Read Online Max and the Prince by R. J. Scott - Free Book Online Page B

was tight and muscled and caused Max to lose all thoughts of propriety. His
brain was short-circuiting; that had to be the reason.
    “What’s wrong?” Lucien asked, snapping Max from his
thoughts.
    “What?”
    “You look miles away. Is there a problem?” Lucien looked
over his shoulder at the door, and Max saw the flicker of concern in his
expression.
    “No.”
    Lucien turned to face him again. “Just no?”
    Max imagined Lucien wanted him to expand on what he was
saying, to include some explanation as to why he was distracted. That was not
going to happen.
    “Just no. What did Kev talk to you about?”
    “He wanted to apologize for being a pushy bastard—his words not
mine. He realized he was only doing it to look good in front of Mickey and
apparently Mickey called him on it.”
    “You looked pretty upset at first.”
    “He said some stuff at the start. He was tripping over his
words, said I made him nervous.” Lucien concentrated on his chocolate.
    “What did he say that upset you?”
    “Why do you want to know? So that you can add it to your
report on him?” Lucien challenged him with a focused gaze.
    “No, like I said, you looked upset.”
    “He said I was a challenge because I was icy and closed off,
which he immediately apologized for, but he’s right.”
    “Self-preservation is not a bad thing,” Max pointed out. He
decided to nip this in the bud. There was nothing icy about Lucien, but he
needed to move the conversation away from this reveal.
    “So tell me about the meet,” Max said.
    “Oh God, the meet, I’m so sorry about that, I never expected
you’d be added to the reserves.” Lucien pressed his lips in a tight line. “I
told them you were just wanting to keep your hand in, not actually be part of
the team.”
    Max shrugged. He didn’t really care much about being added
to the reserves for the uni swim team, he was about seventh on the list so it
wasn’t likely he’d be called up to actually participate, and it gave him the
perfect excuse to stay close to Lucien.
    “What will you do if you’re called up?” Lucien asked. He
worried his lower lip with his teeth—he really had the most mobile mouth.
    Max gave what he thought was an obvious answer. “Swim.”
    That made Lucien laugh, and just the sound made Max happy.
Stupid really, but Lucien was a quiet guy who avoided the teasing and joking from
the rest of the team at training. And it wasn’t as if Jamie was the most
talkative or happy man in Cardiff to encourage Lucien to smile.
    “Well, duh,” Lucien deadpanned.
    “What about the party after? We need to consider logistics.”
    Lucien shook his head quickly. “You don’t need to, I don’t
do the parties.”
    The words made sense in Max’s bodyguard mind. Lucien at a
party was a logistical nightmare, but there was an air about Lucien, like he
was sad he wasn’t going, a hint of resignation in his voice.
    “Why?” It had to be asked. At the end of the day, if
something was making Lucien uncomfortable, then Max wanted to know.
    Lucien glanced around him, scraped at the chocolate left in
his glass, then sighed. “I can’t trust myself. What if I drink—which I try to
avoid—and I say something stupid, or worse, do something stupid? And it’s not
like the team are my friends as such, and if I can’t be their friends when I’m
Luke and sober, how could I trust them if I was drunk and revealed I was… the
real me?”
    Max pushed his coffee cup to one side and leaned forward,
very aware when Lucien leaned in as well. “The rest of the team like you. Yes,
I get that Kev is a bit in your face and his friend Mickey is a bit of a follower,
but they actually make a good couple and we might even have fun.”
    Lucien lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, right.”
    “Lucien, they wouldn’t have invited us to double date if
they didn’t want to, and they wouldn’t keep asking you to the swim team socials
if they didn’t want you to go. They like Luke as he is. And you can