Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (82 page)

“I'm
glad you're alright,” he told her, then said something to his
driver. Tomas nodded, feeling awful for what he'd done, then went
around the back of the car to retrieve her bags. “You don't
have to apologize for being tired.” His smile made her feel a
little better as they walked toward his home. If she hadn't been so
exhausted, she would have appreciated the home much more, but at that
moment, it reminded her of Gio's house. Large, over the top, and
stunningly beautiful. Its shape reminded her of the White House, but
a smaller version, and much less sterile. The landscaping around the
home was nearly breathtaking as well. Flowers of every color extended
to either side of the huge home.

“This is beautiful!” Morgan looked over to Diego and he
smiled warmly. He told her thank you, then opened up the front door
and guided her inside.

“Evita!”
Diego's voice made Morgan flinch as they walked through the threshold
and he disappeared from her side. Out of curiosity, she followed him
to see what was wrong. The sound of a television was heard, then the
sound of a dog barking.
Aw, you have a dog. I wonder what kin....

Diego
was yelling and Morgan couldn't tell what he was saying, but when she
turned the corner, she at least saw
who
he was yelling at. On
the couch, there was the grumpy woman he'd spoken of. Her hair was
wrapped in large pink curlers and it didn't appear as if she'd
bothered to change out of her pajamas. On the TV, Morgan could tell
it was clearly some soap opera which made her stifle a giggle by
bringing her hands over her mouth. In front of Evita, on the table,
there were two slices of pizza sitting in a nearly empty box and a
bowl of chips beside that. Also, beside the woman, on the couch, was
a large German Shepherd.

After
a few moments of their arguing, Morgan figured out that the dog was
the problem. For some reason, Diego didn't want it in the home. She
could tell by the way he pointed his hand toward the door and the way
Evita's wrapped around the dogs neck in response. Eventually, Diego
walked over to the dog, then grabbed its collar and guided it out the
back door. In turn, Evita grabbed her bowl of chips and stormed out
of the room.

“Wow...what...what
was that all about?” Morgan was too tired to care about
manners.

“I've
told her a hundred times about that dog! I thought she got rid of
it!”

Chapter
Three

Morgan
wanted to know more about Evita and the dog, but nature had forced
her to ask more about where Diego's bathroom was located. Once she
was in the spacious, and quite elegant room, she started to laugh
again at the housekeeper taking advantage of her free time. Soaps,
pizza, and pj's..she was Morgan's kind of woman. She also wondered
why Diego had gotten so worked up about the Shepherd.
Maybe he's
allergic.

She
was still washing her hands when loud voices echoed down the hall to
where she was. It was Diego, but he was still too far away to catch
any words. Then again, she thought, she wouldn't be able to
understand them all anyway. Morgan slowly left the bathroom and
almost tiptoed to the kitchen, that was where the noise was clearly
coming from.

Morgan
turned the corner to the kitchen's entrance, and saw that Diego
wasn't yelling at anyone expect himself. “So, do you always
yell at empty rooms?” She caught him off guard and the man
almost dropped his drink at the soft sound of her voice.

“Around
here, yes.” They both laughed and he motioned for her to join
him at the small breakfast table near the back of the kitchen.
“Things never run smoothly, at least, they don't run the way
I'd like them to.” He was still smiling, but it was obvious to
her that the man was still bothered by something. Morgan was too
tired to think about the proper way to pry without looking as if she
were doing just that, so she simply took a deep breath and asked what
she wanted.

“So,
the dog. Why don't you want him here? And Evita, why can't she
watch television in her pajamas?” They were direct questions,
and she could see right away that he wasn't happy with her asking
them. She found out quickly that the man had a certain way that he
wanted things to be, and the staff seemed to undermine him on several
fronts.

“She
brought the dog in last year without as much as a word about whether
or not I would allow it. This is my home, not hers, and decisions
like that are not left to the staff.” The hurt in his voice
was more clear than his anger, and she intended to find out why.
He
saw the worried look on Morgan's face and tried to offer a better
explanation. “I have nice things, the last thing I want is a
dog in here chewing them up or getting hair on my furniture.”

Diego
didn't know that the dog had actually been for him. A year prior,
when his father had died, Evita tried to bring the pup home, hoping
to give her boss a new companion, but the man wanted no part of it.
If his father didn't allow dogs in the home when he was alive, Diego
knew he wouldn't have wanted it any other way after he was gone.

The
past year had been a constant battle between the two of them. Evita
hoping Diego would come around and Diego believing every so often
that she'd gotten rid of it. She'd sneak the Shepherd into the house
when she came over in the morning-or when she thought he was gone-but
it was always the same song and dance between the two of them. Diego
had no idea Evita had tried to reach out to him, all he knew was the
woman kept defying his wishes.

Diego
took a deep breath. “As far as watching television, I have no
concern, but it would be better if she actually had done her job
before assigning herself a day off.” He pointed behind her,
and Morgan turned to see a sink almost full of dishes, and the stove
top covered in red sauce. “And dinner is supposed to be ready
at five, she hasn't even started it!” Morgan wasn't going to
point out the fact Diego wasn't even supposed to be there. Again, it
was obvious he had his way of doing things and she didn't plan to
step on his toes.

Morgan
almost smiled when she saw the mess, but she also understood that
Evita was paid to clean the house, and she should have at least taken
care of the mess before kicking back in her jammies for the
afternoon. The dog, that was also something that should have been
discussed before bringing him in, but Morgan's love for animals had
pushed her closer to Evita's side on the issue. If she'd known the
real reason, she would have been much closer to Evita's side.

The
large grandfather clock in the front room chimed loudly, announcing
that it was four in the afternoon. The sound had also brought Evita,
sans the curlers, into the kitchen to start the evening meal. She
gave Morgan a quick look, then went straight to the sink to tend to
the mess before starting dinner. “Hi, Evita.” Morgan
turned and spoke to the woman who clearly understood what Morgan had
said, but she simply gave the young girl a quick nod, then turned the
water on in the sink.

“You're
welcome to rest or freshen up, your bags are in my room.”
Diego stood slowly and said something to Evita, which made the older
woman turn the water off and walk toward Morgan. She reached her
hand out in her direction, a hand that was already reddened by the
hot water that it was just in, and motioned for Morgan to follow her.

“Uh,
sure... I'll just... yeah.” She stood and followed Evita to
Diego's room on the second floor, then turned to thank the woman.
Evita turned on her heels and walked away quickly before Morgan could
utter a single word. “Thanks for allowing me to follow you,
and for the dirty look. Oh, and thanks for not showing me where my
clothes are.” She spoke to the empty doorway until she had
made herself laugh. Morgan turned toward the large bed and saw her
bags on the other side, up against the far wall. She approached her
stash of luggage and sat on the floor in front of the zebra print
bag, and began to dig through her clothes as she thought of the day
that she'd already had.

I
treat him like shit, run off like a crazy person, Finlay hates me,
Evita doesn't like me, and I still have no idea who Diego is. Just
another day in the life of Morgan.
She chose a pair of jeans and
white button down shirt, one that she would wear a pink tank
underneath if she could find it. “Where did I put you? Come
on ya little bastard, I know you're in here.” Morgan's words
were cut short when Evita cleared her throat behind her. “Oh,
hi.” She stood to see what the woman wanted, and Evita took a
few steps forward to hand Morgan a small piece of paper. It was a
note from Diego. “Morgan, I'll return this evening. Make
yourself at home. Diego.” She folded the note and smiled at
Evita. “Thank you.” The older woman nodded, without
smiling, and left the room. Morgan had no idea where her client had
gone, nor did she understand why he didn't just tell her five minutes
earlier that he had to leave, but it at least made the decision of
what she would do for the next hour.

“Hello
darling.” Morgan's initial plan of freshening up had been
changed to a full blown afternoon of relaxation in the tub that
nearly called her name from the master bathroom. She spoke to the
room as she walked inside, noting that it was almost twice the size
of the guest bathroom that she had been in earlier. “Why yes,
I would like to spend the day with you!” She flirted with the
room for several moments, giggling at her own nonsense, until the
door flew open and scared the half naked girl. “What
the....?!”

The
German Shepard that caused so much grief for Diego had pushed the
door open to see the newcomer in the house. Evita must have let it
back into the house when her boss had left, which brought a smile to
Morgan's face.
Evita, I think we might just be friends.
Morgan
laughed again as the big boy jumped up and licked her face. “Oh,
you're a naughty boy to barge in on a lady. Yes you are!” She
scratched his large head as he kept his place on his hind legs,
loving the attention that she was willing to give. Right as round
two of the kissing was about to begin, Evita pushed the door the rest
of the way open and slapped her leg for the dog to come to her. He
dropped to the ground and gave Morgan one last look before leaving
the room. “Bye Handsome!” Morgan smiled again at Evita
as the woman shut the door, but again, it wasn't returned. “Bye
Grumpy.”

Morgan
had already turned the water on and was sitting on the side of the
tub when her mind went back to Finlay. She had been successful in
blocking it all out for last few hours, but as she relaxed, the
memories rushed back like it was high tide in the Scottish Seas.
“Angel!” Her friend was also in the mix of memories, and
she dug her phone out of the pocket of her jeans that were on the
floor beside her.

She
had no doubt that he had tried to call her, and it was confirmed when
she saw his missed calls on her phone. All fourteen of them. “Oh,
my Angel.” Morgan waited until she was comfortably below the
surface of the hot water before calling him back, and then, the drama
started all over again.

“I'm
sorry, Sticky Buns! I'm so sorry!” Angel quickly begged for
forgiveness.

“It's
okay. I talked to him. Whatever happens, happens I guess. He wasn't
happy, like you said but...” Morgan tried telling her friend
that she didn't blame him for what had happened. He was her best
friend and having a person stick up for her was rare, so she
certainly wouldn't fault him for it.

“No,
Boo...I...I called him....again.”

“Angel!
Why?” Well, she couldn't fault him for the first time he'd
called, but she couldn't understand why'd he go back and make things
even worse.

“He
had no right to be mad at you! You said, and I quote, 'talked to the
bitch. Mothafucka hates me. Ring a ho when you ain't busy'. I
couldn't get a hold of you so...”

“So
you called him.” It wasn't a question as she obviously already
knew the answer. She turned the phone on speaker and rested her head
on the back of the tub with a loud sigh. She couldn't even find it in
her to laugh at Angel's inaccurate quote of her earlier voice mail.
“What did you tell him?” Not that it mattered. At that
point, Angel could have called and told Finlay he was the best thing
since liquid eyeliner, he still would have been pissed she had Angel
do her dirty work. Again.

“I
cussed the mothafucka out. I'm sorry, Sticky. I just can't deal with
anyone putting blame on you. I called him, it wasn't your fault, so I
tried to tell him that. He said...he said he'd come here if I called
him again. I told him that a bitch isn't about to back down, so
brang it!”