Flight back

"What about my dad!"

Juliette harshly removed his hand from her shoulder.

'Who is he to touch me!' she complained secretly.

"I sent my men to take care of him. They will bring his body back to Gracia later. For now, you need to be safe."

Juliette's forehead furrowed in irritation.

'Why is he talking like my dad is already dead? My dad won't die like that. He would never leave me alone!' Juliette decided to keep her thoughts as thoughts.

When Luca leaned his face closer to hers, she got flustered so she moved her head backward in defense. He ran a perverted stare down her cleavage that was slightly showing because of the upper button he snapped earlier.

Then, he stared at her eyes again. "I need you to be safe."

With shaking hands and slightly flushed cheeks, Juliette tried hard to dismiss the bizarre tingles she felt and pushed Luca away.

"So you better not run away from me," he added.

"I'm warning you, Mr. Whoever-You-Are, stay away from me. Don't go near me."

Luca slipped both his hands inside his pockets and stood up straight. Then he stared down again on her chest. Juliette noticed this so she looked down at her shirt. When she saw her cleavage slightly showing, she covered it instantly with her hands.

"Don't look down, you pervert! This is your fault!"

Luca just shrugged his shoulders and casually said, "Can’t help it."

Juliette didn't know she could feel that much irritation for a person. She wanted to kick his balls and make him impotent. But she kept her calm. He saved her life after all.

"Boss, we gotta hurry," Salvatore reminded Luca.

Some attendants arrived to meet Luca Romano. Although Juliette had no idea who he was, she could tell that he's a VIP.

When Luca smiled flirtatiously at the girls, they swooned over him, revealing shy but inviting smiles on their faces.

Dante was even flirtatious enough to throw his hand on one of the girls' waist, which the girl took willingly.

One of the attendants came to stare at Juliette's bloodied shirt. Her father left bloodstains on her when he touched her earlier. The attendant flashed a judging look on her.

Luca saw this so he placed his hand around Juliette's shoulder again to cover the blood with his hand.

Although Juliette didn't want to have any skin-to-skin contact with him, she appreciated what he did so she let him wrap his arm on her shoulder.

'Only until we get to the plane!' she told herself.

Different from what she expected, the attendants didn't usher them to the normal gateways for passengers. But rather, on a small gateway for a private plane.

'Who the hell is this man?' she thought as she stole a glance at Luca who's walking with her side by side.

She felt uneasy. She didn’t fully trust the stranger but she recognized her father's handwritten signature on that will.

'If my father entrusted me to this man, it means he's someone I can trust.' She tried hard to convince herself.

However, three strangers suddenly appearing out of nowhere to save her really seemed suspicious to her. So she decided to never let her guard down.

As if being chased, they immediately got inside the plane with Dante and Salvatore.

She's not flustered by the fact that they're flying in a private plane. Or the fact that Luca received such special treatment from the staff. It's neither his fancy suit, nor his expensive-looking gold watch on his wrist, nor his luxurious black sedan. Juliette was actually used to such glamour. It's the lifestyle she's used to.

However, she's flustered by the fact that her dad was suddenly shot in the middle of the street, that she almost got shot, and that these three rich-looking handsome strangers suddenly appeared to save the day. And now they're taking her back to Gracia.

'Who wouldn't find this fishy?' she thought.

"Dante, take off your coat," Luca ordered Dante.

"Why?"

"Since when did you need a reason for obedience?"

Dante secretly scowled and took off his coat with a heavy heart and handed it to Luca.

Juliette sat on the third row of seats near the window but Luca stared at her in an annoyed face.

"What?" she inquired.

"You're sitting with me." It wasn't a pleasant imploration but a plain bold statement.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at his demands. "I like it here."

"Well, I like it there," Luca countered and pointed to the very front seat leading to the cockpit. "And you're sitting with me. So move over there."

"Why do I have to be punished like this? What did I even do so wrong? Do I really have to sit with you even on this plane?"

Her statement made Luca grit his teeth. But oddly, her constant attempt to push him away made her look more interesting to him. In Luca's vocabulary, she's appetizing to him.

"Alright, then," he just muttered and sat beside her instead of sitting in front.

Juliette gasped in disbelief. "I'm not going anywhere. You don't have to guard me. Besides, we're on a freaking plane, where would I run away to?"

Instead of answering, Luca reached for the seatbelt on her seat, and the skin at the back of his hand brushed her arm. The contact sent a pool of warm sensations to both of their stomachs.

But both acted as if nothing happened. As if their skins never met.

Luca buckled her seatbelt for her and when it's all set, he stared at her face.

"What do you mean guard you?" he said. "I'm sitting here because I wanna be with you."

"What?"

Juliette didn't want to, but it seems like Luca had the ability to fluster her all the time.

'He's a flirt. He's a playboy. I could tell!' Juliette gushed inside her mind and made a resolve to stay away from him. She could tell he would hook girls and then leave them hanging in the air with his flirtatious disposition, his sweet tongue, and playful gestures.

"What I'm saying is…" Juliette saw how Luca's eyes traveled down to her lips before continuing. "Shut up before I shut you up."

Juliette perfectly understood what Luca meant.

Blood rushed through Juliette's cheeks, making them heavy and pulsating.

Luca's hand suddenly reached out for her lips, perhaps to touch it and tease her, so she immediately hindered what was about to happen.

"Don't touch me."

Luca's hand stopped right before it reached her lips. He smirked and then placed his hand back down on his lap.

When the pilot announced the departure, both Juliette and Luca stayed silent during the whole take-off. When the plane became stable up in the clouds, Luca placed Dante's coat on Juliette's lap.

Juliette raised her eyebrows at him to question what he's doing.

"If you don't want me to look, you better cover yourself. Or perhaps you want me to look?"

He playfully looked down on her chest. Irritated, Juliette took the coat on her lap and hit Luca with it. Because of this, Luca gave off a small flirty laugh.

"Is there even anything to look at? You have small boobs."

Juliette felt her blood rushing towards her face because of fury. She knows she's gonna blow up.

"Can you please shut the fuck up?" She couldn't hide the irritation in her small face and voice. "Small or big, why do you care? They're mine. And they'll never be yours, so you can fuck off."

Luca raised one eyebrow at what she said in the latter part. "You better not eat those words later," he warned.

Juliette grimaced. She's so pissed off.

'Who does he think he is? If he thinks he can get his way on girls, well not on me!' Juliette knows it's useless to whine inside her head but she couldn't help it.

Two flight stewardesses came to Luca's side pushing a cart with an ice bucket and a bottle of wine in there.

By the smile on the girls' faces, Juliette already knew they're trying to get Luca's attention.

"Good day, Sir Romano. I hope you're enjoying your flight today," one stewardess who has a mole at the tip of her nose said. She sounded formal but there's a hint of flirty tone in her voice.

"A glass of wine, Sir?" the other stewardess uttered with a subtle hint of flirtatious intent.

Meanwhile, Juliette focused her eyes outside the window. They're flying above cumulus clouds. If she was a kid she would've loved the idea that they're like sailing on a ship, the clouds as their ocean.

"No thanks. I'm afraid if I'm intoxicated with wine, I'll want something more intoxicating," Juliette heard Luca say so she turned her head sideways to look at him. Only to see him looking at her.

"What?" she asked in a heavy tone.

She saw the two stewardesses giving her nasty looks. As if they were irritated with her.

"How about you? Do you want something?"

"Yeah, to be anywhere not near you," she murmured under her breath.

What she said wasn't audible to Luca so he creased his forehead and asked, "What?"

"I mean, no, I'm fine." Juliette rephrased what she said earlier.

Luca turned to the two girls. "She said she's fine."

The girls wanted to say something more but couldn't because Luca had already turned his face back to Juliette. So they left with a frown.

Luca, on the other hand, gawked at Juliette. And this made her feel awkward at every passing second.

Juliette couldn't tell what she's seeing from his eyes. Was it fascination? Wonder? Curiosity? Or was it something dark?

Luca looked like he was mesmerized.

Until he spoke. "You have such beautiful eyes."

His statement immediately made her look away subconsciously. She had a rare pair of eyes. The left, black. The right, light brown. They were heterochromatic eyes.

Growing up, she didn't like her eyes. Other kids would tease her about it, call her an alien, a monster, a freak. But when she hit puberty, she had grown into such a beautiful youngster, and her eyes that were once the cause of her insecurity became her greatest asset.

She took a deep breath before she turned to face Luca with determination. "Do me a favor, Mr. Romano. Stop flirting with me."

Juliette was deadly serious. So it baffled her when his careless laughter echoed in the plane.

'Did I say something funny?' She could only ask herself.

Luca leaned into her ears and whispered. "If you don't like me flirting with you, should I then, start seducing you?"