Page 34 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
“All this time, Dre, I’ve had it in my head that he’s looked down on me because I was just a housekeeper. Because I’m the help,” she said, still processing it all.
“And now?” Drea prompted her, moving around her at the bar to start mixing more punch.
“And now…well…” Leona paused. She didn’t know. His love for his mother was something that everyone knew about Cullen Cruz. The man had her name tattooed on his arm, for crying out loud. Based on his love and admiration for her, it was an easy realization that he would never think of himself above someone who would be in her same profession. It was a realization that knocked her for a loop.
“I don’t know,” she admitted, simply shaking her head.
“Like maybe the fun, flirty Cullen you met when we were seventeen was the real Cullen Cruz? And this whole asshole thing he’s pulled ever since is just an act?” Drea offered.
“Maybe.”
“I’ve told you, I’ve always thought he was a jerk because he liked getting you riled up. It’s a weird little game, but hey, whatever works,” she said, adding the rum to the fruit juices in the pitcher. “You got under his skin, and he didn’t know what to do, so he acted like a jackass and the two of you have just fueled off that for ten years.”
“Make that strong, would you?” Leona asked, nodding at the pitcher. Drea nodded in return, holding the rum bottle in place for a little longer than normal. “What now?”
“Now, we go back out there with the punch and enjoy the rest of the day.”
Drea grabbed the pitcher and the two worked their way back to the front of the boat, Leona’s mind swimming from everything she was trying to take in. If it wasn’t bad enough that her head was firing off a million thoughts, her heart was trying to get in on the action too. The sweet, funny, charming man she had met as a teen was absolutely someone she could fall for. Someone who, if she let him, could run away with her heart. It had been easy all these years to let herself forget how wonderful those few days had been, since he was so horrible after. All those memories were starting to flood back, and she didn’t want to push them away this time.
As she sat back down on the trampoline, she let her mind wander back to that evening when he pulled her into the tub. Equal parts embarrassed and enraptured, she’d approached him in the tub cautiously, knowing full well he was gloriously naked under all those bubbles. Fueled by all the flirting from the days prior, she couldn’t stop herself. When he asked her to help locate his washcloth, she knew she should just hand him a new one, but she had wanted to feel what he was hiding under there like she had wanted her next breath. The moment her little hand found what was most certainly not his washcloth, she was immediately enamored with it and couldn’t have stopped herself even if she tried.
"You with us, Lee?” Dalton asked, giving her a look that asked if she was okay.
“Yup! The waves are just lulling me into a post-meal trance,” she said, smiling back, noticing that Maeve had wandered off to find a sunny spot at the back of the boat to be alone with the book she had brought. Kyle and Drea were heading back toward the bar and she was sure they would find a spot to have some couple time here shortly.
“Well, as long as you’re good, I’m going to go drive the boat,” Dalton commented, leaving her alone with Cullen.
“He seems like a decent gent,” Cullen commented once Dalton was out of earshot, trying to feel out what the relationship was between them.
“He is. He’s been a good friend for a lot of years. Weirdly mysterious about some things, but he’s a great listener,” she said, smiling. “So, what was it like growing up in London? I’ve never been.”
“It’s like any other major city. Lots of fun things to see and do. Good restaurants. I will say, the London I see these days is very different than the one I gr
ew up in. We rarely ate out, much less at all those posh hotels and cafes I get dragged to now.”
“I get it. Eating out means a family dinner at the resort for us,” she laughed.
“My father came to London when he was nineteen from Portugal. My mum had immigrant parents, but she was British, and was from a working-class home. Like I said, she was a housekeeper, helping maintain private residences around the city. He was a handyman. Not exactly two high-paying gigs, but they made ends meet. But then after we lost my father, my mum took on extra shifts, additional homes, did some seamstress work—whatever she could to keep food on the table. We went without quite a bit actually.”
“Without food?” Leona asked, so shocked by what he just shared.
“We always managed to have food, because many of the cooks in the houses she cleaned would sneak her something, but we went without heat more than a couple of times,” he shared.
A sharp intake of breath was all she could manage. She had to fight the urge to take his hand in hers. She liked his sharing—it made her feel like they were on the same level—and she didn’t want to disturb the balance that it had created.
“How old were you when your Dad passed?”
“Nine,” he said. “He was the victim of a mugging and was beaten to death.”
The tears that started to prick the back of Leona's eyes were making it hard to see. Giving in to her urge, she grabbed his hand. She laced her fingers into his and squeezed.
“Oh, Cullen, that’s horrible! And your poor mother having to tell you,” Leona sniffled, still fighting back the tears.
“She didn’t have to tell me,” he said solemnly. “I witnessed it.”
The words just hung in the air, waiting on a reaction from Leona. Cullen wasn’t sure which one of them was more shocked in this moment. Her, for what she just learned, or him, for the fact that he had shared it at all. The tears that he could see forming in her eyes a moment ago were now starting to leak out slowly, one at a time. He reached out and swiped one away with his thumb, taking his time as he glided his finger across her cheek. Her face was warm from the sun and felt good against his hand. For a quick moment, he considered leaning in and kissing away the tears, but he wasn’t sure how the gesture would be received.
“Cullen, I…I had no idea,” she whispered, trying not to cry more.
