A Protector

Still standing transfixed at the spot, Aurelia tried to recall if there were moments Lucian Romano was warm to other girls but she could not remember because moments like that did not exist. The only time Lucian ever smiled genuinely was when he was with her, annoying her with the ‘princess’ title. Those were the only times his eyes ever found warmth.

“You do not have to just stare at me and strip me with your eyes. You could strip me with your hands instead.” He gave her a one-sided smirk and Aurelia quickly looked away from him, her face flushing up as she realised that she had really been staring at him for too long.

Lucian picked up the picture he had been staring at and waved it in the air.

“You don’t just look cute anymore. You now look…” his eyes travelled all over her. From her still slightly damp hair to her toe.

“Beautiful.”

Damn! She sure had grown beautiful over the years and Lucian was only saying beautiful because he did not want to describe her as what he really wanted to… Sexy.

The blue dress she was wearing was unable to hide the curves underneath them from his eyes. He looked up her tummy to her bust. Those tits sure had grown bigger over the years.

His gaze landed on her beautiful face and that was when Aurelia looked back at him. Their eyes met and for the next few seconds, Aurelia felt glued to the spot.

“It’s time to leave, princess.” Lucian looked away from her mesmerising eyes, brushing away the thoughts of how beautiful those eyes would look if she was on her knees with his cock in her mouth.

“Damn you, Lucian! She is supposed to be like a sister to you!” He cursed at himself and walked up to her, taking the luggage from her.

“I don’t want to go anywhere with you, Lucian,” Aurelia said firmly and Lucian chuckled.

“Would you rather I carry you over my shoulders, princess?” He asked, flicking his dark, curly hair backward, and Aurelia did not need to ask him if he was serious about that.

“Stop calling me princess,” she said, ignoring his question.

“I am sure we have argued over this several times seven years ago,” he replied and leaned in close to her.

Aurelia felt her breath hitch as she breathed in his manly cologne. Yes, she did not like him a bit for so many reasons but still yet, she was a girl, she was straight and this man in front of her was definitely deemed as sexually appealing to every straight girl.

She quickly leaned back, away from him before taking two steps back to create a small distance between them.

“And the conclusion of the argument?” Aurelia inquired.

“That I continue calling you Princess. Your name is too hard for me to pronounce so I am just going to stick to Princess.”

He leaned away from her totally, the playful smirk on his face gone in a quick instant.

“Let’s go.” His voice was suddenly authoritative and Aurelia found herself walking towards the door while he walked behind her with his luggage.

A black car was waiting and Aurelia immediately walked towards the door to pull it open but Lucian stopped her.

“Don’t tell me you forgot I don’t let the princess open the car door herself,” he said to her and pulled open the door for her.

Aurelia wanted to say something but she gulped it down and got into the backseat of the car, not wanting to have to talk to him for long.

Aurelia brought out her phone just as Lucian revved the car to life. She began browsing through the phone, trying to do anything that would stop her from stealing glances at Lucian.

But nothing on the internet seemed to be of interest to her. It seemed like the only interesting thing right now was the man behind the wheels.

Aurelia found herself eventually staring at him through the mirror. His face was pulled into a hard look as he drove but even with his hard look, he looked enchanting and Aurelia was staring longer than she intended to stare at him.

No, she had not even intended to stare at him at all.

Suddenly Lucian looked at the mirror too and their eyes met. Aurelia quickly looked away from his gaze.

The hard look on Lucian’s face vanished.

“You can stare as much as you want, princess.”

“I was not staring,” she lied.

“Good girls should not lie, yunno.”

“I am not a good girl!” Aurelia retorted.

She hated it when Marcus and Lucian called her that and made her feel naive and innocent.

“You sure are a good girl, Princess.”

Aurelia was about to respond when her phone beeped with a message. She checked it and found that it was a message from her boyfriend.

Aurelia had almost forgotten these past minutes with Lucian that she had a boyfriend. Lucian had totally occupied her mind.

She opened the message and giggled softly.

“What’s that?” Lucian questioned.

“My boyfriend,” she replied without thinking twice.

Lucian suddenly stepped on the brakes and the car jerked to an abrupt stop. Aurelia gasped in shock, her eyes widening.

“What the heck? Were you planning to kill me?!”

“Since when did Marcus start letting you have boyfriends?” He questioned, turning to face her, his expression stony.

“I am more than old enough. I am not a high school girl anymore,” Aurelia reminded him and Lucian slowly looked away.

That was right. She was no longer little and he certainly was not expecting her to have never dated at 24, right?

Of course she would have dated a few times but still, for some reason he could not lay his hands on, the fact that the sexy lady in his car had a partner did not sit well with him.

Aurelia dropped her phone and leaned back into the seat, forcing her eyes to shut to prevent herself from glancing at him over and over again.

She could recall previous memories of them in high school and a frown appeared on her face as she recalled a memory.

---

Flashback

“I really like you, Aurelia,” Dave, her classmate, said and reached into his pocket, bringing out a beautiful necklace.

Young Aurelia felt her heart race. With Marcus and Lucian hovering all over her, no guy in school had been brave enough to ask her out but Dave had just did so.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Lucian’s voice cut them off just as Aurelia stretched her hand forward to receive the necklace.

Dave immediately withdrew his outstretched hands, fear flickering in his eyes as Lucian came in between he and Aurelia.

Lucian’s eyes were lit with fury and not getting a response from Dave made him groan in frustration. He grabbed the necklace from Dave’s hands.

“You want to ask her out with this miserly necklace?” He dropped the necklace on the floor and stomped his feet on it.

“No one. Not you, not any other guy in this school is good enough for Princess. Stay away from her or I will have to make you stay in a wheelchair for the rest of your life,” he threatened Dave and the poor guy could only nod and run out of the garden.

Lucian’s fury dissipated and he turned to face Aurelia.

“Why don’t you want me to have a boyfriend?! I am so sick of you and Marcus!” Aurelia hit his chest.

“They don’t deserve you and I will never ever let you fall into the hands of a man who doesn’t deserve you, Princess.”

“And who do you think you are to assume this role in my life?” Aurelia threw the question at him and he moved three steps closer to her, closing the space in between them.

Aurelia gulped down noticeably at his closeness because even as much as he annoyed her, he was freaking good looking.

“I am your protector, Princess. And I will be your protector for the rest of my life.”

Flashback ends.

---

Aurelia opened her eyes and looked at Lucian one more time through the mirror, wondering if he had changed at all from what he had been in high school.

But it didn’t matter if he was changed or not, did it? What mattered was that she was no longer the high school girl who would let him influence her life and even make decisions on her behalf.

She was an adult now and was in a relationship too. She was already too busy trying to avoid the ‘good girl’ treatment from Marcus and she was most certainly not going to be made a good girl by Lucian Romano.

But just how certain was she that she would be able to stop him from assuming the position of ‘a protector’ once more?