Around the World in 80 Men Series: Boxed Set 21-30 (2 page)

“It's
my pleasure.”
You're going to be sweet trouble, Mr. Aldea.
Just the kind of trouble I need.
She took just a couple of
seconds to access him before coming up with her conclusion. The look
in his dark brown eyes told her everything she needed to know. He was
cocky, but not in a Gio way, not even an Alrik way.
A Tanner way.
His hair was exactly as it had been in his picture on the
database. Short on the sides, longer on top, formed into messy gelled
points. It made her smile, knowing that he wasn't a 'pretty boy', as
Angel would have called it. The fact he didn't spend the time making
sure every hair was in place automatically eliminated him from class
three. He had a strong jaw with a few days of growth, another thing
knocking him from a class three status.

Her
eyes lowered to his shirt, a simple red tee, then with a quick glance
at his lower half, she saw he was wearing jeans. Another thing worth
noticing to Morgan, he was by himself.
He might even be a class
one.

She hoped her assumptions were correct, because if they were, her
plan of having dirty, raw, unedited sex with the man,
because I
want to
, was going to go more smoothly than she'd anticipated.
It would give her the perfect distraction she needed from the mystery
proposal.

As
they lugged her bags through the lobby and across the parking lot,
they made small talk about her flight and the time difference and he
assured her that she could go to sleep the second they got to his
place.

“So,
we're going to your house, then?” She lit up at her new
information.
No butler, a house to ourselves...I'm liking this.
Her smile grew as he helped her into the passenger seat of his
car.

Ian
shrugged his shoulders, just slightly, then nodded. “Yeah,
we're going to my home,” he laughed, then shut her door and
went to his side. Morgan looked down at her hands as she waited for
him to get around the car and yawned quietly. Then she noticed she
hadn't taken off the mysterious ring.
“Shit,”
a curse quietly escaped her lips, and she quickly pulled the diamond
from her finger and slid it down into her coat pocket. Having a rock
that big on her finger would raise questions she didn't particular
care to answer. She was, on the other hand, anxious to tell her best
friend about it.
Angel
is going to freak the fuck out!
She
was giggling when Ian climbed into his side of the car.

“Sorry,
just the tired giggles,” she explained when he looked at her
curiously.

“No
need to apologize.” Ian grabbed her hand and brought it to his
lips.
What a romantic.
She had to fight the
giggles again, not wanting to hurt the man's feelings for his
efforts. Thankfully, she didn't have to fight the inappropriate
laughter for long because
ten
minutes hadn't even passed when they were pulling in front of his
home. Except, it wasn't what she was expecting.
He
lives in a hotel.

Chapter
Two

“
The
Penthouse?” They were in the elevator, rising to the top of
the two hundred room facility, when Morgan watched Ian press the
button to their floor.
Maybe he's not a class one.

Ian
smiled and nodded as he leaned back against the wall and crossed one
foot over his other ankle. He was obviously quite comfortable around
new people, so shyness would play no part in the week ahead. She
also noticed a small smile that twitched at his lips when she would
look at him, something that she found absolutely adorable. “Yes,
I live on the top floor.” He watched her as she nodded and
took a step back to lean against the opposite side. She crossed one
boot over the other, and tilted her head to the side. He laughed at
her playful nature, and said a silent word of thanks for using
Julianne's service again after so many years. “You have a
great smile, Morgan.” She actually blushed at hearing a
compliment, especially with her exhaustion giggles floating so close
to the surface. She was about to thank him when the doors slid open
and took her attention from the man.

“Wow...
it's.... wow!” His hand came out to his side, and his head
dipped slightly as he offered for her to leave first. She was more
than happy to exit the large box, and nearly skipped right into the
enormous room in front of them. “The elevator goes right to
your room? That's incredible!” Ian instantly knew that she
had never been with a client that offered her a suite such as his,
and he rather enjoyed the thought that he would be her first. Not
that it mattered much, he knew that, but it was still silently
enjoyed.

Morgan
asked with her eyes if she could take her own look around, and once
again he nodded slightly. She walked from one side of the two
thousand square foot room to the other, opening doors and commenting
on all of the beauty around her. The floors were charcoal and white
tile, something that she normally didn't care for, but it absolutely
worked in the large space. There was a fireplace in the main room,
one that took up nearly half the entire wall, and a full kitchen
behind that. He also had three bedrooms, two were almost sterile
with lack of use, and one that showed her more of Ian's personality.
She giggled at the thick comforter across his bed, as it depicted
three running horses in a field. Morgan would have considered the
blanket cute, but not for a millionaire in a penthouse. His dresser
also held horses, dozens of them, and her mind instantly went to
Sean's sheep infestation as her eyes scrolled across the pasture of
small wooden carvings.

The
other room, which was the last one that she came to, was the
bathroom. She decided that it looked most like Finlay's, with modern
and elegant fixtures, large tub, and oversized shower, but still had
a touch of Tanner with bright green towels that matched nothing in
the room. She loved it, and Ian could see the admiration on her face
when he joined her.

“
Do
I have competition already?” His voice startled her, and she
turned around quickly just in time to put her forehead into his
chest. His hearty laugh made her smile, and she nodded as she turned
back around.

“I'm
afraid so. Sorry... I have a... well, a thing for nice bathrooms.
You'll just have to call Julianne and get another girl, because I've
fallen in love and I have no intentions of leaving this room.”
He laughed again and took her hand, leading her back to the main
room.

“I'll
just have to work harder to win you over, yes?” She put her
finger to her chin and pretended to think it over, and then answered.

“Sorry.
It's over between us, I'm moving on.” Morgan's giggles were
set free at the sound of his laughter once again, and the two sat on
the large pillowed white sofa in the center of the room.

“
That's
a shame, I think we could have had a lot of fun together.” They
both laughed again, then he sat back and spread his arms across the
top of the couch. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?” His
questioning brought a whole new string of laughter to the girl as she
immediately thought of Finlay. Those were questions he would
sometimes ask when he wanted to be sure she wasn't going to be
preoccupied when he wanted something, usually that
something
involved naked time in various areas of his mansion. She was
brought back to the question though when her stomach growled loudly
at the thought of food. “I'll take that as a yes?”

“
Yes,”
she blushed, embarrassed for the behavior of her body. “I am
starving!” She'd picked up a burger during her layover in New
York, but that had been early afternoon and in Morgan Land, it might
as well have been three weeks since she'd eaten.

“Let's
go check it out.” He brought his arms back down in front of
him, then stood and pulled her off the couch with him. She quietly
laughed as she followed behind him to the kitchen. “I'm going
to warn you, don't laugh,” he playfully threatened, a smile
still twitching on his full lips.

“Promise.”
She crossed her heart with her hand, not knowing what she wasn't
supposed to laugh at.

“Well,”
he began, then sighed loudly and threw his arms in the air, “I
can't cook. I'll take you out so you can enjoy real food, but for
now, I've got...” he turned his back and opened up the cabinet
behind him. “Hmm. Not much, actually.” Morgan figured he
probably traveled a lot. Lack of food in the cabinets was usually a
sign they didn't spend a lot of time at home.
Or in their
Penthouse,
she corrected herself.

“I
can't cook either, so I have no room to laugh,” she admitted,
but still giggled. “But, I see cereal...that will totally
work!” He grabbed all three boxes in front of him and laid them
on the counter so she could choose. All three of them had titles in
spanish, but she just judged by the pictures and chose the one with
fruity flavored rings. “Thanks,” she told him when he
handed her a bowl and passed the box her way. The man was more than
impressed. Cereal, he never thought he'd see the day when a woman
like Morgan was in his presence, and would be happy with... cereal.
His fondness of the girl grew tremendously in that moment.

“Make
yourself at home, I have work to do, but I'll be back in about an
hour,” Ian told her, then reached across the table and stole
her hand to plant his lips on again. “You really are
beautiful.” She flashed him a quick smile, then looked down at
the empty bowl. Morgan thanked him again, then looked up when he
released her hand. “See you in a bit,” he told her, then
she watched as he waited for the elevator door to open and finally,
disappear inside.

She
hadn't wanted to ask why he was going to work at eleven thirty at
night, she didn't even want to ask what he did or even her normal
question of why he'd hired her. The young woman was too tired to
think, at least not think about work. At that moment, all she wanted
to do was scarf down her cereal as quickly as possible, then make it
a triple date with herself, the bathtub and her Angel.

Between
her first and second bowl of
fruity rings
, Morgan ran to the
bathroom and started the water. In the short time that she finished
her meal and washed out the bowl, the tub was full to her liking and
she was naked in seconds. Her exhaustion hit hard as the hot water
warmed her body, but she had to tell Angel or he'd never forgive her
for holding out on information like that.

Morgan
pressed the button that would call her friend, then put the phone on
speaker and set it beside the tub. As it rang, she stuck her hair
into a messy bun at the top of her head, then slid neck deep into the
water with a long moan of pleasure.

“Oh
Stick! I've been waiting for you to call a bitch! Cedric told me
everything! Now
you
tell me everything... let me sit down...
okay...I'm sitting...tell me everything.” Morgan could
practically see her dear friend sitting on the edge of one of Gio's
expensive chairs, crossing his legs, and holding his perfectly tanned
hand against his cheek.

“It's
true.. all of it. The man in the suit, the ring, the note.. and I
have no freakin' idea who sent it!” Her voice raised with each
word and her story echoed loudly throughout the marble tiled room.
She should have known that Cedric would have told Angel already, but
it still had caught her slightly off guard. She heard Angel's deep
intake of breath when she had finished.

“Stop
slappin' the water, you'll ruin your phone.” Morgan stopped
her hand in mid air, and she hadn't even realized what she had been
doing. “And don't give me that shit about not knowing, you
have to know who wants to marry your sweet ass... now spill!”
Once again, she pictured him on the chair, his entire leg jerking up
and down quickly with nerves.

“Angel..
I don't. I've thought about it until I nearly drove myself crazy,
and I still can't figure it out.” She leaned her head back and
stared at the ceiling, and began to regret calling the man that
night. She was almost always eager to call her Angel, but she had
put the topic of the ring aside for the night, and willingly dug it
right back out. “But I do know one thing.” She sat back
up and Angel could hear the bath water sloshing with her every move.
“I'm not going to tell any of them about it.” Morgan's
wet hands wiped her face slowly as she explained her plan of not
revealing anything about the ring to any of them. Angel, as she was
surprised to hear, didn't agree.

“No,
no, no! You have to go all Murder She Wrote on those bitches.. we
have to find out who it was! Oh Sticky.. you can't just leave me
hanging like that!” Angel made his position clear, Morgan was
to do everything in her power to find out, to see which man loved her
enough to ask for her hand in marriage. Morgan listened, but her new
outlook had obviously been applied to Angel as well.