Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (50 page)

Movies, tons of them. From the
looks of it, they were all horror as well. “Are...are these in
English?” Of course, Leader didn't understand, so Vlad
responded.

“Those?” The man
pulled the bag of popcorn from the microwave and walked over to
examine. “Most of them, no. This one,” he pointed to a
cover, that of a picture of a fierce lady vampire, “is
American.” Morgan giggled and grabbed it off of the counter,
telling him it was perfect. She grabbed the rest too because they at
least had English subtitles and that would do for her. Before they
walked away though, Morgan had a question for Leader.

“What's your name?”
she asked him and his eyebrows came together in confusion with a
slight head shake. “Okay...uhm...let's try this. I'm Morgan,”
she pointed at herself. “Fucking Morgan!” She pointed at
her own chest again, then poked his, “you are?”

“Fucking Ivan!”
Leader man shouted, making Vlad nearly drop the share of movies he'd
picked up and the bag of popcorn. Morgan and her client both broke
out into hysterical laughter, and so did Ivan. What struck Morgan
even more funny than his ability to understand English curse words
was how he'd said his own name.

“Fuckin' Eee Von
it is!” Morgan gave him a pat on the back and told him good
night, in which he must have at least understood the premise because
his smile grew and he nodded. She was also pretty sure that the man
gave a 'have fun' wink at her client just as she turned away.
Pretty
chummy for body guards...
she dropped the thought and followed the
man with popcorn and movies into the bedroom.

Morgan would have loved to try
a super sprint across the large room, and drop her perfect cannonball
in the middle of the red bed, but she only smiled and walked in like
the young lady that Julianne would have expected. Vlad must have had
a similar idea, not exactly doing a cannonball, but he did flop hard
on the bed and spill some of their treat. “Come.” His
smile, his voice, his bowl of popcorn, it all had Morgan racing to
the bed to join him.

“You know, Russian, there
are other words to use other than that one.” She flopped onto
her stomach and dug her hand into the bowl. Vlad tilted his head and
looked at her.

“If I want you with me,
what else would I say?” His serious face made her laugh out
loud, furthermore, he had a good point.

“I guess that works, but
I'm starting to feel like a puppy.” Just as she spoke her
words, Vlad put his hand in the bowl and she quickly licked one of
his fingers. He pulled away quickly before realizing what the
puppy
had just done.

“You're funny, Morgan.”
He smiled, and his eyes lit up with new knowledge that she was just
as attractive on the inside, as she was on the outside. “But
you may be trouble.” She nodded quickly and threw a few pieces
of popcorn in her mouth.

“I can be.” She
raised her brows in a comical flirting kind of way, and again, she
had him laughing.

Several more moments of puppy
noises and popcorn throwing, then Vlad pulled the comforter down and
motioned for her to get under. That time, she didn't joke about his
commands because she honestly couldn't wait to get snuggled in. She
was just settled under the thick blankets when the man left
her...again. “Does he ever stay put?” She shook her
head and smiled, then tried to focus on the remote to get her movie
started.

When he started to walk back
in, Morgan pulled the blanket aside so that he could join her. A few
seconds later, she wished that she had actually looked at the door
instead continuing to stare at the vampire on the screen. “Eee
Von!” She laughed and covered herself, but the man just smiled
and continued walking in. “Cheesecake!” Morgan hardly
needed it after the meal and the snacks, but there wasn't a chance in
hell that she would turn down his offering. “Thank you.”
He nodded, then left the room quickly.

“It was good, yes?”
The real Vlad finally joined her, and she had saved him half of her
cake which she held to her side for him to take. “No, you eat
it.” He pushed it back in her direction, and she gladly dug
back in.

Morgan saw why he left the
room, but wondered why he did so. He came back in his pajamas, red
ones of course. “You could have just changed in here, I
wouldn't mind.” She scooted closer and did her eyebrow raise
again. Morgan made the man laugh for the hundredth time that night.

“I could, but I don't
want to make you uncomfortable.” He put his arm across the
back of her pillow, and Morgan was reminded of a boy in High School
who made the same move at a football game that she had attended with
him. It was sweet, but so obvious. She loved that he had a shy
side, something that she knew she wouldn't see too often out of the
man.

“Sure you don't want the
last bite? It's good...... open up....” She waved the fork in
front of his face in circles until he finally took the bite. His
moan that was stifled due to his chewing was enough to make her smile
again. “Told ya so.” He nodded as he finished his bite,
then took the plate from her and placed on the nightstand.

Truth was, the man had no idea
what 'cheesecake' had been, but the power of the internet had given
him his answer and he knew of a place that would whip anything up if
you gave them the recipe. He'd sent Ivan out with the directions,
then the man had to go back out to retrieve it only minutes before
delivering it to the girl in bed. He also learned that cheesecake
took several hours to prepare. Morgan knew Vlad must have sent Ivan
out for it too. “I know you sent Eee Von out for this, so I'll
have to properly thank him too!”

“You don't thank people
that work for you,” he told her as he took her empty plate and
set it on the beside table. His smile spoke otherwise, and Vlad
clearly just wanted Morgan to keep her thank you's to herself with
the handsome man.

“No? And what exactly
does he do
for
you? Mobster? Henchmen? Drug dealer? Or is he
one of your best spies!?” Morgan began laughing so hard, she
couldn't even rattle off any more of her brilliant ideas.

“You think I'm a Russian
Spy?” The man laughed too and in his laughter, he lowered his
arm down her back and pulled her in closer. The move was subtle, but
Morgan noticed and cuddled in even more so.

“Are you?” Morgan
set her head on his shoulder, but looked up at him with a wide smile.

“Are you nervous? Hiding
something, perhaps?” The man stepped out of his comfort zone
for just a moment and lifted one side of Morgan's shirt, pretending
to take a look at just
what
she was hiding. He let go of her
shirt, then gently smoothed it back down and put his hand back on his
lap.

Morgan played along and
dramatically covered her chest as if he'd just offended her, then she
smiled and replied. “You don't want this,” she told him,
motioning her arm over her body.

“No?”

“Nope. You don't even
like me like that,” she told him with a devilish grin.

“I see. You're right,”
he laughed, then sat up to adjust his pillow flat and slid down onto
the bed, pulling her down with him.

Morgan adjusted her own
pillows, but instead of using them, she laid her head on his chest,
which served as a much better pillow anyway. “I knew it,”
she told him as she made circles and figure eights on his chest with
her finger.

The mans hand slid down toward
her ass, but it stopped there. He wasn't going to push her into
anything, and even though he wanted her, badly, there was no need to
rush it. Just having her for company in his bed would do just fine.
With his free hand, he softly pushed the hair from her eyes, but
Morgan was quick to ruin the romantic moment.

“Oh, I know what I want!”
Morgan lifted her head, making the hair fall right back into her eyes
and he was the hero again who pushed it right back behind her ear.

“Yes?”

“In the morning, I expect
coffee and blueberry muffins. Make
that
happen in Russia!”
She was happy with herself.
There's no way!
Morgan giggled,
then laid her head back down. Vlad told her he'd certainly have it
for her and Morgan laughed again and assured him that even if he
could, she was only kidding. She knew it was too late though, and if
he somehow produced one of her favorite foods, she was going to have
to not ask for anything else. They talked for as long as either of
them could hold out, but eventually, the exhausted girl closed her
eyes and was quickly lulled to sleep with the rise and fall of Vlad's
chest.

*****

The next morning, Morgan awoke
in an empty bed. “Vlad?” she sleepily called out for him.
The room was bright and made her squint as she looked around. No sign
of the man. Even his side of the bed was cold, so she knew he he'd
been up for a while. “Vladimir?” she tried again. Morgan
dropped back down to the bed and stretched out, then looked around
the room for a sign of a clock. There appeared to be one on a far
dresser, but it was too far to make out, so she stood to investigate.
“Shit! I really need to start setting my own alarm!” It
was past noon and past the point of her being embarrassed from
sleeping so long.

After a quick dig through her
bag, she produced a suitable outfit and ran into the bathroom to get
ready for what was left of her day. She didn't know why she was
rushing, the man probably wasn't even home, but for some reason, the
fact she'd slept in late made her hurry. Morgan straightened her hair
just enough to make it lay flat, applied a dab of makeup, then threw
on a sweater and jeans. “I guess this'll do,” she told
herself in the mirror, then walked out of the beautiful bathroom and
through the room. When she was in the hallway, she called for her
client again, but still got no answer, so she decided to explore a
bit more.

When she got down the stairs,
she saw her new friend, Ivan sitting at the dining table alone.
“Fuckin' Eee Von!”

The man turned around in his
seat and his smile made Morgan laugh. “Fucking Morgan!”

Chapter Five

After trying to communicate for
only one minute, the girl realized she'd never know the reason her
client wasn't at the house through Ivan's words. Morgan ran upstairs
to grab her laptop to possibly try a different approach. She set it
up at the table, then passed the man a pen and paper and mimed with
her hand like she was writing. He understood and nodded, then after a
few moments, he slid her the piece of paper with his writings.

Morgan went to a translating
website and typed in his text. It worked. “He's making sure the
reservation is good...” She looked up at Ivan who shrugged his
shoulders in response.
Guess we're going to dinner. That will be
fun. I can figure out what class he's in.
Not that Morgan thought
the class categorization was important, it was just a fun thing that
she enjoyed figuring out. At first glance, he was definitely a three.
He had the house to back it up and she could tell he certainly didn't
mind showing off his nice things, but he was also very relaxed.
Gio
wouldn't have had a popcorn fight.

The two of them spent
over an hour 'talking' with one another. After a few translations
back and forth, Morgan started drawing little pictures of things just
to hear him say what it was in Russian. First, she drew a large
house, then a limo and beside that, a dog. It was supposed to be an
Irish Wolfhound, at least in her mind, but it looked more like a
Dachshund on paper. She turned the paper around and the man rattled
off what everything was. She had no idea if he was really saying the
items in the picture, but she loved it either way.

Morgan turned the paper back
around to face herself and added more to the picture. She drew a man
with a bird on his shoulder, then added two more dogs. One was a
Scottish Terrier, the other a Sheepdog. “Oh, I need Freddy and
Oswald!” Ivan laughed at her sudden outburst, even though he
didn't understand. When she was finished drawing the two cats, she
put it back in front of Ivan so he could see.

“Pussy,” he pointed
at the cat and laughed until he nearly fell from his chair.

“Really? Eee Von!”
Morgan doubled over in laughter too, then the two of them exchanged
every bad word they could think of. She was happy to even teach him a
few he hadn't know yet.

“I see you've had Ivan to
keep you company.”

“Oh my God, you
have
to stop sneaking up on me like that!” Morgan clasped her
hands over her heart like she'd done a million times since she'd
arrived. Neither she nor Ivan had heard Vlad come in the front door,
probably because the two of them had been laughing so hard because
their pictures had made a turn for the worse, but Vlad's appearance
surprised them both.

“Sorry,” the man
apologized, then directed his attention to Morgan's stomach that
growled loudly right at that moment. Vlad looked at Ivan whose eyes
had gone wide. Vlad said something in Russian and Ivan shook his
head. Whatever he'd said didn't sound like any of the Russian words
she'd learned, but she laughed as she tried to remember a few of the
dirty words they'd exchanged. Vlad shook his head back and forth,
then walked into the kitchen and in a few seconds, he was back at the
table, sitting a white box in front of Morgan.