Around the World in 80 Men Series: Boxed Set 21-30 (56 page)

Chapter
Four

“
I
found this on the floor, Dear. It's yours?” Julianne held the
thin band, laden with tiny diamonds, between her thumb and
forefinger.

Morgan
wrapped the towel more tightly around her body and nodded slowly as
she stepped forward. After an hour of decompressing in the hot tub,
Morgan had turned into a raisin and she and Luis decided to change
and grab a late lunch. The whole time downstairs, she'd avoided
thinking about the Scot, but with her boss holding the very ring
she'd taken off the night before, it was hard to keep her mind from
flooding with thoughts of Finlay. “Yes...it's mine,”
Morgan spoke with a heavy sigh as she reached her hand out for
Julianne.

“I
suppose there is one more thing you need to take care of?”
Julianne placed the ring in Morgan's hand and raised a brow at the
young woman. Morgan didn't want to think about Finlay. Not then, not
for a while, but a part of her...that part of her that had
matured...asked,
why not?
Why should she wait to tackle all of
her problems? Julianne was obviously opening the door to talk. Morgan
nodded and gripped the dark green towel even tighter around her chest
and walked across the room, towards the dark sofa near the heating
unit.

“On
one hand,” Morgan began, “it's not my business. We're not
together and it shouldn't bother me.” She looked up at Julianne
as her finger twirled around a piece of her hair. The tips of her
long locks were wet and tiny drops of water slowly moved down her
back, causing her to shiver as the warm air blew against her body.
“But on the other hand, he took our...
relationship
...to
the next level with talks of trust and...and....
this
!”
Morgan held the ring up in front of her, then stood as she instantly
became infuriated with Finlay. Her long legs quickly paced towards
the dresser. “I know we're not together and I haven't even
spent enough time with him to really know him,” she paced back
towards the couch. “But this...something as big as a child? I
mean, I don't care if he has eighty kids! But why the talk of
honesty? Why, Julianne?” Morgan fell back onto the couch and
hot tears streamed down her rosy cheeks as every emotion she'd been
holding back, regarding Finlay, exploded from her in a not-so-pretty
display that no cosmetic could have fixed,

Julianne
walked over to the couch and sat down, her long fingers found
Morgan's shoulder. “He brought this turmoil into your life,
Morgan.” At first, Morgan thought the word was a bit harsh.
Turmoil? Was that what she going through? “Yes, Child.”
Julianne seemed to read her thoughts and confirmed it for her. “A
man should bring you smiles, Dear. Never tears. Right now, you're
wondering if it's
really
that big of a deal. You're wondering
if you can forgive him. You're wondering if you should call him.
You're trying to convince your heart that maybe he had a reason why
he didn't tell you. Morgan,” Julianne put her finger under her
chin, “don't.”

“I...I'm
not...” Morgan felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. The
truth was, over the past few days, she had wondered all of those
things. “What do I do?”

“Move
on. If it's important to him, Morgan, he will make things right. He
brought this pain to you and it's not your job to remove it. Do not
call him and do not give him one more,” Julianne rubbed a
knuckle against Morgan's cheeks, pushing away a tear, “of
those.” Morgan smiled and nodded, then sniffed loudly in a very
unladylike way. She knew what she had to do and it was as simple as
doing nothing at all. Morgan sat up and quickly wrapped her arms
around Julianne. Her boss was absolutely right, Finlay asked for
honesty, then he was the one that broke it. At that point, Morgan had
nothing to do with his decisions, and nothing to do with making it
right.

Most
importantly, above all else, she was still being honest with the men
in her life, and it was her intention to continue. Her friends, her
clients, her loves, were all too important to her to give them
anything less.

“Thank
y...” A knock at the door reminded Morgan that she was supposed
to be dressed for Luis. She dropped her arms from Julianne's neck
and let out one quiet laugh. “Thank you, Julianne.”
Morgan gave her hand another brief squeeze before standing. “You
always know exactly what to say.”

Morgan
shouted through the door that she'd be ready in a few minutes and in
less than five, she met Luis in the hallway. “You ready?”

“You...seem...”

“I'm...doing
better.” Morgan smiled and cocked her head to the side. She
hadn't made a whole emotional recovery and there was still sorting to
do, but knowing that Abby was fine and knowing that she was going to
wait for Finlay to make his move, she realized there was nothing left
to be upset about. The only thing left to do was wait for the
emotions to cool and catch up with her mind.

“It's
nice seeing you smile.” Luis grabbed her hand and gave her a
playful twirl. She giggled and went with the brief dance as they
walked to the elevator.

“Ah,
make no mistake, Spain.. I'm still a hot mess. But... I'm...
better.” She raised a few inches from the ground and pressed
her lips to his, in which he eagerly brought her even closer and
deepened the touch that he'd longed for. The doors opened with a
loud
ding
that made them both take a step back, but their eyes
held contact as they walked forward.

“When
we get downstairs, I'll call the front desk to have your things
brought to my room, yes?” Morgan nodded, and she felt great in
knowing that she was finally almost free from the grip of despair
that had nearly held her hostage all week.

“So...
how fast can you eat?” She tilted her head to the side and
smiled as he realized her meaning. Luis didn't answer her, he
instead waited until they left the elevator to give her an answer.
He took her hand and led her to the front desk, where he instructed
them to move Morgan's things to his room. She squeezed his hand as
he turned back around, and led them straight back to the elevator.

“I'm
suddenly feeling like room service.” Luis wrapped his arms
around her waist and held her tightly as they made their way to his
room.

*****

Morgan
stared at the page that she'd just made for Luis in her scrapbook.
She had only added six of her favorite photos of him, and there were
nearly thirty more that she had printed out. “I'm going to
need a few pages for you, my friend.” She smiled as she traced
a finger along his strong jaw, and over his always smiling lips, “I
can't wait to see you again.” Those were also the words that
she wrote under the middle photo, as she knew that their story would
continue.

She
hated to say goodbye to the man, not because of how much he'd helped
her, even though she could never thank him enough for all that he
did, but because she genuinely cared about the man and their time
together had been disrupted far too much. The only thing about their
parting that was good, was when she promised to spend an upcoming
week off with him soon. It had been enough for Luis, and that made
it enough for her as well.

“Ow,”
Morgan whispered and grabbed her abdomen, still staring at the
pictures below. That morning, her cramps had kicked in, right on
schedule. “I guess it's good you left, huh?” Her finger
ran between two photos, then back up. With all of the stress she'd
been going through, she'd actually forgotten about her monthly curse
when she had agreed to spending two weeks with the handsome Spaniard.
“I wouldn't have been much of a use to you with...ow!”
she moaned again, right as Julianne walked into the room.

“If
you're done talking to your photos, would you like to join me for a
drink?” Julianne's voice was soft, yet still held an authority
that brought Morgan from her writhing and photo admiring moment. She
smiled as she got up from the bed, and gave Luis one more smile
before closing the book.

“I'll
be right there.” She grabbed her phone from the dresser, and
kicked her open suitcase closed before leaving the room. It was nice
of Julianne to offer a room for her again, but it always made Morgan
nervous about leaving a mess anywhere in Julianne's suite.

Julianne
offered a glass of wine to Morgan as she met her boss in the living
room, and was surprised to see a laptop sitting on the sofa.
Julianne wasn't exactly one who would browse the web while relaxing
in the living room, so the whole scene made Morgan smile even more as
she took the glass and took a seat on the far end of the sofa. “So..
are you done updating your status?” Morgan tried not to
giggle, but the smile that she earned from Julianne had sent her into
a small fit of laughter.

“Funny,
child. I'm looking for a man for you. Now, what kind are you
looking for? Sweet? Adventurous? Shy?” Julianne kept looking
at the screen as Morgan tried to think of why Julianne was picking a
man for her, and also to answer her boss' question. “You're
here... I know most of them... so why not?” Morgan shook her
head as her thoughts seemed to flow right to Julianne's mind as
usual.

“Okay,
why not?”

“Why
not, indeed.” Julianne nodded at Morgan as both women smiled.
Morgan sat back and took a sip, thinking of what kind of man she
would like to spend a week with after her partial breakdown. “So,
what kind do you want?” Morgan thought a little longer, then a
wide smile spread across her face.

“I
want a guy who just wants sex. Lots and lots of sex.” She had
to laugh at herself for the sudden need for a good romp with a
client, but being with a man that cooked dinner for her or wanted to
hold her hand, was out of the question. Her heart couldn't take it,
and her mind didn't want it. Julianne laughed and nodded as she
clicked the screen in front of her.

“If
I remember correctly, you wanted to go to Holland?” Morgan
nodded, but if Holland didn't have what she needed, she was willing
to go somewhere else. “Then it's settled. One week from
today, you'll meet, Vaughn Caddock.” Morgan leaned forward to
see her client, but Julianne closed the laptop and stood quickly.
“Now, get your things packed and I'll have you on the next
flight to Holland.” Morgan stood and followed Julianne to the
kitchenette.

“Now?
I thought I was taking a week off?”

“You
are... but your week off will be in Holland,
before
you meet
your client. Sounds better than sitting in Canton all week, doesn't
it?” Morgan smiled again, and the thought of spending a whole
week in Holland by herself made her heart race.

“I'll
be ready in ten minutes.”

*****

Ten-thirty-five
the following morning, Morgan Holland landed in Holland. The trip
from Ohio to the Netherlands hadn't been
awful
,
but considering she'd been traveling more than twenty hours and the
turbulence on her flight from London to Rotterdam had been the worst
she'd ever experienced, to say she was happy to be at her destination
was an understatement.

“And
no flying for two weeks!” Morgan had a skip in her step as she
climbed off of the plane. She was beginning to like the idea of
taking a week off between clients. The week would have already put
her out of commission, but spending it in Holland alone seemed like a
better option than staying in Spain trying to convince Luis that her
goods were under construction for the week. Taking a week off also
gave her more time to pick a client, which was something she usually
wished she had more time to do.

Morgan
made her way to baggage claim and collected her things, then dragged
them all outside so she could call for a ride. She sat down on a long
white bench, crossing one leg over the other and pulled her phone out
of her purse. In the top left corner though, there was a small letter
and a number, indicating she had received three text messages. First
one was from Clay, somehow she'd missed it before, but he was letting
her know Abby was alright. “Well, that would have saved me a
lot of grief...” Morgan bit down on her bottom lip and went
back to her messages. The other two were from Tanner.

Shit.
Morgan...I'm sorry. Fuuuccckkk. I didn't mean.....shit.

The
next message from Tanner was very similar, only he finished that one
with a
call
me
request, something Morgan wasn't sure if she should do or not.
If
they brought drama into your life, remove it.
Julianne's
words of wisdom crept in and kept her grounded. “Okay, okay,
I'll wait,” Morgan spoke quietly and closed her messages. If
what Luis said about the Aussie was true, she was going to make him
wait right along with Finlay.
We
owe one another nothing, but I still won't make it too easy for you.