Around the World in 80 Men Series Boxed Set 1-10

by Brandi Ratliff

  They didn't talk much more until Aiden came back to the table with a bowl of boiled eggs. “Bon appetite,” he told her, and they were the best boiled eggs she ever had. Of course, she had shown him the greatness of adding butter and pepper, making them the perfect egg sandwich. “Between the two of us, we're quite the chefs.” They both had to laugh at that.

  They made a bit more small talk, betting on when the power had come back on and commenting on how the new day was quite different with its bright sun. If it had been that beautiful out the day before, Morgan was sure to have been with her next client by then, and it was another thing he was secretly thankful for.

  Aiden excused himself for a shower and Morgan went to the bathroom down the hall and did the same. She was looking forward to taking full advantage of his bathtub as well, but she wanted it to be the one in his bedroom. His tub was much larger and was sure to be roomy enough for two. In the bathroom with her suitcases, there was a decent tub, but no view of his farm, and much smaller. When she got out of the quick shower, she dug through her clothing and found the perfect outfit. A pair of white denim jeans and a plaid blue and white button-up shirt that tied at the waist. I can do farm. She remembered the hat that Tanner had made her buy and dug it out of her bag as well. A white cowboy hat with a real rattlesnake strip that ran around the top. She finished off her look with a side braid and a touch of makeup, then made her way back into the living room.

  “Aiden?” A woman had beat a man out of the shower? That was a first! “Okay, I'm going to go outside!” she called up the stairs. She wasn't sure if he had heard her, but she went out the wide back doors anyway. After a long walk though the yard, and trying to step on the non-soggy parts like stepping stones, she found her way to the barn.

  “Wow!” As she walked through the barn, full of empty stables, she could almost imagine how it would have looked a year ago. He had told her a little bit about the horses. His favorite had been a huge white horse, named Warlock and he would ride him nearly every day, up until he gave him to a friend. He had managed to get the strength to go visit the horse a couple of times, but he could never get back on. His wife had bought it for him as a colt, and every time he looked at the white beauty, it would remind him of his wife.

  “How did I know I'd find you out here?” Aiden's voice startled her as she had been looking at the collection of saddles on the wall.

  Chapter Eight

  “Warlock.” Morgan turned back around and ran her hand across the missing horse's name plate on the largest stall. “I bet he's amazing, do you have any pictures of him?” Pushing her luck? Maybe. But she had already chiseled down a few walls, why not keep tapping?

  “Yeah, tons. I'll try to find some for you when we go back inside.” He walked to her side and stared at the empty stall. “He loved apples.” His voice was low and he stared at the empty space with a memory that only he could see.

  “I'm sure he still does!” She smiled and nudged his arm, breaking the near trance that he was in. He agreed, he probably still did love them, and then he told her that he was actually two farms down from his. Although, his tone let her know that he wasn't at all ready to see him anytime soon.

  They walked through the barn and Aiden pointed out where each of his horses had been stalled, and the personality of them from birth up. It was amazing to hear how they were all so different and she loved how much he cared about them.

  The tour was coming to end when Aiden stopped and stood in front of her. “I meant to tell you earlier, you look really good. I thought you were going to look like a bum while you were here.” His smile was genuine and she was thrilled that he was actually flirting with her.

  “Nope, now I'm on a mission to get your attention.” She dramatically turned her back on him and bent down slowly to pick up a single piece of hay from the ground. “Is it working?” She stood up slowly and laughed at his expression. His good humor had turned to lust in a split second. “Ha! You so want me naked right now!” She giggled and pretended to start unbuttoning her shirt.

  “Actually, that's exactly what I was thinking.” He stepped forward and put his large hands around her waist. “Is that alright?” There it was again, the hesitation, and she wasn't going to let him back out when he was so close.

  Aiden had a hard time for the entire hour in the barn trying to not stare at her, to not touch her, and he had reached a point where he couldn't hold back any longer. She was beautiful, and willing, and for the last few months, that's all he had wanted to ease the frustration of his body. Morgan also had a wonderful personality, and that helped him more than she would ever know.

  Morgan's heart raced as she looked into his eyes and saw a year's worth of desire built up in them. “It's more than alright.” She looked down at his shaking hands as they managed the buttons on her shirt. He opened each side and pulled it off of her shoulders, and dropped it on the ground. She stood in her purple bra, nearly shivering when the cool breeze swept across her body. Slowly, he reached behind her and unhooked her bra, dropping it to the floor as well.

  Morgan grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head, then ran her hands over his tan chest. “You're so beautiful, Aiden.” Her eyes never left his upper body as her hands trailed down to his stomach, then to the top of his pants.

  The sound of her unsnapping his jeans and lowering his zipper broke the silence and he hand covered hers quickly. “Maybe we shouldn't.”

  “And maybe we should.” Morgan's words were nearly cut off when she raised on her toes and pulled his face to hers. Her soft lips covered his mouth and he sighed in defeat as he kissed her with a desire that left her nearly panting when he finally broke the kiss.

  His warm lips moved to her neck as his hands worked on her jeans. When they were lowered to her thighs, Aiden picked her up with one arm and carried her to a wooden table near the door. He placed her on top and pulled her jeans and panties from her body. “No, you're so beautiful.” His eyes ran her entire length and he stood still while Morgan finished the job with the rest of his clothes, allowing him to kick his shoes and pants off when she lowered them enough.

  “I don't know what...,” he wanted to know what she wanted, how she wanted it, but had no idea how to ask. He felt like a young buck on his first ride, and it wasn't what he thought it would be like.

  Morgan never hesitated, she grabbed his wrists and put them around her waist. “Pick me up.” She was off the table in the very next second and her legs were wrapped around his bare waist instantly. “Take me in there.” She pointed to the first stall that didn't have a name plate, and she hoped that he had never had a horse in that one. Morgan had no intentions of bringing back more memories at the moment. He had them in the stall in just a few long strides.

  “The rest is up to you Aiden. You can be inside of me in seconds, or we can lay on the floor.” She never felt his hand leave her body when he guided himself inside of her.

  She put her forehead against his shoulder as he moved his hands to her hips and slid her down slowly on his length. “Hmmm.” The pleasure of being filled with the gorgeous man could be heard throughout the barn, and her hot wet center told him that she was as genuine as they come.

  She arched against him with every move and held tightly around his neck as his rhythm increased with each thrust. “I'm sorry....I'm...” His deep intake of breath and the feel of his body jerking inside of her forced another low moan from her chest. He quietly released his passion and continued to hold her for several moments after.

  When she finally raised her head to look at him, she saw what she was hoping for, a very pleased look! She also told him that he never needed to apologize to her, and that he felt amazing. It was true, but she held off telling him that she expected a lot more of what he had to offer. For right then, she just let him slide her to the ground where they walked hand in hand to the doors to get their clothes.

  “I do need to apologize. I knew that when the time came.....well....I
probably wouldn't be able to hold out for very long. I promise, it'll be better next time.” He picked up her clothes and handed them to her.

  “Aiden, I've wanted you since the airport. I mean, if you could have heard my thoughts, you would have thrown me from your truck! So, please...let me have my moment of bliss that I finally got to feel you inside of me...because...damn!” They both laughed and Aiden assured her that he wouldn't have thrown her from the truck. He also wanted to know what her thoughts were.

  “I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” He had just helped her button her shirt when he made her the proposition. She put her finger to her chin and pretended to think it over.

  “If you feed me again, then you have yourself a deal.” They shook on it, and walked back to the house.

  The afternoon together was much easier spent than it had been. The burden of sex was put behind them, and Aiden was finally able to relax and just enjoy Morgan's company. They had also agreed that the toast and potato chips that they shared did not qualify as the promised meal per their earlier agreement. But the photos of Warlock and the other horses that he had shown her had more than made up for their lack of food throughout the day.

  “Alright, I hear your stomach growling. What will it be? Chinese again? Or how about burgers?” She wondered if he ever went out to eat, but chose to leave that stone unturned considering what a great time they had been having.

  “Neither, I say we try our hand at cooking. I mean, what could go wrong?” They both laughed and offered every scenario from ruining anything that they touch to burning down the house.

  “Alright, why not? I'll run to the store and pick out....something....that we can't ruin.” She shook her head and they continued talking about all the things that he shouldn't buy. No chicken because they were clueless on how long to cook it, no pork because it could kill them if they messed up, and nothing that required more than three ingredients to prepare.

  As she stood on the porch and watched him drive away, she felt as if she had actually done something to change someone's life. “You just need baby steps.” Morgan was thrilled that he had changed his mind to let her stay and she was even more happy that even if she could only help the man with his first step, it was more than worth it to her.

  After half an hour, Morgan began to worry. It hadn't even taken him that long to pick up the Chinese in a torrential downpour and he had told her that the market was right next to the Chinese restaurant. “Where are you?” She paced back and forth on the front porch, for fifteen more minutes. “What's taking so long?” she asked the open air. Finally, at nearly an hour, he returned. Morgan let out a sigh of relief as all of her worries drifted away.

  Adien hopped out of the truck with an armful of bags, and Morgan ran down the three steps of the porch to help, but when she got closer, she saw he looked different. He looked...happy. Very happy. His wide smile was contagious and Morgan couldn't help the one that grew across her lips.

  “I thought you got lost!” she joked and grabbed two of the bags from his hands when she met him in the middle of the yard.

  “Oh, I know! I tried calling you, but it went to voice mail,” he began. Morgan forgot her phone was off, and the silly girl had told him to call her if he needed anything. Not that she would have been much of a help in the ingredient department. “Do you know how hard it is to find meals with three ingredients?” He pulled the storm door open with his boot and Morgan kicked it open the rest of the way, holding it for Aiden.

  Morgan giggled and told him that she didn't know. When she had lived in her apartment, she had settled with living on things that could be put into the toaster or microwave. The stove was like a dangerous spider and must be avoided at all costs...but once in a while, when she was feeling very ambitious, she'd throw french fries or burritos in the oven. If, and only if, there were exact directions listed on the back. She had also roasted a few chickens, which she had destroyed and vowed to never try to do again.

  Aiden explained that he had to ask an employee for suggestions on easy meals and the young girl at the store had told him spaghetti was pretty easy, so he went with it. How hard could spaghetti be? “First, I got sauce. But it wasn't really sauce. It was...” he searched for the word, “paste? I mean, what is tomato paste anyway?” Morgan shrugged her shoulders.. “So I asked about the sauce, I think I found some...I got two. Then I found the noodles. Jesus, I didn't know there were so many types of noodles! Why can't there just be one standard noodle for everything? Curly and straight and wide and bow tie...and then there were colorful things. Who the fuck wants pink and green and purple pasta?”

  At that point, Morgan was laughing so hard, she could barely hear his words, but he continued. “Then! This is when I tried calling you. I didn't know if you liked meat in your spaghetti...”

  “I love meat,” Morgan interrupted.

  Aiden shook his head back and forth as he paced in the kitchen, explaining his traumatic story. “Anyway,” he gave her a look that made her double over, “I got some frozen hamburgers, I figured if you want the beef, we can cook the burgers and, I don't know, chop it up or something.”

  “Aiden, I do believe that was the cutest thing I've ever heard in my life,” she was still giggling when he finished.

  “What?” He couldn't find the humor in his horrific shopping experience.

  Morgan just covered her mouth to avoid another explosion of laughter. “Nothing,” she told him. Even she knew to get a package of hamburger, not frozen patties...but the fact he tried so hard was absolutely adorable. She bent over to grab one of the bags on the floor, but Aiden beat her to it and dug inside, producing a beautiful pink rose.

  “For me?” she asked and took it from his hand slowly.

  “No, the other beautiful woman in my kitchen,” he sarcastically replied, bringing his eyebrows together. “ It's just...I...I wanted to say...thank you.”

  “Aw, Aiden, no, thank you!” She knew the rose wasn't meant for her in the way most men give a rose to a woman, but it meant more to her than any flower a man had ever given her. She thought of Tanner's words, if anyone can help him, it's you, and she smiled down on the perfect rose. I hope I'm helping.

  She asked him if he had a vase to keep it in and he produced a tall skinny one from under the sink in a couple of seconds, filling it with water before setting it on the counter. After it was safely out of the way, they got back to their dinner plan.

  Chapter Nine

  “You put them in first right?” Aiden was hovering over the pot of water with a handful of pasta.

  “No, look!” Morgan held the package out in front of her for the third time and read the instructions out loud, “add pasta to BOILING water. Blah, blah, seven to nine minutes.”

  “Well, is it seven or is it nine?” he spoke, and absentmindedly dropped the pasta into the cold water.

  “Aiden! No!” Morgan laughed and poured the pot of water into the strainer, then set the noodles on a paper towel.

  “Oh, shit! I didn't mean to...I'm sure it's fine. Right?” He examined the pasta as Morgan filled up the pot again with the right amount of water.

  “I think. Just wait until it boils,” she giggled again. They decided to keep it as simple as possible and leave the hamburger out of the equation, with the thought that if spaghetti went well, they'd try their hand at the patties.

  After the water boiled and after seven minutes, Morgan did what she had seen on television and retrieved a noodle from the pot. “What are you doing?” Aiden watched her slide her hold the lone noodle between her fingers.

  “This!” She threw the noodle against the wall behind the stove, and it fell. “It's not done yet. I saw it on TV...if it sticks, it's done.”

  A minute later, Aiden did the same thing. But he threw it at Morgan. “Hey, it stuck!” A long noodle was stuck, perfectly straight, between her cleavage and he threw his arms in the air as a celebration. Morgan laughed , unglued the wet noodle from her chest and threw i
t back. It landed on his forehead, and that's where he kept it for the rest of their dinner. Morgan was happy to see this side of the man. She imagined that he was a very funny guy, a lot like Tanner, she thought, before the accident. She could only pray, that after she left, he would find a way to keep happiness in his life.

  Despite the first mishap, the spaghetti turned out better than either of them had expected and Morgan had even been brave enough to throw some garlic bread into the oven; which turned out delicious as well.

  “I think you were right, we are a couple of chefs!” Morgan pushed her plate away and rubbed her full tummy. “We did great!” She raised her bottle of beer and he eagerly clinked his glass against hers.

  After some more talk of how awesome they had done, Morgan helped him clean up the table and kitchen, and he started another fire for them.

  “Do you have any scary movies?” Morgan thought of any excuse that she could to cuddle up to him. His chest longed for her body against it.

  “Actually,” he said, walking across the room to retrieve a case of DVD's, “that's about all I have.”

  “So if I pretend to be scared, will you hold me?” I'll hold something of yours...

  “I planned on it, either way,” he replied with a smile. That desire was back in his eyes and Morgan felt the heat rise in her neck. Control your hormones!

  “Texas Chainsaw Massacre?” Aiden flipped through his book. “Amityville Horror? Poltergeist? The Shining? Saw?”

  “The first one, I haven't seen that in forever!” So it was set. Aiden put in the movie and they spent the whole evening cuddled up on the couch. Each time Morgan would jump or squirm, Adien would hold her tight, but she actually had to wonder if it wasn't because he was actually scared because he jumped more often than she did. When the first movie was over, Aiden put in Cujo and before it ended,the fire had dwindled to glowing embers and both of them had fallen asleep on the couch.