Around the World in 80 Men Boxed Set 31-35 (70 page)

“
Yeah,
but two of your fish were flounder. I got a tuna. See the
difference?” In the end, Gil decided he would let Morgan win,
since her winning fish was technically lost to no fault of her own.

It
never did rain, and that night Morgan enjoyed a massive steak from
the grill, baked potatoes and grilled pineapple. It had been a
wonderful day, one that was finished Morgan style with a long bubble
bath and some time to work on her scrapbook while Gil caught up with
work. That night, they continued their battle with another
competition of who could make the other climax first. Gil won with no
arguments from Morgan.

*****

“
Bloody
hell.” Sean had never been to Belize and didn't have the first
clue of where Morgan had ended up. It was Friday, and he knew that
was typically the day she met her clients, so his hope was that she
was still in a hotel. The only problem with that, was the fact there
were many. “Angel.”

Sean
knew, if anyone knew exactly where Morgan was staying, it would be
Angel. One quick call to her best friend though, left the Irishman
quite frustrated.

“
Don't
get your mothafuckin' kilt in a hunch, Boo. I told you, she's staying
with Blue Gil.”

“
Angel,
listen ta me, mate,” Sean struggled with his words as his
drinking on the plane, and directly after, had left him more than a
little intoxicated, “I need more than
Blue Gil
to know
where she is.” Sean didn't even bother correcting him about the
fact his kilt was, in fact, not in a
hunch
either. “I'm
goin' ta hang up, you're going ta go through your messages an' find a
name or an address of this Gil person. You're going to send it back
ta me.”

“
Is
my Stick in trouble? Why do you need this shit?” Angel set his
broom against the wall and put a hand on his hip as he waited all of
one second for an answer. “Is she in mothafuckin' trouble?”

“
No,
just get me the information!” Sean hung up and wondered if it
would have been less hassle to call Morgan herself. Pulling the
bandage straight off the wound may have hurt less that having a
conversation with Angel, but in no more than two minutes, Angel came
through for him. There it was, a name and address for Gil Aguilar,
and of course a good string of curse words for hanging up on him.
“Oi, Holland. You're not goin' ta be happy about this.”

*****

“
Mmm,
I think the steak is even better today.” Morgan chewed the
large bite of tender meat slowly, enjoying every second of it. Steak
and eggs, as prepared by Gil, was more than she could have asked for.
“I would have been happy with toast, but this is amazing.”

“
Toast,
huh? Well, that would have been easier.” Gil reached to grab
Morgan's plate to exchange it for a piece of bread and Morgan moved
her fork over his hand in a mock threat.

“
Touch
my plate, you're losing a hand!” Morgan shoved the bite in her
mouth before Gil could even think about taking it.

“
I've
got it,” Gil yelled loudly after the doorbell rang. Sasha was
in the shower, but he was letting her know so she didn't rush out to
get the door. “But you're not off the hook. Toast for lunch.”
Morgan was still giggling as Gil left to attend to the door.

Chapter
Fourteen

“
Morgan,
you have a gentleman caller.” Gil smiled and tipped his head
toward the kitchen as he stood in the doorway, letting Sean know that
he could join her. Morgan's head snapped in their direction and the
bite that she was chewing almost choked her.

“
Sean?!
What the hell are you... why....?”

Sean
moved quickly across the room and took the chair next to Morgan. “I'm
sorry, Holland. I called John to check on ye.. he told me about
Ernesto... he saw it... I came here to tell ye that it's not your
fault! You didn't do anything wrong and I can't bear the thought of
this eating at you for the rest of your...,” Morgan put her
hand on Sean's face, close to his mouth, to stop his words. It was
too much to process, but the fact that he knew what she'd done was
enough to keep him quiet right then.

“
Sean,
you're obviously drunk.” Her eyes shifted toward Gil who was
listening to every words spoken. “I'll get you to a hotel where
you can sleep this off, then we'll talk.” Sean shook his head,
he had to tell her that everything was alright, but Morgan wouldn't
allow another word. “Listen to me,” she took his face
between her hands and forced him to look her in the eyes, “let's
get you to a hotel, and we'll go from there, alright?” Sean let
out a long sigh, and finally, he agreed.

Gil
stood tall and walked across the room to join them. He had no idea
what was going on, and he didn't care. “I'll call for a car and
have the driver take the two of you to the city.” He looked
down, directly at Sean. “You have one hour with Morgan. That's
it. She gets you checked in, and you explain what it is you came here
to tell her. Understand?” Sean didn't appreciate being told
what to do, or how much time he had with Morgan, but he understood
that he was stepping on a lot of toes with arriving unannounced, so
it would have to do. He nodded toward Gil, and Morgan instantly
stood. “You, finish your breakfast.” He pointed at Morgan
and smiled, and when she looked down at the rest of her steak, she
had to agree that he was right. Sean knew about Ernesto, he had her
followed again, he was blabbing everything in front of a client, and
he was about as drunk as she'd ever seen him. Yet, food still won the
battle in the end. That, Morgan knew, was another sign that
everything was going to be alright.

Twenty
minutes later, as promised, a car had delivered them to the front
door of the same hotel that Morgan had originally booked for herself.
“Come on, let's get your drunk ass to your room.” Morgan
checked him in while Sean leaned against the wall in the lobby. He
suddenly wanted to do nothing more than sleep, and the wait to get
his key was torture. “Thank you.” Morgan finished the
check in, and led Sean to the elevator. “Can you stand on your
own, please?” She pushed him upright when he leaned against her
shoulder, and pushed him again when the doors opened on the fourth
floor. “Come on.” Morgan took his hand as they walked
down the hall and to his room, then opened the door. “Just a
little more, Sean.”

“
I'm
so sorry, Holland.” He mumbled the words as he walked toward
the bed, and something else was spoken about how bad he felt when his
head hit the pillow. Seconds later, the sound of his soft snore
filled the quiet room.

Morgan
fell into the chair against the wall, and let out a long breath. She
didn't really need more information, Sean had said enough. He gave
John a small job to check on her well being after the crash, and he'd
seen more than any of them could have anticipated. The good news was
that none of them would ever judge her for her actions. The
not-so-good news was that more people she cared for was again
involved in the Carlos fiasco. She watched Sean sleep and her heart
swelled with love for the man. She couldn't be angry at him for
making sure she was alright, and it wasn't his fault that John had
checked on her at the worst time possible. “It's okay Sean.
It's okay.” She stood quietly, and found a notepad to leave a
note for the man when his booze finally wore off.

Sean,
I'm not angry. I understand. Thank you for loving me enough, and for
always looking out for me. Call me when you wake and we'll work on
getting you back home. With all my love, Morgan.

Morgan
sent a quick message to Gil, letting him know that she was already on
her way back to his house. He was quick to reply that he had their
day planned already, and she would get her wish of sightseeing.
Morgan smiled and leaned her head back against the seat as she held
her phone tightly to her chest.
Life is good.
It was the last
emotion she thought she'd have right then, but it was true. She had a
great client, wonderful friends, and even through her darkest hours,
she was loved.
I couldn't have dreamed of a better life.
Her
thoughts were shocking, but again, true.

Morgan
had been stalked, tortured, beaten, left for dead, and survived a
plane crash that took the lives of everyone around her, yet..... the
beauty in her life shined brightly and easily lit every corner of her
past and present with clarity. Julianne had been right; bad things
happen, it doesn't matter who or how, all that matters is that you
have the right people by your side through it all. Her thoughts were
interrupted when her phone sounded against her chest, and she smiled
at seeing Gil's photo. “Couldn't wait until I got back, huh?”
She answered the call, and Gil didn't pull any punches with his
questions.

“
I
have to know, Morgan. What happened with the guy.. Ernesto?”
Morgan hesitated, thinking of the right lie to tell him. “Look,
I don't care what it was, but my curiosity is getting the better of
me.” Again, Morgan hesitated. Finally, when his silence pushed
her to answer, she said the only thing that came to mind.

“
Gil,
if I did something that I wasn't proud of, do you really think I'd
tell you?” Gil laughed loudly.

“
No,
probably not, but I wouldn't hold it against you.” Morgan shook
her head as she spoke again.

“
I
don't know that, now do I?”

“
No,
I suppose you don't. Okay.. let's do this. Tell me one truth about
the situation, and one lie. I'll work on figuring it out, and that
should satisfy my curiosity.” Morgan thought it over, and
realized it would be nice to get it off her chest, even if he didn't
know what it was.

“
Okay.”
She took a loud deep breath, and spoke again. “The first thing
I'll tell you is that Ernesto was my ex boyfriend. The second is, I
didn't do anything at all to him.” Gil nodded against the
phone, then responded.

“
That's
settled then. See you when you get here, Morgan.”

*****

“
I
hope you have batteries for that camera, I have so much to show you.”
Gil kept his promise, and they got out of his car in the center of
Belize City to start her personal tour.

“
Here,
for you pretty lady. For you. Here you go.” As soon as Morgan
stepped out of the car, she was approached by a group of women with
yarn bracelets draped over their own arms. The shortest of the group
was already tying one around Morgan's wrist before she even had a
chance to reply.

“
Ah,
no thank...” It was too late, the bracelet was knotted twice,
and very secure. Morgan took a moment and looked down at the thing.
It was purple and bright orange, with BELIZE woven in the center. Not
something that she would have normally picked out, but she would take
it as her first souvenir. “How much?”

“
It's
free, we just ask for a five dollar donation.” Morgan looked at
Gil, trying to avoid the smile that pulled at her lips. The woman
went on to explain how the proceeds went to helping the stray animals
around the city find homes and Morgan couldn't resist helping.

“
Okay,
here.” Morgan pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her purse and
said she'd take four of the bracelets. The ladies thanked her, and
went on to find their next group of tourists.

“
You
know that's a scam, right?” Gil pulled his arm away from Morgan
as she was about to tie one of the bracelets to his wrist.

“
Maybe
it's not. And I'd like to think I'm helping. Give me your arm.”
With a sigh, he did as told, and for the rest of the day, he too wore
a brightly colored BELIZE bracelet around his wrist. The pink and
purple one was for Angel, and the blue and green would be saved for
Julianne.

“
You're
not here for one minute and already giving in.” Gil shook his
head and moved deeper into the tourist center. Shop after shop lined
the roads, with everything from tee shirts to magnets and liquor to
bikinis.

It
was true, Morgan couldn't help herself. Gil watched the happiness
that spread across Morgan's face with each store she went into. Over
the course of the next two hours, Morgan had more things than she
could carry, and a reason for buying each and every item.

“
What
do you need this for? You wouldn't actually wear this?” When
they finally stopped to rest, Gil rummaged through one of the bags
and pulled out a lime green tank top.