Page 11 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
She remembered what it was like the first time he’d shown up at the resort. They had all known a celebrity was coming, since Vaughn had made sure that rules had been put in place about how everything was going to be handled. Leona wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near him, but she had hoped that maybe she and Drea could catch a glimpse of him at dinner or something. When he showed up, alone, she was floored at the magnificence of him. Sure, he was a famous footballer, but seeing him up close and personal he was something else entirely. All brawn and sculpted muscle, he moved with the elegance of a large cat on the prowl. She couldn’t believe there wasn’t some hot blonde on his arm.
A couple of days later when Carmella had called out sick and Beverly asked if she would please take care of La Isla Bonita, she had frozen in her tracks. She hadn’t been on the job all that long and was worried she would screw something up. That’d be her luck—she’d mess up the bedsheets or something and get herself fired. Making sure to double and triple check everything in the bathroom before moving on to change the sheets, she was caught off guard when he walked back into the bungalow while she was still working. Stretching herself as far as she could to tuck the fitted sheet around the king-sized mattress, she’d been completely bent over the bed, ass in the air when he walked in.
“Here, let me help you with that,” a deep voice with that incredible British accent came from behind her.
“Oh, no, I got it,” she said, startled, blushing a bit. But he took the sheet from her, regardless of her protest, and tucked it in. He did the other top corner as well, before making his way down the bed. He smiled his big, megawatt smile and her knees went weak, and she felt the heat return to her cheeks.
They finished making the bed together in companionable silence, each one sneaking glances at the other from time to time. When he’d finally introduced himself, as if she didn’t already know who the great Cullen Cruz was, it had taken some serious effort on her end to find her own name to return the introduction. She’d left the bungalow walking on cloud nine that day. The rest of the week had been filled with flirtatious smiles and winks, him using her name every time he saw her. She was so taken in by his charm, she hadn’t even considered the age difference between them. If only she had known that he was just using that charm to get what he had wanted and that, in the end, she’d see his true colors.
Drea was exactly where Leona had hoped she would be—sitting on her little porch on the backside of her cottage, looking out over Big House Beach. Some of their best memories were made on that beach, from the time they were teenagers simply sunning themselves while gossiping about boys, to being adults and sitting out there sharing a bottle of wine. Kyle had moved into the small cottage with Drea a couple of months back, but the place remained relatively unchanged.
Plopping down in one of the lounge chairs that lived on the patio, Leona looked over at Drea and just stared until Drea put down her book. When she finally put the bookmark in place and closed the paperback, Leona could see a little bit of a smirk forming on her face. They sat in silence for a moment, each one waiting for the other to start. Leona finally gave in.
“You are never going to believe what that asshat asked me,” she gritted out.
“Try me,” Drea answered, like she already knew what it was.
“If Josef was his.”
“What?!” Drea exclaimed, sitting up, letting her book fall to the ground. “Not at all where I thought you were going with this. ‘Splain, now!”
“Where did you think this was going?” Leona questioned, looking confused.
“Doesn’t matter! How does he even know about Josef? Start talking!” Drea said.
“So you know Cruz is doing that camp thing while he’s here, right?” Drea nodded in response. “Well, Josef’s coach applied for a scholarship so Josef could attend and he got it, so he’s spending this week at camp with Cruz.”
“That’s awesome! He is so athletic, especially for how little he is,” Drea commented.
“He is! I’m so proud of him too,” Leona said. “And of course, he’s over the moon about this camp. As much as I can’t stand the man, even I can admit that Cruz is one of the best players in the world and for Josef to get the chance to play with him, that’s massive.”
“You just hate it.”
“I do. Because I know the real Cruz. But, I can’t tell Jo-bro that,” she sighed. “Anyway, I go to pick him up from camp today and Cruz sees us. He comes over and goes, ‘He’s yours?’ So, I think he’s just trying to make sure no one gets kidnapped on his watch, you know, like a normal person would ask.”
Drea’s eyes got wide as Leona said all this, hanging on each word. Leona was glad she had her, knowing that at least someone was on her side here.
“So I told
him yes, and then he goes, ‘Is he mine?’ Just like that. No clarification of if he was my kid, or brother or cousin, nothing. Just assumes that because we hooked up once that obviously it resulted in him knocking me up and I’ve been keeping it a secret for ten years!”
“But…” Drea paused, trying to find her words. “Doesn’t he know that Josef’s thirteen? That it’s mathematically not possible?”
“Apparently not something he took the time to think about.”
“And I thought you said you used protection that night. I mean, I know you’ve been on the pill forever, but didn’t he like, magically produce a condom out of nowhere? Or am I not remembering this right?”
“We did. He did!” Leona said, getting up from the chair and pacing. “He must just think he has Superman sperm or something.”
“Wow. I mean…wow. What did you say?”
“I let him have it. I told him he was my brother and reminded him that he used a fucking condom and that I know his life is just a blur of meaningless hookups, but still. It took everything I had not to hit him again.”
“Again? You’ve hit him before?” Drea slid forward so she was sitting on the edge of the seat.
“Yeah, remember ten years ago, right before he left?”
“That mark he had next to his eye? The one he told my uncles he got when he slipped in the shower the night before, drunk?”
