Page 5 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
“Nothing!” Leona spat out quickly, at the same time as Drea answered, “Leona and Cullen Cruz secretly love each other.”
“I think it’s more like they secretly want to rip each other’s clothes off,” Kyle answered, coming around the desk and embracing Drea from behind. He leaned down and kissed her lightly where her neck and shoulder met. “Hi, sweetness.” She giggled in response.
“Forget you!” Leona responded.
“So, that’s a yes,” Dalton interjected as he leaned against the desk from the customer side. “Just remember, Lee, no matter how good your boy toy was, or remains in your mind, he won’t live up to our time together.”
“Forget you too!” she snapped, throwing an M&M at him. He caught it in his mouth, smirking in response. “And he’s not my boy toy!”
“Is that a bag of just green M&Ms?” Kyle asked, looking perplexed.
“Yes, just one of his many demands. He wants a full bowl of M&Ms in his room at all times, but he makes me pick out the green ones.”
Both the guys laughed, high-fiving each other, as if in on some secret joke. Leona and Drea looked at one another, both confused, before looking back over at Kyle and Dalton.
“What? What are we missing?” Drea asked.
“Just the green ones you have to pick out? No other color?” Kyle clarified. Leona nodded. “Does he know you eat them after you pick them out?”
“Well, I’m not going to let good chocolate go to waste!”
“Right,” Kyle said, stifling another laugh.
“Green ones make you horny, Lee. Everyone knows that,” Dalton remarked, smirking again.
“That fucker!” Leona said, hopping off the desk and turning to head back toward the lobby.
She could hear the guys laughing as she walked away, as Drea scolded them for being mean. At least her best friend had her back on this, even if she did think that Leona felt more for the man than she actually did. Right now, the only thing she was feeling was blind anger. Cullen Cruz would not get away with this kind of thing—she would not allow herself to be manipulated in such a way. Unsure of exactly how, she would make sure that she got him back for being such an asshole.
Cullen shoved the last of his clothes in the drawer and slammed it shut with a bang. So much for the idea that unpacking and settling in might help get his mind off the cheeky little blonde and his interaction with her earlier. He should have known better than to think something as simple as relocating his shorts would accomplish something like that. It’s not like anything else he’d tried over the last decade had worked, so why would that?
Grabbing his toiletry case, he walked into the massive bathroom. This room alone was bigger than most standard hotel rooms and was probably furnished better too. Directly in front of the floor to ceiling window was a full-sized clawfoot tub, and a double vanity lined the entire wall separating the bedroom and bath. Directly opposite the clawfoot tub was a walk-in shower, complete with slate floor and bench, that could easily fit four people in it.
This whole bungalow was really too much for just one person, but it was the best way to make sure he got some peace and quiet while he was here. At least this way he didn’t have to share walls with anyone or risk having some drunk try and break into his room. He’d spent plenty of time in hotels over the years traveling with the team. While he rarely had a room to himself on team trips, he’d taken to rooming with their goalie, another “older” teammate, who was also looking to crash after a game rather than hook up with the first pitch bitch they encountered. Once all his items were settled on the vanity, he sighed heavily and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked exhausted for lack of a better word, and he was exhausted. Physically, emotionally, and mentally.
He felt his phone vibrate against his leg in his pocket and pulled it out to find a text from Oliver.
Oliver: Just checking to make sure that you made it to the resort in one piece.
Cullen: Only barely. Flying commercial is shit. Not doing that again.
Oliver: It’s good exposure. Go have a drink and you’ll be fine. Be in touch later.
Cullen let out a long sigh and reminded himself again that Oliver had never steered him wrong. Maybe he did need a drink. Looking to his left, he saw the tub and forgot about the drink. He had a better idea.
The big clawfoot tub up against the window that currently framed the setting sun was calling his name. That was exactly what he needed to relax properly and to get his mind back on track—a nice long soak. Flipping the hot water handle to on, he started to fill the tub while he looked through the items left on the vanity by the resort. Finding the bubble bath that he requested be stocked in the room, he poured some into the tub and waited for it to fill. The fancy French bubble bath was really the only item on his long list of extra requests that he couldn’t live without. He knew that such a frivolous, borderline feminine item—even if it was labeled unisex—was a strange thing to view as a necessity, but the cedarwood scent combined with the hot water was something he was not willing to give up just because he wasn't at home.
It was an item he certainly could have brought himself, rendering that list he sent over entirely unnecessary. He had learned long ago to travel with his own pillow, no matter where he went or for how short of a trip, and the stupidly high thread count sheets, while nice, absolutely weren’t required to help him sleep. Some of the other requests, like the M&Ms, were a nice perk, giving him something to snack on w
ithout having to call room service. But again, all it would have taken was a single call to the front desk and there would be anything he wanted here in moments. But he couldn’t deny that he liked the idea of Leona taking care of these things for him. He liked knowing that she had ordered the bubble bath and set it out on the vanity, and that it was her hands that had been all over the sheets while making the bed. There was a thrill in knowing that the bowl of M&Ms was devoid of green ones, and that she had sifted through each and every candy, making sure it was an approved hue. He thought about her eating the green ones, knowing full well that it was just a myth that they had any effect on one’s libido, but wondering nonetheless if it affected her.
He slipped into the tub, letting the hot soapy water engulf him, relaxing as he lowered. At six feet three and two hundred pounds, he was as solid as a wall, and was glad it was a full-size tub in the suite to be able to accommodate his size. He’d been in hotels where no matter his desire to actually sit and soak, he could barely fit a leg in the tub, much less his entire lower body. But the tub here in La Isla Bonita was massive and could not only accommodate him, but depending on their size, another body as well.
Leaning back, he closed his eyes, inhaling the cedarwood scents and letting himself fully relax. His mind wandered to one of his first soaks in this tub. Just like tonight, he’d been generous with the amount of bubble bath that he’d put in and it was overflowing with suds. He hadn’t been soaking all that long when he’d heard the muffled gasp come from the doorway and turned to see a very embarrassed Leona standing there, clutching clean towels to her chest.
“I’m sorry, I’ll just leave and come back later,” she managed to stammer out.
“Don’t,” he had answered. He pulled an arm out of the water and crooked his pointer finger in a come-hither motion. “In fact, why don’t you come help me with something.”
