Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (86 page)

“He
called not moments ago, I was to tell Evita to serve dinner, and to
give his apologies to you for missing dinner.” Obviously, he
had already spoken to the housekeeper about the meal, because Morgan
had the roast chicken and several side dishes placed on the table
right in front of her before Tomas was finished speaking.

“Wait!
You're not eating?” Morgan nearly grabbed the mans arm, but
remembered her manners at the last second and brought her hand back
to her lap. Tomas was standing, and he looked between Evita and
Morgan.

“I..
that is.. we.. don't usually eat.... here.” He motioned
between them toward the table, then looked back at Evita who was
standing beside the stove.

“Please.”
She batted her eyes and worked the two of them over until they both
agreed to join her for dinner. “Thank you, both of you.”
Morgan looked at Evita, and chanced a quick tap to the woman's arm.
Evita nodded without smiling, but the grimace was gone and that was a
start.

Morgan
didn't know that was the first time both employees had sat at that
table together. In the years that Evita had worked with Diego, she'd
only sat at the table once in awhile when her boss was away. Tomas
had done the same in years prior to Diego hiring Evita, but not
since. She caught their nervous looks between them, as if Diego were
about to come home and bust them and decided to lighten the mood.
“What does he have to drink around here?” Morgan didn't
wait for an answer. She got up and began to rummage through Diego's
cabinets. If he wasn't going to be home for the night, a few drinks
wouldn't hurt.

“Wine?”
Tomas bent over beside the island and produced a large bottle of red
wine, then laughed at Morgan's yuck face. “No? Alright. I know
what you want. Let's eat, then I'll show you.” Morgan figured
he was just trying to get out of being asked if he wanted a drink,
but she wasn't going to let it go. She nodded and agreed to eat, but
afterward, she planned to take him up on whatever he planned to show
her.

The
chicken was as delicious as it had appeared and the three of them
nearly picked it clean in a matter of minutes. Morgan didn't know if
the silence between them was because of the food or because they were
uncomfortable about sitting at the table, but either way, that was
about to be remedied.

“Will
you show me now?” Morgan stood first and collected their
plates, then carried them to the sink. Tomas tried to take them from
her hands, but she had it taken care of before he had the chance.

“Yes.
Evita,” he called out for the woman and she followed behind
Morgan as they made their way to where ever it was Tomas was taking
them. On the other side of the home, there was a set of stairs
leading down to another room. That room was a bar. Not just a counter
top and alcohol, but pool tables, large televisions, multiple very
comfortable looking sofas, a popcorn machine and a very expensive
stereo system. That was the first time Morgan realized Diego must
have a fun side if he had a room like that.

“Wow!
And you tried to give me red wine!” Morgan walked behind the
beautiful counter to get a better look of the alcohol selection. Rum,
whiskey, gin... “Tequila!” Both Tomas and Evita shook
their heads back and forth and Morgan nodded hers up and down. “Yep!
We're going doing this!”

“I
don't think...” It was too late, Morgan had already poured a
shot of the liquid and slid it down the bar. She did the same for
herself and Evita, then carried both of their shots over to the first
huge couch and sat down. Morgan gave them a wide-eyed look
questioning them as to why they weren't already sitting with her.
Tomas and Evita exchanged another nervous look, then slowly walked
over. Surprisingly, Evita took the small glass when Morgan held it
out, then Morgan held her own shot in the air.

“To
new friends! Uh...amigos!” She thought there was a tiny, tiny,
twitch of a smile on Evita's face, but Tomas had no problem hiding
his own smile.

“What
the hell?” Tomas clinked Morgan's glass, then tapped Evita's
and threw his drink back. “Wow...oh...haven't done that in a
while!” He did a little shake from the awful taste, then looked
to Evita and noticed she'd already drank hers as well. That time,
there was no mistaking the twitching smile. Morgan took a deep
breath, then drank her own.

“Holy
shit!That's powerful!” She set her glass on the table, then
giggled at the face Tomas was still making. “Another?”

“I
think that one was enough,” Tomas replied.

Evita,
on the other hand, held up one of her fingers and nodded toward the
bottle. “That's what I'm talking about!” Morgan grabbed
Evita's little glass and walked back over to the bar and filled it
with more tequila. She also filled another one for herself and Tomas.
He wasn't going to look bad in front of the women, so he went along
with the second round of shots.

Morgan
stopped making her faces when she heard the door at the top of the
stairs become ajar. “Shit, Diego!” She looked at the two
who were already on their feet and headed to the bar to clean up.
“Oh, no, look!” It was only the dog, coming down to greet
them. “Hi, baby!”

They,
being Morgan and Tomas, decided it would be best if they took their
party back upstairs, just in case Diego decided to return, at least
they could hear him. Morgan grabbed the tequila, their three glasses,
and they all went back up.

“I
should be going now anyway,” Tomas told Morgan when they were
back in the living room.

“No,
please stay!” She was already feeling the effects of the strong
liquor and began to giggle as she pulled him to the couch. Evita was
already sitting, so she guided him toward the older woman and sat him
right next to her. If there had been just one more drink in her at
the time, she probably would have made them hold hands too.

Chapter
Six

“
I'm
going to.... I need... shit, I'm going to bed.” Tomas wasn't
going to be talked into another round, and he stumbled from the
living room to make the short walk to the guest cottage that he
stayed in through the week. Morgan giggled loudly, as well as Evita,
and the women threw back another glass of tequila. It was shot
number seven if anyone were keeping track. However, shots four and
five were barely a few drops since Tomas had poured them for
everyone.

“Party
pooper!” Morgan yelled after the front door shut as it took a
few moments to get her face under control following the shot. Evita
was still working the drink down and Morgan laughed at the face she
was making. “Nice... I'm glad Tommy didn't see that one!”
It was no use for the younger of the two to try to pretend that she
didn't notice the attraction, between the liquor and the fact that
Evita couldn't understand her, Morgan was ready to spill any
information about any topic to the silent woman.

“Mas.”
Evita raised her glass and Morgan laughed as she poured yet another
round.

“More....
I know that one!” Evita nodded and raised her glass, swaying
as she made a toast filled with nothing but laughter. “You
know...,” she squeezed her eyes shut until the burning
sensation passed, “you should totally tell the man how you
feel. I mean, it's not like me.... I can't tell Finlay how
I
feel because I'm just immature and...,” she started to push
her own hair from her face but laughed when her hand missed her head,
“just a... well... you know what I am.” Morgan pointed
to Evita, and smiled at the blank stare on her drinking partner's
face.

“Mas?”
Evita held her glass up again, but Morgan shook her head.

“No,
we should pace ourselves... at least a little.” Evita looked
at her, and lowered her glass as it was clear that Morgan wasn't
going to pour her another one.

Over
the next hour, and a few more shots that Morgan poured, the young
girl had laid back on the sofa and told Evita all about her life.
Most of which turned out to be about Finlay, Tanner, and even
Michael. She told Evita about Angel as well, which turned into the
story about Finlay getting angry with her, and what he had said. “I
guess he's right, Evita, I am immature. I'm not like.... oh I can't
even say her name without gagging.... the red haired woman that is oh
so much better than I will ever be.” She even told her silent
friend about Portugal, and how she'd treated Diego when they first
met. “I was an ass. That's something I happen to be really
good at.” She laughed at herself, and Evita laughed with her.
“Ass! Why is it everyone seems to know the dirty words?”
At that, they cheered one another one last time before awkwardly
agreeing to call it a night.

The
women were going through the main floor, turning lights out and
cleaning up their night of naughty drinking, when they both stopped
at the sound of the front door clicking. Right that moment, the dog
came in from the kitchen to see what or who was about to walk in.
“No!” Morgan lunged for the dog, and so did Evita. He
ran between them and pranced toward the door, while both women picked
themselves up from the floor. “Get over here... dog... come
here.” Morgan got back on the floor and crawled on all fours
toward the Shepard, then grabbed his collar when she was close
enough. Diego, once he had walked into the foyer, couldn't see the
fiasco as long as Morgan stayed down, behind the half wall that
separated the two rooms. Morgan looked to Evita for some help, in
which the housekeeper straightened her blouse, patted down her hair,
and walked directly toward the front.

“Let's
go, trouble maker.” Morgan turned on her knees and held onto
his collar, all the way to the kitchen before standing. Once in
front of the back door, she gave the dog a bit of advice. “Look,
I'm trying to help you. Stay outside, will ya?” She gave him
a stern look before letting him go, and shut the door behind him.

Morgan
could hear Diego and Evita talking before she made it back to the
living room, and she gave the housekeeper a tiny nod when she looked
in Morgan's direction. If anyone were listening, they would have
heard a quiet sigh of relief come from both of the women. Morgan was
thankful the they had cleaned the place back up when they had and
Evita was more than aware of what the young blonde had just done for
her.

They
exchanged a small smile as Evita made her way back into the kitchen.
She just wanted to be sure everything was just as she'd left it.
Morgan took long strides across the room to meet Diego and giggled
when she was directly in front of him. She made a mental note a few
moments prior to try and act normal, at least normal for her, but
that had gone out the window and her insatiable giggles surfaced.

“I
see someone has had...” They both looked toward the kitchen
when they'd heard a loud crash. Morgan ran toward the sound and just
as she turned the corner between the living room and kitchen, her
feet made contact with Evita who was sprawled out across the floor.
When Morgan landed, hands first, over top of the other drunk woman,
both of them burst out in laughter, the kind that had them both
snorting and gasping for air.

At
first, neither of them even noticed Diego standing almost over them,
arms crossed in front of him, staring at the mess of hysterical women
on his kitchen floor. When they did notice though, both women began
to cry with even harder laughter.
“I....I'm....sorry....D....Di...Diego....” Morgan pushed
herself up to her knees, then as Evita tried to do the same, she
pulled both of them back to the ground. The sound that came from
Evita had put them both on their back. “You far.... far....
you fart...ed!” Morgan had to hold her sides and her face,
both of which couldn't take it when yet another sound, similar to the
first, escaped from the older woman. Diego couldn't hold a straight
face any longer, he began laughing as well.

“Okay,
okay...let's get you off of this floor,” he told them then held
a hand out for Evita. She hesitated for a moment, then grabbed his
hand and he pulled her up, then did the same for Morgan. “How
much did you two drink?” He was still laughing when he asked.
Morgan wasn't going to tell him that there were actually three of
them drinking, she just shrugged her shoulders and laughed a bit
more.

Evita
walked over to the front door and was slipping on her white tennis
shoes when Diego noticed she was trying to sneak out without being
questioned. They exchanged a few words, then Diego laughed and opened
the front door. Before the woman walked out, she gave Morgan a quick
smile.
I know where you're going.
Morgan laughed again as she
imagined Evita knocking on Tomas' door.
Get it girl!