Pulling out his phone, he found Gunnar Gracin’s number and sent him a text, telling him to call whenever he had a moment. He knew his old buddy was busy—youth academies had a ton of moving parts. Not to mention, Cullen wasn’t entirely sure what his old friend would be doing this time of night.
His phone rang almost as soon as he sent the text, not even giving his phone the chance to time out and have the screensaver come up.
“Old man, how’s it hanging?” Cullen answered the phone, using the greeting Gracin had become known for using. He’d heard it as a teenager watching American movies, trying to learn English, and had been unaware of the double entendre of the statement. So when someone in the locker room had found it humorous to answer with a statement actually regarding their junk, Gracin had been so bewildered, even after an explanation, that it had quickly become a running joke.
“Unused,” the Croatian chuckled. His accent had all but disappeared after so many years in the UK, but every now and again the slight hint of it would come out when he was tired. “I imagine that is a problem you will never have, Cruz.”
“May I be so lucky. What time is it there? I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“Late-ish. Not sure if I should be offended that you think I would be asleep on a Saturday night rather than out living it up.”
“Well, did I disrupt you?”
“No, I’m in the office,” he laughed at the irony. “The lads had a game this afternoon and I’m working up some reviews for Monday’s practice. Where are you?”
“I’m on my annual pilgrimage to the Virgin Islands. Spent the last two weeks running a skills camp down here.”
“I think I heard something about that,” Gracin said. Cullen could hear the squeak of a chair through the phone and could see his old teammate sitting back in his desk chair. “How’d you like being on the other side of things?”
“I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, that’s for sure.”
“I don’t doubt that at all. You were always good with the trainees. Always knew who could and couldn’t hack it.”
“Thanks, man,” Cullen said, appreciative of his friend's kind words. “That’s, in a way, why I’m calling.”
“I knew there had to be some other reason the great and powerful Cullen Cruz was calling, other than just to see what my lame ass was up to,” Gracin said, laughing again.
“I care quite a bit about your lame ass, thank you. Just in this moment, I also have other concerns.”
“If you’re looking for advice on life after retirement, then let me impart my wisdom,” he offered.
Gracin only had a handful of years on Cullen in the age department but had retired from the game around ten years ago in his early thirties. After a car accident, it was discovered that his wife Anya had a rare blood disease. The doctors told them that while plenty of people lived for years with this condition, more often than not one did not see their fortieth birthday. Gracin had made the decision right then and there to retire as soon as the season was over to spend every moment he could with her. While Cullen knew Gracin missed playing, he also knew that no part of his buddy regretted his decision to leave it, even after Anya passed away three years later.
“I get the impression that is going to require plenty of Irish whiskey,” Cullen laughed.
“Probably.” Gracin let out another hearty laugh. “So, to what do I owe the honor?”
“There is a kid who has been at this clinic for the last two weeks, and he’s good. He’s thirteen and little, but good. And I don’t just mean for his age, Gracin. I mean the kid is fucking good, period. He can almost keep up with me.”
“Well, you are not what you once were, Cruz, pardon the criticism. None of us are. Happens when you reach a certain age.”
“You would know, old man,” Cruz joked back.
“Better than most, it feels like some days,” Gracin said. “So, kid is good. What team does he play for down there? Not that I would know any of them.”
“A recreational one. Hopes to make the junior high team this year.”
“A rec league? That’s it?”
“He was a scholarship kid at the clinic. He’s one of us, Gracin,” Cullen said, knowing that the Croatian would know exactly what he meant by that.
“What can I do to help?”
The weekend had been a whirlwind for Leona. A large family reunion was checking in, with guests arriving both Saturday and Sunday, taking over the majority of a floor in Barracuda Tower and all but one suite in the Purple Rain. Making sure that each room was cleaned in time to accommodate some of their early arrivals, plus ensuring that the gift bags the organizer of the reunion sent ahead of time were in each room should have been easy enough tasks. But with being behind on her paperwork, not to mention simply being off her routine from the random days off and having to pick up Josef from camp, she was exhausted. She also owed Vaughn two weeks’ worth of random room check reports.
Despite the insanity that the weekend had been, Leona had managed to get every last bit of work complete. She had been so tired Saturday night that she slept on the couch in her office, leaving her extra sore when she woke up on Sunday. Looking at her phone as she rolled off the couch, she saw a text from Cullen.
Cullen: Missed having you in my arms last night ;)
She smiled to herself for a moment before tapping out a reply.
Leona: Missed being in your arms last night. They are a lot more comfortable than the office couch
Cullen: They are ready and waiting for your arrival tonight
Leona: Counting down the hours :)
She felt a pang in her chest reading his response, wishing for a moment she hadn’t opted to just stay in her office. But she knew it would be worth it when she climbed into bed tonight with Cullen, armed with the knowledge that she wouldn’t have to wake up early to sneak out, leaving her with her first full night’s sleep since he arrived. That was, if he didn’t wake her up with his fingers and tongue the way he had the other night.
The sunlight felt warm on her face as she rolled over in the king bed on Monday morning. With her eyes still closed, she reached out, searching for Cullen’s warmth. When all she was met with was the coolness of the sheets, she slowly opened her eyes, taking in the bright sunlight streaming in from the open window. The calmness was something she remembered from when she and Drea had stayed here as teens, but something about it now was even more relaxing than it had been then. It occurred to her that she could stay in this bed all day and be perfectly content. Except…there was one seriously sexy footballer somewhere in this bungalow that she wanted to see.
She found him out on the back patio, in nothing but a pair of swim trunks, pacing back and forth while chatting on the phone. A plate of magic muffins sat on the little table she had placed the pizza boxes on the other night, and she grabbed one without hesitating, slipping onto the chaise lounge next to the table. Snacking away at the muffin, which was amazingly still a little warm, she focused in on his body as he paced.
“As long as it doesn’t conflict schedule wise, I think that should be fine,” he said into his phone. He continued to pace back and forth as he listened to whomever was on the other end of the call. “Sure, I’ll sign whatever is needed for an auction. That’s easy enough.”
Leona had long thought that Cullen Cruz looked as if he was carved out of clay. His muscles were so well defined that it almost seemed inhuman for a person to be that lean, and yet somehow, here he was. Those muscles seemed to glide under the taut skin that was stretched across them as he moved. His calves were solid masses that led up to some of the most well-defined thighs Leona had ever seen. She was unaware that thighs could ever be a turn-on, but somehow, when Cullen walked around with his shorts hiked, she couldn’t help but lose her mind.
His back flexed as he turned around, now facing her, showing off those clearly chiseled abs and pecs. He winked at her when he saw her, and she winked back, still taking him all in. He stopped pacing for a moment, planting
his feet and rocking his hips side to side, making the deep V at his hips flex in a way that made her mouth water. It really wasn’t fair that there was so much sexiness in one body. She wasn’t sure what she had done to deserve the chance to be around that body, but damn, was she thankful.
She heard him tell whoever was on the other end he had to go, rushing them off the phone. “Morning, beautiful,” Cullen said, hitting the end call button on his phone.
“Hi. You didn’t have to end your call for me.”
“Of course I did. You are much more interesting than Oliver,” he said with another wink.
“Oliver?”
“My agent. Sleep well?”
She nodded, her mouth full of muffin. He leaned down, kissing her lightly on the lips. As she pulled away, he straddled the chaise and sat facing her.
“Glad to hear it.”
“Is there a plan for the day? Or are we winging it?”
“My plan is to spend as much time with you, in as few articles of clothing, as possible.” He winked.
“Really now,” she said, half mocking, half seductive. “And what makes you think I’m going to be willing to spend the day naked with you?”
“Because I know that beneath the put together, professional hard-ass you let the world see, is a wild child who is just aching to let loose.”
His words caught her off guard. Did he really see that? She hadn’t been ready for that. She had not been ready for him to understand her on such a level. It was one thing for Drea to know it. For Dalton and Kyle and the uncles to know who she was underneath it all. But for Cullen to see it, that was different. Maybe she was more transparent than she thought.
Shoving the last bit of the muffin in her mouth, she popped up from the lounger. She pulled her sleep shirt off as she did so, revealing her naked breasts and lace thong. The shirt fell to the ground as Cullen simply stared at her breasts, looking almost like he was hungry. Taking advantage of his stare, she slowly inched her thong down her legs, making sure to wiggle her hips as she did. A growl escaped his lips as she teased him, making her smile even bigger. When the small scrap of fabric hit the boards of the deck, she stepped out of them, turning slowly, looking over her shoulder to make sure his gaze followed to her ass. Then, without warning, she took off running for the water.
“Hope you can catch me!”
Other than a few clouds in the sky that seemed to rarely cross over the sun, the day had been picture-perfect Virgin Islands weather. Warm sun, an intermittent light breeze, crystal clear blue water. The water had felt crisp and refreshing against their warm, naked skin, leaving them both energized. Leona could not have thought of a better way to spend a day off than lazing in the sun on a private deck and swimming off a private dock, all while in the company of a sexy man.
After lunch, Leona pulled her chaise lounge out from underneath the awning and all the way into the sun, lying on her stomach, letting the sun warm her back.
“That is a fantastic view,” she heard Cullen’s voice say, as he walked through the sliding glass door from inside. “Not that I would complain about the view if you rolled over either.”
He strolled over to where she rested, his big, beautiful, bare body on display for her. She drank him in, for probably the hundredth time today, admiring every inch of him. Grabbing his lounger, he picked it up with ease and moved it over to where she had placed hers.
“How did you find us?” she asked. “The Indigo Royal, I mean. How did you pick here to be your getaway?”
“I read an article about it somewhere. I don’t even remember where now, but it sounded like a nice place—popular, but not overly so. I thought it sounded like a place I could go and not be Cullen Cruz for a bit.”
“Yes, because being a famous footballer is so difficult.”
“It can be, just not in ways you expect,” he said. “I’m certainly not concerned with where my next meal is coming from, or if I can pay rent, or any of the other kinds of things that I know my mum worried about when I was a kid, but it does have its challenges.”
“Such as?”
“For one, I can’t remember the last time I was able to just walk down the street without being stopped and asked for a selfie. I took Mum out a couple of months ago for her birthday, and we were interrupted six times during dinner by people who wanted a selfie or autograph. Everybody always seems to want something—time, money, an endorsement. That call you heard this morning with Oliver? Part of it was about an upcoming charity auction that they want me to participate in. Very few people have actually wanted to get to know me. The real me.”
“And who is the real Cullen Cruz?” she asked, intrigued to hear his answer.
“The real Cullen is just a poor kid from London. He’s a bit of a mummy’s boy, and deep down, a bit of a softie. He was afraid to walk down the street where his father was murdered, often walking at least a mile out of his way just to come home from a different direction. He likes dark beer, Irish whiskey, action movies, and of course, football.”
“You were afraid to walk down the street? Cullen, that’s horrible!” she said, rolling over to face him.
“I was. Took me well over a year to get anywhere close to that corner.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s part of who I am. Tell me, who’s the real Leona Filipe?”
She took a moment to ponder the question. He’d shared so much of himself, and she wanted to share in return. She just hoped he still liked her after finding out the real her.
“The real Leona is just an island girl, trying to make it one day at a time. She’s got more of a free spirit than she’d like to admit, but one that she’s learned to harness, mostly through her mother’s strictness. She also has a bit of a smart mouth. She loves sunny days, the smell of bergamot, and her family, who mean everything to her.”
“I love that you’re so close to your family.”
“That wasn’t always the case. I was actually quite resentful of Josef at first,” she admitted.
“How? Why?”
“He screwed everything up, or well, so I thought as a teenager. I was thirteen when my mother told me she was pregnant. I wasn’t exactly an altruistic thinker then. To me, my life was perfect. I had my parents, and Drea was like a sister to me. We had a routine and it worked. When Mom told me that she was going to have a baby, I knew that baby would turn everything on its head, and I wasn’t okay with that.”
“You obviously got over it, though. You and Josef are so close.”
“Yes, I got over myself. It took Drea telling me she was jealous and that she’d give anything for even one of her uncles to have a kid so she’d have a little cousin or something. I realized that having a little sibling, even one that much younger than me, was going to be special. I was right, though—it did turn everything upside down. Like I said the other night, it was harder to make ends meet, and routines and schedules were upended. The house was suddenly a lot smaller. I started working here when I was fifteen. Mama said it was to keep me out of trouble, and I do think that was part of it. I mean, you’ve met her…but I also think it was partly to have some extra money for the family.”
“I am sure my mum would have had the same concerns had I not been playing football by that point.”
“A rebellious teen Cullen—now that, I would have loved to see.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
When the sun started to set, and the air cooled a bit, they climbed into the hot tub. The hot water felt good against her skin, even though it was still warm from the sun. Finding one of the jets, she sat right back against it and let it massage her back.
“Can I ask what happened with your father’s stroke?” Cullen asked, sliding up next to her, finding a jet of his own. “You told me the other night about how scary it was, but you never mentioned how it all happened.”
“He was at work. He’s an auto mechanic, and he worked…works…for the shop that handles all the maintenance for the tour trolleys here on the island.
He was underneath one of those when it happened. When he had his stroke.” She stared blankly forward as she told the story; she couldn’t bear to see the look on his face. “He would sing at the top of his lungs when he was under a vehicle, so when he stopped, the other guys in the shop started to heckle him. Until they realized he wasn’t responding.”
She drew in a long, deep breath. She waited for Cullen to say something, but he didn’t. He just let her have the space to tell her story.
“They called the ambulance, who came and got him, took him to the hospital.”
“Where were you? Here, working I presume?”
“I was in Black Velvet suite 2206. I had heard my phone going off, but I ignored it. I had assumed it was Carlos, and I needed to finish up the room check I was doing. When I got back to my office, Vaughn was waiting for me—told me what happened and that Drea was waiting to drive me, since he didn’t think it was a good idea for me to drive myself.”
She shifted in the water so she was facing him now, lifting her right arm out of the water to rest it on the side of the hot tub. “I was so scared.”
“I get it, it’s a tough thing to face,” he said, shifting in his seat to mirror her position, and moving a piece of hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear.
“I wasn’t just scared of losing him though,” she admitted, blinking back some tears. “Standing there, in the hospital, waiting on news. Looking at him, with all those tubes coming out of him. It was all too much. I couldn’t imagine never getting the chance to talk to my dad again.”
Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort Book 2) Page 19