Page 33 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
Cullen let out a hearty laugh at the statement. It was not something he hadn’t heard before, but it never failed to make him laugh. “Thanks, man. Never hurts to hear.”
“Dalton, stop,” Drea said.“You promised that you’d behave!”
“I am behavin’, sugar,” he drawled. His answer elicited some giggles from Maeve, but a roll of the eyes from the other two gals.
Despite wanting to hang with Leona on their way out to Turtle Cove, which is where Kyle had said they were going to spend the morning, he’d spent the better part of the trip talking with Dalton. The guy knew his football, which had taken Cullen by surprise. It wasn’t often that you found an American who followed the game so closely, as it just wasn’t as popular in the States as it was everywhere else. Once they were at the Cove, Kyle had even come down and joined them since he was also apparently a big fan of football, and the three of them chatted while the ladies sunned themselves.
Kyle finally stole Drea away to hop into the water, claiming that he didn’t haul them all the way out there for them not to go enjoy their favorite place. The giggles that came in response to his comment let Cullen know that there was an inside joke in there somewhere, and a pang of jealousy hit him. They were a seriously cute couple, and watching them made him wish he had someone that he could have the same kind of bond with. Looking over at Leona, he tilted his head as if to indicate that they should get in. She rolled her eyes as she got up, but then smiled at him in a way that made him even more excited he asked.
Jumping into the crystal-blue cove, she let out a little shriek from the initial chill of the water. Cullen jumped in after her, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her close. “Need me to keep you warm?” he smirked.
“I think I’ll be fine once we get moving,” she answered, pulling away. She winked at him and then swam away, as if she were daring him to chase her. It was a game that Cullen would gladly indulge her in.
After a morning full of playing around in the water and sunning themselves on the boat, the group gathered together again to eat lunch. Maeve hadn’t moved much from where she had parked herself early on, and Dalton had stayed on board to keep her company. It was unclear to Cullen if that was out of interest in her, or because either he or Kyle had to be on the boat at all times.
Drea pulled out a cooler full of sandwiches that Miller must have made for the group and they chowed down quickly and quietly. The bright sun was warm, but it didn’t cause any of them to leave the top deck of the boat as they ate. Once they had finished up, Drea started to ask Maeve questions, looking to try and bring her out of her shell more. In an attempt to deflect being the center of attention as much as she could, Maeve turned the questions to Cullen.
“So, Cullen, what do you do?”
“I play football, or well, soccer as you Americans would call it,” he answered, smiling. She really had no idea who he was. The rest of the group exchanged some looks among themselves, everyone apparently thinking someone else had been the one to tell this poor girl about the VIP on their trip.
“Sorry, Maeve, I should have told you. Cullen is a VIP guest of the resort,” Drea started. “He’s ummmm, how do I explain this?” She turned to Kyle for help.
“Cullen here is kind of like the Tom Brady of soccer,” Kyle jumped in to help his girlfriend.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Cullen said, trying to be modest. “But I have had some success. You know, enough to buy my mum a house.”
“Wow. Your mom must have really appreciated that,” Maeve said, her eyes twinkling a little as she took him in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leona glare at her, and it made him laugh a little inside to see this reaction out of her. He liked it, a lot.
“She fought me on it, actually. But I couldn’t let her stay where she was or keep working herself to the bone once I was able to support us both.”
“What did she do for a living?” Maeve asked, finally starting to sound like she was getting comfortable with the group.
Cullen looked over at Leona, who to his surprise seemed to be anxiously awaiting his answer. The look on her face told him that she had no idea that he’d done all this, or what kind of world he’d grown up in. Well, time to change that.
He looked her straight in the eye as he answered the question.
“She was a housekeeper.”
Chapter Sixteen
It was as if he had said the words for only her to hear. It might have been Maeve’s question he was answering, but he looked right at Leona when he said it, like he was looking way down deep in her. Blinking slowly, it took her a moment to fully process the words. Cullen Cruz’s mother had been a housekeeper.
“Come again?” Leona managed to sputter out.
“He said his mom was a housekeeper,” Maeve offered. Leona had to stop herself from shooting the girl a dirty look. She knew she was just trying to help, offering up the answer thinking that Leona somehow hadn’t heard or understood him. It was just that the words had hit her like a bag of rocks to the gut.
“I need more punch, anyone else?” Leona said, creating a way to escape the conversation. She needed a moment to wrap her head around this new information. When everyone agreed with her on the punch, she turned to head back to the bar.
“Let me help,” Cullen said, starting to get up.
“No, no. You relax, you’re a guest. Drea will help.”
Grabbing Drea’s hand, she dragged her best friend back to the bar. The pitcher that was sitting on the counter had a little bit of punch left in it, and Leona picked it up and drank straight from the pitcher, downing the last of the concoction.
“Might be more effective if you just drank straight from the rum bottle, Lee,” Drea said, giving her a curious look.
Leona turned to look at her best friend, unsure of what emotion Drea would see on her face. In fact, she was unsure of what emotion she was feeling at all. How had she not known that about his mother? Thinking back to everything she’d ever read about him, nothing had ever mentioned his mother’s profession. Although, why would it? It’s not like it really contributed to his ability to kick a ball.
