Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (65 page)

Throughout her flight, Morgan
had thought about a lot more than why she was running to Michael,
after all, there was a lot of time to do nothing but think. She also
tried to figure out who she was, realizing her moment of discovery
wasn't quite over yet and as she ate her food and sipped her wine,
she was taken back to that first day in training, the day she'd met
Cade.

The reason Julianne had set her
up with the men was to test her. But what had that test been? To see
if she could do her job. Her job wasn't trying to make people laugh
or fix their personal issues...her job, when it came down to it, it
was sex. So far, nearly everyone had pointed out things she wasn't up
to par with. She laughed too loud, she was immature, she cared
too
much about each of the men, but one thing was for certain...

“I'll just do what I'm
good at. Who am I kidding?” Morgan threw back the last half of
her wine, then motioned for another one to be delivered to her.
I
might moan too loud or make a stupid face or maybe my ass jiggles.
She continued beating herself up, even as she finished up her
second glass of wine.

After she'd paid her bill and
found a nearby hotel on her phone, Morgan decided the only person
she'd contact that night would be Julianne. The girl needed time to
think about things...rushing into stuff based on gut reactions was
something she did often, and even though that's how she landed
herself in California, she'd wait on the other part. Running to
Michael was something that needed to be thought out, just a little
longer.

When Morgan reached her hotel
room, it was nearly nine PM, making it even later in Ohio, but she
knew she'd have to call her boss and she wasn't going to do that
without picking a client first. She also thought that maybe if she
picked a client first, she might not have to talk to her boss at all.
“No, I'll call her, it's the right thing to do...”

She got into her pajamas and
settled on the bed with her laptop. Morgan had no intentions of
leaving the United States, at least for another week, so she clicked
on the country and scanned her options. Of course, she could always
stay in California, as there were plenty of men to choose from, but
if things went wrong with Michael, she didn't want to be stuck in the
area having to play hide and seek the whole week.

When she got to the database
though, her login didn't work. “Shit! I'm fired. She's fired
me. Oh shit! No! Please no!” The girl tried her password again,
but still nothing. The main, plain white screen wouldn't change.
“Damn it!” Morgan decided to give it one last effort, and
that time, it worked. “Oh my God, thank you!” She let out
a sigh of relief and a few more thank-yous, then stretched out on her
belly to scan her options. When she clicked on the map of the United
States, she knew exactly where she'd go next.

“Texas. That's it! I'll
find a nice cowboy.” Morgan clicked on the big state and the
little glowing dots looked back at her. “Let's see. Austin,
Corpus Christi, Houston, San Antonio....Dallas!” At first,
she'd thought the capital might be nice to visit, but then big 'ol
Dallas caught her attention. “I loved the show...that counts
for something, right?” Morgan stared at the screen and sighed.
She really didn't want to pick a man at that moment and she couldn't
find the same excitement she had any other time she'd chosen her man
for the week. But the way she had just felt upon thinking she'd lost
her job gave her enough inspiration to search through the men.

As she looked through the
Dallas options, she also mentally categorized them as she went down
the list. The ones who clearly stood out as a class three were
getting scratched off her list immediately and anyone in a business
suit was also not going to be her next client.

It wasn't until the third page
that she found exactly what she was looking for. Colton Blair. His
sandy blonde hair flared out the sides of his cowboy hat and sweat
dripped down his bare and very large chest. His arm was wrapped under
a large horse's head and his boots were covered in mud. He obviously
wasn't afraid to get dirty and that was exactly the kind of man she
needed. Morgan clicked on Colton's name, then closed her laptop. By
the time she reached around to adjust her pillow, Morgan's phone rang
out.

“Shit.” The sound
of her phone had never made her heart beat so fast, as she knew who
it was before she even answered. “Julianne, I'm sorry. I know I
disapp...”

“No, dear, I'm sorry. I
didn't mean to snap at you, that wasn't right of me.”

Morgan was shocked by
Julianne's kindness. She had spent the whole day thinking her boss
was mad at her, and she starts off with an apology. “Well,
I...”

“No, no, no. You didn't
deserve that. It was a long night and...well, I see you've chosen
Colton,” Julianne changed the subject abruptly. Morgan knew why
she'd had a long night...when it came down to it, it was still her
fault. Finding a last minute girl to up and leave in a matter of
minutes was a hard job as Julianne had described to her before, and
that's exactly what had happened. Julianne had probably gone through
hell trying to find a free girl, and one that would suit Kai's needs.
Good thing little tits was free.

“Yes...please tell me he
doesn't do business meetings!” Morgan felt a lot better when
the weight of worry had been lifted about Julianne and she was
actually able to smile.

“No, child, he doesn't.
Colton is a gentleman, I think you'll get along just fine.”
Child.
Suddenly, Morgan hated that word. Julianne told Morgan
that she'd have a flight out for her Friday morning and then she
thanked her girl for what she had done in Sweden. It was a brief
conversation, as Julianne was obviously embarrassed about her
behavior, but Morgan was sure to tell her that she'd do it a hundred
times over. The two said their goodbyes, and Morgan was left to enjoy
her room in perfect silence.

Chapter Nine

The next morning, Morgan picked
the hell out of her blueberry muffin. No eyes were on her, at least
none that she cared about, and she destroyed the top of the muffin in
minutes. She smiled at her hands when she finished, and Morgan was
loving the freedom to just be herself for the time being. One more
muffin picking mission later, she had cleaned her hands and took her
coffee back to her room.

The lounge was pleasant, mostly
because there weren't many people around, but she had enjoyed
slurping, blueberry picking, and chewing to her heart's content. The
morning, however, was when she knew she had to call Michael, and that
would be done in private.

She had tossed the idea around
so much that she decided to give herself a break and just call the
man. She could weigh the pros and cons all day, but there was no way
to know if he was the right choice for her few days off unless she
actually spoke to the man. So, with a deep breath, she found his
name on her phone and called him.

“Voice mail. It's
probably a sign.” Morgan waited for the beep and left a quick
message. “Hi, Micheal... this is Morgan. Uh, I'm in San Diego
right now and was wondering if... if you wanted to have lunch or
dinner together? Let me know. Bye.” She ended the call and
flopped down on the bed, still not knowing if she were doing the
right thing or not.

A few hours later, Morgan's
stomach interrupted her riveting television show. “Not now!
Tell us Maury! Is it his baby or not?” She covered her
stomach and tried to get it to quiet down. “After this
commercial. It's his, I know it's his.” She scooted to the
side of the bed and waited for the results, as she planned to leave
as soon as she found out. “Come on, don't lie! You know
that's your...” Morgan's phone interrupted her yelling, and
she grabbed for it quickly to silence yet another interruption.
“Hello?” Morgan's face was glued to the television, and
she didn't even look first to see who had called.

“Morgan? It's Michael.”
She took a quick intake of breath, and nodded slowly while she got
herself under control.

“Michael. Hi. Did you
want to get together? For a meal... or drinks...?” She closed
her eyes, hating the fact that she had just asked a man out. She
never had good luck when it came to that in the past.

“I'd love to. Where are
you staying?” She smiled nervously, and answered his question.
“Great, we'll have lunch then. See you in a few minutes.”
They ended the call and Morgan held the phone in her lap for several
moments.

“It wasn't that bad. He
sounded...sweet. This will be good, just relax and have some normal
time.” She took another few deep breaths, then stood up to
push her phone into her pocket. Just as she turned around to look at
the television, she realized what had just happened. “Shit! I
didn't find out! Was it his baby? Oh, I know it was... he can't
lie!”

Her luggage had already been
unpacked, except for a few pair of shoes that she planned to keep in
the bag. When she started to look around for her brown boots, she
saw her scrapbook that she'd thrown in at the last minute in Finland.
“Hmm, I'm not sure you deserve a spot.” She wanted to
be mad at Kai, but in a way, she was beginning to understand his
reasoning. The truth of the matter was, she probably wouldn't have
been 'perfect' enough for his big meeting, so he actually did the
right thing. It just didn't feel too great admitting it. “Alright,
you'll get a small mention, but that's it.” She put the
scrapbook on her lap and wrote his name under Finland. “You
showed me my flaws, and I guess I should thank you.” That was
the best that she could do, and she promised herself to print his
picture from their walk very soon.

She had changed her clothes
into something less comfortable, a white sundress and her tall brown
boots, and was already waiting in the lobby before he arrived.
Morgan had worried over every detail of her appearance as she didn't
want to seem like a girl that 'just didn't care.' She hated that she
harbored those feelings from her time with Kai, but it was what it
was and there was no getting around it at the time.

“Hey, Morgan!”
Michael was walking toward her and for a moment, Morgan thought it
was all just a bad idea, but she shook the thought, knowing she had
to find out for sure.

“Hi, Mickey.” She
put on a big smile and met him in the middle, then the two shared a
long hug.

“Ya hungry?” he
asked, guiding her to a table by the small of her back.

“Starving! Uhm...Michael,
thank you for coming.” She meant it, Morgan found that she was
actually really happy he was there.

“Morgan...I dropped
everything and went to London, just to see you for one night.”
His smile reminded her that he was right. A man she'd only met one
time before that, in the hallway of a hotel, had flown all the was to
England just to see her. “So, yeah. If that same beautiful
woman is in my town, fuck yeah I'll come see her.”

“You're making me blush,
Michael,” Morgan admitted with a smile. She thought about how
easy it would be to spill everything to the man...just drop all of
her puzzle pieces on the table and hope that he could piece them
together for her, but she wasn't going to go that route.
I'm tired
of dumping my problems on people.

Michael could already tell that
the young woman wasn't quite herself. Her bright smile was lackluster
and she looked tired. Not just tired from lack of sleep, but tired in
a stressful way. He wanted to ask if she were alright, but that was
too forward. Instead, he just asked what she'd been up to, hoping
that might help him figure out what was troubling the girl.

“Hmm...a lot!”
Morgan thought about her answer for a second, weighing what should or
should not be said. There wasn't really anything she felt she needed
to keep from him, she just didn't want to get emotional. The best
solution was to keep it simple with her answer. “I went to
Wales, Russia...oh, Russia was nice...then I decided to take a break
and I went to a friend's....Tanner's.....house in Australia,”
she'd forgotten that he'd met Tanner. “Everyone thought Tanner
died in an accident, but no, no,” she told him quickly when his
eyes widened, “he's fine.”

Michael knew that must have
been pretty stressful, but that wasn't what was different. Even as
she mentioned having fun in the other countries, she wasn't quite the
giddy girl he'd remembered.

Morgan changed the subject
before being forced to tell him about Finland, and asked him about
himself, but he didn't have time to answer before the server
approached the table to take their order. “Is it too early for
wine?”

“Not at all,”
Michael smiled over to her again. “Five o'clock somewhere.”
With a wink toward her, he ordered both of them a glass of Moscato.

“You...you like Moscato?”
The girl erupted in giggles. It was so nice to laugh and she knew she
had made the right decision in calling him. Having the company of a
friend might really help her.

“I had some at your
party, and I've been drinking it since. Hey, don't judge me, that
shit is good,” Michael announced a little too loudly, pointing
toward the bar. When the server returned with their drinks, he leaned
back in his chair on the back legs like a teenager in school and gave
out his lunch order, but right in the middle of his cheeseburger
request, he leaned back just a little too far.