By Royal Decree //Princess&Bodyguard

6.

Theo's POV:
I headed upstairs to her room, hovering outside for a few seconds before knocking lightly. She didn't respond and so I knocked again, listening carefully for any noise.

Her soft whimpers let me know that she was infact awake. I took a deep breath, telling myself to walk away and leave her alone but I couldn't. My job was to protect her, look after her.

'Miss Baldwin, do you mind if I come in?' I called, leaning against the door to hear her response.

'It's your day off.' She mumbled.

'I'm here to check on you.' I responded, pushing the door open when she didn't give me a direct no.

She was curled up in her bed with a hot water bottle pressed against both her spine and her stomach. She was in pain and I knew that it wasn't meant to be as crippling as it was. I wasn't sure why none of her maids hadn't realised it before.

'I think you should go to the doctor, Miss Baldwin.' I insisted, sitting down on the edge of her bed and pressing the back of my hand against her forehead.

'It's just period pain, Mr Samuel, I'm ok.' She said, looking up at me with glossy eyes.

I looked between her and the door, knowing that if someone were to walk in I'd most likely be sacked on the spot.

'Roll onto your back.' I ordered, moving away a little so that she had space to do as I told her.

'I'm comfy like this.' She argued.

'Trust me.'

She narrowed her eyebrows before turning over and doing as I said, moving her hot water bottle to the side and sighing a heavy sigh.

'I'm gonna need you to lift your tshirt up a little, princess.' I said, regretting the tone I'd used as soon as it slipped from my mouth.

'You'd like that, wouldn't you?' She responded, doing as I said, but closing her eyes too, most likely too embarrassed to look me in the face after her bold comment.

'Do you want help or not?' I snapped, ignoring the smile that was trying to force its way onto my face.

She didn't respond, keeping her eyes closed, breathing in one sharp breath of air when my hands connected with her stomach. We both sat in silence as I slowly began to massage her lower abdomen.

My sister was a masseuses and she'd taught me how to provide this specific massage a few years ago, telling me I'd need it one day. I called it bluff and didn't believe her, but the relief that it was giving the princess proved me wrong.

'That's good, Mr Samuel.' She whispered softly, after a few moments, lifting her back in the air to give me better access to her stomach.

My eyes opened wider at the sight of her arching herself in the air, and so I pushed her back down, making an excuse about how I wouldn't be able to massage her as thoroughly.

It was bad. It was really bad. I shouldn't be having those kinds of thoughts about the girl I was hired to protect. Well, truthfully speaking, I had agreed to much more than protecting her, but I knew from the start that I'd never keep my end of the bargain.

Her brother, the king, had approached my agent with an emergency a few days prior, saying that his sister needed a bodyguard and I had to be the man for the job. I accepted, and he'd told me we'd speak through terms when I arrived at the palace.

He'd told me all about his sisters agreement with the prince, and how he wanted her to fall in love with anyone but him before her birthday. He'd hired me to keep her away from him until she fell in love on her own.

He'd wanted her to fall in love with me. It'd taken a lot of convincing on his end, but the money was unreal and I was not about to pass up the opportunity to retire at the age of 29, and so I agreed with the full intention of steering her towards any man besides me and calling it bad luck.

I was not a relationship man, nor was I ready to be. I did not want to introduce her to my dark past and my even darker present, knowing that I could essentially put her in more danger than I could ever protect her from. Not to mention how much she got on my nerves.

'Are you okay? You look a little distracted.' Mia said, snapping me from my thoughts.

She was right. I'd stopped massaging her completely and my hands sat still on her waist. I moved them away, standing up from the bed and coughing awkwardly, handing her back a hot water bottle.

'I hope that I was able to help.' Was all I could muster, leaving the room before she had time to respond.

Well done Theo. That was embarrassing. Aren't you meant to be a man? You can't even squeeze out a normal sentence in front of the woman you're paid to be around.

I shook the thought from my head and walked back to my room, leaving the door slightly ajar just so that I was aware of any goings on outside.

My phone pinged and I hesitated to read the text, knowing that it would be my agent. He found this whole situation a lot more amusing than I did, and had bombarded me with texts since the job started.

Francis: you got the girl yet, Romeo?

Me: I am not here to get the girl, Francis. Besides, she's a total ass.

Francis: ok ok, well I'd better get a wedding invite because I got you this job, you know.

I ignored his text and huffed heavily. They were trying to force her from one arranged marriage to another. Granted, she didn't know about her brothers plans, and she'd forced the last marriage proposal on herself, but that's not how it felt to me.

I wanted to fall in love and mean it, if it was to ever happen. I didn't see myself falling in love with the princess. She raged me more than anyone had in my life. It would never work.

I didn't believe myself to be capable of love and if love every fell into my lap, I knew I was too likely to destroy it.

I didn't want to be the man to ruin the innocence and light in her eyes. She needed to stay happy. And for that she needed to stay away from me.