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

by Brandi Ratliff

  “It's easy to do, trust me. I still get lost,” he laughed, agreeing with her. The last room on the pseudo tour was his room, which she barely got to look at, but he told her that's where she'd put her things when they were delivered.

  “You look tired.” They made their way back to the spiral staircase and before they went down, Alrik put his finger under her chin to make her look at him. The bags under her eyes had grown, not that it took away from her beauty, but it was evident the girl needed rest.

  “I'm fine,” she lied with a smile and began walking down the stairs. She would have killed to lay down at that second and sleep until the following day, but it was still early evening in her client's day and she didn't want to be rude to him, nor his butler, who was still stirring, chopping and mixing when they made their way back downstairs. “The food smells so good!”

  “And it's done,” Alrik added when Dag presented two beautiful plates of food on the island top. It was a pasta dish Morgan didn't recognize, but it looked delicious and the smell of the fresh herbs and hot chicken made her mouth water with anticipation, and disappoint, it did not.

  Halfway through the meal, and a discussion on how wonderful dinner was, Morgan felt something brush her leg. “What the he..”

  “Easy!” Alrik put his hand on Morgan's thigh to stop her from another kicking attempt.

  “Something crawled on my leg!” Morgan stood from her chair doing a need-to-get-the-spider-off dance, as she bounced up and down on opposite feet, brushing off invisible insects.

  “Morgan, it's just my cat. His tail must've touched you.” Alrik put his hand out and guided the tired girl back to her chair and when she was seated, she finally saw the furry culprit. He was a huge orange and white cat that had attitude written all over his puffy face.

  “Awwww, and who'z the little fwuff ball down there?” Morgan immediately reached down to touch the huge cat, but Alrik grabbed her wrist, giving her a warning look.

  “Ah, he's not...uhm...the...nicest of cats. I advise you not to touch him. But his name is Fredrick.”

  “Aw, wittle Freddy can't be so bad.,” Morgan sighed and went back to her chicken. She thought for a moment about William and Wallace. Finlay had warned her of their ferocious behavior and look at how that turned out. They loved her! Then again, if she had listened to Finlay's other warning, she wouldn't have had the wind knocked out of her and laid flat out on the ground. A silly cat can't hurt too bad. I've never met a mean cat anyway!

  Morgan took a look at her client and saw it was safe to go through with her plan. Keeping her eyes on the man, she took a piece of chicken between her fingers, and bent forward, lowering the bite to the ground.

  “OW! He bit me! Your cat bit me! And...” Morgan brought her hand up to her face to see four bleeding bite marks and four rather deep gashes along her wrist. “Scratched me,” she finished her sentence and looked at Alrik with an apologetic look. The cat had pounced on her like she was prey. After he held her in place with his claws, he had preceded to bite the living shit out her until she dropped the piece of chicken. When she did, he took it in his mouth and happily ran away with his trophy. “Little shit!”

  “I told y...” Ding-dong. Alrik was cut off by the sound of the doorbell and he told Dag to help Morgan get cleaned up while he retrieved her new items at the door.

  “Sorry,” Morgan spoke to the butler as he directed her toward the bathroom. Once inside, he cleaned her wounds and wrapped her wrist in a light bandage, but didn't speak a word the whole time.

  Morgan thought to ask why he wouldn't speak to her, but she was far too tired to pry words from the silent man.

  Alrik met her back in the kitchen and asked if she was alright. Of course, Morgan wasn't going to admit that the bite and scratches burned and throbbed like hell, considering it was all her fault for touching the cat in the first place. “I'll live.” She smiled weakly and sat back down at the island to await hearing the rest of the agenda for the evening.

  As her handsome client sat across from her, he took her bandaged hand gently into his. “I'm having a bath drawn for you, everything you need should be in the bathroom.” He raised her hand and kissed a bare spot along her knuckles. If she hadn't been so tired, the girl would have squealed with delight, but all she managed was a large smile and a sincere 'thank you.'

  Alrik pulled her to her feet and walked her to the second floor, and into the master bathroom. “Wow!” The word flew out of Morgan's mouth as she took in the most amazing bathroom she had ever seen. It wasn't the white marble floor, nor the enormous bay window, it wasn't even the shower that looked as if it could fit ten people at once easily. Morgan couldn't believe the size of the tub, or the fact that a a roaring fire was right in front of it. “I've never seen a tub this big....or a fireplace in the bathroom.” Her words sounded foolish as they nearly echoed in the picture perfect room, and she closed her mouth tightly to keep anymore words from escaping.

  Alrik laughed and ran one finger down her back as she walked toward the tub. “I'm glad you like it. I'll be up later to make sure you didn't fall asleep in there.” He didn't wait for a reply as he walked out and closed the thick double doors to her paradise.

  Morgan didn't know where she got the energy to move as quickly as she did, but her clothes were off and on the floor in a matter of seconds. When she sunk into the bubbly bliss, her eyes closed as she released a loud sigh of pleasure into the fire lit room. She vaguely heard the doorbell ring downstairs as she started to drift off into a much needed sleep.

  “Uncle Felix!” Alrik wrapped his long arms around the man that had just walked into the kitchen. “I didn't know you were coming back so soon.” They walked into the den as Alrik asked Dag to bring them drinks.

  “I let the lawyers take care of the sale, there was no need to stay there while they handled the paperwork.” Felix took the drink that Dag offered and relaxed in the oversized winged chair close to the fire.

  Felix Bashe, Alrik's uncle on his mother's side, split his time between London, America, and his home in Sweden. His home being a spare room that Alrik offered him during each stay. Neither man could see the benefit of Felix buying a house that would hardly be lived in. However, Alrik wished the timing would have been better considering it was his week with the beautiful woman from Julianne's service.

  Dag offered round two of the drinks by the time Alrik explained his current situation. “I'm afraid I won't be around too much, Uncle, I have..... company...for the rest of the week.” Felix raised his brow and tried not to smile too wide, but failed in his attempt.

  “Company? I've never known you to keep company beyond a night or two. Who is she?” Felix was intrigued, he had to know who the woman was who seemed to have captured his nephew's attention.

  “Ah, stop dreaming old man, it's nothing like that.” Alrik stood and stretched, then excused himself to see if his company had fallen asleep in her bubble bath.

  “Morgan?” Alrik knocked lightly on the bathroom door as he slowly opened it. “I knew you wouldn't last long.” He shook his head and stepped as quietly as he could across the marble floor. The sleeves of his two hundred dollar shirt were completely submerged by the time he had a proper hold underneath her body. Alrik lifted her easily from the water and brought her to his chest, her naked body covered in tiny white bubbles that accented a body that nearly took his breath away.

  Morgan wrapped her arms around his neck and put her face against his chest. Her dreams had been slightly interrupted by the feel of cold air around her body. “I'm cold, Fin. The fire's out.” Her words were so quiet that Alrik almost asked her to repeat them, but it was clear that she was still asleep, and clear that her mind was on a man that only she could see.

  “I'll make you a fire, Morgan.” He kissed the top of her head and carried her to the bed where he laid her in the middle and covered her to her chin with the red silky down comforter..

  “Thanks, Fin.” She smiled and rolled over, and Alrik
stared at her for a few moments as he wondered who Fin was, and why she was with him and not the mystery man that she was obviously dreaming about.

  The fire in the bedroom was lit quickly and Alrik tried to remember the last time he had lit that one. There was no need, the house was plenty warm enough, but if his guest wanted a fire, then she would have one.

  When the fire was roaring, Alrik thought about having Dag go up to the room to quietly sort out her clothing, but before the words came out of his mouth, he remembered that she was still naked and there was no chance he'd want to put her in that situation. I'll take care of it later.

  Alrik let the woman sleep and the rest of his evening was spent talking to his uncle until he finally met her in bed around midnight. In normal Morgan fashion, she backed her ass into the cozy spot at his hips and he gently wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her even closer. The comfort and warmth from her body was all he needed to lull him to sleep.

  Chapter Four

  “Shit!” Morgan looked at the fancy clock next to the bed and saw it was already past noon. She also noticed her client was nowhere in the room. “I've got to quit doing this!” She had needed the rest, but she still felt guilty for oversleeping and since she had already lost a day from traveling, she felt even worse. “Alrik?” She didn't see him and he didn't respond, but it was worth a try. “Okay...I'll make it up to him.”

  Morgan threw the blanket off her body, then quickly pulled it back when she realized she was naked. What hap...? It took the girl a few moments to realize that she had fallen asleep in the bathtub and a vague memory of being carried to the bed crossed her mind. She flipped her legs to the side of the bed and wrapped the blanket around her body before standing. Morgan had no idea where her new clothes were and she had no idea where the man was that could help her.

  “Crap! Okay, they've got to be around here somewhere...” After some shuffling around the room in her mummy attire, she found the bags in which her clothing had arrived in, but she was still empty handed and no further ahead in her quest to find clothing because the bags were empty. She scanned the room again. Dresser. Dresser. Another dresser. Two closets. She knew she couldn't just go through his things, but her things had to be somewhere.

  Morgan pulled the blanket higher on her chest and walked to the bedroom door. I could just call for Alrik, he'd know. Just as she opened the door, a man appeared in front of her. A man that she recognized and a man that made her nearly drop the blanket from her body.

  “Holy shit! Felix!? What...oh my God!”

  “Mor...oh! Oh my! You're....oh!” The recognition swept over his handsome face. The beautiful girl from the plane was his nephew's company.

  “I...uhm...Alrik?” Morgan couldn't think of anything to say. What a small world!

  “He's in his office...what do you need?” He smiled at her wildly. He was glad that the sweet girl was there. Alrik could use a woman like that in his life, if even just for a week.

  “Well,” Morgan looked down at her outfit, “I can't find the clothes we bought yesterday...” She saw his look of confusion and briefly explained that her luggage was lost and they had bought a few things to hold her over. But he didn't have time to answer her first question because she had to know who the man was. “Are you...Alrik's friend?”

  The man laughed quietly at the girl's shyness. “I'm his uncle, and I'll bet your clothes...” he gently pushed past her and into the bedroom, “are right...here.” The tall man pulled open a drawer on the dresser closest to the door and to Morgan's surprise, the drawer was filled her new clothes. She wasn't going to ask how he knew. He must have company often, she assumed.

  Truth was, he knew because Alrik had already told him...well, he had told Dag and Felix overheard, but it was all the same anyway. Before Alrik had gone into his office, he mentioned to his assistant that if 'the girl' woke up before he was finished working, that her clothing was in the tallest dresser; if she asked about it.

  He had woken up before the sun came up and had quietly sorted through her clothing and put it all away without her waking. He had also started another fire so she'd stay warm. He didn't know how she could be so cold, he had actually kicked the blanket off in the middle of the night. Between her body heat, the fire and his thick blanket, he could have been warm in the middle of a blizzard...outside.

  Morgan thanked the man, and quickly grabbed the first pair of jeans and sweater she saw, then opened another draw and even more quickly grabbed a bra and panties. “If you'll...uhm...excuse me,” she smiled and turned toward the bathroom. Felix nodded his head and walked backwards out of the room. He couldn't wait to talk to his nephew about his company...but that would wait. He heard the bathroom door click shut and he went back downstairs to continue reading the newspaper.

  When Morgan heard the bedroom door shut, she walked back into the room and braving the coldness, she threw the blanket back on the bed and ran back into the bathroom in three strides. She saw her array of new cosmetics was in a bright pink basket. At least she didn't have to search for those, but she wished Angel was there to show her the secrets.

  By the time she was finished getting ready, she decided that when she retrieved her lost bag, all of her old cosmetics were going in the trash can. She threw on her red sweater and jeans, and since there wasn't much she could do with her hair without her straightener or curling iron, she pulled it back into a cute ponytail. She also found some ointment in his medicine cabinet that she applied to her bite marks and scratches. Her wrist was still sore to the touch, but like she told Alrik, she'd live.

  Before she left the room, she put her phone in her back pocket; she had to break her new 'turn the phone off' rule, just in case her bags decided to show up and the airport called.

  At the top of the stairs, right in the middle, was her new furry enemy, blocking her way down the steps. The big cat lowered the front of his body and bared his long fangs at the girl and the sound that followed was one that she didn't even know a cat was capable of.

  “What have I ever done to you, Freddy?” She stepped closer and the cat hissed louder. “Stop that!” Morgan had never in her life been afraid of any animal, let alone a cat, but she found herself backing away slowly and the cat sat back up as if he knew he had won. There was no way around him, she knew if she walked forward, her ankle was sure to get it. “Alrik?” Morgan called out, hoping he'd save her.

  Within seconds, she saw the man known as Dag coming up the stairs. He looked at Morgan, then back to the cat and a smile crossed his face. “Don't show him fear, and usually he'll back away,” the man told her.

  “Don't show him fear?” Morgan asked. “Yesterday, I showed him a piece of chicken and he bit me!” Morgan laughed out loud at his seemingly worthless comment.

  At that moment, Dag quickly grabbed the cat and gave him a gentle toss away from the steps. The move was too quick for Fredrick to realize he was being lifted and he had no time to fight. Morgan gave Dag a nod and a thank you and with no other words, she wasted no time and ran past the cat before he could get back to the stairs. When she was safely on the first floor, she let out a sigh of relief. “I swear, I've never seen a cat so mean!” She was talking to herself, but Uncle Felix replied.

  “You get used to him. Alrik is the only one he permits in his presence.” Both Morgan and Felix laughed. A cat controlling everyone around him. Maybe if I hissed and bit everyone, I'd get what I want...

  “Hungry? I was going to whip up some eggs...” Felix asked. Morgan smiled and nodded, then followed him to the kitchen. Dag had made it back down the stairs and said he'd make them the eggs.

  “I don't like your eggs. I like my eggs. I don't want all those weeds on my plate,” Felix joked with the too-serious man. Morgan had to cover her mouth to stop the giggles. She knew what he meant and she had always wondered why the little leaves made any meal “fancy”. What are we talking about here, eggs? Eggs never need to be fancy.

  Dag begrudgingly stepped out
of the kitchen and Felix went to work making brunch for Morgan and himself.

  As Felix prepared their meal, Morgan took a seat at the island, hoping to get information from the man that would help her understand the type of client that she had. “So, why does everyone speak English here?” She popped a grape into her mouth from the tray of fruit that Dag had put together for her.

  Felix continued cooking as he answered. “My nephew would never allow any guest to feel uncomfortable, it's one of his many house rules.” He went on to explain briefly that in the last few decades, English was learned and spoken by most in the country. “We watch your television, do business with your people, and cater to tourism, so it was in our best interest as a country to speak your language.” Morgan could see who Alrik got his beautiful smile from.

  When he sat down across from her, he asked what line of business she was in. He assumed that she wasn't in the stock business, or real estate such as himself, but he had to know how his nephew had met the pretty American.

  The question, the one that she never had a real answer to, was hanging between them as she prayed for a diversion. There would not be one that time. “I'm... a... I.... work for a service...that...uh..”

  “Oh! Oh, I see.” Felix nearly choked on his perfectly scrambled eggs with cheese as the realization of her profession washed over him. Morgan looked down at her plate as she had suddenly lost her appetite. “Oh, don't worry yourself, young Morgan! I've had plenty of experience of my own with your line of work.” His smile was genuine when she looked up, and her smile returned as Felix began eating with gusto once again.

  “So..” her sense of humor was gaining traction by the second, “you were a call girl too?” That time he did spit out his eggs as his laughter filled the room.