Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (29 page)

Back
in Hawaii, the family was gathered around the Christmas tree and they
had already exchanged their own gifts. Kala got up and retrieved
Morgan's gifts for 'Ele and Angela, and 'Ele got the gifts Morgan had
given her to give Kole and Kala.

Angela
got a charm bracelet. Morgan had expected to be there to explain, but
Angela understood. It had a single charm on it; an airplane. That's
where the two had met and it was the beginning of Angela's journey.

Kala
got a gift certificate for a tattoo. Morgan had overheard him talking
to Angela about wanting a tattoo soon, and she knew which place
because Kole and him had mentioned where they had gotten their other
ones done. She hadn't really known what to get him, but he thought it
was a completely original idea and it meant a lot that she had
noticed.

'Ele
received a set of twelve beautiful coffee mugs. It had been an
ongoing joke that the boys were always breaking her best mugs, and if
Morgan had been there, she would have told her that she hoped they
were decent replacements. The tears ran down her cheeks as she looked
at each one of them. They were perfect.

“What
did you get, man?” Kala punched his brother on the arm and
leaned around Angela to see what his brother had received.

Kole
shook his head back and forth slowly and held up his gift. It was a
gorgeous graphite watch with two tiny diamonds on the face. Morgan
had heard Kala joking with him, time after time about Kole's ugly,
cheap watch. It's not that Kole couldn't afford another one, he just
didn't really buy things for himself. He set his elbows on the table,
then put his face in hands with a long sigh.

“Go
talk to her dude.” Kala pat his brother on the back and the
table went silent. Kole nodded and took his old watch off, then
replaced it with the new one.

He
didn't want to make the girl spend Christmas alone. Even 'Ele agreed
that he should go talk to her, so he stood and to his surprise, Kala
and Angela followed behind. The three of them went to Morgan's hotel
room, but she was already gone.

*****

Morgan
was already settled into her new room. It wasn't as nice as the
other hotel, meaning no balcony overlooking the ocean, but it did
have an enormous jacuzzi tub in the bathroom, so that would have to
do.

“At
least I'm away from everyone,” she said as she threw her bags
down and toured the room. The girl, who had not one gift to open on
Christmas, decided she was going to celebrate the holiday with each
of her friends, even if she couldn't be there with them. “Let's
see...” she tapped her chin as she thought about her friends.
How would she add a piece of each of them to her holiday?

“Got
it!” Tanner was the first person she thought of. Morgan went
back down to the lobby and got a six pack of beer, to 'celebrate'
with Tanner, then went back up to her room and thought about the next
person. When her first beer was finished, she realized she was
starving, so her next thought came to her. Sean. Sean would get
Indian food. After calling several restaurants and finding that every
one of them were closed on Christmas, Morgan went downstairs again
for the next best thing. She ordered spicy chicken from the
restaurant, a special order for her that wasn't on the menu. It was
the closest she could get to chicken curry, so it would have to do.
She also ordered a pizza to add another piece of Tanner to the mix.
While at the bar and waiting for her food, she finished beer two and
three, and a shot of whiskey for Finlay.

By
the time she got back up to her room, she was not only ravenously
hungry, but also feeling much better as the alcohol had slowed her
million-mile-per-hour thoughts. She carried her pizza and chicken
over to her bed to start her buffet, then thought of what else she
could do for Finlay to be there with her.

“Perfect!”
She nearly fell onto the bed as she sat back down with her favorite
pair of high heels, the heels that she would have worn to a fancy
dinner with the big Scot. She sat back on the bed and crossed her
legs, staring at her heels and the buffet in front of her. Something
was missing. “Angel!” She grabbed her phone and a slice
of pizza and ran to her bag to grab her straightener, then sat at the
little desk in the room.

“Okay,
I'm straightening my hair for Angel!” she told the empty room
and plugged in the device, then flipped on the desk lamp. In front of
her was a very large mirror, perfect to do her hair in. She took a
bite of pizza and turned her phone on. In seconds, her phone was
vibrating from all of the messages and voice mails coming through,
but she ignored them for the time being and found the contact for her
best friend.

Morgan
pressed the call button, then put it on speaker and set it on the
desk and grabbed a lock of her hair to run the straightener over.

“Sticky
fuckin' Buns! I have been trying to call you all morning! Oh my god,
I love, love, love, love the straightener Boo Boo.” His voice
brought the first smile to her face since the fake one she had put on
for Angela the night before.

“Sorry,
my Angel. I've had my phone off...”

“Wait,
aren't you celebrating Christmas with that furry thang?” Angel
asked.

“No,
Angel. I messed everything up.” Her smile was gone and she set
the straightener down and took a bite of her pizza to avoid speaking
again, but Angel wasn't going to have that. On one hand, she hated
that he could read her emotions so well, even through a phone, but on
the other, it was one thing she loved so much about him. He always
cared and was easy to talk to. He asked, well, actually demanded that
she explain, so she did. Morgan told him everything, from finding the
ring, to playing sick, the part about the doggie bag, not telling him
she was there and him finding out and finally, Kole walking out of
the room. “I just..I overreacted about the whole thing.”

“Sticky,
I am the queen of overreacting and you didn't do anything wrong. You
thought Boo was going to propose, that shit was serious. What were
you supposed to do?”

“I
should have told him as soon as I found the ring...I shouldn't have
lied to him,” Morgan replied, and drank the last half of her
beer.

“Look,
you said you were sorry, if he can't accept that, then the
pachydermy
can move the fuck on with the herd!” Angel yelled, his
words echoing through her room.

Morgan
laughed, spitting a mouth full of beer across her desk. “Oh,
Angel, I love you!” She told him Merry Christmas again, then
Angel had to go help Gio with dinner. She let him go, and demanded
a call back soon so that she could catch up with his drama filled
life as well.

An
hour and a half later, Morgan Holland was in no condition to do
anything, not that she knew that. “Kole!” She had to do
something to bring him to the party, and held the side of the dresser
as she thought it over. “Oh! I so got this!” She
pulled her clothes off and sat on the floor naked, searching for her
white bikini, the one that she wore when they spent an afternoon
fishing together.

When
she had her suit secured, she slipped her feet back into Finlay's
heels, and pranced around the room doing her best drunken runway
model imitation. It was a terrible walk, but with her perfectly
straightened hair, great heels, and a laugh that wouldn't stop, she
still looked great as she moved around the room to show her invisible
guests that everyone was finally in attendance.

“Chocolate!”
She stopped prancing and remembered that Julianne hadn't arrived
yet, and a sweet treat would do the trick. It wasn't exactly a
chocolate pie or cake, but a candy bar from the vending machine down
the hall would have to do. She grabbed her room key from the
dresser, and few dollars from her bag, then left her party to find
Julianne's treat.

Standing
in front of the machine, she decided on the first chocolate bar that
she saw, and put her dollar in the slot. The dollar came back out.
She put it in again. The dollar came out. “Asshole machine!”
Morgan didn't care that she was supposed to line the bill up in the
way that the photo depicted, all she cared about was that the machine
wouldn't cooperate.

“Can
I help?” A deep, friendly voice behind her made her drop the
damn dollar. She picked it up, then turned around to see who had
interrupted her argument. What she saw, made her double over in
laughter. “Are you alright?” The man smiled and cocked
his head as he watched her hysterics play out.

“I'm
great! Fanfuckingtastic!” She laughed again and turned back
around to tell the vending machine who was boss. “Take it!
Take the damn money!” She was still losing the battle when the
man reached around and took her dollar, then turned it around
properly. “Oh, aren't you the smart one!” She giggled
again, then made her selection when her dollar finally went through.

When
she turned to leave, the man was still standing behind her. She
stopped and took a good look, one that made the man laugh as she
narrowed her eyes and nodded as if she had just figured something
out. “Is that a look of approval?” His smile was
contagious, even for a very drunk Morgan.

“I
was just thinking..,” she stepped closer and put her finger to
his chest, “the last time I saw a man as good looking as
you....I was drunk, in a hotel, and I went to sleep before I even
knew his name.” She laughed and poked his chest lightly,
thinking that the charcoal suit that he wore reminded her of the big
Scot as well. “But his name is Fin, and he talked funny.”
She started to turn and walk away, but then she had to correct
herself. “Not bad funny, very sexy funny.” Then she was
ready to leave.

“Well,
I'll tell you my name before you go to sleep.” She kept
walking away, her little butt held high by her four inch heels.
“Michael. My name is Michael.”

Morgan
got to her door, then inserted the card and turned in his direction
before going inside. “Michael? I knew a Michael in school and
everyone called him Mick.” She started walking into her room,
singing “Oh Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow
my...” Then her door closed, and the gorgeous man in the
hallway shook his head and went to his room, the one right next to
Morgan's.

The
girl, still singing, dropped her bar of chocolate when she heard her
phone ring out. “Uh oh!” She danced over to her phone,
spinning along the way, then plopped on the bed and reached for her
phone. Not even looking at who was calling, she hit the green button
with her thumb as she brought it up to her ear.

“Morgan
Holland, the girl who fucks up Christmas. How may I destroy your
holiday today?” She laughed at her own humor, then twirled her
long hair around her finger.

“Morgan!
Wh..what?” the man on the other end laughed too.

“TANNER!
G'day, mate! Happy fuckin' Christmas to you!” She yelled into
the phone, not knowing how loud she was actually talking.

“G'day,
Morgan, and Merry Christmas to you too, beautiful,” he replied,
still laughing. He thanked her for her the gift he had received, but
she didn't even hear that part.

“Hey,
Tanner. Guess what?” she asked.

“Yeah?”

“I'm
having a birthday party in London and I want youuuuuu to be there!”
She had already booked her luxury room in London at the Captain's
Inn. There was only one room available, but that's all she needed
because it was a huge suite with three separate bedrooms and two
bathrooms. Before he could even answer her question, she gave him
the information about the name of the hotel and what room she was
going to be in. “C'mon Tanner, say you'll be there? I miss
you!”

“I'll
be there, gorgeous. I promise.”

Morgan
cheered into the phone at his acceptance and then she hung up the
phone without realizing she didn't even say goodbye. The Australian
man shook his head and laughed, then set his phone down and went to
his computer. The man booked a flight for London, and he'd be there
on New Years Eve to celebrate with her.

Chapter
Five

“You
okay in there?” Michael's deep voice sounded through the
adjoining door and brought a smile to her face. She walked toward
his voice and stopped in front of the door. “Hello?”
She covered her smile and tried to remain quiet. “I didn't get
your name.” Morgan could hear the smile on his lips, and the
stranger somehow made her feel less alone.