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agitated
and there were raised voices with Lucien saying something about personal space.
But then Kev pulled him in for hug and Lucien returned it, so the personal
space issue had to have been sorted..
    When they parted, Kev’s demeanor was awkward and only
relaxed when Mickey walked up to stand beside him and Lucien. That was Max’s
cue to return to the small group.
    “So, Mickey and I are… y’know… and he says that I should…”
Kev cleared his throat.
    “Go on,” Mickey encouraged. The two weren’t standing closely,
but the way Mickey looked at Kev, all encouraging and supportive, made Max
suspect the friendship had changed. Was this what Lucien and Kev had been
talking about?
    “I wanted to apologize to Luke, for using him to try and
make Mickey jealous. I know it was shitty.” Kev looked at Lucien the whole time
he said this.
    “And I said it was fine,” Lucien replied, although he was
looking directly at Max.
    “I’m wondering if you’d like to double date one night?” Kev
asked in a rush.
    Max held back the snort of amusement. The last thing he’d
expected on this case was to be double dating with Kev and Mickey.
    “That would be good,” Lucien answered for them and stared at
Max, daring him to say otherwise.
    “Great,” Kev said with enthusiasm. “Maybe the weekend after
next? Pizza Express are doing a two for one with free wine?”
    “Text me the details,” Lucien said.
    Kev and Mickey left, and Lucien glanced sideways at Max.
“We’re double dating.” He wasn’t smirking, he looked genuinely happy. Then he
wrinkled his nose a bit. “I hope the pepperoni volcano is in the special offer.”
He walked away, and Max watched him for a moment before jogging to catch up. Something
natural had him slipping his hand into Lucien’s. When Lucien frowned, Max
leaned in.
    “PDA,” he whispered.
    Lucien half smiled but punctuated it with a roll of his
eyes.
    “You want to get a coffee?” Lucien asked as they turned into
the high street on the way home. The air was cold with the promise of snow and
the idea of stopping and grabbing a dark hot coffee had Max agreeing readily. Coffee
and seeing Lucien relax a little were both good things.
    Kev had never commented on the lack of PDAs between him and
Lucien or the fact that Lucien and Max hardly spoke at the pool past exchanging
swimming techniques, but someone would notice if they didn’t step it up.
    Besides, if Max’s nebulous idea that the letter writer would
see and act on what he saw was going to work, there had to be something for
them to see. It didn’t help matters that Max enjoyed these little excuses to
touch Lucien. There was a pull there between them and Max had already resolved
to contact Lucien after the case, if only for more coffee.
    Lucien ordered Max’s coffee and a black forest hot chocolate,
and together they chose a table at the back of the shop. Instinctively Max
positioned himself where he could see the door to the outside and the other
exit to the small kitchen. He did his usual checks, then finally allowed
himself the time to consider his coffee.
    “When you’re not on a job, do you still watch everything?”
    “Yeah, mostly.”
    Lucien sipped at his chocolate and licked away the cream
that collected on his upper lip. Max swallowed a healthy swig of the black
stuff to get his head back in the game. He’d been Lucien’s shadow for a while
now, and goddammit the man was playing with him. Walking around the warm house
without a shirt, sometimes with a towel the only thing covering his ass. Then there
was the whole Lucien-swimming thing.
    Max had seen a lot of naked guys in showers over the years; he’d
looked, of course he had, but he’d never focused on any one guy. But Lucien had
this way of hoisting himself up and out of the pool, water cascading from his
body, shimmering on his skin, collecting on hipbones, and sliding down his
legs. The tight Speedos left nothing to the imagination, and from the back his
ass