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

by Brandi Ratliff

  She wanted to tell him that she was glad to be his first since his wife, that she was glad she was with him at all, and that she was glad he chose her to dance with, but she kept it all to herself and snuggled against him to enjoy the rest of the morning in his arms.

  *****

  Later that afternoon, Aiden built them another fire and asked Morgan what she wanted for dinner. They had exhausted all of the frozen food, and even the rest of the eggs had finally been eaten. When she asked if fettuccine alfredo was out of the question, he smiled and said that there was a great place not far from there where he could get it. He gave her a quick kiss and headed out to retrieve dinner.

  Once she was alone again, she knew that it would be her only chance to privately take care of business with Julianne and find her next client. She brought her laptop to the living room and sat down in front of the fire to look over the database.

  As she waited for the page to load, she watched the fire and thought about the next place she would go. She found that sitting in front of a fire was one of her new favorite things, so she was leaning towards going somewhere cold again.

  “Okay, who do we have....oh...what the..?” Julianne's page looked different and she saw the reason, hundreds more men had been added since the last time she had checked it. Business is booming, huh? She scrolled through the pictures briefly then decided to search by area. A map came up, one that looked different from the last image that her boss used, but she scanned Europe and the surrounding areas until she stopped. “Hmmmm.”

  “Well, let's see what there is.” Sweden, that was the place that caught her attention, and the first man on the list did as well. “How tall are you?!”

  Alrik Lager stood next to an old building, leaning his hand against the red stone. He was extremely handsome and had a great smile, but Morgan didn't get the excitement from him that she sometimes looked forward to having. She frowned at the hottie and clicked through eleven more photos, none of which were as attractive as Alrik, and none of which did a thing for her.

  “Well, this sucks.” She thought of looking somewhere else, perhaps Wales or France, but she looked back at the blonde man and smiled. “No, I've always wanted to see Sweden, so it looks like it's me and you buddy.” She clicked his photo and sent the request to her boss.

  That was the first time that she realized that not every client would make her toes curl, but she still didn't understand why she felt nothing when she saw him. She needed back up, that's all, and she copied his photo and sent it directly to Angel with nothing more than a question mark.

  It took exactly twenty nine seconds for her friend to reply. “Bitch, jump on that and ride it through the alps, and I best be able to hear your yodeling ass from here!” She laughed out loud and wrote back.

  “Bitch, they don't yodel in Sweden, that's Switzerland.” She sent it and waited, all twelve seconds.

  “Sticky Buns, if I could ride that man, I would yodel, rap, folk sing, and do the hokey fucking pokey! Now get up on that blonde beef stick!” Then another message came through right after. “And I miss you like mad, call a bitch sometime.”

  Talking to Angel was exactly what she needed because she agreed that Alrik was pretty freaking hot. She also realized that her heart and mind were focused on Aiden at the time, and she would allow herself the enjoyment of giving him all of her attention while she was there.

  Morgan sent a few more messages to Angel, and then she put her laptop away before Aiden returned. She also grabbed her phone and turned it on to await Julianne's call with her flight information.

  Just as she stepped on the front porch to get some air and wait for Aiden, Julianne's call came through. “Holy shit! That was freakin' fast!” Morgan pressed the green call button and ended the jazz tune, and also made a note that she was going to have to change that soon! “Hello? Okay. Twelve-seventeen. Got it. Okay, I'll be there. Thanks! Alright, bye” Her flight left around noon the next day and although she wasn't happy about leaving since it felt like she had just gotten there, she was happy to have a time.

  Aiden pulled up a few minutes later with the food and as usual, Morgan ran down the steps to help. After they had devoured their meal, the girl told her client the news. “Noon tomorrow, that's when I'm leaving.” His face radiated of sadness and Morgan regretted spilling the information. She only wanted to tell him so he didn't assume they still had a whole day together.

  “At least we have tonight,” he spoke after a few moments.

  “Yes, we do,” she reached across the table to grab his hands as she spoke. The last day was always the hardest. It was like pre-gaming a goodbye for thirty-six hours and it sucked.

  That evening was spent in front of the fire like most of the other nights they had spent together, but it was different. Aiden was different. He held her tighter, kissed her more and probably drew three hundred designs with his finger from her shoulders to her wrists while they watched their movies together. I'll miss you too, Morgan thought, knowing what he was thinking.

  Eventually, they ended up on the floor, covered in thick blankets for their last, long session of love making.

  *****

  “Morgan?” Aiden had walked all over the house and he couldn't find her. “Morgan?” he called again, opening the front door. Just as he was about to close it, he saw her come around the side of the house and he waited for her to come to the porch. “Where did you go? I thought...I thought maybe you left.”

  “I wouldn't do that! No, I just wanted to go for a walk, get some fresh morning air,” she smiled sweetly and walked though the open door.

  “You should have told me, I would have gone with you,” he followed her inside, talking to her back.

  “It's okay...you looked so sexy sleeping. I couldn't wake you.” Morgan placed her hand softly on his cheek and pulled him closer for a kiss, then she went to the table to enjoy the blueberry muffins they had bought at the store. She joked again with Aiden for picking them out, but she didn't let them go to waste. The rest of the morning went by way too quickly as Aiden helped her pack up her things, which there wasn't much to pack, but their goofing off had made it take longer than it should have.

  “I don't want to take you,” Aiden told her after he set her bags by the door.

  She didn't know how to take his tone...did that mean...? “Uhm...well...I can call a taxi?”

  “No, no, I'm going to take you! I just...I don't want you to...”

  “Shhh...” she pressed her finger to his lips. “It's okay. Keep in touch with me, Aiden. If you ever want to see me again, just...ask.”

  “I don't want to say goodbye yet.” So they didn't. He carried her bags to the car and helped the girl who had opened his heart into the car. How could a few days mean so much? The trip to the airport was much different than the trip had been to his house from the airport. Morgan could see a night and day difference in the gorgeous man. Although he seemed sad about Morgan leaving, he didn't seem like the sad, lost, man she had first met. He talked openly and joked all the way there. They talked about the funny moments of their week and when Aiden said he'd never look at muffins the same again, Morgan told him she'd never look at oranges the same. They both laughed and without saying a word, they both knew how grateful they were for their week.

  Morgan had met another amazing man and made a new friend and Aiden had opened the door for new possibilities in his life, thanks to a one of a kind girl.

  Their goodbye at the airport was short and sweet. Morgan wouldn't let him get upset and she teased up to the very last second, keeping the mood light, to make sure he remembered her smile, not by her usual departing tears. After their last hug and kiss, they parted their ways and when Morgan got to her terminal, she let the tears fall. They were inevitable, but she had held them off as long as possible.

  She still had ten minutes before her plane boarded, so with her normal routine, she pulled out her pink scrapbook. The night before, she had managed to convince Aiden to po
se for her in front of the fire. Shirt off, cowboy hat on. He worked the picture like a seasoned model, and it was a stunning picture that she was honored to add to her book. She also pressed the single rose that he got her, and placed it above the photo. “Thank... you.... Aiden,” she spoke as she tucked in the corners of the photo. When it was in place, she pulled out her pen and wrote her inscription.

  Aiden,

  I hope your heart stays open. Thank you for allowing me the first dance. I'll see you again.

  When she got on the plane, she smiled silently to herself as she checked the time. He should be back home by now.

  She was right, Aiden had just pulled into his driveway at that very moment. He saw his neighbor's truck and trailer near his barn, and he immediately thought the worst. “Warlock!” His heart raced as he ran to the barn to see if his neighbor had bad news about his beautiful horse.

  When he turned the corner to the barn door, he saw the man closing the stall door to his excited animal. Warlock looked at Aiden and demanded attention from his best friend. “What's going on?” He walked to his horse and ran his hand down the side of his head and spoke softly to calm him down.

  “I can't say. All I can do is hand ya this, and I'll be on my way.” Aiden's neighbor, David, handed him a letter and smiled. As he was walking away, David turned and left the confused Aiden with some parting words. “You're a lucky man to have a friend like Morgan.” Then he left, waving off Aiden's questions until he got in his truck and pulled away.

  “What the hell?!” He opened the letter quickly, and sat on the wooden table to read it.

  I'm guessing you're confused, or angry, or both. But I'm also guessing that you're happy to see Warlock too. Right now, you have a choice, Aiden. A choice of being being angry, being sad, or being happy. The choice is yours, and it will be with each day of your life. Choose happiness, Aiden! It's waiting for you.

  Love, Morgan

  He shook his head and smiled as he pictured Morgan walking over an hour across mud pits, wildly overgrown brush, and trekking through two massive fields to reach David's house. He can't imagine what she said to him, but he knew that there were very few people who could resist her. He also had to admire her for finding a way to get out of bed that morning to pull it off without waking him. “You're something else, Morgan.” He walked over to Warlock and looked him over. His best friend was back where he belonged, and it never would have happened without her. He opened the stall and guided Warlock to the back pasture. As he let him go and watched him get familiar with his surroundings, Aiden wiped one small tear from his eye. “Welcome home.”

  Sweden

  Book Nine

  Chapter One

  “Excuse me? Can you he...” Morgan grunted at the rude flight attendant. For the third time she had tried to get her attention, and for the third time, the woman had passed her by with no acknowledgment.

  She watched the woman make her way three rows ahead of where Morgan was sitting and begin chatting away. Oh, you can talk! “EXCUSE ME!” It was no longer a question. Morgan didn't need anything too important, but the fact the woman was ignoring her made her impatient. The woman in her, all-too-tight, black dress stopped chatting with the handsome man sitting at 32F and finally looked toward Morgan. With a huge smile, excusing herself from the man, she turned back to Morgan with a grimace replacing her overdone grin.

  “Yeah, uhm, I realize I don't have a penis, but I just need ten seconds of your time,” Morgan closed the distance between her eyebrows and gave the woman a stare-down of her own. The woman's eyes went wide, as well as a few nearby passengers and she quickly looked over to the man who she had just been giving her attention to. Morgan looked around the corner to see what was so fascinating and saw the handsome man in 32F had a huge smile across his face. The stewardess blushed in response, obviously her plan for a quick date in Japan wasn't going to happen.

  “Yes?” the woman finally managed to speak, directing her eyes back to the young blonde.

  “Great, I have your attention!” Morgan wasn't one to get mad, hardly ever actually, but they were there to help the passengers and Morgan found it incredibly rude that a booty-call was more important. Morgan took a cleansing breath and asked her question. “Do you know the time difference from Auckland to Sweden?”

  “Ten hours.”

  “Ahead or behind?”

  “Behind.” The woman had her arms crossed in front of her and her eyes continued to go back to row thirty-two.

  Morgan felt like having a conversation with the woman was like trying to pry the teeth from a barracuda with chopsticks. “So Sweden is ten hours behind New Zealand...that means...” Morgan did the quick math in her head. If she left at noon from Auckland, had thirty-six hours of travel time, minus ten hours... “I'll get there at two. Okay, thanks so much!” Morgan sarcastically told her and without a reply, the woman quickly walked away, opposite the direction of the man.

  Morgan sat back in her chair. The seat belt light had just gone off and her flight to Japan had a ways to go. Maybe I should have chosen a closer place. She shook the thought. No, Sweden is going to be amazing! Morgan closed her eyes and slept nearly the whole way to her first layover.

  As she stepped off the plane, Morgan looked at her itinerary. “Five hours?” She sighed and as she stuffed the paper back into her bag, she nearly ran into a pillar in the middle of the walkway. “Seriously? Who would put that there?” Okay, I'm cranky. I need food! Morgan laughed quietly and found her way to a little Japanese cuisine restaurant and placed an order for some spicy noodles, mostly by pointing at the pictures. It wasn't long before she had downed two beers to go with it.

  “Whew! These are spicy!” She told one of the young women behind the counter, although Morgan was sure she couldn't understand, the woman nodded back. “Oh!” she almost forgot, she had messages to catch up on! Morgan pulled her cellphone from her back and turned it on; to no surprise, there were a bunch!

  She mumbled the messages under her breath as she read them aloud. Angela was first, most recent. “I miss your face. Can't wait to see you! You-know-who talks about you all the time...I'm sure he can't wait either.” Awww! “How can I miss so many people at once?” Morgan typed her reply: I miss your face too! I'll be there before ya know it! How are things with lover boy?

  Next message. You-know-who. She read that one in her head. “You know what sucks? You not being here and not getting to talk to you very much. I know, I know...you're busy. I see Kala and Angela everyday...I just can't wait for the four of us to hang out again. Kole.”

  Morgan replied telling him the same thing as Angela. I'll be there next month and we'll all have the best time ever! I miss you all so much! I'll write again soon. xoxo Morgan.

  Tanner. “Do you need to get anything from your room yet? Morgan giggled at her phone and downed the last half of her third beer. No, not yet, but you'll be the first to know. Better not be watching scary movies without me!

  Finlay. “Oh shit! He wrote!” Morgan took a deep breath and opened the message. She hadn't talked to him since before the Tanner incident. “I take it yer phone is safe now from the nosy lad. Scotland has beer and pizza. Ye should have come here instead. Fin.

  “So now we're presuming what I should have done? Oh, Finny-Fin. What am I going to do with you?” She couldn't put off his messages any longer. Truth was, she missed him. No, we needed a break. But now I miss you and I'll be needing my Fin fix soon. I'll call you later. Morgan. She'd call him when everything else was caught up and do some catching up of her own with the sexy Scotsman.

  Next and last message, Sean. “It's Friday. That means you're traveling and I hope you're using the ticket I gave you.” Morgan smiled to herself. She had almost forgotten about her paid trip to Ireland! “Crap! I wish I could just get them all together! No...no, no, no. Bad idea.” She giggled and wrote back. Not yet, my gorgeous friend. But hopefully soon. I hope you're not taking any other girls to our alleyway. Morgan. It wa
sn't possible to have too many friends, but Morgan wished she had a pause button on her life so she could spend more time with each of the important people in her life.

  She spent the rest of her layover time sending more messages to Angela, Angel, Kole and Sean, catching up on Kala, Ele, Sean, and sheep. Finlay didn't write back until she had already boarded her next flight and by then, it was too late to reply. I'll call when I'm in Istanbul.

  That flight was longer, but much more enjoyable. Morgan spent most of the time filling up pages of her scrapbook with over a hundred images from her sightseeing adventures and placed each page of photos behind its corresponding man. Her fingers traced over each memory, every one of them still fresh in her mind. It seemed like no time had passed between her first photo in Australia to her most recently printed photo of Aiden in front of the fireplace. Time is going so fast. She flipped through the men one last time before closing her book and caught half of a movie before landing in Istanbul, Turkey.

  I need sleep! Morgan walked slowly through the airport lobby and flopped down into a cushioned chair to wait for her final flight. The only thing that kept her eyes open was the fact that her phone was filled with return messages. She loved that her friends wanted to talk to her, but she also knew that it would go on and on if she kept returning their calls and messages. There was only one that she would open right then, the one from Finlay.

  I'll be out of town for a few days, probably won't have service. I miss you. We'll talk soon. Fin. “Well, I guess I'll call you in a few days then.” She tucked the phone back into her bag to keep her temptation under control to answer everyone, and leaned her head back for a quick rest.

  “Excuse me, but they're boarding for Stockholm if that's your flight.” Morgan sat up quickly to the sound of the woman's voice.