will come to my rescue...as always. I just really hate
putting her though that. It's not fair to her.” Again, Colton
told her it would be alright and when they got home, he managed to
get her relaxed enough to enjoy their last night together. He wasn't
going to have thoughts of her next client ruin their last moments.

He cooked her a wonderful late
night dinner, then they took their drinks out to the hot tub and
enjoyed a scary movie while listening to the storm up above. When the
movie had ended, Colton put the cowboy moves on Morgan, not only
paying her back for what she'd done to him in the barn, but helping
her forget about her troubles. The fun started in the hot tub, where
he teased as long as she could take it, then they'd ended up in the
bedroom. The two hadn't fallen asleep until three-thirty, but Morgan
was up at seven Friday morning, already pacing the kitchen when
Colton came out.

“Did you even sleep?”
He took the cup of coffee she offered as he walked into the kitchen.

“Sort of. I went for a
walk and tried to get a bar or two on my phone, but I can't get
anything. I don't even know if she'd tried to return my phone calls.”
Morgan continued walking back and forth in the space between the
small table and the kitchen. “I'm sorry to you, too,” she
stopped and turned toward her client. “I didn't mean to put you
through all that yesterday and...”

“Morgan, I had a blast
yesterday. I got to hold you in the car, we had a romantic lunch at
Mickey D's, I got to spend a wonderful evening with you...all
considered, it was a great day.” Colton held his arms out for
Morgan and she went to him, then sat across his lap and gave him a
soft kiss on his cheek.

“You're sweet, Colton.
Thank you.” There she was, thinking she had been having a
horrible day, and he turned it all around just like that. She
couldn't even imagine her last client, Kai, going through everything
Colton had gone through, trying to help her out. It took a true
gentleman to be so kind.

After discussing their limited
options for a bit, the only thing either of them could think to do
was to just take her to the airport. Colton had to leave that
afternoon to go meet up with his brother with another horse trailer,
so it really didn't leave any other option available.

“I wish I could just keep
ya here for another week,” he told her as she got up from his
lap.

“You are so much fun,
Colton. If anything, thank you for making me laugh so fuckin' much. I
think I have six-pack abs now!” They both laughed and walked
together to the bedroom where they put away the last few things lying
around. When her bags were packed and Colton started on packing the
bag for his own trip, she grabbed her scrapbook and sat down on the
bed.

After Kai, Morgan slid Colton's
picture into the slot. It was her favorite picture of him, one of the
ones she'd taken at the restaurant. She absolutely loved that hat on
him and it was the way she wanted to remember the man. In the back of
her scrapbook, right after Michael, she slid in the one picture she'd
taken of Kyle. It was another thing different between them. Colton
loved the camera, Kyle hated it. She only had one decent picture of
him sipping his Texas Tea, but it was good enough.

“Need a pen?”
Colton hovered over her shoulder, smiling as he handed it over. “I
need to see what gets etched in stone about me.” She shook her
head and smiled, then began to write.

“Colton Blair. A
Southern charmer, with a 'split' personality.” They both
laughed when she put a little smiley face behind the sentence. “I'll
never forget his Texas sized...,” she peeked up at him, and
laughed at his proud expression, “heart.”

“Aw, come on! Heart?”
She laughed again and then set him straight.

“Look, Cowboy.... I'll
admit that I very much enjoyed your lower half... but it's
you
that I'll always remember.” She poked at his chest, right at
that spot of her favorite
part
of the man. He kissed her
forehead, then watched her pack the scrapbook away.

Colton had his bag packed in
just a few minutes. A couple tee shirts, pair of jeans, a pair of
boots and his hat. Simplicity. Morgan envied it. The two of them
lugged their bags to the truck, then came back inside to pack a quick
lunch before hitting the road. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It
had been too long since she'd had one, and two of those babies hit
the spot. The day was clear and beautiful, quite a change from the
night before, but it got them to Dallas in record time. Too soon for
Morgan because that meant it was so close to the moment she dreaded.