Page 9 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
“Well, we need to get you an EPL team, lad,” Cullen joked.
“Liverpool, duh!”
“Good answer, lad, good answer,” he laughed.
Cullen was amazed at how fast that hour went, and how much he’d enjoyed spending it with Josef. The kid was very smart, and despite the fact that he was so small and still had the voice of a little k
id, it sometimes felt like he was talking to another grown-up. He wanted to try some passing drills with the lad, but noticed that some of the other participants had started to arrive and he needed to set up. Maybe he would be able to get some more one-on-one time with him later.
The rest of the day sped by and before he knew it, parents were arriving to pick up their kids. He hadn’t gotten the chance to pull Josef aside and work with him the way he wanted, but he made a mental note to make time to do it sometime this week. There was still something about this kid he couldn’t place, but the more he watched him, the more he just assumed that it was that he reminded him of himself. He hadn’t been expecting to find a kid that he would become attached to on this trip, but if the rest of this camp was anything like these last two days, he might be running that risk with Josef.
As Cullen had expected, Josef was one of the last ones to be picked up. It made sense from everything he’d been told this morning that mom would probably be working late. Just as he was considering offering the kid a ride home, he saw a beat up, dingy gray sedan pull into the parking lot and Josef wave to the driver. Turning his attention to the driver, he thought maybe he should go introduce himself to whatever parent was coming to fetch his new teacher’s pet. However, it didn’t take long for him to register just who Josef was currently jogging toward. He'd know that figure anywhere.
Leona.
No, no way, he thought. Not Leona. Not Possible.
Was Leona the Lena he mentioned this morning? He mentioned his mom working long hours, but never actually said what she did for work. Certainly, hours in the housekeeping department started early and could go pretty late. Did he call her Mom? He never said that “Lena” wasn’t what he called his mom. But Leona wasn’t married, was she? He’d never actually stopped to ask to see if she’d met someone in all these years.
These ten years.
He looked over at Josef again. He’d never actually asked the kid how old he was, he’d just assumed he was around eleven. Could he actually be younger? And his natural ability with the ball, where had that come from? He hadn’t mentioned anyone else in his family being an athlete. Cullen’s chest started to tighten as his breathing picked up speed. How could he have not seen it earlier? Josef looks so much like her—the blond hair, the blue eyes. But I used a condom—a condom that I found in the bottom of my suitcase. Who the fuck knows how long it’d been there…
He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t let his mind spin out of control like this. He needed an answer. He needed to know if she had lied to him all these years. Could this be why she hated him so much? He’d been skipping out on responsibilities he didn’t even know existed?
Marching over to where Leona was helping Josef load his stuff in the trunk, he had to remind himself to breathe. Losing his shit in front of Josef wasn’t a good idea. He reached the car before they were done loading and planted himself right next to it. When Leona slammed the trunk shut, she let out a little gasp, startled to see him standing there, arms crossed against his chest, staring her down.
“Menina…”
Leona froze in her steps, her blood starting to boil. He did not just call her that in front of her brother. It was taking everything she had not to give him a piece of her mind every time he called her that, but she held it together one more time, not only for her own selfish interest of keeping her job, but so that she could be a good example for Josef. However, with Cruz standing here, disrespecting her this way, she had half a mind to tell him to pound sand.
As if he hadn’t heard what Cruz had called her, Josef started to bounce up and down with excitement. “Lena! Lena! Lena! This is Mr. Cruz! He’s like, the greatest player ever in the whole, wide world! And he’s the one teaching me this week!” he squealed.
“Wow, Jo-bro, that’s super exciting!” she answered, turning her attention to her brother. “Mr. Cruz and I have actually met. He’s staying at the resort.”
“Really?” Josef exclaimed, turning back to Cruz. “Mr. Cruz, they have the best pool at Lena’s work! You have to go swimming while you're there. I get to go swimming there sometimes when they allow family to come visit.”
“I will make sure that I get to the pool then, since it comes so highly recommended,” Cruz said, looking at Josef. “But do you mind if Lena and I talk for a moment?”
Leona didn’t like the sound of that, and she really didn’t like him using Josef’s nickname for her. She had nothing to say to him, and anything he wanted to say to her he should be able to say in front of Josef. Unless he had some complaint about his room and felt the need to chastise her right here. If that was the case, then she was absolutely going to give him a piece of her mind.
“Here,” she said, handing Josef her phone. “Hop in the car, and you can play Candy Crush while Mr. Cruz and I chat, cool?”
There was zero hesitation from the kid in grabbing the phone from her and running around the car to the passenger-side door. Leona couldn’t help but laugh to herself at his excitement over something as simple as five minutes of play time on the phone. Even though most of his peers at school already had phones, it just wasn’t in the budget for Josef to have his own, so he had to borrow either hers or the one their parents shared if he wanted to play something. Not that he ever complained. He was such a good kid like that, which was all the more reason Leona didn’t want him anywhere near Cullen Cruz.
“What do you want?” she asked, only slightly masking her annoyance. “We’re not on site, so if something is wrong with La Isla Bonita it will have to wait until I get back later this evening. Right now I am here on family business.”
He took a couple of steps toward her, closing the gap. Now only about five feet apart, Leona could feel her pulse spike a bit being this close to him. She could smell him, all spice and sweat, and despite her better judgment, she inhaled his scent deeply.
“So, he is yours?” he asked quietly, jaw clenched.
“Of course he’s mine. I don’t show up to parks to pick up random children,” she bit back.
“Is he mine?”
“Excuse you?!” Leona saw red. He is not asking what I think he’s asking…
“You heard me,” he scolded, his accent making it sound even harsher. “You said he’s yours, so I’m asking if he’s also mine. Does he belong to both of us?” he said slowly.
