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

by Brandi Ratliff

  Morgan wasn't surprised that they were all at Ele's house, but in a way, it made her sad that she actually wasn't there. His family was still the closest thing she had ever had to her own family and she kicked herself for not thinking of them first. Julianne needs me right now, and I need her, Morgan pushed the thought out of her mind. She had chosen Julianne for a reason and she was happy to be there.

  When she got off the phone with her Hawaiian friends, she tried calling Sean, who also went right to voice mail. His message stated that he was in England attending to business and leave a message...so Morgan did.

  “Oh, so the most gorgeous man in Ireland is busy, eh? It's Morgan, I just wanted to say hi, and I really miss you. Call me when you're free.” She saw no use in replying to his texts right then, obviously he wasn't going to check them for a while anyway.

  The last person on her list to call was Angel. She left the handsome man for last because she knew that any stress she felt about the other men would all be relieved with one conversation with her friend.

  “Sticky buns! Oh my God, bitch! Took you fucking forever to call!” Leave it to Angel to curse at her in his greeting.

  “Angel, my love, I have soooo much to tell you!” With that, Morgan spilled everything. From Tanner, to Aiden, to Alrik, even the story about Felix and 'Rose'. He seemed like the only person in the world who she had no problem telling everything to, and as she knew, he listened intently, but did offer bits of typical Angel advice.

  “Well, seems like things turned out well with your honesty policy,” he added when she was finished telling him about the Tanner-texting-Finlay story.

  “Yep, I'm so happy for it too...that could have been much more awkward!” Morgan went on to even tell him about meeting Jack the night before and it took forever for Angel to stop laughing like a rabid hyena for him to finally answer. He absolutely loved it. “That's what the dick deserves! He don't deserve you, that's fo' sho'!”

  They both laughed some more, but soon after, Angel was called by the handsome Gio. “I have to go find the princess an outfit...don't wait so long to call a bitch. Love you!” He made a few kissing sounds, then hung up before Morgan could even say goodbye.

  Morgan set her phone down on the nightstand and realized it was already dark outside. She had spent nearly four hours catching up, but it was four hours well spent. The last time she talked on the phone so much had been when she was in high school, but it felt good to do it again. After she ate the last of her promised biscuits and gravy, she found a movie on television and fell asleep before the first set of commercials.

  *****

  Wednesday morning Morgan was up and out the door by eight, and in the back of the limo on her way to pick up her boss from Cleveland. The night before, Julianne had called her to remind the driver to pick her up, and Morgan insisted that she come along for the ride. Of course, Julianne thought it was very sweet and agreed to the company.

  When they pulled up in front of the hotel, a very grumpy Julianne slid in next to Morgan. They were back on the highway before the young girl braved the question of what was wrong.

  “I have too many clients, or not enough girls, that's what's wrong.” Julianne ran her hands down her skirt in frustration, and looked out the window. Morgan had never seen the woman upset, not even a little angry, and she wasn't sure how to handle it. So, she tried her only weapon; humor.

  “Too many gorgeous, rich, single men? You're calling that a problem?” Morgan thought she saw the hint of a smile on Julianne's profile. “Maybe you should get back in the game and take a few for yourself.” She nudged Julianne's arm playfully and finally got the full smile that she was hoping for.

  “Oh,if it were that easy.” Julianne looked straight ahead and continued. “I've spent years building this business, and I never thought that I would have too many clients.”

  “Then, make a waiting list! People love being put on a waiting list, it makes your business look even better...not that it isn't already great.” Julianne looked at Morgan and her eyes were wide as she started to nod in agreement.

  “You're right...that's actually...perfect.” Julianne laughed and brought Morgan in for a big celebratory hug. “You're brilliant!”

  The rest of the drive was filled with laughter and plans for their big dinner the next day. The dinner that both Morgan and Julianne agreed would include Dennis and Cade. They had already left Cleveland the day before since the girls didn't work out, but Julianne wanted to give the men the same thing that Morgan had given her, someone to celebrate Thanksgiving with.

  “So...how about we have a girl's night tonight? Just us, plus an abundance of alcohol?” Morgan smiled and nodded, hoping to get her boss to agree to a pseudo 'pj party' before the big day.

  “Child, my days of drinking the night away are long gone.” She laughed and grabbed her bag to put on her lap as they were almost to their hotel.

  “Oh, I didn't realize...should I get your walker out of the trunk?” Morgan pointed to the back of the limo as Julianne started to laugh. “Sweetie, I'm MORGAN...Morgan...do you remember me?” The young girl put her hand over Julianne's and spoke to her as if the 'old' woman had forgotten where she was.

  “Stop it, you will make me old!” They both laughed and Morgan nodded again at the earlier suggestion. “Oh, alright! Steven, take us to the liquor store.” She told the driver exactly which one, and the two were on their way to pick up the night's entertainment.

  Chapter Three

  Morgan stumbled into Julianne's kitchenette and tried to open their fourth bottle of Moscato. “Tight little fucker!” Julianne nearly fell off the couch laughing at Morgan while she had a shouting match with the cork. “Oh, it's like that?!” Morgan walked to the door and opened it, looking both ways in the hall until she saw one of the employees who had just dropped off room service to another guest. “Hey! Can you open this bastard?” She shoved the bottle in his direction. He laughed and nodded, then easily removed the cork. “Thanks!” She ran back inside and did a horrible cannonball on the couch next to Julianne.

  “You cuss like a sailor when you're drunk.” Julianne stated the obvious, but Morgan told her that it 'wasn't true, dammit.'

  “So..,” she filled their glasses to the rim as Julianne held them in place, “I've spilled my guts about the guys, now it's your turn.” Her boss was already shaking her head 'no' before Morgan could finish. “Oh yes you are! I'm getting details!” They giggled and Julianne asked specifically what details Morgan wanted. “All of them, but I'll start with something simple. Did you ever care about your clients, like...care about them?” Morgan sat back and took a drink, waiting for the answer that she hoped to hear.

  “Ah, care.” She said the word just like Morgan had, as if it were some secret code. “Yes, I cared about many of them.” Morgan wasn't going to let her off the hook that easily, and motioned with her hand to elaborate. “Well, as you know, some of them will grow on you....more than others. But it got easier as I grew older. That is, until.....” She stopped speaking as a sadness took over, one that made Morgan wanted to blurt out all that she knew. But she managed to keep her drunken self under control, and try a more subtle approach.

  “One? How the hell did you manage to narrow them all down to one?” Even though Morgan wanted to know more about Felix, she also wanted to know how it was possible to choose a man out of so many that were absolutely wonderful.

  Julianne was brought back to the present. “He was....perfect. Handsome, kind, gentle..oh, and his laugh! He had the best laugh that I think I've ever heard.”

  I know, I've heard it. And he said the same thing about you. “What happened? Why didn't the two of you get together?” When Julianne looked away again, Morgan didn't think she would get her answer, but she eventually took a deep breath and looked back at Morgan. “I was young, and stupid. I thought I wasn't good enough for him, and I still do to a point. I walked away. Then, as young women tend to do, I sat around brokenhearted, wishing
that he would find me and carry me off into the sunset.” She put her hand up and swirled it in the air, showing a sarcastic wave that would imply that it was nothing more than a fairy tale.

  It took another hour for Morgan to get the rest of the story, and everything became perfectly clear, and perfectly impossible.

  As it turned out, he did come to the states to find her, but her boss had sent him on a wild goose chase with false information. Julianne was one of her best girls, and she wasn't going to lose her to the handsome man. A few years later, Chloe had told Julianne the truth, but it was too late. When she tried to find him herself, she learned that he had moved out of the county, and no information could be found on the man.

  That brought Morgan to the impossible part; she offered to look for him, but Julianne made her feelings more than clear on the topic. If he found her, that would be wonderful, but Julianne refused to let anyone else get involved because she would never know if he truly wanted to talk to her, or if someone talked him into it. It seemed silly to Morgan, it would be easy to tell her the truth, but Julianne was dead serious and she had to have the man find her on his own.

  “I got it! I freaking got it! I'm making you a Facebook!” Morgan jumped from the couch and ran to Julianne's computer. “Come here, fill this out.”

  “No, no, no...I don't do...wait...” Julianne stood from the couch and Morgan ran back over to catch her before she fell.

  “Easy there, grandma.” Morgan guided her over to the swivel chair and sat her down before crouching down next to her boss. “Okay, look, just fill this out.”

  “Why?” The older woman swayed in the chair, then looked at Morgan and laughed.

  “So, people can find you...” Julianne looked back to the computer and nodded. The older woman was drunk and Morgan knew it was her only chance, if any, to get the woman to sign up. Under normal circumstances, Morgan could only have imagined the number of excuses Julianne would have given her as to why she wouldn't, but thankfully, it wasn't the case.

  As the cursor made its way to the name blocks, Morgan thought of another problem. Shit...what name? Morgan knew Julianne couldn't put her real name...Felix would never 'find her on his own' that way. As far as he knew, she was Rose. The problem was taken care of before Morgan could think of a solution.

  On the registration form, Julianne typed in her middle name, and last. Rose Marks. Perfect. She looked to Morgan and offered an explanation. “In my day, child, everyone knew me as Rose,” Julianne popped Morgan on the nose with her finger, then faced the computer again. She continued filling out the form as she spoke again. “So, if this thing is supposed to have anyone find me...” Julianne faded out and faced the computer again.

  Morgan nodded and urged her to continue the form. “Don't rush me, child!” Julianne swatted her hand away from the keyboard and continued with the birth date. Once that was filled in, Morgan could take over the rest; besides, she needed to know the password so Julianne couldn't delete it when she was sober.

  “Okay, I'll add your picture, you just lay down over here.” Morgan swirled the chair around to face the couch and Julianne quickly obliged and with a few short steps, she flopped down on the long sofa.

  “It better be a damn good picture!” Julianne yelled way too loudly from behind Morgan.

  “I'll use your image from the database...” Morgan didn't turn to look at her as she spoke. She set the password, then did just as she said and went to the database, got Julianne's professional looking picture with her hands clasped in front of her and added it to her Facebook profile. “All set,” Morgan whispered. It was the only way Morgan could think of that would allow Felix to 'find her' without giving away too much information.

  When she turned back around to tell her boss that the page was all set up, Julianne was passed out. Morgan had to giggle...seeing her boss in her, at least, two-thousand dollar dress suit, laid out on a sofa with a glass on wine barely clasped between her fingers was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If she didn't know better, she would have taken a picture, but that wasn't something she wanted to do to the older woman. Instead, Morgan finished the last of the bottle, then did just as Julianne, and passed out on the opposite sofa.

  *****

  “Did you get it?” Morgan heard a whisper, that at first, she couldn't differentiate between her dream and reality. When the room lit up with a flash, Morgan jumped up, knowing that wasn't a dream. Her first thought was lightning, but the male laughter in front of her confirmed it wasn't.

  The room was still dark, but after a moment of her eyes adjusting, Morgan could make out the two handsome men, and what they were doing. “You jerks! Hand it over!” She got up and chased after Cade, who had an up-to-no-good smile on his lips and a camera in his hand, but she was stopped when the large hands of Dennis wrapped around her body. “Get off me, give me that!” she yelled at both of them.

  Apparently, the men didn't have as much maturity and thought photos of the two passed out women were freakin' hilarious. When Morgan yelled again for Cade to give her the camera, Julianne stirred on the couch.

  “Wha...what's going on?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

  “Your....men...” Morgan struggled to break free from Dennis' grasp, “have been taking pictures of us!” She felt like a nine year old girl telling her teacher that Johnny has just pushed her off the swing and decided to shut up.

  “Not 'us',” Cade mocked, “just you, beautiful.” The sun was rising fast and Morgan had enough light to see the smile had grown wider. The same kind of smile that she had wanted to smack off of Jack's face. Morgan stopped fighting and Dennis released her.

  “Boys! Ow...” Julianne couldn't even scold her men because the pounding in her head had already taken over. It had been years since she had drank so much and it definitely took its toll.

  “Here,” Cade walked over to Morgan and handed her the camera. Before he walked away, she managed to deck him in his arm, harder than she had intended, but when he laughed, it pissed her off even more because she had intended to hurt him. “Might wanna work on that,” Cade looked over his shoulder, then pretended to nurse his arm.

  “Jerk!” Morgan yelled again. When she scrolled through the pictures, she saw there wasn't much that had been worth the whole ordeal, but she was happy to delete them all. There were a few shots of Morgan's breasts and cleavage, expected. A few pictures of her sleeping with her mouth wide open and trailing mascara, slightly embarrassing. And a picture up her skirt...more embarrassing, but at least the flash had whited out most of it.

  “You're both so weird,” she pushed the camera onto Dennis' chest for him to grab as she walked past him to the bathroom. “And sooooo mature!”

  When Morgan was behind the door, she checked her watch and moaned loudly when she discovered it wasn't even seven yet. She popped her head back out the door, “why are you up at the butt crack of dawn?”

  “It's Thanksgiving, Morgan! We have to cook the turkey baby!” She wasn't sure which one of them had responded, but she had to pee too bad to have a conversation about it.

  When she came out of the bathroom, she asked, “if by we, you mean, you,” she pointed at the men, “then we're good. Baby doesn't cook.” Morgan stuck her tongue out at them and went back over to Julianne, who had already fallen back asleep. She decided she'd run to her room real quick, get dressed and take care of her boss when she returned.

  “Yeah, we're cooking it. It'll be the best fuckin' turkey you've every had too.” Dennis spoke up. He was a lot less shy than the last time she had seen him. Not that he had been shy in the bedroom, but Morgan wondered if he had been new to the job as well and he was finally coming out of his shell, just as she was.

  “We'll see about that, Emeril. I'll be back.” Morgan walked out of the room and in minutes she was back in her own. How tempting it was to crawl into her perfectly made bed and go back to sleep...no, just get dressed and go back upstairs. Her pep talks continued as she found an outfit
and got herself ready for the day. She still didn't understand why they all needed to be up so early, but she had never had much of a real Thanksgiving dinner, so she had no idea all that went into it.

  In thirty minutes, she was back in Julianne's room, and the woman was already wide awake and ready herself. By then, the hotel room was filled with the glow of the cloudy sky, and Morgan could see where she was going.

  “What did you do to me, dear?” Julianne sat at the island in the kitchen, rubbing her temples. Morgan still had the Tylenol Sean had given her, even though she wished she had remembered them before that morning, and had brought them up to Julianne's room.

  “Here, figured you'd need these,” she plopped two of the little ovals into Julianne's hand and she took them with one gulp of coffee.

  “You know what's the best medicine for that, right?” Cade leaned onto the counter top and looked between the two women. “Drink some more,” he passed them a bottle of wine and two glasses.

  “It does help, as weird as it sounds,” Morgan shrugged her shoulders and poured a glass. “I know, wine at eight AM doesn't sound all that appealing, but after a glass, we'll both feel better.” Morgan had known the little trick from the few nights she had drowned her single-girl sorrows with the sweet wine. Going into work the next day had never been a problem after another glass of wine in the morning.

  Julianne didn't say a word. She grabbed the glass with determination and drank half of it. “I hope you're right!” Everyone in the room laughed. Seeing Julianne at ease was something they all enjoyed that day.

  The men already had the turkey in the oven, and after a few cups of coffee (and wine), the four of them got to work on their holiday dinner. Morgan hadn't been permitted to do much, which was fine by her, but she was allowed small tasks, like peeling potatoes, or snapping beans. Julianne and the young woman had to keep the men in line, as their attention kept directing back to the football game, but overall, they handled most of the cooking and it turned out better than any of them had imagined.