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

many times he was sick on a weekend from overindulging in beer.
    “I’ll try to make it,” Lucien said. “I have two assignments—”
    Kev stepped way too close and placed a hand on his arm. “You
should come as my date,” he said in a low voice so no one else in the team, all
of whom were chatting on the opposite side of the pool, would hear.
    “I can’t.” Why can’t I? he asked himself. He’d kind
of run out of excuses to avoid the various social events—and by extension, Kev.
Kev was a bit of a dick and Lucien wouldn’t date him if he was the last gay man
on earth.
    Kev shook his head. “Lucien—”
    “He can’t,” a voice said at his side even as an arm
insinuated itself around his waist. Lucien almost sagged in relief. Max. “Not
without me,” Max added.
    Kev glanced at where Max had his arm around Lucien and his
eyes narrowed. “What is this?” he said. He sounded shocked and looked it as
well, but Lucien saw that Mickey had a beaming smile.
    Lucien opened his mouth to answer, but Max got there first.
“Been together a while now,” he said. He added punctuation to the sentence by
squeezing Lucien’s hip and leaning into him.
    “Then you’ll both come?” Mickey asked. He appeared to be
oblivious to the Kev/Max showdown and was still smiling.
    “Maybe,” Max said. With a tug, he pulled Lucien away and
began to walk around the pool to the other side and the rest of the team.
    “What did you do that for?” Lucien hissed. “We never actually
agreed on the boyfriend thing.”
    Max shook his head. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Your body language screamed help, and that’s what I do.”
    “Yeah, between me and knife or a car or a bullet, but… hell…”
Lucien didn’t know why he was even angry. It had been BI’s idea to install Max
as a boyfriend, but he’d been relieved when Max hadn’t immediately agreed to
the solution. And suddenly here Max was holding him like he was a possession and
it felt…
    Shit. It felt good. It felt more than good. I knew
this might happen , so why am I angry?
    They reached the rest of the group and were soon caught up
with the last stage of the training session, but Lucien was determined not to
forget this. Nope. Not at all.
    Just wait until we get home.

Chapter 5
    Why did I do that?
    Max wasn’t surprised that he and Lucien changed in silence
because Max had seriously pushed boundaries. He didn’t have to be an expert in
human expressions to see that Lucien was confused but was clearly just too
cultured to ask questions in public. Proclaiming they were boyfriends had
been Kyle’s idea back at BI. It was still a good idea. The first job he’d had
with BI had been a skin job of sorts, with Max pretending to be the boyfriend,
but this was just ever so slightly different.
    Something about Kev Milsen had Max putting the guy to the
top of the suspect list. He was way too handsy, and Lucien was intimidated by
him, that much was obvious. Max was just doing what he could to protect his
charge.
    They left the leisure center, Max walking out first and an
impassive Lucien following close behind.
    “Later,” one of the team called at Lucien.
    “Later,” Lucien replied. They fell into step next to each
other.
    “Look, Lucien—”
    “We’ll talk when we get home.” Lucien cut him dead, and the
short walk back to the student house was tense. By the time they closed the
front door behind them, Lucien had irritation sparking in his eyes.
    “Jamie? Emily?” he called out, then waited for a reply.
Nothing. Without warning, he rounded on Max. “How dare you do that?”
    Max considered the answers he could give and eventually
decided on the truth. Always the best policy in his opinion. “The situation
called for it.”
    Lucien stepped towards him, both hands clenched at his
sides. “Excuse me?” he asked. “There was no situation.”
    “I beg to differ.” Max used his best authoritative voice,
but Lucien wasn’t taken in by it.
    “Beg to