Page 68 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
“You can place an order with the kitchen by dialing one on the phone on the desk, ma'am.”
“Can’t you just take care of it?” she asked, annoyed.
“All special orders have to come directly from guests. Are you a guest? I was unaware there was anyone other than Cul—, Mr. Cruz staying in this unit.”
“I just arrived. But we won’t be here much longer. Got to get him back to the real world,” she said, turning back to her phone.
“I see,” she trailed off. Leona could feel her chest start to tighten and her heart rate speed up. Who was this woman? Her thoughts raced through the last few weeks. Had she missed Cullen saying something about a female assistant or something? No, this woman was American. Anyone who would have been working for Cullen or Oliver would be British, right?
The blonde looked up again, this time narrowing her vision on Leona. Clearly annoyed that Leona was still standing there, she looked her up and down a few times and then started to laugh. She must have seen the confused look on Leona’s face and for some reason found amusement in it. The shrill sound cut through Leona like a knife.
“I’m sorry, were you coming to visit expecting some ‘alone time’ with him?” she asked, using air quotes around “alone time,” not even pretending to hide the snark in her voice.
“I’m just here to do my job, ma’am.”
“I didn’t realize this was the kind of establishment that offered those kinds of services, but I’ll make a note.”
“We’re not,” Leona responded, trying desperately to temper her annoyance with this woman. She had no idea who she was or why she thought she was so much better, but her attitude was more than grating on Leona's nerves at this point.
“Well, Lenora was it?”
“Leona.”
“Whatever. I don’t know what you think you two might have had, but whatever it was, it wasn’t real. Men like Cullen Cruz do not lower themselves to the likes of girls like you, unless they’re just looking for some free pussy. So, I suggest you run off back to your cleaning and move on,” she said, her voice dripping with condescension and her hand giving a little wave like she was shooing Leona away. She took a few steps closer to Leona and was now actually within an arm's reach of her. “Chalk it up to a great story about how you once fucked a celebrity. What he needs is a woman who is going to understand his world and lifestyle. Not some cleaning lady.”
Leona felt the sting of tears almost as soon as the words were out of the blonde’s mouth. Blinking quickly to try to stop them from falling, she inhaled sharply and much louder than she had intended. Not that she’d been able to stop the tears. It was like this woman knew exactly what to say to rip her apart. Did she? Did she know who Leona was and all the things she’d shared with Cullen? Had they been laughing at her behind her back all this time? Or was this all just a lucky guess? Something she would say to anyone she deemed beneath her.
“Who are you?” she managed to ask through the tears.
“Felicity,” the woman said with a shrug, acting like Leona should have known this already.
Leona had so many things she wanted to say. She wanted to tell this woman to fuck off, because there was no way that Cullen felt that way. The Cullen she knew wasn’t like that. But what if the Cullen she knew wasn’t the real one? What if all this had just been another ploy to seduce her, to see if he could do it again? What if the asshole from ten years ago handing her cash really was the real Cullen.
Her mind flashed to all the things he shared about his parents. About his Dad’s death and how his mom was a housekeeper. She had no reason to believe he lied, but then again she had no way to know it was the truth either. And just because his mother had been a housekeeper didn’t mean that he wanted to be with one now.
“I think we’re done here,” Felicity remarked. “You’re dismissed.”
Not knowing what else to do, Leona turned and walked out, letting the door slam behind her. She knew she should go back to work, but right now she was too shell-shocked by what just happened to be able to function. So she headed to the one place she knew she would be able to be alone and think.
Cullen heard the front door slam shut just as he cut the water to his shower. Leaving took her way too long, he thought to himself about the crazy lady he’d found in his living room when he got back. She’d killed his runner’s high and soured what he had intended to be a nice relaxing linger under the hot water. It was unbelievable to him that she would just show up like this and bribe her way into his rooms. These were the kind of people that Oliver thought he should go work for?
Although, it was always possible that she was the extreme and the rest of the organization wasn’t like this. There had been a goalkeeper coach once when he was younger who was a serious nutter, and no one could figure out why the Liverpool management kept him around. If he were the only member of the training staff you’d ever met, then you were probably left wondering how on earth they were successful. However, even a few moments with anyone else on staff and you’d realize he was not at all a good representation. Cullen hoped for Southland whatever-they-were, that this chick was the equivalent of that goalkeeper coach.
He needed to call Oliver, though, desperately now. Yes, he’d been avoiding his calls all morning, but the man needed to know that a member of the staff flying down here to force his hand was not the answer to all this. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he padded back into the living room to where he’d plugged his phone in on the desk. When he reached the open area, he was stunned to see Felicity still standing there, tapping away on her mobile.
“What the fuck are you still doing here? I told you to get out!”
“I told you, Mr. Cruz, we have things to discuss.”
“The fuck we do!” he shouted. Then he remembered the slamming door. If it wasn’t her…
“I thought I heard you leave, but obviously you’ve made yourself at home. Who else was in here?”
“Oh, some maid. I asked her to order us some lunch, but she refused. The service here is very subpar. I’m not sure why you would allow such a thing.”
“A maid?”
“Yeah, short little thing. Leandra or something. I don’t know. I told her to come back with fresh towels later—that we were busy.”
