Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (83 page)

“I
wouldn't doubt it,” she replied, then splashed hot water over
her face.
Great. It wasn't bad enough.
She still couldn't
fault Angel, and as she told Finlay, she would never apologize. He
was only defending her and she loved her friend so much for it. Even
knowing the kind of man Finlay was, Angel had her back. “Thank
you, Angel. I appreciate you having my back, I really do. Please
don't call him again though.” One more call from her friend to
the Scot would probably sever all ties, if they weren't cut already.

“If
he's going to be bitch, he can take himself and his kilt and move the
fuck on too. Thin the herd, Boo.” Morgan shook her head back
and forth.
I don't want to thin the herd and I definitely don't
want to move on.

Morgan
heard a knock at the door, then the turn of the knob. “I've got
to go, Angel, I'll call you later.” Angel said a quick goodbye,
another apology, a kiss, and hung up.

“Yes?”
Morgan yelled out.

“Toalla?”
Evita yelled out. Morgan racked her brain.
Toalla..toalla. Think.
Oh! Towel!

She
did a quick scan of the bathroom and realized there were plenty of
towels available. Maybe Evita thought she hadn't replaced them before
watching her soaps. “Uh, sí. I'm...bueno.” Morgan
knew the woman was probably rolling her eyes on the other side of the
door and the thought actually made her smile. She thought she heard
shuffling, as if Evita were leaving, so Morgan yelled out a Spanish,
'thank you' and sunk back down into the tub.

“What
a day, what a day.” She was going to try her very best to not
think of Finlay. She knew he was going to be even more pissed off
than before, but thinking about it and ruining her mood for one
minute longer wasn't going to help anything. She really did have a
job to do and it wouldn't be fair to take anything else out on Diego.
“Nope. You're not going to ruin my week.” It was easier
said than done, because as she began to drift away to sleep in her
bubbly bed, thoughts of Finlay flooded her mind.

*****

“Morgan?”
Morgan sat up quickly, splashing water all around her and onto the
floor. It took her a moment to gather herself and realize where she
was. Also, judging by the fact her water was ice cold, she'd been
there for awhile. Her body instantly began to shiver and she slowly
stood, then climbed out. “Morgan?” she heard again. It
was Evita, calling her name.

“I'm
fine...I'm coming!” She heard the woman mumbling something,
then the sound disappeared. Morgan figured Diego had probably
returned and had sent Evita on a mission to find her. “Shit,”
Morgan looked outside and realized it was dark. That meant, she'd
been in the tub for at least an hour. She wrapped a long fuzzy towel
around her body, and another around her hair, then sat back on the
edge of the tub, then looked down for her phone. Just as she
suspected, it was blinking, informing her of text messages. She
opened up her inbox. “Finlay. Finlay. Angel. Finlay.” She
sighed loudly, then opened the first message.

So
you hang up on me, then go talk to your wee friend again and tell him
I hate you?

Another
sigh, next message.
I don't want any more calls from the man. I
don't need to be told how to live my life or how to love anyone.

“Oh,
Angel. You shouldn't have called him,” she shook her head, then
opened the next message, from Angel.
OK, he's mad, but we still
have shit to talk about! Tell me about who you're riding this week
and I need to know when is your sweet ass coming to Rio?
A small
smile spread across her lips. She knew Angel was only trying to get
her mind off of the big Scot, so again, she had to hand it to him for
always being there.

What
she wanted to do was run another hot bath, sit there and feel sorry
for herself as she thought of a decent rebuttal to Finlay, but what
she needed was a laugh to put her in a better mood and do her job.
She navigated to the database and sent a picture of Diego to her
friend, then did the countdown in her head.
10, 9, 8...
his
message came though with a vibration in her hands before she got to
one.

Butter
my holes and call me a waffle! Sticky Buns, bring him with you when
you come to Rio. We'll salsa the whole night away.
Morgan laughed
quietly, feeling a bit better already. She forgot about the third
message from Finlay and set her phone on the sink after a quick
message back to Angel.
I still have to think about what to say to
you. Besides, right now, I have to learn about Diego.

Morgan
got dressed quickly, and dried her hair as much as she could in the
few moments that she gave herself. She would rather rush through
that process instead of skimping on her makeup, and by the time she
was done, she felt wide awake and ready to learn as much about her
client as she could.

“It
smells wonderful down here!” She skipped down the stairs as
she spoke, and went directly to the kitchen to find Diego. “And.....
I'm talking to myself.” Neither the man, nor Evita, were in
the room, but the source of the wonderful scent that lured her there
was front and center on the stove. She removed the lid to find what
had smelled so delicious. “Oh.... sausage... huge links of...
sausage.” Morgan wasn't for or against the encased meat, she
just couldn't believe that something so common could smell so good.

“It's
the sauce that makes the meal.” Diego's sensual voice filled
the room and made Morgan nearly drop the lid to the simmering meat.

She
was caught eyeballing the food, and her face reddened as she made her
way to the small table in the back of the kitchen. “I'm sure
it's good.”
Enormous links of sausage. Please don't
be compensating for something.
Morgan had to hide her smile as she thought of Coal-ton. Diego
wasn't as funny or laid back as the Texas cowboy, but he did have a
great smile and was easy to talk to.

“I
apologize for having to leave suddenly, but I put off work to pick
you up, then your flight was delayed so I went back to the office,
then....,” Morgan nodded quickly.

“Oh,
don't worry about it. I understand... work comes first.” As
she spoke the words, Finlay came to mind again.
His
work came first, but Morgan's work was nothing but a thorn in his
beefy Scottish side. “Speaking of work, what do you do?”
She liked how he smiled again before he spoke, it was clear that
whatever he did, he enjoyed.
Chef? Architect? Tango
instructor?

“I
own apartment buildings... many apartment buildings.” He
wanted to say more, Morgan picked up on that right away, but he acted
like a guy who had learned to close his mouth before making a fool of
himself. She also knew that being a fool for Diego meant that he had
opened up about his income in the past, and had been reprimanded in
some way about it. She would never judge anyone for being proud of
their lives, their bank account, or their accomplishments, so of
course she continued to question him.

“Really?”
She sounded perfectly interested in what he had to say, but she
really just wanted to allow him a rare moment of indulgence. “I
have to know! How many?!” She knew that most people wouldn't
be that excited over how many buildings he owned, but the man easily
bought into her apparent curiosity.

“I
own forty seven buildings in all, most of which are fully rented at
the moment..” Morgan nodded, and was happy to keep up with her
enthusiasm.

“Wow,
that's amazing! You must stay pretty busy to look after so much, I
don't know how you do it.” That much was true, she knew that
she could never keep up with the demands of such a large endeavor.
He simply smiled and looked beyond her shoulder to Evita, and said
something quickly to the older woman.

“Dinner
will be ready in a few moments, would you care for a drink? Morgan
nodded and asked for Moscato, but the man unfortunately didn't have
it. She agreed to white wine instead.

“One
more question, Diego. Why am I here?” Evita dropped the lid
to the sausage right then, which made Morgan and Diego nearly jump in
their chairs. The distraction put the answer on hold for the time,
but she was determined to get her answer that night.

Chapter
Four

“
So,
you asked why it is that I requested your company?” Diego sat
on the edge of his bed, then pulled off one of his very expensive
dress shoes. Dinner had been fabulous and he had been right, it was
the sauce. She hadn't known what made it so incredible, but it made
one hell of a meal.

“Yep,
just curious,” she admitted and sat next to him. Evita had
practically pushed the two of them out of the kitchen so she could
clean up dinner and since both of them were exhausted, the bedroom
seemed like the best place to go.

“I
like blondes.” He said it so seriously that Morgan actually
believed him for a moment. Her gullibility faded though as she
remembered that it was she who'd chosen him. He could have gotten the
twat waffle
, as Angel called her, for all he knew. Maybe Diego
was the kind who would prefer a robot. Morgan didn't know yet, so she
would try to keep her
immaturity
under wraps until she at
least knew if her client had a decent sense of humor. Saying he liked
blondes, that was a small start. She laughed and shook her head.

“Really?”
Her head was cocked to the side and one eyebrow raised higher than
the other as she questioned him. He wasn't going to get off the hook
that easily.

He
brought his other foot up and took his shoe off from there as well,
then laid back on the bed with his legs hanging over the side. “Well,
it's a long story...”

“We
have time,” Morgan told him, then stretched out on her side,
laying next to him but about three feet apart.

“Okay,”
he placed his hands under his head and nodded toward the ceiling.
“I'll make it shorter though.” Diego looked over to
Morgan and smiled, she gave one back.

“I'll
listen to whatever version you're willing to tell me.” Diego
sat back up in the bed and stood, then walked over to his dresser to
dig for night clothes.

“I'm
going to get a shower, if you're still awake when I come out, I'll
tell you.” Diego gave her another smile, then disappeared into
the bathroom. Morgan sighed, knowing she wasn't going to make it that
long.

“Not
funny!” she yelled through the room. There was no response, but
it made her feel better. She rolled to her side and tried to fight
off the impending desire to close her eyes, but a scratch at the door
caught her attention. “”Evita?” Morgan sat up and
stared at the door. Another scratch. “Probably just that
dog...” she whispered and went toward the noise to investigate.
She opened the door and there it was, the large Shepherd staring up
at her. “Shit, go on baby,” Morgan shooed it away, but it
only whined at her. “Go, you can't be here,” she
whisper-yelled. She took a step forward, trying to scare the dog away
and it worked, for a second. The dog came back, but instead of
stopping in front of her, he ran past her and into the bedroom. “No!
Dog!” It was hard to reprimand a dog in a low voice, and the
dog made it clear it wasn't listening either.

Morgan
heard a sound that made her nervous...the sound of nothing. Diego had
already finished his shower and the sound of pounding water couldn't
be heard any longer.

“Come
on, dog!” She slapped her thighs, hoping it would come. When it
didn't Morgan ran after it, but he thought she was trying to play and
jumped onto the bed, bouncing from side to side. “NO!”
Morgan spoke with a stern voice and the dog jumped off the bed, then
stuck its head underneath of it. Morgan was just about to grab it
around its waist and drag it out of the room, but he popped his head
back out...with a toy. A toy whale that... “shhhh!”
Oh,
holy hell that's loud!
The black and white whale squeaked,
echoing loudly through the room. “Go!” Morgan grabbed the
dog around its collar and guided him out the door. Right as Diego
walked out of the bathroom, Morgan was closing the bedroom door.

Oh,
Evita, I hope you find him.

“What
was all that noise?” Diego had stepped out of the bathroom. In
nothing...but...a....towel. He had another towel running through his
wet hair, but Morgan couldn't focus on anything but his midsection.
Good god. How does someone that works so much have time to make
that
happen?