“Well, Lenora was it?”
“Leona.”
“Whatever. I don’t know what you think you two might have had, but whatever it was, it wasn’t real. Men like Cullen Cruz do not lower themselves to the likes of girls like you, unless they’re just looking for some free pussy. So, I suggest you run off back to your cleaning and move on,” she said, her voice dripping with condescension and her hand giving a little wave like she was shooing Leona away. She took a few steps closer to Leona and was now actually within an arm's reach of her. “Chalk it up to a great story about how you once fucked a celebrity. What he needs is a woman who is going to understand his world and lifestyle. Not some cleaning lady.”
Leona felt the sting of tears almost as soon as the words were out of the blonde’s mouth. Blinking quickly to try to stop them from falling, she inhaled sharply and much louder than she had intended. Not that she’d been able to stop the tears. It was like this woman knew exactly what to say to rip her apart. Did she? Did she know who Leona was and all the things she’d shared with Cullen? Had they been laughing at her behind her back all this time? Or was this all just a lucky guess? Something she would say to anyone she deemed beneath her.
“Who are you?” she managed to ask through the tears.
“Felicity,” the woman said with a shrug, acting like Leona should have known this already.
Leona had so many things she wanted to say. She wanted to tell this woman to fuck off, because there was no way that Cullen felt that way. The Cullen she knew wasn’t like that. But what if the Cullen she knew wasn’t the real one? What if all this had just been another ploy to seduce her, to see if he could do it again? What if the asshole from ten years ago handing her cash really was the real Cullen.
Her mind flashed to all the things he shared about his parents. About his Dad’s death and how his mom was a housekeeper. She had no reason to believe he lied, but then again she had no way to know it was the truth either. And just because his mother had been a housekeeper didn’t mean that he wanted to be with one now.
“I think we’re done here,” Felicity remarked. “You’re dismissed.”
Not knowing what else to do, Leona turned and walked out, letting the door slam behind her. She knew she should go back to work, but right now she was too shell-shocked by what just happened to be able to function. So she headed to the one place she knew she would be able to be alone and think.
Cullen heard the front door slam shut just as he cut the water to his shower. Leaving took her way too long, he thought to himself about the crazy lady he’d found in his living room when he got back. She’d killed his runner’s high and soured what he had intended to be a nice relaxing linger under the hot water. It was unbelievable to him that she would just show up like this and bribe her way into his rooms. These were the kind of people that Oliver thought he should go work for?
Although, it was always possible that she was the extreme and the rest of the organization wasn’t like this. There had been a goalkeeper coach once when he was younger who was a serious nutter, and no one could figure out why the Liverpool management kept him around. If he were the only member of the training staff you’d ever met, then you were probably left wondering how on earth they were successful. However, even a few moments with anyone else on staff and you’d realize he was not at all a good representation. Cullen hoped for Southland whatever-they-were, that this chick was the equivalent of that goalkeeper coach.
He needed to call Oliver, though, desperately now. Yes, he’d been avoiding his calls all morning, but the man needed to know that a member of the staff flying down here to force his hand was not the answer to all this. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he padded back into the living room to where he’d plugged his phone in on the desk. When he reached the open area, he was stunned to see Felicity still standing there, tapping away on her mobile.
“What the fuck are you still doing here? I told you to get out!”
“I told you, Mr. Cruz, we have things to discuss.”
“The fuck we do!” he shouted. Then he remembered the slamming door. If it wasn’t her…
“I thought I heard you leave, but obviously you’ve made yourself at home. Who else was in here?”
“Oh, some maid. I asked her to order us some lunch, but she refused. The service here is very subpar. I’m not sure why you would allow such a thing.”
“A maid?”
“Yeah, short little thing. Leandra or something. I don’t know. I told her to come back with fresh towels later—that we were busy.”
“Leona,” he corrected her.
“Sure. Whatever,” she waved him off.
“You told her we were busy? Busy with what, exactly? We don’t have business, Felicity,” he growled.
“Yes, we do, Mr. Cruz. And yes, I told her to run along. That you didn’t have time for little girls with crushes on footballers.”
“Fuck,” he cursed, turning toward the door. He had to go after her. Had to find her and explain. She probably thought the worst of him right now, and he couldn’t blame her. He should have escorted Felicity out the door himself.
“Where are you going? You’re in a towel!”
Cullen looked down as he reached for the doorknob. Shit, she was right. He turned and ran for the bedroom, dropping the towel along the way. He heard Felicity make some noise out of shock, but he didn’t care who he offended right now—he needed Leona. Throwing on shorts and a pair of flip-flops, he headed back to the front door, stopping only to address the blonde bitch one more time.
“When I get back, you will be gone, or I will be pressing charges.”
Not stopping long enough for a response, he took off, heading toward the main building. When he couldn’t find her in her office, at the front desk, or in the kitchen, he was left wondering where to check next. Where did women go when they were upset?
He looked up in time to find Drea emerging from the long hall that lead to Cherish Spa. It had been too much to hope that Leona was with her, but maybe at least Drea would know where he should look.
“Drea!” he shouted. “Where’s Leona?”
“I figured she was with you. She was in the spa with me, but it’s been awhile. When she took off, she told me she was going to show you something.”
Show him something? Oh fuck, this was worse than he thought.
“No, I think she came to La Isla Bonita, but then something happened and she left. She was…upset, I think. Where does she go when she’s upset? Can you check her dorm?”
“You upset her? What did you do?!” Drea shrieked.
“Nothing…I…look, something just happened. I don’t have time to explain. I need to find her. Where would she go?”
“Same place I went,” she sighed. “Big House Beach.”
Sure enough, Drea had been right. When Cullen came around the little cottage Drea had directed him to on the other side of the trees from his villa, he found Leona sitting on the beach. Her legs were pulled into her chest and she was resting her forehead on top of her knees. He could tell even from this far away that she was upset. No, devastated. Whatever Felicity said must have been really nasty.
He walked up slowly behind her, not wanting to startle her. He put a hand lightly on her shoulder, trying to get her attention.
“Menina,” he said, sitting down in the sand next to her. She startled under his touch but didn’t look up at him. Even with her head on her knees he could hear her sniffle and knew that she was crying. His chest felt like it was being ripped in two, knowing that he was responsible for her being in this kind of pain. How could he have let this happen? Better yet, how on earth did he fix it?
“Menina, talk to me, please,” he pleaded.
“Why? So you can go back to your girlfriend and tell her that you let me down easy? And you two can have a good laugh at my expense?” She raised her head from her knees and looked at him. Her bloodshot eyes shot daggers at him.
“She’s not my girlfriend. I don’t even know her
,” he tried to explain.
“Right, which is why she was in your rooms. Your rooms that are highly secure and only like six people have the code to,” she snapped back.
“She admitted to me that she bribed her way in. She’s apparently from the team in Atlanta, and she wanted an answer.”
Leona was silent for a moment. He wanted to beg, to plead for her to understand, but he knew better. He knew that if he opened his mouth it would only make it worse in the long run.
“You swear you didn’t invite her?”
“I swear to God. She was just in my room when I got back from a run.”
Leona nodded. “Okay, I believe you.”
Cullen sighed. Hearing her say that she believed him was such a relief. Maybe now they could have the conversation he’d been thinking about during his run.
“But that doesn’t mean she’s wrong.”
“What? Of course she was wrong to bribe someone to get into my rooms! That’s what stalkers do!”
“Not that,” Leona said calmly. “About what you need, and how it’s not me.”
Cullen couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Did she just say that Felicity was right? Right about what? How could she have any idea what Cullen needed or wanted. He turned so that they were now sitting perpendicular to each other, but she still wouldn’t meet his gaze. She simply just stared out over the water.
“She said you needed someone who understood your life and your world. And that’s not me. My life, my world, is right here on St. Thomas. It’s running the housekeeping department at the Indigo Royal, helping raise Josef, and attempting to get my dad back on his feet. Yours is in London, or Liverpool, or Atlanta, or wherever the hell it is you live!” She threw her hands up in frustration and then hopped to her feet. She paced a few steps forward and abruptly turned around, finally looking him in the eye. “I don’t even know where you fucking live, Cullen! You don’t know where I live!”
“I’ve been to your house, Lee,” he reminded her calmly.
“No, you’ve been to my parents' house. I haven’t lived there since I graduated high school! You haven’t seen my place in the staff dorms. And I sure as hell can’t show you.”
“Why not?”
“Why not? Because it’s a fucking dorm room, Cullen! You’re one of the best athletes in the world—you can't be slumming it in a dorm!”
“First off, I’ve stayed in dorms. Second, I highly doubt anything on this resort is slumming it, as you put it. But that doesn’t matter to me if I’m with you. We could hang out in a bloody cardboard box for all I care!” he said, getting to his feet. He tried to get closer to her, but for every step he took, she took one back.
“We’re in over our heads, Cullen. This turned into way more than we intended and—”
“How do you know what I intended, Lee?”
“You know what I mean,” she said resignedly.
“No, I don’t! I have no idea what you are trying to tell me here!”
“We’re too different, Cullen—this has no future. You have your life. Your big, fancy, famous life, and I have mine. My simple, little, island life. And never the two shall meet.”
“That’s not true. Did you forget everything I told you about my childhood? We are not that different,” he reminded her.
“That’s who you were, not who you are. You left that little boy behind.”
“That little boy might not be someone I let everyone know about, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still a part of me.”
“That’s just it, Cullen. He might still be in there, but he’s not who you are now. He’s not part of the celebrity athlete.”
“I still have no idea what you are trying to tell me,” he said, trying to get closer again.
She turned away from him, pacing for a moment before looking back at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You need to get on with your life. I can accept that I was just a fling to pass the time on your vacation, and it sucks that it’s being cut short, but your real life is waiting for you.”
Cullen just stood there, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He wasn’t hearing this right. Her words were like a punch to his gut. She couldn’t really think that all she was to him was a fling, a way to pass the time. Their times together had been so much more than that.
“A fling. That’s what you think? Did you not believe me when I told you that you were never just another notch on my belt?”
“No, I believe you. But that doesn’t mean that there is anything to this, that there can be a future. That I can be what you need.”
“So these last few weeks have meant nothing to you?” He started pacing, if for no other reason than to help channel all his nervous energy. “All the time we’ve spent together? The boat ride? Time with your family? Josef? What about your brother?”
“Don’t bring him into this. This is about us,” she said, a new set of tears breaking through. His heart ripped in two all over again watching them roll down her cheeks.
“And spa room number three last night? Did that not mean anything either?”
“It was everything, Cullen! Fucking everything. I will always remember last night as the best night of my life,” she sobbed.
“Lee, amorzinho…” He stepped toward her again, reaching for her. He wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms and comfort her. Tell her it would be alright, that he would find a way to make this all work. He didn’t have the right words. He felt like everything he might say would just make things worse. But if he could hold her—if she could just hear his heart beating for her—she’d know that this was not what he wanted. That she was what he wanted.
“Just stop with the nicknames, would you? I need to be strong here, and you need to let me.”
“I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to say to that,” he admitted. He wanted to scream. He wanted to make her understand she was all wrong. But he had no idea what to do. How could he make her understand that she had a place in his life?
“Take the Atlanta job, or go back to England and spend time with your mom, or something. Just go. Go and let me move on.”
“And if I don’t want that?”
“Then I guess this is just the exception to the rule. The one time the guest isn’t always right,” she said as she turned and walked away from him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Leona sat at a small table in a dark corner of the The Casbah that was mostly obscured by the curve of the bar. It was early enough that most of the guests were just starting to migrate from the beach to dinner, and the late-night hot spot wasn’t even on the radar yet for most of them, so she was able to hide there without much of an audience. Drea sat to her left tapping out a text message, most likely letting Kyle and Dalton know where they were, while Maeve chatted with Charlie, the longtime bartender fixing their drinks. She could tell by the looks he threw over her way every couple of seconds that he knew something was up, but it seemed as if Maeve was doing a fine job of keeping him just distracted enough not to ask. When Maeve returned to the table, she carried a tray with the drinks Leona and Drea had requested, plus a bottle of tequila and three shot glasses.
“The bottle is courtesy of Charlie,” Maeve said, nodding at the brand-new bottle of liquor. “He said that he doesn’t expect it to be returned.”
Leona turned toward the bar and held up her drink as a thank you to Charlie, who simply nodded back to her as he wiped down the bar. He'd gone to school with her dad and she’d known him her whole life. When she’d started at the Indigo Royal, he’d been such a help at teaching her all the little nuances of how things worked and whom to avoid. He’d been ready and waiting with birthday drinks and celebratory shots for every major event that occurred for her, and it was no surprise he was ready and waiting with a bottle for such an occasion as this as well.
“He’s good like that,” Drea said. “Pretty sure he was the one keeping Dalton stocked when Kyle and I broke up.”
“He was,” Leona answered, sighing. “He w
as also how Uncle Gray knew you needed his hangover cure.”
“You wanna talk about it?” Drea asked.
“Uncle Gray’s hangover cure? I mean, it’s just a bottle of Coke. It’s not a magic elixir.”
“Not what I meant, Lee.”
“I am aware. I just don’t know what there is to say. He was always going to leave. His real life just came calling sooner than expected.”
“And you're just going to let him walk away?”
“What did you want me to do, Dre? Profess my love and hope that was enough to make him leave his life behind?”
“Yes!”
“Not how this works, Drea.”
“Would you stop being so logical all the time?!” she exclaimed. “I know you’re hurting. I know you also don’t want to admit it. Earlier today you were telling us that you love him. LOVE HIM! So I don’t buy the ‘I’m okay’ act one bit. You’re allowed to be hurt and upset, Lee.” Drea reached out and took her best friend’s hand and squeezed.
The physical contact was just enough to push Leona’s emotions over the edge and for her to let go. She closed her eyes and sat back in the cushy chair as the tears slowly started to fall. She didn’t want to cry. Didn’t want to let it show that she was brokenhearted—that he had broken her heart. But Drea was right, she did love him and knowing she couldn’t have him was ripping her apart.
“I do love him,” she sniffled. “But he doesn’t love me back, Dre.”
“He ran after you. That has to mean something,” Maeve offered.
Leona shrugged. “Sure, that we’re friends. Fuck buddies. I’m not saying he doesn’t care. He does—I know that. But he doesn’t care like I do. He doesn’t love me.”
The tears sped up their descent down her cheeks as she broke down fully. She couldn’t believe that she’d let herself get in so deep. With a guest. Not just any guest—a VIP guest who she had known from day one would have the power to do this to her. He’d already hurt her once. Just how stupid did she have to be to let him do it again? This was why she didn’t do feelings outside her family. She didn’t want to have to deal with the fallout.
Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort Book 2) Page 25