Page 15 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
Leona had always liked Uncle Gray, Drea’s fun uncle. He’d been the one who took them out on the boats or out hiking when they were little. When they were in high school, he’d helped them sneak out a time or two and even helped Drea by resetting some clocks so that her other two uncles would never know she broke curfew. Even now as a boss he was fun and relaxed, the complete opposite of the always serious Vaughn.
“Hey, Uncle Gray,” she greeted him. “Josef is apparently having the time of his life, so I’m glad to hear he’s doing well. He’s still so much smaller than all the other kids his age, though, so we do kinda worry about him.”
“He’ll grow into himself, I’m sure of it,” Grayson said as his phone started to ring. He pulled it from his pocket, looked at the screen, and then said, “If you’ll excuse me, I gotta take this.” He answered the phone as he walked away.
Leona and Cullen both just nodded as Grayson stepped away. Once he was fully out of sight, she turned to Cullen and glared at him.
“You fucking son of a bitch,” she growled.
Leona stood only a couple of feet in front of him, and Cullen could feel the anger radiating off of her. He wasn’t sure if this was more of the same from earlier this afternoon or if this was a new wave. Either way, the look on her face told him she was not joking around.
The last time he had seen this look from her was the day after he’d pulled her into the tub in La Isla Bonita. He’d woken up in a fabulous mood—after all, incredible sex with a beautiful woman would do that to a man. Incredible sex he’d been hoping to repeat until he found her missing and his bathroom cleaned up. Bothered only slightly by the blood-tinged sheets and the lingering question of her virginity, he’d made his way to breakfast, where his world came to a halt as two of the Quinlan brothers took the opportunity to brag on the young lady they were obviously very fond of.
“Has everything been okay with Leona’s taking care of your room?” Vaughn had asked.
“Yes, she’s done a lovely job. How long has she worked here?” Cullen asked, glad for the chance to do some research on the little thing who had rocked his world the night before.
“Oh, not long, couple of years,” Vaughn answered.
“But she’s been around the resort for forever,” Grayson added in. “She’s Drea’s best friend. They met in kindergarten and have been two peas in a pod since. We’ve watched her grow up.”
“Drea’s best friend?” he clarified, feeling like he’d been punched in the gut. “I thought your niece was a teenager. So she’s still in high school?”
“Yeah, Drea just turned seventeen a couple of weeks ago, which is a little hard for us to swallow. They’ll start their senior year here shortly. Makes me feel kind of old,” Vaughn laughed.
Cullen’s head spun as the brothers continued to talk about the girls and how Leona had really taken to working at the resort and that she was a guest favorite. He could feel his chest getting tighter the more he thought about how she was just seventeen, eleven years younger than he was. All morning long he’d been thinking about how if he’d known she was a virgin he would have done things differently. But now, now that he realized she was underage, all he could think about was how if he’d known that, he wouldn’t have done things at all.
He’d liked her too. Not just on a physical level either. They’d had fun together the night before, laughing and playing around between rounds. He had been thinking of inviting her back tonight, eating room service, maybe taking another bubble bath, but for sure not getting a wink of sleep on his last night here. But now…now things had to change. It didn’t matter how much he wanted a repeat of last night. It could never happen. It was as if Vaughn’s words had flipped a switch inside him. He had to keep her at arm's length, even if it meant breaking his own rule of not being a jackass.
Returning to La Isla Bonita after breakfast, he knew what he had to do when he saw her next. He had to get rid of her. Not that she struck him as the clingy type, or even the type who thought there was more to the night than just sex, but he didn’t need it getting out that he’d slept with the staff at the resort. The underage staff.
He tried to invent things for himself to go do to get away from the resort for the day, but nothing seemed to strike his fancy. When he heard the slight knock on the door and the call of “housekeeping!”, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to escape that easily. So he put on his game face and did the only thing he could think of—headed to his back porch. A while later, thinking she was gone, he went back inside only to find her walking through the front door again.
“Leona,” he said, caught off guard that she was still here.
“Hi,” she said, nervously biting her bottom lip. “I need to get you fresh towels.” She scampered out the front door to the cart waiting out there.
“Menina,” he said, strengthening his resolve against her as she walked back into the room with some fresh towels. She looked so damn cute—he needed to be stronger.
“Nope, still Leona,” she corrected him, a little unsure of why he’d suddenly used a different name. She knew he knew it, since he’d called it out a couple of times the night before. She put the towels in the bathroom and then walked back over to where he was standing.
“Anything else, sir?” she asked self-consciously.
“Menina,” he repeated. He pulled out his wallet and grabbed an American twenty-dollar bill from inside. He held the cash out to her, watching the smile fall from her face, but she simply shook her head at the offer and started back toward the front door. “Leona!” he said roughly, using her real name again to catch her attention.
She turned around slowly. He walked up to her, till there were only inches between them. He wanted to kiss her again so badly but knew that would not result in anything good. So instead, he continued on his original plan. He grabbed her hand and shoved the bill into it.
“Thanks for your assistance in making sure all my needs were met. I’ll make sure that I note that all my requests were met with…exceptional enthusiasm…on my customer satisfaction survey.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than he felt the contact of her hand to his face. He deserved that. Her spunk was part of what he had liked about her all week, and even now, as he stood here insulting her, she was letting it shine through. No part of her had hesitated, and man did she have a swing on her. He lifted his hand to his face, holding it over the spot where her open palm had met his cheek. Pulling away, he noticed a little spot of blood on his fingertip. One of her nails must have caught him just right. She simply glared at him, fighting the tears that he knew were forming behind her eyes. She crumpled the bill and let it fall at his feet before turning and storming away.
That same look appeared on her face now, just without the tears, as she stood before him, backlit by the bonfire. He knew that he deserved the look, both then and now, and he desperately wanted to apologize. The only look he wanted to see on her face again was the one she made as her orgasm rolled through her body and made her lose control.
“Menina,” he said carefully, keeping his voice even, but cold.
“You didn’t believe me when I told you that he’s my brother? You had to go ask the uncles? My bosses?!” she hissed out at him, stomping her foot to show her rage.
“I believed you, Menina. It just also came up at dinner, not that my dinner conversations are any of your business.”
