Page 12 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
“Yeah, that might not have exactly been the way it went down,” Leona admitted.
Drea picked up her phone, glancing at the time. “Girl, I’ve got an hour before I have to meet the family to place bets. So sit back down and start spilling.”
There had been plenty of moments in his thirty-eight years on this planet where Cullen had made an ass out of himself. A few of those were even caught on camera and shared in the media. However, none of the previous occasions left him feeling like he did right now. Like he was a complete and utter piece of shit.
He ran the conversations with Josef back over and over again in his mind as he walked to the dining room to meet everyone for dinner, trying to figure out if there was something the kid had said that would have given away that “Lena” was his older sister and not his mom. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember anything. He’d only referred to her by name, or what must be a family nickname, once. Every other time he said “mom” or “dad” or “my sister.” For all Cullen knew, this Lena had been the coach of his rec league.
Still should have handled it better, he thought, entering the lobby. What the fuck were you thinking? Oh wait, you weren’t…
Had he been thinking, he would have waited and asked Josef more questions. Or he could have approached Leona when the kid wasn’t around—when he wasn’t all worked up over seeing them together—and could have tried to have a reasonable conversation with her about his suspicions. But no, he charged her like he was a bull and she was the matador waving the red cape. It was just what she did to him. He became a different person—one who couldn’t control what came out of his mouth.
Thinking about all the things he said, he cursed himself for belittling their time together and letting her think she was just another one of his random hookups. Even more than that, he just couldn’t believe he’d referred to a child, his potential child or so he had thought, as a “souvenir.” That was the real kicker. If his mother had heard him say that, oh man, she would have smacked him into the middle of next week.
While a kid, a teenager to boot, was not high on the list of things he’d like to be surprised with, he found he was okay with the idea that the kid was his. As the thought rolled around in his brain, it occurred to him that had his wild accusations actually been founded, having Leona be the mother of his child wouldn’t have been the worst thing ever. He was more upset over the idea that she would have hidden it from him than he was about the idea that it had happened.
Shaking his head to try and clear the thoughts, he walked into the resort’s dining room and looked for the Quinlans. The brothers weren’t a whole lot older than he was and had become friends of sorts over the years he’d visited the island. They were the kind of guys you wanted in your corner—loyal, trustworthy, hardworking, and most importantly, didn’t believe in treating him differently just because he was a professional athlete. Certainly they understood that he was a VIP guest and that he had different needs than Mr. and Mrs. Middle America who came down from Iowa for a winter getaway, and they were incredibly accommodating of his special requests over the years. However, on a personal level, they treated him as if he were anyone else—just one of the guys.
Before the hostess could greet him and ask how many in his party, Simone Quinlan, Vaughn’s longtime girlfriend turned wife, appeared through the door to the kitchen and waved him over.
“Hey!” she greeted, smiling brightly, arms open wide for a hug. “How are you?”
He hugged her in greeting while giving her the standard answer of “I’m good.”
“We’re eating in the kitchen tonight—hope you don’t mind,” she said, walking through the door as he followed. “Miller had someone call in sick, so he’ll be cooking and eating.”
“Don’t act like that’s not every other meal around here,” Grayson said, standing from the table. “Cullen, good to see you, man!”
Cullen reached across the big wood table that sat tucked off to the side of the kitchen, not far from the stove, shaking Grayson’s hand. He turned slightly toward the stove, raising a hand in greeting to Miller and received the same in response. He sat down at one of the open chairs next to Simone, with Vaughn on the other side of her.
“Congratulations, Simone. I got the chance to say it to Vaughn the other day, but haven’t seen you,” Cullen said, picking up her hand and kissing the top lightly. “What’s it like being the newest member of the family?”
Simone giggled. “Why, thank you. But I’m not the newest member. Our niece, Drea, her boyfriend…no, that’s not the right word…” she trailed off.
“I don’t know what else you’re going to call him until he actually puts a ring on it,” Vaughn interjected. “Which, we do not need to rush.”
“Okay, then, well, her boyfriend Kyle is the latest to join our ranks,” Simone said, finishing her thought.
“She’s old enough to have a boyfriend that serious?” Cullen asked, kicking himself as soon as he said the words. Drea was Leona’s best friend, so of course she was old enough to be that serious with someone. If Leona was old enough to have my pre-teen kid…
“Turned twenty-seven a couple of weeks ago,” Miller said, coming up to the table with a tray of food. He set the whole thing down in the middle of the table just before he collapsed into one of the open seats. “Trust you me, it’s hard to realize the girls are older than we were when we started this place, but they are!”
“The girls? Do you have another child I don’t know about?” Cullen asked, looking between them all.
“He means Drea and Leona,” Vaughn clarified.
“The two of them have been glued at the hip since they were five. I’ve watched Leona grow up just as much as I have Drea,” Miller said.
The kitchen door opened and two young men walked in, looking as if they’d spent all day in the sun.
“Speaking of Kyle,” Vaughn said, turning toward the guys who just walked in. “This is Kyle Egan, our marina manager, and Drea’s whatever we decided to call him.”
“I usually go with boyfriend,” Kyle said, smiling proudly. He extended a hand to Cullen. “Nice to meet you. Love watching you on the pitch.”
“Thanks, man,” Cullen responded, shaking his hand.
“And I’m Dalton Sutherland, his first mate,” the dirty blond next to Kyle said, also reaching out his hand. He looked familiar for some reason—he just couldn’t place him. Cullen shook his hand as well, still trying to figure out where and why he felt like he’d seen him before.
“There are sandwiches in the fridge for you guys,” Miller said to them. “I made enough for you and the girls, so please make sure they eat.”
