Around the World in 80 Men Series: Boxed Set 21-30 (69 page)

Just do it. Fucking kiss her. Goddammit, Rob. Grow some balls and
just...
He shook his head and let go of her hand, then finally
found the beer and released it from her grip. Morgan released
something of her own, a long breath of anticipation.

Aw,
come on. Don't be shy!
Morgan silently laughed to herself. Even
in mood-lighting she'd purposely created, she could see the timid
side of the gorgeous man. She raised her glass with a smile,
“friends?”

“Friends.
And a great week to come?” Robbie was still beating himself up
for not making a move. Then again, he thought, his hormones would be
almost impossible to keep in check if he had felt her warm mouth on
his, even if it was just one sweet kiss.

“Perfect.”
Both of them took a long drink of beer. “And...I have to...”
Morgan almost announced that she had to pee, but she caught herself.
Julianne would have been appalled if she'd ever heard her speak like
that. “I'll be right back,” Morgan sat up. “Restroom.”
Her awkward explanation made Robbie laugh and he nodded in her
direction.

When
Morgan came out of the bathroom, she saw Robbie, fast asleep with a
full beer barely in the grasp of his fingers. “Oh, silly boy.”
She shook her head and quickly skipped over to the bed, saving her
blankets from meeting a frothy demise, and set the beer on the small
table beside him. “Well, I guess you're staying here tonight.”
Morgan pulled the cover over his body and up to his shoulder, then
gave him a quick peck to his cheek. There was no point in waking him
up, but there was one more thing she wanted to do before she joined
him, and that involved her best friend. One more thing, that is,
after she took one little peek under his shirt to see his tattoo. “A
stick?” She didn't understand why a long stick would be
tattooed on his body, but she planned to find out.

Morgan
grabbed her phone and after another quick smile at the gorgeous man
in her hotel bed, she left the room and headed for the lobby to give
Angel a call.

*****

Loraine
walked slowly along the wall, softly touching the dark wood chairs
that were within reach along the way. She had watched Morgan enter
the lobby, and waited for several moments, looking for Robbie to join
her. He didn't, and from the looks of the comfortable position that
Morgan had managed in an oversized rustic bar chair to speak on the
phone, it was clear that the man was still in the room. Why he was
still there, and possibly sleeping, was something that Loraine
successfully shook from her mind. What to do next was another story.
I can't leave him here. I can't go up and get him....or can I?
The older woman weighed her options as she silently moved closer to
the area that Morgan had taken over. She was quickly within ear shot
of the young girl's conversation, not that she wanted to be, but she
at least wanted to be near Morgan to keep an eye on her while she
figured out how to get a sleeping Robbie from the room.

“Oh,
you would say that!” Morgan's leg swayed back and forth from
the arm of the old chair as she chastised Angel for his inappropriate
suggestion. “Doing a client without his knowledge is frowned
upon in the world of Julianne.” She giggled at the thought of
taking advantage of the sleeping man on the sixth floor. “Besides,
I think he's a little shy....I don't want to scare him off.”

“Stick,
there's no mothafuckin' way you would scare a man off! Now get up
there and grind his sausage!” Morgan's loud laughter made
Loraine jump slightly, but she regained her composure and leaned
forward in the shadow of her safe dark corner.

“I
will not....,” her giggles took over for several moments before
she continued, “grind his sausage tonight.” She wiped
the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. “But tomorrow
is a different story.” She went on to tell Angel that she
planned to ask her client for a tour of the beautiful city. “I
just hope he has a car because I need a break from public
transportation.” Her last words struck terror in the heart of
the eavesdropper, and Loraine's mind began to spin with every
possible way that Robbie would wreck his car. She couldn't let
Morgan ask him, she couldn't allow even a slight chance that he would
agree to drive her through town in his ridiculous attempt at hiding
his affliction. Her next move shocked Morgan, stunned Angel that
heard everything, and changed the course of the week to come.

“No!”
Lorraine came out of the shadow and put her small hand in Morgan's
pale face. “You will not do that to him! Do you hear me? He
can't drive! He can barely make out which car is his in his own
garage! You won't do it, do you hear me? You won't kill Robbie!”
Morgan's mouth hung open as she watched Loraine's anger unleash in
her direction.

“Bitch,
I know you're going to call me later! I need to know who the hell
that crazy bat is, and why the fuck she's tellin' you not to kill
that man. I'll be waitin', and do not mothafuckin' leave my ass
hanging!” Morgan held the dead silent phone to her ear for
several seconds after Angel hung up. Loraine's breathing was still
deep, and Morgan watched as a single tear fell down her reddened
cheek. She didn't understand what had just happened, but one thing
she was sure of, the woman in front of her was far from rational, and
it was going to be a long night for both women.

Morgan
finally sat up in her chair and moved her leg over the arm to sit
properly. She took a deep breath and pointed to the chair across
from her at the small table. “Please, sit. If I'm going to be
accused of future murder, I would at least like to know your name.”
Morgan tried to smile, but she was still too shocked to manage
anything beyond a few twitches of her upper lip. Loraine looked from
Morgan's outstretched hand to the empty chair, then to her face.
Finally, she nodded then quietly sat with her hands in her lap.
“Okay... I take it you know Robbie.” Loraine nodded and
looked down at her hands. Remorse had already started to sink in and
her heart broke for what Robbie was going to feel after finding out
that she had told the one person that he planned to keep it from.

“Please....
I'm sorry. I just, I wanted... I'm sorry.” Loraine's head
dropped even more and her hands came up to hide the tears that began
to fall freely. Morgan still didn't understand what was going on,
but seeing someone hurting was a sight that anyone could figure out.
She grabbed a few napkins and moved them across the table.

“Here.
It's okay.” Loraine didn't look at Morgan as she took the
napkins from her hand, mostly because she was too ashamed of her own
behavior. The women sat for nearly ten minutes in silence as the
older of the two sorted her thoughts and gained more control over her
litany of emotions.

The
next two hours, Morgan sat mostly silent as Loraine told her
everything. The stories of Robbie when he was well, the painful day
that he found out about his sight, and the typical days that they
spend together, with her trying to do all that she could while
pretending that she does very little. Everything that Morgan heard
was interesting, even the painful stories, because her client was
absolutely fascinating.

“A
jouster? Like...he got on a horse and hit other men?” That
was one part of his life that Morgan kept thinking about. The fact
that he would joust for fun, and hearing how very much he loved the
sport, made Morgan's heart break for his loss. Loraine smiled and
nodded, and Morgan could almost see the memories playing over the
woman's face.

“He
was good. Very good.” Loraine told Morgan about a tournament
that he was in just one year prior. “He knew it would be his
last time on a horse, and it showed. He looked free that day, free
from everything actually. It was the last time I saw that look on
his face, a look that said...”

“What?”
Morgan wanted to know, she wanted to hear what that look meant to
Loraine. More importantly, she wanted to know what that moment felt
like for Robbie. Loraine shook her head because there were no words
for what she saw that day.

“It's
just something that he feels when he rides, jousting or not. What I
wouldn't give to see him on a horse again.” Her eyes glazed
over with tears of sadness as she spoke beyond Morgan's shoulder to
the empty space behind her. Morgan nodded, and instantly decided to
do all she could to help.

“Thank
you, Loraine. It's nice to know more about him.” Morgan
reached out and touched the older woman's hand lightly.

“Well,
now you know. And.... he's going to have my hyde for telling you.”
Morgan then shook her head as she told her new friend that she
wouldn't tell him. She also knew that it would be easy to play if
off if she did anything obvious, because Robbie would be trying too
hard to hide it himself.

“Don't
worry,” Morgan reached across the table and put her hand of
Loraine's. “I won't say a word.” The one thing that
Morgan didn't say, however, was that Robbie Edwards was in for one
hell of a week after all.

Chapter
Five

“
Good
morning,” Morgan spoke, barely above a whisper when she opened
her eyes the next morning. Robbie was already sitting up and his legs
hung over the side of the bed, facing the opposite direction as
Morgan. It didn't appear as if he'd been up for very long, so
Morgan didn't feel guilty of sleeping in. His day-old beard and short
hair, that was pointing in every direction but down, made Morgan
smile to herself as she stretched her arms above her head.

“Good
morning, Morgan. I...I can't believe I feel asleep...I'm so...”
He turned to face her, bringing one knee up on the bed to do so. One
hand went to his face to rub the sleep from his eyes.

“No,”
Morgan cut him off and sat up, still doing her stretches. “Don't
apologize.” She placed her hand on his back and rubbed her hand
back and forth a couple of times before standing. “No,”
she told him again when she realized he was also standing. “Allow
me to find some breakfast. Coffee?”

He
nodded and sat back down. Morgan remembered Loraine mentioning the
fact Robbie could see better with more light, and with that in mind,
she went to the window beside the bed and opened the curtains as wide
as possible. Warm sunlight flooded the room and Morgan smiled
silently to her reflection in the window.

The
sunlight did, in fact, help the man. It didn't really make things any
more clear, but it did help him see more details and colors, even if
they were blurry. He didn't listen to Morgan's demand, and followed
her into the kitchen. She was standing with her back facing him and
it took even more control than he'd used the night before to not wrap
his hands around her hips and kiss the sweet spot under her ear. If
Morgan hadn't had water running, she may have heard the deep, but
subtle, throat clearing that came from Robbie.

“Yes,
I like coffee. So how about you finish this up,” he pointed at
the mess of coffee grounds that Morgan had made all over the counter,
“and I'll go downstairs and find us some breakfast.”

“First
off, I didn't realize you weren't supposed to open the little filter
thingy,” Morgan pointed at her own mess, the other hand on her
hip, and they both laughed. “And secondly, how about I finish
the coffee and
call
downstairs for breakfast. That way...”
Her tongue slid slowly over her lip and she took a step closer step
toward Robbie, then placed a finger under his chin, “neither of
us have to leave the room.” If seduction didn't make him stay
in that room, she didn't know what would. Thankfully, it worked.

Morgan
had Loraine's phone number, just in case, but the young woman planned
on spending as much time with Robbie as possible. Sure, Loraine had
requested that Morgan call her first thing in the morning, so she
could return him to his home safely, but that didn't seem fair. It
was his choice to make, so Morgan would allow him to do so.

“I...uh...I
know it's not our week yet, so if you say no, it's okay...but I
thought, maybe, if you have nothing to do,” Morgan paused her
sentence and poured a steaming cup of coffee into a plain white mug.
“Cream, sugar?” Robbie shook his head and she handed over
the hot beverage, making sure it reached his fingers before she let
go. “Uhm...anyway...if you're not busy, would you like to maybe
get dinner or...” Suddenly
sight-see
sounded like a
horrible plan, but she wouldn't treat him any differently than a man
who could see perfectly. “Take a tour of the city?”

Robbie
nodded before he could even think about it.
Fuck. What did I say
yes for? Oh, yeah, this here, shadowy figure on the left, I think
that's a statue of someone important. Yeah, go ahead and read it and
tell me wha....