Chapter 9
MORGAN
Morgan
With a tray of coffees in one hand, a paper bag in the other, I knocked on the door with my elbow.
The chain rattled before the door opened and Paisley peeked out.
"Hey," she said in that sultry voice of hers. She could have been a singer, or a phone sex worker. She'd make a fortune on OnlyFans.
"Hey, I brought you breakfast." I waited for her to open the door wider and stepped inside. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Better than I thought I would." She closed the door behind me and leaned her back against it. "Once I turned off the sound on my phone so I couldn't hear the texts or calls." She grimaced.
"Relentless?" I guessed.
"They're just worried about me." She stepped away from the door and dropped her gaze.
"Have you told them where you are?" I placed breakfast down on the table and handed her a coffee.
"Hell no," she said with a laugh. "They'd be knocking down my door half a second after a pressed send. Insisting I go back and make up with Kevin."
"Is that in the cards?" I asked carefully. I didn't want to pry, but I was here if she wanted someone to listen.
"Definitely not." She nodded her thanks and took a sip of coffee.
"In fact, I should thank him. He and Alena did me a favour screwing around behind my back.
I got caught in the… I don't know. In the current, I guess?
I was going with the flow for so long I forgot there's a whole lot of bank on either side of the river.
" She laughed, short and bitter. "That probably sounds ridiculous. "
"It sounds poetic," I assured her. "I might put it in a song."
I started to sing softly.
"Don't let the river take you where it wants to.
Don't float like a branch in the stream.
Stand on the bank and watch the water.
Let it show you who you need to be."
She stared at me for a moment before clapping one hand against her opposite wrist. "Did you make that up on the spot?"
I shrugged and sipped my own coffee. "It needs some work, but I was inspired."
A woman like her would inspire a thousand songs before the sun set. And a million more between that and dawn.
Yeah, now I was being poetic. I couldn't help myself. While everyone else in the pub last night was oblivious, I'd seen the moment she was brought to orgasm by Blaise. Right there, in front of everyone, and no one had a clue.
As for me, I was lucky I had a guitar to hide my response. Otherwise the whole place would have seen the tent in my jeans.
"Are you ready for today's adventure?" I put down my coffee and opened the bag to pull out a pair of rolls with bacon and egg on them.
"I don't even know what today's adventure is," she admitted. "Ryan said something about wearing a swimsuit. We're not going to jump off the falls, are we?"
I chuckled. "Not if we like life, and I do. I don't mind doing some reckless shit from time to time, but jumping off the falls is too reckless for even the most daring in town."
That would be the folk who ran the adventure tours around here, Connor and Riley. White water rafting, bungee jumping, ziplining, abseiling. You name it, they were into it. Everything but the falls.
"You're not going to tell me anything, are you?" She bit into her roll and hummed her approval at the taste. "This is good!"
"No I'm not, and yes it is," I said. "The Snowdrop Café is the best in town. Don't tell anyone, but they're the reason I bought a place here." I winked and bit into my own breakfast roll.
"I think I understand." She alternated between taking bites and washing them down with coffee. "It's not fancy, but it's good."
"Like me," I quipped. "I might make that my new motto. Morgan Hardwick, not fancy, but damn good."
I was rewarded with her laugh. If she kept doing that, I was going to get very hard, very fast. I wanted her. I also knew what the other two guys had planned, and didn't want her to miss it. She was here to live her best life and I wanted to help her do that.
"You should absolutely get that on a T-shirt," she said. "I'd buy one."
I fixed her with a steady gaze. "You'd wear a shirt with my name on it?" That was an idea I could get behind.
"Why not?" she said easily. "I'm basically a Morgan Hardwick groupie now, right? Seems only right I'd wear your merchandise."
"I can't argue with that." I hadn't even known the woman for twenty-four hours and I wanted more than for her to wear my name. I wanted her to share it.
No one ever said I wasn't a hopeless romantic. Or better yet, a hopeful romantic.
"If I have any made, I'll make sure you get the first one," I assured her. "What's your favourite colour?"
"Would it be weird if I admitted it was pink?" She looked tentative, like I was going to judge her because she chose one colour over the others.
"Only if it'd be weird if I admitted it was mine too," I said, my eyes on her plush lips. Were her nipples the same shade? I was itching to find out, but that would have to wait.
"Why don't you finish up eating and get changed? We should be meeting Ryan and Blaise shortly." I glanced at the watch on my wrist.
She nodded and snagged up her swimsuit from where it lay on the small hotel bed. She took a couple of steps towards the bathroom before turning back around.
"I forgot to say thank you. For stopping yesterday. For singing last night. And for breakfast. You've helped make all of this a lot easier than it would have been."
"It was nothing," I said. "Happy to do it." I'd be even happier to do her, but I could wait. I wanted to watch her enjoy herself while the three of us got her very, very wet.