Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort Book 2)

by Claire Hastings

  “He wasn’t one then! He was…oddly charming. All flirty and funny,” she sighed. “That day that Carmella called out sick so I had to go service his room and he was in there, he actually helped me change the sheets. It was sweet. Had I realized that he was only doing it to get into my pants, only to toss me out like an apple core on the side of the road, I would have done things differently. I didn’t realize I was dealing with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

  “Oh, you serviced him all right,” Drea said giggling.

  “I did not!” Leona threw an M&M at her best friend. “At least not in that moment. The servicing came later.” Both girls giggled at the euphemism.

  “I think you still like him, or else you wouldn’t let him get to you like this,” Drea said, getting serious again.

  “I do not!” Leona answered. Popping another piece of candy into her mouth, she thought about Drea’s statement. She didn’t have feelings for him—at least not warm fuzzy feelings—but she couldn’t deny that she was still very, very attracted to him. He was sexy, there was no way around that. A large portion of her “rub tub” fantasies involved him in one way or another, although she wasn’t ever going to admit that out loud.

  “Are you sure?” Drea asked pointedly. “Are you sure that beneath all that loathing it’s not just you nursing a seriously old crush?”

  Leona paused partway to her mouth with another M&M. She thought about what her best friend, who had been by her side since kindergarten, had just asked her. “He makes my blood boil, Dre. Just the thought of him makes me…ugh, I don’t even know. I won’t deny that at one point in time I thought he could stop the world and spin it backwards. The idea of him wanting me…oh man, the idea of him wanting me would just light me up. But now…now it’s different. I hate the way he treats me, like I’m just the help. I didn’t want or need a lifetime of promises from him then or now. I’d just like him to treat me like I’m not gum on the sidewalk. I don’t think that’s really asking all that much.”

  “I also think that he still has feelings for you on some level. I think he acts like that because he likes seeing you all worked up—he likes knowing he got under your skin. It’s a weird little game you two play,” Drea offered.

  “That’s it, no more romance novels for you,” Leona said, pointing at Drea. “You’re cut off. They are putting ideas into your head.”

  “Just sayin’…” she countered, pointing right back at Leona.

  “Just saying what?” Kyle’s voice came from the hall as he and Dalton walked into the spa’s lobby.

  “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.”

  The two of them had been flirting all week long. He’d been taken with her from the moment he saw her, with those bright blue eyes and a smile that sparkled like nothing he’d ever seen. She hesitantly walked a little closer to him, until she was right up against the tub. The copious amount of bubbles kept everything hidden, but Cullen could tell she was letting her curiosity run wild.

  “Why don’t you get in?” he asked, trying to be coy.

  “Oh, I can’t, I’m working,” she replied quickly.

  “How much longer until you’re off duty?”

  “This is my last room, actually. I’m just here to deliver fresh towels and turn down the bed. So I’ll go do that and then be out of your way.” She tried to rush away, but he caught her by the wrist, causing her to drop the towels.

  “Don’t. Stay,” he said, once again trying to play it cool. “I can’t seem to find my washcloth in all these bubbles—maybe you could help?”

  Leona blushed a little but he could tell that she liked it. She liked the flirting and innuendos they had been exchanging all week. Despite how the media had portrayed him, he wasn’t really “that guy”—the one who had a girl in every different city or preyed upon those who were excited by his celebrity status. He also wasn’t the guy that fucked the staff of the resort while he was on holiday, but this girl was irresistible. His mother had raised him better than to be a jackass, which is why he’d helped her when he saw her struggling with the fitted sheet the other day. He shifted slightly toward her as she reached into the water, slowly moving her hands around looking for his washcloth. When she found his rock-hard cock and gave it a little squeeze, he knew he was in some serious trouble. A couple more quick movements of her wrist and a slight nod of her head answering the unspoken question in his eyes, and he found himself grabbing her by the back of her neck, pulling her into the tub, kissing her hard. It didn’t matter that she was still wearing her maid’s outfit, a pair of teal-colored scrubs. He had to be close to her.

  Next thing he knew he was carrying her in her wet clothes out of the tub, stripping her down and laying her on the bed. After worshiping her body with his hands and mouth, he dug through his bag and magically came up with a strip of condoms, unwrapped one, slid it on, and then slipped into her. She was so incredibly tight and so unbelievably responsive to his touch, he felt like he’d gone straight to heaven. It had been a completely unexpected encounter, but a damn good one nonetheless.

  He awoke the next morning to find that he was alone in bed, and she had left the bungalow altogether. As he was getting out of bed he noticed the sheets were tinged with blood, but looking over himself he didn’t notice any scrapes or scratches.

  Oh shit, there was no way she was a virgin, was there?

  She hadn’t acted like one, not that he’d ever been with one to know how they would act. But her actions were confident and strong, not shy or hesitant. The girl had known what she wanted. Hell, she’d been the one to ask about a condom, so she couldn’t have been that inexperienced, right?

  The bathroom had been wiped down, the towels were folded, but there was no note. He hadn’t intended on a one-night stand—after all, he would have fucked her again that morning—but then again, he hadn’t intended on taking anyone’s v-card either.

  Coming back to the present, he found himself stroking his hard length aimlessly, recalling the memory of how good her body felt against him. Thoughts of how good she looked today took over, and he stroked harder and faster until he finished himself off with a loud grunt, thankful again for the lack of shared walls. A moment later, he realized the water had gone tepid and the pads of his fingers were prune-like. It was time to get out. While the soak certainly helped relax his muscles, it did nothing to stop his incredibly overactive mind. That shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise—not with the knowledge that at any given moment on this resort, Leona was only ten minutes away. At least come Monday, he would start camp and could focus on that for six hours a day. Or so he hoped.

  Chapter Four

  Sunday had been a lot more restful than he had anticipated, starting with breakfast with Vaughn, followed by spending most of it on the private patio off the backside of the bungalow. Leona had made herself scarce, as expected, and had only come in when she was sure he wasn’t in residence. There was a part of him that was disappointed by this, but at the same time, after the way he’d treated her the other day in the lobby, he didn’t blame her. By now she had to have figured out that the name he called her was traditionally not a compliment. He’d started referring to her as menina in his brain as a way to remind himself that she was jailbait and off-limits after that first encounter. However as time went on, the term became more and more a term of endearment in his mind, referring to her petite frame rather than her being underage. Of course now she was legal, but that didn’t make her any less off-limits.

  “I know we said dinner with everyone tonight, but do you mind if we move it?” Vaughn had asked over breakfast that morning. “Our new marina manager, Kyle, wants to go over this new tour he’s running before the first one tomorrow, so it’s kinda time sensitive.”

  “Fine by me. Tomorrow then?”

  “No, Gray has some meeting regarding some ‘adventure’ stuff he has been looking into.”

  “Adventure?”

  “Yeah, ropes and climbing stuff. I’m not really sure—he could give you more details. How does Tuesday work for you?”

  “You’re the one with the schedule, mate. I’m on vacation!” Cullen laughed.

  “Touché. Tuesday it is then. Simone is very excited to see you. She’s sorry to have missed breakfast, but she and Drea had plans,” Vaughn said. He had gotten married earlier in the year, and his stunning wife, Simone, who looked like she stepped straight off the stage at a beauty pageant, still worked for the local board of tourism. “But I know she can’t wait to tell you all about the hype she’s heard around you running this camp.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  That part hadn’t been a lie. He was glad to hear that the island was excited about the camp. Apparently the local community organizer who originally app
roached Oliver about creating something like this five years ago had gotten so used to being shot down that he was flabbergasted when Oliver called and asked if the island was still interested. Cullen knew exactly why Oliver’s tune had suddenly changed, though a few weeks ago was the first time he’d even heard that the idea had ever been floated. He opted to keep that to himself, though, not wanting to open up that Pandora’s box.

  Despite all this, Cullen found he was actually excited to get this camp off the ground. He used to love working with the trainees every year during preseason camp, but somewhere along the way he had stopped doing it. Why, he couldn’t really remember. Maybe I didn’t really love it as much as I thought I did.

  As Saul drove him from the resort to the park where camp was being held on Monday morning, he noticed a large for sale sign sitting next to an undeveloped piece of land. That looks like it must border the resort, he thought, trying to figure out just how big the property was. Surprised that any spot on this island, much less a parcel that appeared to be beachfront, was undeveloped, he made the mental note to ask Vaughn, Grayson, or Miller the next time he saw one of them.

  The morning flew by without any major incidents. He separated the kids into two smaller groups, based on their age, but mixing gender. He wasn’t great at knowing ages and didn’t want to get bogged down with details of asking, so he lumped them into categories of thirteen and under and fourteen plus. That would hopefully be a pretty even breakdown to run some basic drills and figure out everyone’s skill levels. For the most part, the kids were excited to be there, with only a few who seemed to be there out of some sort of obligation. This camp wasn’t cheap, and he knew that some parents had even flown their children down from the States for the chance to work with him. There were also a handful of local kids who were attending the clinic on “scholarship,” a term that Oliver used to make it seem less like this was being done just for the money, but Cullen had no idea who was who.