Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (54 page)

“You look
beautiful.” Vlad's words and soft touch to her shoulder shook
her from her thoughts and made her drop the piece of bread she'd been
ripping apart.

“You're going to give
someone a heart attack one of these days!”

Chapter Eight

Morgan did not, in fact, have a
heart attack, but she did enjoy the rest of her mealwith Vlad. The
other four men also joined them, and her client laughed as Morgan and
Ivan exchanged their favorite cuss words to describe every bit of
food on the buffet.

Vlad suggested that they take
in a few sights in the area before the temperature dropped again, and
Morgan was more than willing. She ran back to their room, literally,
and grabbed her camera from her bag.

The day was wonderful, and
Morgan was treated to a tour that was mesmerizing to say the least.
They visited cathedrals, parks donned with statues of Russia's
greatest men, and she even got to see the Blue Bridge which is the
widest bridge in the world. Their afternoon was wrapped up with
lunch in the center of Nevsky Prospect.

Vlad explained that St.
Petersburg was once a small town that had a road to the ancient city
of Novgorod. Eventually, beautiful buildings were erected, and with
its bridges and shopping squares, it became the center of the large
city.

Everything that she saw that
day was breathtaking, and so was the temperature. It had dropped
drastically in the few hours that they had spent in town, and she was
grateful that he had chosen the perfect time to get out and sight
see. It was also getting close to the time that they would have to
leave and get to the club, and she was even more excited about her
second showing of her client in action.

Morgan stood in front of the
mirror, adding several spiral curls to her long hair, and decided to
keep the black jeans and jacket on for the night. A dress or skirt
simply wasn't going to work with the cold weather, unless they
planned another long trip in the limo, and the outfit worked for a
night listening to her favorite Russian band.

She also made a face at her
luggage as she walked by it all, because her laundry duties were
failing miserably in the last few weeks. A few clean outfits were
all that were available until she worked out a laundry day, but all
of that could wait until after her time in Russia. For right then,
she was ready to hit the club with the small gang of handsome men.
“Stupid laundry.” She mumbled her thoughts to herself as
she met Vlad in the main room of the hotel, and they were finally on
their way to the gig.

Morgan sat right in front of
the stage again with the reserved seat that Vlad had 'made happen,'
for her. It was a night full of energy, and she stood most of the
time, just as the whole club had done, and applauded her handsome man
for hours. The few songs he did in English were just for her, and it
meant the world to Morgan that he would do that for her. The people
didn't seem to mind, and they loved it as much as she did.

Halfway through the night, a
waitress brought her three pieces of pizza, not that it was on the
menu, but Vlad had taken the time during one of his breaks to see
that she had a meal to enjoy since they hadn't eaten since lunch. He
was in mid song when she put it together,and looked up to the man
front and center on the stage. He managed a smile and a wink as he
continued singing, and Morgan felt her eyes burn at the sweetness of
the man that she was growing so fond of.

It was nearly midnight when the
second band took over, and Morgan wrapped her arms around Vlad and
refused to let go for several moments. He didn't mind in the least,
and he picked her up from the ground and returned the affection for
just as long. She was just about to let go when she whispered in his
ear while setting her down. “Do you think they have a storage
room in the back?” The sensuality that he loved about her
nearly drove him mad, but he had to tell her the bad news. It was
the kind of news that reminded him why he should have stuck to his
plan to take the week off.

“I'm certain they do, but
we have to leave now.” When she tilted her head in question,
he took her hand and led her back to her seat. “It will take
all night and then some to get to Stockholm by ferry, and that's how
we plan to travel since we have so much gear.” When she
nodded, he was happy to see that she wasn't too disappointed.
“Everything is ready to go, so we'll leave from here and should
make the five o'clock ferry from Estonia...” She began to
worry, Morgan didn't want to rely on anyone to make sure that all of
her items were packed.

“Can I double check the
room really fast? Please?” Vlad didn't want to deny her
anything, but he had already had the men check out of the hotel, and
she wouldn't be able to look for herself. However, he did promise
her that he has never left anything behind, and that her items were
safely packed into the vehicles that were waiting for them outside.

Vlad was good on his word,
because Morgan's things were perfectly intact, and ready to go. She,
on the other hand, would just have to take his word for it since it
had already been done. It was then that she realized that she still
had trust issues, but it was something that would be somewhat fixed
over time, and Morgan was ready to try to let go of her insecurities,
even if it took baby steps to get there.

The trip was broken up into a
few parts, but in total, it made for a fourteen hour trip. One that
Morgan planned to sleep for the better part of. After five hours of
driving, with only a quick stop to grab something to eat before
getting on the ferry, they made it right on schedule, catching the
5:00 AM ferry from Estonia to Finland. A plane definitely would have
been faster, but for the time that Morgan had been awake, she'd
captured more pictures than she could count. She was even lucky
enough to catch a few beautiful sunrise photos of Estonia and even a
few of the skyline before the limo took its turn to pull onto the
ferry. VIKING LINE was printed in large white lettering on the side,
something else she took a few pictures of before the car disappeared
inside.

“You take a lot of
photos,” Morgan turned in her seat to face the man and flashed
the camera in his face. She giggled at the surprised look on his
face, then nodded.

“I want to remember
everything perfectly! The world is so beautiful...I don't want to
forget anything that I've been lucky enough to see.”

“In that case, let me get
one of you,” he told her, holding his hand out for the camera.

Morgan shook her head back and
forth and pulled the camera closer to her body. “I look awful!”

“You're beautiful,
Morgan.” He didn't fight for the camera again, but he did pull
her close to him as she was beginning to shiver. “Let's find
you something warmer.”

The girl nodded and decided it
would also be a good chance to check her bags...just to be sure. They
got out of the limo and walked to the back, then Vlad popped the
large trunk. Morgan grabbed the top of the car as the boat began to
pull out of the port and rocked to the side unexpectedly. Just when
she thought she was alright, it rocked again and she stumbled a few
feet backwards. Both of them laughed as she caught her balance for
the second time and she held onto the man for support as she dug
through her zebra print bag.

Everything is here
and...everything is...clean.
She looked up to Vlad, then back to
her clothes. “But...these were...dirty...” She let go of
the man for a moment to dig through her bag until she found a thick,
warm sweater.

“I heard you earlier,”
he smiled and closed the trunk when she'd made her selection. Morgan
felt her cheeks heat. She hadn't intended for him to take care of her
laundry, but it was very sweet.

“Thank you,” she
told him, then grabbed onto his muscular arm again as they ferry
began rocking harder. “Oh, I don't think I like this.”
She'd been on boats before...small ones, big ones, fast ones, but
something about the slow rock of the ferry was making her stomach
uneasy.

“Come.” Vlad could
see that the color had drained from the young girls face and he
quickly opened up the back door of the limo, then helped her inside.
“Just lay down,” he spoke softly and tucked a pillow
under her head, then covered her in a thick blanket.

“I'm sorry, I...I never
get seasick...I don't understand.” Morgan rolled to her side
and held her stomach. “I'll be fine, don't worry,” she
reassured him. Suddenly, she felt pain in her abdomen and realized
the rocking of the ferry wasn't the only thing making her feel awful.
Fucking cramps.
Vlad stepped outside the limo about halfway
through the two and a half hour trip to talk to the other group
members, and Morgan took the opportunity to dig through her purse to
find some painkillers. She hadn't wanted Vlad to know she was going
through pain as well as nausea. He'd already done enough to make her
feel better and she didn't want to put him out any more than she'd
already done. “There ya are,” she spoke to the little
white bottle and popped its top off, spilling two of the small pills
into her palm. “That should help.” Morgan laid back down
on the pillow and closed her eyes, willing the things to work.

Nearly six hours later, Morgan
awoke to the gentle nudging of Vlad's hand against her shoulder.
“We're here, beautiful,” he whispered to her, then helped
the sleepy girl sit up. Morgan looked around quickly and noticed they
were no longer on the ferry.

“Wait, where are we?”

“Sweden,” he
answered. Morgan frowned, realizing she'd completely missed the stop
in Finland, and missed out on getting pictures as well. She'd slept
through a whole other ferry ride too.

“Shit...I...didn't mean
to sleep so long. Did...did you get some sleep?” She would have
felt awful if she was the only one to get some rest, but he told her
that he had and she noticed, he did look more rested. She also
noticed that her cramps hadn't come back yet and that thought was a
relief as well. Only the fact they were in Sweden brought new worries
to the surface.

Her brain slowly began to work
again as she sat up, and when Vlad handed her a coffee, she almost
spilled it when she hugged him before taking it from his hand.
“You're the sweetest, most handsome, sexiest, gypsy vampire
Russian spy in the world!” The hot drink sped up the thinking
process and she asked what time it was. He told here that it would
be two o'clock, but with the time difference, it was only eleven in
the morning.

“Sweet, that gives us a
little time to sight see!” She had already taken a hundred
pictures of Stockholm, but a few more wouldn't hurt. Vlad shook his
head and told her that there wouldn't be time.

“I'm still wondering if
we should have just stayed at the house, I never wanted to put you
through this. I'm sorry, but the show starts at four and we'll need
all the time we have to set up.” Morgan was disappointed, but
she wouldn't let it show. It wasn't that big of a deal, and the last
thing she wanted to do was to make him feel worse.

“Well, that's alright...
just lead the way and I'll help you guys set up.” Her cheery
tone and sweet smile was all the convincing that he needed.

“You're a sweet girl,
Morgan. Thank you.” He held her close and kissed her before
pointing out the window when they came to a stop. “The men and
I are going right over, but I've booked a room for us. I'll see you
in, take your time with a shower and find a proper meal, the car will
be here to bring you to me when you're ready.” She nodded, and
was torn between the promise of a shower and going with him right
then. Quickly, she resigned herself to the fact that he had gone out
of his way for her, and told him that she would love a shower before
going to the club.

Five minutes later, she was
alone in their room and already looking through her newly clean
clothes to find the right outfit for the night. “You must have
had them laundered while we were at the club in St. Petersburg.
You're a true gentleman, Vlad.” She smiled at her clothes a
little longer until she started to feel silly, then hop skipped to
the large bathroom to get her shower.

A quick look in the mirror
before stepping in the shower made her almost shriek at herself. Her
hair was an absolute mess and yesterday's make up had been relocated
to places they shouldn't have been. “Oh my god..he actually
saw
me like this.” She knew for a fact that she would
do everything in her power to look fabulous when he saw her again
that evening. “It'll take a freaking miracle to erase this
image from his mind.”

Fabulous was exactly what she
ended up with when she was finally ready to go downstairs and find
some food before leaving. She chose her short white denim skirt,
red low cut sweater which seemed to be everyone's favorite on her,
and her super high pair of white heels. Morgan would rather have
worn one of her beautiful gowns, but she would be extremely over
dressed if she had. She hesitated earlier on about the skirt in the
cold weather, but then was reminded of the horror she saw in the
mirror before her shower. Morgan was more than willing to risk it.

She realized that her choice
had been correct when Morgan made her way to the lounge of the hotel,
men were smiling and staring as she walked into the room. She hoped
that Vlad looked at her that way, and smiled when she thought of his
handsome face as she found a small table in the corner of the room.