Around the World in 80 Men Series: Boxed Set 21-30 (43 page)

“Wow...
what the hell?” Morgan opened her door to find all of her
finer clothes on hangers in the closet, and her bags that she had
thrown in the middle of the room, were placed neatly against the
wall. The bathroom also held a nice surprise, as her cosmetics and
personal hygiene items were all on display across the large white
counter. “Clay.” The man had obviously pulled a few
strings and had taken the liberty of unpacking her things as a way of
making her time there that much more pleasant. She had no intentions
of telling the man that she would prefer to have her personal items
kept in her bags, especially her cosmetics, but it was still an
extremely nice gesture.

She
sat on the side of the tub and took a brave glance across the room to
the large wall mirror that challenged her. “Yeah.. that's
worse than I thought.” She was covered in Abby's fur, and both
her hoodie and shorts had smudges of dried blood that had leaked
through Abby's bandages the first night. Her ponytail held a portion
of her hair, and the rest nearly clung to her face in lifeless oily
strands. “Gross.” She stood again and took the clothes
off, and dropped them on the far end of the bathroom. There would be
no saving the outfit, and the trash bin is where she'd put them as
soon as she was done scrubbing the last three days away from herself.

Morgan
stepped under the hot water with the intent to wash quickly and
leave, but she couldn't pull herself from the soothing bliss until
the water began to cool. Her arms, legs, and back were all sore, and
the heat had helped with most of the discomfort, and it also helped
in making her feel the exhaustion that was creeping up on her with
each passing moment.

She
yawned loudly and wrapped herself in a fluffy blue robe. “Again...
gross.” Morgan picked through her clothes and pulled her phone
from the back pocket of her ruined shorts, then kicked the small pile
away from her before leaving the bathroom. She had to call Clay, to
see if he needed anything on her way back, so she sprawled across the
bed to rest her body for a few moments while they spoke.

“So...
how ya smelling?” The question was the way Clay had answered
her call, and Morgan giggled and yawned at the same time.

“Funny.
But I'm smelling much better. Two questions... do you need anything
when I come back, and how's the little princess doing?” She
pushed her head further into the pillow and yawned again.

“She's
doing great, in fact, she might get to come home in a few days. And
yes.. I told her that you would be back. Hey, how about we just go
and get dinner? We could get those little raviol....” he heard
Morgan's breathing, deep and heavy, on the other end, “Morgan?”
Nothing. Clay smiled and ended the call, then searched for
Dick's
number. “Come and get me at the hospital, I need a ride
somewhere.”

Right
as Clay had ended the call with Morgan, another call came through on
her phone, but she was sound asleep and her mind didn't register the
pulsing of her phone, inches from her head. It was Angel trying to
get through to her for the tenth time that day. Morgan had her phone
off while she was at the hospital and had only turned it on when
she'd pulled it out of her short's pocket. Of course, it was still on
vibrate, the setting she'd placed it on, just in case Clay had tried
to call while Abby was sleeping.

Angel
had nothing specific to say, he was just starting to worry about his
Sticky Buns, it wasn't like her not to talk to him for more than two
days in a row, and the fact he couldn't get through to her worried
him even more. Ever since Finlay and Clay had tricked him into
believing she was missing, he'd grown even more protective of his
best friend and he hated not knowing what was going on with her.
There was one person though...one person who might know where she
was. Angel tried to call again and she still didn't answer. “Alright,
Boo. I know where your little ass might be.”

Clay
sat with Abby and held her until his ride arrived, then promised his
girl that he would bring Morgan back to her. “Give me an hour,
Beautiful. Daddy loves his girl.” He kissed her head and
left, and smiled as her tail quickly moved back and forth at his
words. She would be home soon, where she belonged, and that was
grounds for a celebration.

Morgan
heard pounding, and reached down to grab Abby. The dog must be
having a bad dream, and she could rip her bandages right from....,
“shit!” She shook the partial dream from her mind, and
rolled to the side of the bed quickly. Too quickly. Morgan nearly
fell from the side, and caught herself as one leg nearly hit the
floor. “Just a sec!” She pulled the robe tightly around
her body and felt her head for her seemingly lost towel as she
stumbled to the door. She pulled it open, and was still groggy as
she watched Clay walk in the room, smiling.

“I'm sorry.... I must have..,” she looked back at the
bed, and realized that she must have fallen asleep in
mid-conversation. A pretty shade of pink filled her cheeks as he
walked past her, then to the small counter in the kitchenette.

“It's
fine.. here.. I brought dinner.” He waved the bags back and
forth before setting them down.

“Those
little ravioli! I love you right now!” She ran to him and
wrapped her arms around his waist, and giggled as he raised a brow.

“So,
our marriage is back on, then? I guess I would have to get a ring
now..,” she smacked his arm and laughed before grabbing a bag
of her own and taking it back to the bed.

“I'd
marry these little bastards.” She pulled the box from the bag,
and dug right in with no regard to the sauce that she had already
dripped onto her leg.

“Seriously,
you're crazy.” They laughed when he sat with her, and spent
the next fifteen minutes enjoying their meal, and discussing Abby's
speedy recovery. There was no more mention of the gunman, and they
silently agreed that he would never be a topic between them again.
Abby, and her health, was their only concern. “So, if all goes
well, she might get to come home soon. Of course, the Doc agreed to
check her personally if I take her home this weekend.” Morgan
waved her plastic fork in front of her after taking another bite.

“Ah...
money talks, huh? You rich guys, you're all the same.” She
stuck her nose in the air, but all she managed to do was laugh when
he feigned shock. Clay put his hand over his chest and leaned back.

“He's
doing it out of the kindness of his heart, money has nothing to do
with it.” Even he couldn't keep a straight face, and Morgan
poked his arm with her little utensil. It was true though, she had
been able to see first hand how high society were able to live, and
she wasn't sure if she envied them or not.

“Alright,
you have some pretty cool perks with all of your cash, but just
because you
can
bring her home, it doesn't mean that you
should.” Clay understood what she was saying, and he would
never take a chance with Abby's health, not for any reason. He gave
her a pretty impressive salute, then ate the last of his favorite
meal. The truth was, the Vet actually did tell him that Abby may be
free to go over the weekend, and he offered to check on her over the
next several days after her release.

“If
you're done lecturing me,” he tilted his head forward in
question, and Morgan nodded, “then how about you get dressed
and meet me in the lobby. I'll get us some coffee for the road.”
She nodded and leaned forward, and quickly took his face between her
hands.

“Thank
you. Thank you for dinner, for letting me be with Abby, and for
being... my friend.” She kissed his warm mouth then pulled
away and giggled as he leaned a little more into her, and dropped his
empty carton on the floor.

“Yeah,
you kiss me like that again, and Abby won't be the only girl to go
home with me.” He stood and helped her clear the remains of
their meal as they both laughed and agreed once again to meet in the
lobby.

*****

“They're
asleep.” Finlay met Sean in the kitchen and fell in a large
heap of exhaustion in the chair straight across from his Irish
friend. “It's not been one day, and I can barely keep my eyes
open.” Finlay rubbed his face and wondered if he would
actually have what it took to see to their needs, and Sean nodded as
he had been wondering the very same thing. William and Wallace
approached Finlay's side and he absentmindedly scratched one of their
big heads as he yawned. Finlay had to keep them confined to the first
floor so they wouldn't bother his guests, so whenever their owner was
on their level, the two dogs were happy.

“Most
men are prepared, mate. Ye didn't know anythin' for certain until a
few days ago. Give yerself some time, aye?” Sean raised his
glass for a friendly toast, and Finlay tried to return the gesture.
“Shit!” Sean's glass was knocked from his hand when
Finlay's toast was given more like a punch to the hand. The large
Scot was far too tired to realize that he'd caused them both to lose
their drinks, but he did know the sound of Cameron who they had just
brought out of a dead sleep, all the way from the floor above them.

“Bloody
hell.” Finlay stood again and left the kitchen, then tripped
over three boxes that had held Cameron's bassinet, a large mobile for
his bed, and a toy that Burke couldn't resist buying the wee one.
Finlay fell straight forward, still trying to get to the baby, and
managed to grab a small table on his way down. It was the only table
in the room that held his small collection of pewter mugs, and they
crashed around him, causing an echo of noise of the likes in which
the home had never had to endure before then.

He
was just setting the table upright when his phone sounded in his
front pocket. “Aye?” He tried putting the mugs back on
the table, but dropped two as he replaced one.

“Finny
dip? Have you talked to, Stick? I'm worried about her ass, she
hasn't called me in like...,” Angel tried to remember how many
days it had been, and when he realized that he had only tried for two
days without a response, he tried to play it off as if it had been
longer, “in forever.” Angel covered one ear to hear
better, as it was pretty clear to him that they had a horrible
connection. “Call me back, Boo. I can barely hear you!”

“It's
no' the phone... the baby's crying... I need te... bloody hell!”
Finlay dropped two more mugs, and Sean joined him, saying that he
would take care of the table. Angel's perfect brows came together in
question, and he assumed that Finlay must be visiting a friend or
relative with a baby.

“Who's
baby? I fuckin' love babies! Is it ugly? Sometimes babies just
ain't cute, you know it's true, don't lie.” Finlay didn't have
time for Angel's nonsense, so he ended the call as quickly as he
could.

“He's
my son. I haven't spoken te Morgan and I need te go.” He
pushed the button and tossed his phone to the sofa. “Finny
dip.” Finlay shook his head and ran up the stairs to take care
of Cameron.

Somewhere
in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, there was a man named Angel who was
seconds from having another catastrophic nervous breakdown.. “Baby?
Your mothafuckin' Scottish ass has a baby?” He was yelling to
himself as he paced the length of his room. “Fuck me and call
me Sally. Stick didn't even tell me that shit! Y'all got secrets.
Okay.” Angel did the one thing he could do, he called Cedric to
relay the little information that he had.

Chapter
Five

“
Are
you two seriously going to be alright?” Morgan looked at Abby
who was stretched out in her own bed in the recovery room, then
looked back to Clay. They had brought all the comforts of home to the
healing girl, and Morgan was beyond relieved to see Abby almost back
to her old self. Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to enjoy
that fact, because Morgan's flight for Spain left that night.

With
all that had happened, Morgan had forgotten to call Julianne to tell
her that she wasn't going to be needing the flight from Tahiti to
Spain. With her error, it was on Morgan's dime to pay for a flight
from Las Vegas to Madrid.

“Yeah,
we're going to be just fine.” Clay nodded and gave Morgan's leg
a soft pat. “I can't even thank you enough, Morgan. For coming
here, for staying with her.”

“That's
what friends do,” Morgan nodded and smiled weakly. She hated
goodbyes. Even if it were the third time she'd be saying it to
Clayton Shaw, it didn't matter. It was a painful thing to go through
each time, but especially under the circumstances, it was even worse.
Abby was going to be fine, but of course, Morgan didn't want to leave
her, not yet, but Morgan had no other choice. It was too late to
cancel with her next client. “I'm so glad I could be here for
you both.”