Page 55 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
It was easy to understand why the bonfire was such a popular event at the Indigo Royal. Actually, popular wasn’t the right word. In some ways, the Tuesday night bonfire was the event at the Indigo Royal. And while Cullen could understand it, it had never been something that had excited him before. Maybe because every other year he’d been here, he’d been accompanied by someone who had the goal of being seen, especially with him, and wasn’t looking to just hang out, making the night a lot more of a chore than he felt was worth it. Or maybe it was because the first time he’d ever laid eyes on Leona, she’d been dancing with Drea to some stupid, overplayed pop hit the DJ had put on.
Tonight was different, however. Tonight, he was actually looking forward to it. He just hoped that it wouldn’t turn into a free-for-all like the pool did this morning. Maybe everyone had gotten it out of their system, and he could have a nice quiet evening with Leona and her friends.
Oh, who was he kidding? He knew better than that. There would be a few people who had missed seeing him, or who had “heard he was here,” or “hadn’t wanted to bother him” earlier. What was worse than all that was that he knew that those few people wouldn’t even be the worst of it. He’d seen exactly how those women had looked at him this morning. He would know that glint in a woman’s eye anywhere. It was the look of a woman who saw the chance at her fifteen minutes of fame, and maybe more, all on the arm of some pro athlete. He hated that look. Not that he hadn’t taken advantage of it more than his fair share of times over the years, but it still bothered him that he was looked at like that at all. Though, right now, more than anything, he just hoped that none of those women tried to ruin this time with Leona.
Much to Cullen’s surprise, when he arrived at the bonfire area he found that there was a section cordoned off on the far side on the bonfire, closest to the water. Two chaise lounges and three sling beach chairs sat off by themselves, with a literal line drawn in the sand marking them as special. A piece of paper folded in half had the word ‘reserved’ written on it, keeping people away from that area as they searched out their own spot for the evening. While nothing specifically said his name, he knew the area was meant for him and whomever else Leona had invited to join them, since it was her handwriting on the paper.
“You have this whole area to yourself?” a voice he didn’t recognize said from behind him. He turned around slowly, finding a pair of women who had approached him earlier. Oh, bollocks, here we go…
“Waiting on some mates, that’s all,” he replied. He gave them the practiced, polite smile he gave media whenever they hounded him on the street. Although now he wasn’t so sure that he would have to keep up the same PR image as he’d had to manage the last twenty years.
“Want some company while you wait?” the one giggled, while twirling her long, straight brown hair.
He had absolutely no desire to flirt back with her, not even the polite kind of flirting. He just didn’t know how to get rid of her without being a complete jackass.
“They should be here any moment,” he offered up, wishing someone, anyone, into existence.
“Really, we don’t mind.”
He was about to make another excuse when he saw Leona approaching them, with a look he couldn’t name spread across her face. She looked absolutely adorable in a short black denim skirt and a white halter top that had a deep v-shaped neckline, showing off her cleavage. Just the sight of her in such an outfit made his dick spring to life and his mouth water. If they hadn’t been in public, those clothes would be ripped off her so fast. Thinking of being in public, however…
“There you are,
darling,” he said loud enough for Leona to hear him as she approached. The look on her face changed to confusion, undoubtedly since he’d never called her “darling” before. But he needed to get the message across. Walking past the two women who were still just standing there, he closed the gap between him and Leona, reaching out to grab her by the waist. Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her in greeting. It wasn’t some deep, mad passionate kiss, but he hoped it made it perfectly clear that she would be the only one coming into contact with his lips tonight.
“I see you found our seats. Hope you don’t mind it’s kind of far from the bar,” she said, as he pulled back from their kiss.
“It’s perfect, baby.”
“Right, great,” she said, stepping out of his arms and grabbing his hand. Looking over to the two women who had finally registered her presence and her claiming gesture of holding his hand, she nodded to them, “Ladies.”
The pair smiled politely as they turned to go, thankfully taking the cue that they were given. Cullen just hoped that would be the last he saw of them. Not only tonight, but for the rest of his stay.
“Friends of yours?” Leona asked, when the women were finally out of earshot.
“Not at all. Couple of score whores.”
“Score whore?”
“Generic term for a woman looking to hook up with a pro athlete. Hockey calls them puck bunnies, in football it’s a pitch bitch, but generically it’s a score whore,” he explained.
“Ah,” she said, sitting down in one of the sling chairs.
“Is something wrong?” he asked her. He couldn’t explain why, but she seemed off somehow.
“No.”
Curt answer, that wasn’t good.
“Menina…what’s going on?”
“Nothing. Had I known there was going to be a fan club gathering, I would have saved more seats.”
So that was it. She had been bothered by the unsolicited visitors. Not that he blamed her—he hadn’t exactly been thrilled to see them either. But this attitude was still something new. She’d never shown any indication of that kind of thing bothering her. Quite the opposite actually. She’d been very helpful during the autograph session with the kids at camp, making sure they all got everything signed, and had even let a couple of other people sneak into the line. They had not been hot women shamelessly flirting with him though.
“Lee, I promise I wanted them to go away just as much as you did,” he said, trying to mitigate her feelings.
“No man has ever wanted hot women to go away,” she snarked.
