Around the World in 80 Men Series: Boxed Set 21-30 (57 page)

Morgan
called the number that was in front of her, on a large blue and white
billboard, and she was told that a taxi was on its way. A while
later, after watching many people come and go, and even checking her
phone for a nearby hotel, she was still waiting. “Come on!”
She pushed the sleeve of her jacket up and checked her watch, then
looked at her phone, only eleven minutes had passed. It seemed like
even longer though, because at that point, Morgan's fingers had gone
numb from the cold and her stomach was growling louder than the wind.
Just as she was about to call the number again, two cabs pulled up to
the curb in front of her. “Finally!”

“
American?”
That was the first word spoken by the driver when he climbed out of
the vehicle. Morgan nodded and smiled. His dutch accent was thick,
but she understood the question nonetheless.
Ah-mare-ee-cahn.
Morgan
repeated the word in her head a few times, enjoying the way each
syllable had been pronounced.
Oh,
the
words
I'm going to make you say.
Morgan
giggled as she was already mentally planning a vocabulary list for
her client. “Where are you headed to, Lovely?” He slammed
the trunk shut and began walking back toward the front of the car
before Morgan could answer. Quickly, she followed behind him and
climbed into the back seat.

Morgan
put on her seat belt, then leaned forward to answer. “Uh...Brooklyn
Hotel, is that one nice?” She tucked her hands between her
thighs, hoping to warm them up a bit.

“
Oh,
yes. It's a fine place to stay. Off to there with you, then?”
He spoke quickly, but again, she understood enough and nodded. “What
brings you to this part of the world?” The driver's eyes met
her in the mirror, they were very kind eyes that told an unknown
story.

“
Business,”
her typical reply came out more quickly than usual. “And
pleasure,” she added, with a smile. “I'm here for two
weeks. Could you tell me some of the things to do around here?”
He smiled and quickly looked over his shoulder with a nod.

For
the next ten minutes, the driver with the light eyes told her
everything he could think do to in Rotterdam, as well as a short
history lesson. “Rotterdam, a province of South Holland,
started out as a dam in the year 1270. Did you know that?”
Morgan shook her head and giggled.

“
The
city is quite old then...”

“Yes,
and now it's become one of the largest ports in the world.” The
driver pointed out the window, towards the beautiful water. It looked
like glass,
beautiful,
deep blue glass. If it weren't so cold, Morgan would have known
exactly how she would be spending the week, but sitting out near the
water with that kind of wind didn't sound too fun.
Pictures
though, I can do that.
“Well,
you're here now,” he pointed to his right, at a large hotel,
beautifully decorated with sculptures and a fountain. “My name
is Haghen, if during the week you need a ride anywhere, you call me
up.” The man pulled a card from a compartment between the front
seats and passed it to Morgan, then climbed out of the car to help
with her bags once more. Once her bags were on the ground, Morgan
paid him the amount due, plus a generous tip.

“Thank
you, Haghen...I'll definitely do that.”

Chapter
Five

Morgan
stretched her legs as far as she could, straight out and partially
over the side of the bed. It was the first morning after arriving in
Holland, and she couldn't have felt more ready for a week of sight
seeing, and catching up with friends. The first day had been spent
tucked away in bed, and she was tempted to roll over and bury her
head in the oversized white pillow again, but there were far too many
things to see, and food to eat, so she sat up slowly and rubbed the
sleep from her eyes like a clumsy child that just ended a long nap.

“Shower
first... you,” she pointed at her phone on the dresser as she
walked by, “can wait.” She smiled as she thought of her
Angel, and the frantic mess he must be in after not hearing from her
for several days. She was at least grateful that she had sent him a
text that she would be going 'home' for awhile, so with luck, he
wouldn't be too far off the deep end. Either way, she would need a
shower and a few cups of coffee before she would be prepared for all
that is Angel.

“Fuck
me hard and do it again...,” she moaned loudly as the hard
force of the steaming hot water pounded her shoulders and back. The
hotel, she decided right then, was definitely on her top five list,
especially the shower. “I would give up bubble baths... just
for you.” She smiled as she lied to herself, and to the
shower, then forced herself to finally wash and address the near
jungle that her legs had sprouted over the last few days. At least,
that's what Angel would have said, and she laughed again as she
imagined his words at letting her womanly upkeep go to the wayside.
“Alright.. I miss you too much to wait.” She dried off
quickly and wrapped a towel around herself, then slid into a thick
robe that hung from a hook beside the shower.

“Yes!”
Her coffee was a one cup super brewer, and she had her morning fuel
in her hand in less than two minutes, which was almost exactly how
much time it had taken for her to power her phone, and find a good
spot on the bed to make a decent nest. She clicked her best friend's
photo, and took a sip while she waited for him to answer.

“Where
the fuck are you? Are you alright? What the fuck did the Finster
have to say about being a mothafuckin' daddy?!” Morgan's
coffee landed on her phone, her hand, and her sheets as she laughed
out loud.

“Holland.
Yes, I'm more than alright. I haven't said anything to him.”
She was wiping her sticky mess from her hand, and held the phone out
from her ear as she knew what was coming.

“Didn't...
you mothafuckin' didn't.... what? You didn't ask his ass about the
little Fin? What the hell is wrong with you, Stick? A bitch needs
some answers!” Morgan waited a few extra seconds to make sure
he didn't yell in her ear again, and smiled as she recalled
Julianne's advice about letting Finlay deal with the situation.

“Angel..
it's not up to me to call him out or ask questions to get to the
bottom of it. It's up to him. From now on, I'm going to learn how
to relax and to stop trying to carry everyone's problems.” She
squared her shoulders as she spoke, because she loved how the words
sounded coming from her lips, but more importantly, she loved the
meaning behind them and how they would change a small part of her
life for the better.

“You
sound like a fuckin' grown up. I don't like it.” She heard
the humor in his voice and smiled as she looked down at the much
needed pedicure on the toes that poked out from underneath her robe.
“Alright, but when he gets around to tellin' your ass why he's
playing mothafuckin' Brady Bunch, then you best call a bitch and give
me something!” Morgan laughed again and hid her toes
underneath the thick light blue robe.

“Promise,
I'll call a bitch and tell a bitch everything. So, what's new with
you? How's Gio? Cedric? PoPo?” Morgan sat back with what was
left in her cup, and listened to Angel tell her all of the news about
the men in Angel's life. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but
hearing him tell the stories were the most comforting things to her
right then. She longed to visit her Angel, and put the thought of
spending another week with him in between clients on the potential
things to do in the near future. “Stick... I'm sorry for
calling you when you were with Luis. I shouldn't have.. I just
thought it was a big mothafuckin' deal about Fin.. and I knew you
didn't know... and then I felt bad for telling. Shit.. I'm just..
fuckin' sorry.” Morgan closed her eyes and nodded, she knew
what she was getting into when her heart agreed to connect with her
wild Brazilian friend, and it was a small price to pay for having
someone that loved her as much as he did, in her life.

“Actually,
I'm glad you did. I... uh.. sort of had a little... episode.
Everything got to me at once, and I.... well.. I cried, I pitied
myself, and I spent time with Julianne. She set me straight on a few
things, and without everything happening the way it did, I probably
would have handled things way differently than I did. So... I have
you to thank.” She knew that he wasn't buying it, even though
it was the absolute truth, but even that wasn't something that she
was willing to deal with beyond simply being honest.

“Really?”
Angel sounded shocked that she had
thanked
him for telling
her, but he was relieved that he hadn't ruined things too much for
his Sticky Buns.

“Really.
I freaking love you. I can't think of many people who would have my
back, even after I said not to.” Angel laughed, knowing Morgan
had obviously caught on about his 'I have this friend' story. “Mhmm,
next time you ask me for advice, you don't have to....”

“And
you don't have to lecture my ass. Tell me about Holly's Netherland.
.” Angel tucked the phone into his shoulder and held his hand
out for PoPo, then fed him a peanut with the other hand.

“Holland,
and I'm taking the week off so I don't know about him..or his
Netherlands
yet,” Morgan told him.

“Fine,
send me a picture.” Silence. Angel hung up and of course, he
was expecting for Morgan to send a photo of...

“What
was his name?” Morgan brought her eyebrows together and stared
at the black screen on her phone for a few moments before the man's
name came to mind. “Vaughn!” She leaned forward, propping
her elbows on her knees and navigated to the database from her phone.
“Fuck! I forgot she took them down! Oh no.” Morgan let
her back fall against the wall and she groaned loudly, then sent a
text to Angel.

Julianne
picked him...I have no idea what he looks like.

She'd not known a client's name before, but at least she'd been
able to recognize him. How in the hell would she meet her client if
neither of them had any idea of what the other one looked like?
“Julianne.” Morgan sent another text out, that one to her
boss.

Julianne,
please send a picture of Vaughn, I never got to see him.
Morgan
knew she still had five days before she met Mister Holland, so she
wasn't worried, but she was curious. “Guess I'll find out one
way or another.” Morgan threw her legs over the bed and stood,
then stretched her arms over her head
.
“And I need more
coffee,” she spoke to her empty cup through a yawn. “And
food.” Her stomach growled loudly and she recalled reading
something about a breakfast buffet downstairs. “Guess I'll find
out that too.”

Morgan
got ready quickly and headed downstairs. The breakfast buffet, as
expected, was excellent and what was better than that was the fact
she was able to sit at her own table for more than an hour and didn't
have to go anywhere or do anything she didn't want to. It was during
that time that she planned out the rest of the week as well. With
more than a dozen brochures laid out across the small wooden table,
she made a list of all the things she wanted to do. Once she'd
finished picking at her grapes, Morgan stood and pulled her phone out
of her pocket, then found Haghen's card and gave him a call. He said
he'd be at her hotel in fifteen minutes, which gave her enough time
to head back upstairs and grab her coat and purse.

Time
to take care of me.
Morgan smiled to herself as she waited for
her driver to arrive. A day of pampering, exfoliating, highlighting,
and nail coloring, was all that was on her agenda.

*****

Finlay
leaned his shoulder, against the window frame and brought the bottle
of whiskey to his lips then back down. Just an hour before, he'd
watched Janet pull out of his long driveway, taking baby Cameron with
her. Finlay wasn't even aware of how long he'd been holding his
breath, but it wasn't until Burke appeared at his side that he
finally released the air from his lungs with a long, audible, sigh.

“Ye'll
see the wee lad again, mate.” Burke's weathered hand landed on
Finlay's high shoulder and the man took another step closer to the
Campbell's side.