The tears that she had been blinking back were now running down her cheeks as she started to sniffle. She wiped at them furiously, as if having Cullen see her cry was the worst thing ever. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled until all the air in her lungs was gone. She told him this much, she might as well continue.
“But I also knew that if he lived, we’d be buried in medical debt for, well, forever. Between the ambulance, the hospital, all the tests, rehab…none of it is cheap. We worked out a payment plan, but it’s pretty much my entire paycheck. Thankfully most of my expenses are covered since I live on the resort. But with Papa still not fully able to work, they basically live off just Mama’s paycheck.” She let out a long sigh, collecting herself from her tears.
“Don’t get me wrong. I am thankful every day that he’s alive and he’s made the progress he’s made, but…” she paused, taking another deep breath. “But it’s still an uphill battle.”
“I’m so sorry, Lee,” he whispered, pulling her close.
“No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be here whining about it, not when you had your Dad ripped away from you like that.”
“We both got handed a raw deal, just differently,” he answered, running his knuckles lovingly across her face where her tears had been. “It’s just nice to know that there is someone else out there who understands.”
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the bubbling sounds of the jets from the hot tub. The sounds were soothing, but not as soothing as the feel of his arms around her. She knew she needed to guard her heart, but she couldn’t help it. Even ignoring how incredibly sexy he was, and he was incredibly sexy, he saw her. He understood her. The only other person who had ever understood her in such a way was Drea.
“Can I ask you something?” she said, breaking the silence.
“Of course, Menina.”
“If you hadn’t played football, what did you want to be when you grew up?”
“I had always just assumed I would take up construction, like my Dad. I got lucky that I started playing so young and was good, so I never really had to think about it. But I was always good with my hands so…” he shrugged.
“Oh, you’re still good with your hands,” she teased.
He grabbed her waist and pulled her into his lap so she was facing him, her legs resting on either side of his massive thighs. His lips touched hers, lightly at first, taking his time as he claimed her mouth. He leaned back a bit for more stability and deepened the kiss, pulling her closer to his hard chest, her hands cradling his well-defined pecs. Every single move he made was easy and unhurried, yet deliberate, drawing it all out, just the way he knew she liked it.
After a long while of his slow, drawn-out kisses, he pulled back and looked her in the eye. “Want to know a secret?”
“A secret, huh? What kind of secret?”
“A secret about me. But you have to promise it stays here, in the hot tub.”
“So, just the hot tub? Can’t take it to the bedroom?” she teased.
“You know what I mean,” he groaned, tickling her waist. She let out a little squeal, followed by a slew of giggles.
“Okay, okay,” she relented. “I promise you that whatever you say stays between us. We’ve come a long way in the last couple of days. I wouldn’t do anything to ruin that.” She leaned in and kissed him again.
“Me, either,” he said softly, in between her kisses. “Which is why I want to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” she pulled back. A concerned look covered her face and she couldn’t help it. He wasn’t sick, was he? Or maybe he was in some kind of trouble. Although she wasn’t sure what kind of trouble he could be in that his people wouldn’t be able to handle.
“I’m sure you saw on the news or the Internet or wherever that I’m retiring. That I’m done playing football,” he said.
She nodded, confused. “Is that not true?”
“No, it’s true, come next season I will not be in the Liverpool squad anymore. It’s just that it’s not something that was my choice.”
“I’m confused…”
“I was dropped from the team.”
The moment of silence that followed those words made Cullen’s heart skip a beat. He couldn’t believe he had actually admitted them out loud.
The look on Leona's face was unreadable. He could tell she was still confused, but there was something else in there too. Was it pity? God, he hoped it wasn’t pity. He would be able to handle anything but pity.
“Can I ask a stupid question?” she asked, biting her bottom lip, as if she were embarrassed.
He simply nodded.
“Is that the sports equivalent to getting fired?”
The question surprised him. He hadn’t ever thought of it in those terms, but now that she phrased it that way, it made a lot more sense.
“Yes, baby, it’s the sports version of being fired. Although I guess in my case, where they publicly said I was ‘retiring,’ they made it seem more my choice, allowing me to walk away with my dignity,” he told her.
“Can they do that?”
“They can do whatever they want. It’s not like they were complete tossers about it. They are paying me out for the rest of my guaranteed contract, plus part of my option, and gave me a grand farewell. But they needed the place on the squad for some new hotshot. I’m old news,” he sighed. “Not that I can fully blame them—I’m thirty-eight, and I realize I’m not what I was ten or fifteen years ago, but still, I wasn’t ready to be done with the game.”
She wrapped her arms fully around his neck, pulling their bodies together, and squeezed. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he returned the squeeze and, damn, it felt good to have her in this kind of embrace. The feel of her body against his was comforting in ways he didn’t realize he needed, and she fit so perfectly. It was like she was cut out just to slide right in there, like a puzzle piece.
“I’m sorry, Cullen,” she said, her voice muffled from her being wrapped around him. She pulled back and rested her forehead against his, holding it there for a moment, inhaling deeply. When she pulled back completely, she looked him in the eyes. “I can't say I fully understand how the whole sports thing works, but I understand being fired. Or well, I conceptually understand being fired, because I’ve never actually been fired, and I’ve only ever really worked the one job, but I know that I live in fear of it, so I know the emotions that go into that, and…oh my God, I’m rambling…”
He kissed her lips lightly, slowing down her rapid breathing from all the words she just blurted out. She was so cute—with her brows furrowed, a nervous look in her eyes, worried she had said the wrong thing.
“You’re cute when you ramble,” he said with a little laugh. The blush that suddenly appeared on her cheeks earned another laugh, making her blush even more.
“So, now what? Can you play for someone else?”
“Well, that’s harder than it sounds. A, because they said I’m retiring so many teams are under that impression, but B, turns out a lot of other teams, even in other leagues, seem to think I’m not worth picking up.”
“Because you’re old?”
He could feel his face go stone straight as she asked the question. Did she really just call him old? He wasn’t that old…
“I am not old, Menina,” he said stoically, half scolding her.
“I mean for the game.”
“Yes, they feel I’m past my prime.”
“What does one do when they retire from being a professional athlete?”
“Lots of things, depends on the athlete,” he said, shrugging.
“Okay, so what are you going to do?” she said, pushing the issue.
“Not sure. That’s what I was talking to Oliver about this morning before you came outside. There is a coaching gig in the States that I have been offered.”
“Coaching? That’s so exciting!” she said, bouncing in his lap. Her center made contact with his semihard length with every bounce, making him harder with each movement. “I
s that why you did the clinic?”
“Well, the clinic was Oliver’s idea, which I’m pretty sure was to get my head in the right space to consider this job, yes,” he admitted.
“So, you’re gonna take it?”
He saw her face fall slightly with the question, even though she tried to hide it. He knew she was thinking that whatever his next step was, it came after him leaving the Indigo Royal. He still had almost a full week left here, with her, and he had put it out of his mind that he’d have to leave. He didn’t like thinking about not being around Leona all the time, not after everything had changed between them. It was written all over her face that she didn’t like thinking about it either.
He captured her lips with his again, this time kissing her hard and deep, trying to reassure her, as well as himself, that these feelings were real. Not that he had any idea what he was feeling, he just knew that he was having real feelings about Leona. And he needed her to know it too.
She kissed him back with just as much fervor, as if it was the last thing on earth she would ever do. Wiggling in his lap again, she continued the inadvertent tease she had started earlier, and he let loose a groan. She pulled back and looked into his eyes, as if she was searching for an answer.
“I don’t know, Lee. I haven’t made up my mind,” he said, answering what he knew she was still wondering.
“I think you should,” she said just above a whisper. “You’re so good with the kids—look at the difference you made.”
“These would be professional players, not kids. I’m not sure I would receive quite the same response.”
“I bet you would. I bet you’re a hero to most, if not all, of them. And who wouldn’t want to learn from their hero?”
Her words hit him right in the heart. How she could know exactly what he needed to hear, he didn’t understand, but somehow, she did. He wanted to tell her how much those words meant to him, how much she was starting to mean to him, but he couldn’t translate these feelings into words. Words and feeling were two things he never seemed to be very good at separately, much less trying to combine them. For as much as he wanted to be able to express it, he thought better of it. Opting to kiss her again was so much easier.
He slipped his hands in between them, quickly finding her center. When the pad of his thumb found the exact spot he knew she ached for him to touch, she let out a gasp, breaking the kiss. She arched her back and swiveled her hips, trying to create more friction. He was so turned on by how responsive her body was, how she knew exactly what she wanted, and how she wasn’t afraid to go after it. Those beautiful, perfect, perky breasts of hers were now on full display as she arched her back, and her nipples begged to be sucked on. Who was he to ignore such a call?
Lowering his head, he pulled a taut peak into his mouth and swirled his tongue around it, causing her to cry out again. He felt like the king of the world right now, as if he wielded an incredible amount of power, having this beautiful woman melt underneath his touch. But for as much as it seemed that she was the one losing control, he knew that they were together in this. There was a control she had over him too. One that made him want to give her everything. Make her scream out in pleasure and then hold on to her all night long. Made him want to spill all his secrets and let her in to know the man he actually was. The best he had felt in a long time was when she was near him.
Repositioning his hand slightly, he slipped his middle finger inside her, making sure to tease her entrance. Now that he knew that secret little spot on her, he planned on using it to his advantage every time he could. It only took a moment of this teasing, paired with the oral assault on her breasts, before she gripped onto his shoulders and let out a low, throaty moan. With her eyes pressed shut, she came apart in his arms and in this moment, he was sure he’d never, ever, seen anything quite as spectacular.
Barely giving her time to catch her breath, he slid his forearm underneath her ass and lifted her out of the water. He made no effort to grab a towel or dry off in any way before heading straight inside. He slid open the glass door and paraded through the little living room making a beeline for the bedroom, leaving a trail of water in his wake. Lowering her to the bed slowly, he resumed lavishing her breasts with his mouth.
“Cullen,” she gasped, in between heavy breaths. “Please….pleeease…”
Her pleas sent a bolt of lust straight through him, making him even harder than he already was. He knew exactly what she wanted and no part of him was going to deny her.
He positioned his hard length at her sex and slowly slid into her, pausing for a moment when he was fully inside her. Damn, she felt fucking fantastic. Her inner muscles constricted as he started to move. He slid in and out of her, in a slow rhythmic movement that was almost hypnotic.
“Cullen…I…I…” she moaned.
“I know, baby, I know. Me too…” he said, responding to her pleas.
They tumbled over the cliff together, her insides clenching his dick and milking him for all he was worth. His own orgasm hit him like a lightning bolt, and he felt it all the way down into his toes.
He pulled out of her slowly, hating the way it felt like he was losing a piece of himself in doing so. Crashing down on his back, he pulled her to him, cradling her underneath his arm. She burrowed her head into the crook of his shoulder, sighing deeply and contently. So many emotions were running through him in this moment and he didn’t even know where to begin to try and calm his thoughts.
It was the first time he could remember making love to a woman, rather than just flat-out fucking her. However, he realized that might not be the best thing to share with Leona in this moment. Nonetheless, he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Maybe he was in more trouble than he realized.
Chapter Twenty-Three
There was a weird sense of excitement thrumming through Leona as she walked around the resort doing safety checks with Vaughn the next morning. Usually she dreaded when it was her week to slog all over the resort checking, double-checking, and then double-checking the double checks that everything was safe and up to code. Safety had always been Vaughn’s number one priority, and “safety first” was something that had been instilled into every staff from the moment they interviewed. All three of the Quinlans made sure that every employee knew that “safety first” was a lifestyle, not some cute motto to be floated around. In fact, if someone did something that didn’t have the safety of the guests and their coworkers as the primary focus, then they did not have a job at the Indigo Royal.
Leona fully understood where it came from. Having lost Drea’s parents and Miller’s wife in an accident due to someone not following safety procedures during resort renovations almost twenty-seven years ago, it was very clear why it was a hot-button issue for the brothers. Since thanks to her relationship with Drea they were also kind of like her uncles, she’d been raised to value safety much the same way they did, and she joined in their pride at the very few accidents that had occurred on the resort since. Of course, that didn’t mean she enjoyed the tedious role of safety checks.
“Pool is busy early today,” Vaughn commented as they walked along the deck.
“Well, it’s pretty warm out considering it’s only ten thirty,” Leona answered. “And the pool is much closer to the bar than the beach.”
“Touché. As long as we don’t have a repeat of the drain incident from the other day,” he laughed.
“And here I had just gotten that visual out of my brain. Thanks, Uncle Vaughn.”
“Anytime, kiddo!”
She glanced around at the groups of guests who were out lounging, taking them each in as Vaughn busied himself with the latch on the towel hut. People watching had always been something she’d enjoyed, especially at the resort. It never ceased to amaze her some of the items that people would wear while on vacation, and she couldn’t help but wonder if they wore these things back home. She knew that plenty of people were willing to be a little extra bold on vacation—after all, they were never g
oing to see these people again. But how that translated to swimsuits that didn’t fit properly and patterns that were offensive to the eye, she still wasn’t sure.
Her eyes quickly landed on a tattooed set of arms pushing a well-sculpted body out of the pool. Even from here she could see the beautiful script across the right forearm that read “Luisa” surrounded by roses. Above the elbow was the profile image of a “Liver Bird”—or so she was told it was called—underneath the words “You’ll never walk alone.” Reaching for the towel he’d laid on the lounger across from where he’d gotten out of the pool, she could see the Latin written vertically down the backside of his arm, reading “deus nobis haec otia fecit”, the original motto for Liverpool, meaning “God hath granted us this ease.” She smiled to herself, loving that she knew that ink so well at this point that she would know it anywhere.
Memories of last night slipped to the forefront of her mind. She thought of how she’d kissed the stars above his heart, traced the geometric designs on his left arm, and even at one point tried to nuzzle noses with the tiger. The whole day had been something out of a dream, and waking up this morning to the reminder she had to get out of bed and leave him there had been gut-wrenching. He’d tried to cheer her up by telling her that since he didn’t have camp, he was going to try and spend some time outside La Isla Bonita, so she’d at least get to see him around the resort before the bonfire tonight, but it hadn’t helped. Until this moment.
That was, until a group of women appeared seemingly out of nowhere, surrounding Cullen. She could tell that some were only there for a selfie, so they could post it online that they were “vacationing with celebrities,” but there were one or two who seemed to think that they had more to offer him and that maybe he’d take them up on that offer. Hands off bitches, he’s mine…
“Earth to Leona,” Vaughn’s voice called to her, breaking into her thoughts and stealing her attention away from the fuss.
“Huh?”
Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort Book 2) Page 20