Page 41 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
“I should clean up,” she answered, kind of sheepishly.
“What? No!” he said, fully sitting up now. “Don’t worry about the M&Ms!”
“I was talking about myself,” she said, pressing her lips together and sucking them into her mouth. “But, yes, I also need to clean up the candy.”
“No, you don’t. I will take care of that later.”
“Cullen, you’re a guest, I can’t expect you to do that,” she said hurriedly. “I am the head of housekeeping. It’s my job.”
“And as long as you are in this bungalow with me, you’re my guest, not the head of housekeeping,” he replied, his voice sounding a little harsher than he had intended.
“That’s not how this works, Cullen,” she said, turning to walk into the bathroom.
“Lee!” he shouted.
She stopped in her tracks and spun around on her heel. The look on her face was unreadable. He hadn’t meant to shout, he really hadn’t. But he didn’t want her walking away and trying to hide behind some cold, professional persona. Not after what they’d just done. He tried again to read her expression, but he couldn’t.
“Leona, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout. I just don’t want—” he started.
“You said my name,” she cut him off.
“What?” He was confused.
“You called me Lee. You don’t ever call me that when it’s just us. Hell, you don’t even call me Leona, much less Lee.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overstep,” he said, walking toward her. He stopped about five feet from her, just out of striking distance. “I know that’s what your friends call you and I guess it must have just stuck in my head.”
“You’re not overstepping,” she responded, closing the space between them. “I like it.”
The smile that filled her face warmed him all over. If she kept looking at him like this, he was going to be hard again in no time.
“Well then, Lee,” he said, emphasizing her nickname. “How about a bubble bath?”
“As long as you promise not to lose any washcloths this time,” she said, her smile turning impish.
He winked at her. “I make no such promise.”
Chapter Nineteen
Leona could not remember the last time she had slept as deeply as she had Saturday night. They’d filled the tub with steaming hot water and Cullen’s special bubble bath, and then proceeded to take a lingering soak filled with more soft kisses and plenty of caresses, before curling up in bed to watch a movie. Even though she’d had zero intention of actually spending the night, she was asleep not too long after the opening credits of whatever movie Cullen
had pulled up on the TV.
The morning sun had awakened her as it shone through the big window at the foot of the bed, and she’d hated having to sneak out, leaving him half naked and barely covered in a sheet. She'd done this before and remembered all too well just how that had turned out, but for some reason she’d been perfectly confident that morning that this time it would be different.
“Holy shit,” she muttered out loud as she entered La Isla Bonita later that afternoon.
Arms filled with towels, a wide variety of cleaning products, and a vacuum for the candy, she was more than just a little shocked to find the place tidied up. The spilled food and leftovers were put back on the tray, with all the dishes stacked neatly. The M&Ms had been swept up and now resided in a disposable coffee cup from the coffee bar in the lobby. Turning to the bed, she found the covers pulled up and the pillows sloppily tossed on top as if a teenager had hastily made the bed because some girl was coming over.
“Told you I was capable of taking care of it,” he said, coming up from behind her and wrapping his arms around her.
“You just continue to surprise me,” she said, turning in his arms and kissing him deeply. She was liking this side of Cullen Cruz.
The next few days found the two of them falling into a pattern—she didn’t dare use the word routine—that mirrored Sunday. Leona would swear she was not going to spend the night, only to cuddle up to his sculpted chest after an amazing session between his special-request sheets, and fall asleep wrapped up in his strong, incredibly defined arms. Of course, first thing the next morning she would find herself carefully leaving the bungalow, hoping no one saw her. Granted, it wasn’t just his exceptional physical talents that kept her returning every night. Despite what she’d been telling herself the last ten years, he really was not a jackass. Turns out, it really was an act on his part.
She wasn’t entirely sure why, but the last few days had made it clear that he kept the real him hidden from the world. That the real Cullen Cruz was the fun, flirty guy she’d stumbled across as a teenager. Every night this week, after she finished up whatever she’d been working on, she’d swung by the kitchen to pick up the room service order Cullen had placed and then brought it to the bungalow. They’d spend the meal talking and laughing, sitting on the couch or out on the porch. He’d told her more about his parents, and how his mum had worked incredibly hard to make sure he had everything he needed, even if it meant she went without. How she had been his number one priority once he’d signed a professional contract, making sure she never had to lift a finger again. Leona in turn confided in him about how hard it was on the family when they were surprised with Josef and while she loved him more than anything, his arrival had put a bit of a wrinkle in both the physical space of the home and the family budget. They talked about her dad’s stroke—how scared she was when it all happened and how frustrating it was now that even though he’d made a fantastic recovery, he still wasn’t able to work and that she knew it was starting to take a toll on him mentally.
Now she stood in the laundry room, folding towels, reliving each night this week over in her mind. It was hard to believe it had only been five days since the outing on the Brown Eyed Girl. Five days since she’d allowed herself to let her world turn upside down at the hands of Cullen Cruz. Five days of talking, kissing, laughing, and some seriously great sex.
