Max and the Prince

by R. J. Scott

  “I only have Speedos,” he said.

  Max groaned inwardly at images of the tiny scraps of fabric that were nothing more than budgie-smugglers. Still, he was game for most things. “And you think I wouldn’t want to use those because…?”

  Lucien wrinkled his nose. “Swimming is possibly the most homoerotic team sport there is, well, that and diving. Think you can handle it?” He was smiling, like this was a joke to him. The idea of his big—or maybe small—bad bodyguard in Speedos with other guys was clearly funny.

  “I can handle guys in tight Speedos,” Max reassured him. There was only one person he’d be looking at and that was Lucien. “There’s something you should probably know at this point. I don’t generally do this boyfriend thing with other charges.”

  “Because you’re not actually gay,” Lucien said.

  “No, I’m gay, I just don’t like pushing the boundaries if I don’t have to.”

  Lucien’s eyebrows climbed so high they nearly disappeared under the hair falling on his forehead. “Wow, I thought it would be a real hardship for you, hell, my gaydar is completely nonfunctioning.”

  Max shrugged and checked his watch. “We need to eat. What time do we have to be at the pool?”

  “It’s open until ten. I get there at about half eight when a lot of people have left.”

  “So how long after we eat do we swim?”

  Lucien frowned. “I eat, then I walk, then I swim.” He even added in the motions of eating, walking, and swimming.

  “I meant, how long do you need to wait after eating before swimming?” Max recalled the old adage “Never swim on a full stomach,” but from the way Lucien was looking at him, maybe that was an old wives’ tale.

  Lucien brightened. “Oh right. We’ll be fine by the time we get there.”

  Max decided to change the conversation, bright happy Lucien was way too distracting. He coughed to clear his throat.

  “Did you include the staff at the pool on the list of suspects?” It was Max’s job to ask, he just wished he could do something about the sudden look of disappointment on Lucien’s face.

  “Should I have done? They all seem like nice people.”

  Max nodded. “Everyone. Write it down and I’ll send it to Ross.”

  “Okay, I’ll do something to eat. Pasta okay?”

  “You cook?” Max couldn’t help the question; the fact that a prince cooked surprised him, although why he didn’t know.

  Lucien stopped on the third step from the top and rounded on Max. He looked pissed. “Is that a comment about my title or the fact I’m a student?”

  Max considered his answer carefully. Lucien obviously put store in the fact he did things maybe a normal stereotypical prince didn’t do. Smoothly, he said, “Everyone knows students don’t cook.”

  His answer appeared to be the right one, a small smile on Lucien’s face showing he liked the comment.

  “I cook. Tomato sauce with onions and pasta. Pasta is good for you.”

  Max followed him down the stairs. “What else do you cook?”

  Lucien chuckled. “Pasta is pretty much my entire repertoire. Although sometimes I mix it up by adding chicken.”

  This teasing side of Lucien was kind of nice, replacing the fear and concern and the big chip he had on his shoulder about the whole prince thing.

  “I like chicken.” And yes, that was lame, but it was enough to get another of Lucien’s smiles thrown his way.

  And they really were lovely smiles.

  Chapter 4

  The walk to the leisure center was bracing, the icy January wind cutting through Lucien’s jacket and freezing his hands. He pushed them deeper into his pockets and shrugged his shoulder when his sports bag slipped a little.

  “I can’t believe you swim in this weather,” Max muttered next to him. His breath puffed white in the cold air, and he was buried in his coat. He’d taken the position between Lucien and the road, but he didn’t look twitchy or like he was looking around all the time. Was this how a bodyguard worked? Lucien had only ever known Teddy, and he was pretty much the in-your-face big man who dared you to try anything.

  “It’s indoors,” Lucien said as helpfully as he could.

  Max sent him that look that spoke volumes, one that said, I know that. “Something I should know before we get there.”

  “What?”

  “Are you fully out at university? I know you mentioned that people know, but…”

  Lucien glanced at Max. He hadn’t expected that question because he thought they’d already covered it. “Yes. When it all went horribly wrong back home, my family managed my coming out with the correct announcements and I spent time just licking my wounds. I didn’t need to justify anything here. I just arrived Luke Magrello, gay, weird accent, kinda quiet and shy.”

  Lucien opened the door to the center and the rush of warm air on his face was welcome. Their arrival meant Lucien didn’t have time to ask if Max was out and proud as well. Good thing, too, because that could have led to all kinds of things in his head that he really needed to keep a lid on. Like attraction. Lust. He didn’t have a type, not really, not tall men or shorter men or average-sized men, not brunets or blonds, but something about Max was attractive. Lucien had to face it, all he wanted, all he craved was affection and something solid and real.

  Not going to get that with a man who is nothing more than a temporary addition to my life.

  He walked past reception and led Max up the stairs to the changing area, rows and rows of cubicles and a corridor that ran from them to a room marked Team. The rest of the team wouldn’t be here until nearer nine, but he always got in early just to spend time in the water, mostly floating on his back in the empty Olympic-size pool and contemplating life. A group of kids ran past them, the flick of water from wet hair reaching bare skin, and he laughed as Max tensed.

  “You’ll get wetter in the pool,” he said.

  Max grimaced and brushed the water from his hands onto his jeans. “I don’t like surprises,” he explained.

  Lucien’s good mood subsided. Of course. Max was on edge watching and waiting for whatever madman—or woman—threatened Lucien. Lucien punched in the code to enter and the door opened for them to go in.

  “So when the door shuts, it locks,” Max asked, “and you’d need a code to get in?”

  “Yep.”

  “And what about the kids? Do we have them in the same pool as us? With parents?”

  “No, they have the fun side. The main events pool is separate and shut to everyone but teams this late at night. The last group to use it is some aqua aerobics session and that finished an hour ago. The people that go to that use the main changing rooms.”

  Max nodded and did a quick walk around the team changing area: a few cubicles, a wall of lockers, a stand of showers, and benches with hooks. Not much to see. Finally seeming happy, he came back to stand next to Lucien and pulled off his coat before hanging it up. Then came the T-shirt, pulled up and over his head along with the red sweatshirt, and for the first time Lucien got a look at Max’s chest. He had a faint amount of lightish hair that slightly darkened his chest and nipples, but nothing much to write home about. He was well-muscled for a small guy, and each muscle was hard and defined. High on his left pec was a small scar, a line that ran for about an inch, and unbidden Lucien reached to touch the mark. When he realized what he was doing, he dropped his hand and hoped to hell Max hadn’t noticed. Before Max could say a word, Lucien turned his back and began to undress.

  He’d done this before, changed in front of the guys, but he was irrationally pleased when he saw Max turn away from him to finish getting changed. Back to back, Lucien could pretend he wasn’t aware of how good Max looked.

  Finally changed, he grabbed his towel and zipped his bag before stepping back.

  “Wait,” Max said abruptly. “Do you just leave your bag out like this?”

  “Yeah?” Lucien was puzzled by the horror on Max’s face.

  “And your pho
ne is in there? Your wallet?”

  “I… The room is locked.”

  Max pressed his lips in a straight line. “No, from tonight everything of yours goes in a locker.” He fished in his jeans and pulled out two coins, then grabbed his stuff and pushed it into the first locker. Coin in, he closed the door, then tried it to make sure it was locked. “Now you.”

  Lucien eyed his bag. His first instinct was to say that he’d never needed a locker before, but then that made a mockery of what he was doing. Why agree to a bodyguard 24/7 if he wasn’t going to listen to Max? He wasn’t stupid—dead clients were surely the ones who didn’t listen to their bodyguards. Instead, he scooped up everything and placed it in the next locker down, taking the coin Max held in his hand he then locked his belongings away.

  He wasn’t staring when Max leaned down to check that it was secure. Well, he was, but he wouldn’t admit it to anyone just how gorgeous Max was near naked. Yes, he had his tight Speedos, but they showed more than they hid. They were low on his ass, the swell of the top of his cheeks just visible above and the material taut across muscles. And his thighs…

  I wonder if he’s a top, because I’d really like—Fuck, stop thinking shit like that.

  “Are you okay?” Max asked. Lucien blushed and coughed to hide his embarrassment. Was Max smirking? Or hell, outright laughing? No, Max was looking at him with a blank expression on his face.

  “Fine. Come on, let’s go.”

  “Where’s everyone else?”

  “They’ll be here in a bit. It’s just me in the pool at the moment, so do your thing and I can see what we have to work with.”

  “I do okay,” Max said with a shrug.

  They walked through the showers and out to the wide Olympic-length pool. This was a nice place, always clean, quiet when Lucien needed it to be, and the scent of chlorine was reassuringly the same as home. The place was empty apart from a couple of lifeguards standing by the hoist. They were talking and looked over to see who had come in but looked away again when they saw it was one of the club guys.

  “They here all night?” Max asked.

  “Rules,” Lucien said.

  “Okay, so now what?”

  Lucien felt worries and concerns slip away as he stretched out, then stood poised at the deep end. “Now we see if you can swim.”

  Max glanced at him. “Go,” he called and executed a perfect dive into the water before surfacing a little way ahead with strong steady crawl strokes.

  Lucien followed him in, the weight of the water over his head flicking a switch. His dive was better, his glide longer, his strokes more even and controlled, and he caught Max near the other end. They reached it at the same time, Max treading water and looking at Lucien.

  Self-conscious, Lucien pushed his long dark hair off his face. “You’re good,” he said. “A little erratic on the breathing, but we can work on that.”

  Max ducked under water and tilted his head so the water slicked his hair as he bobbed back up. “I’m not going on your team,” he said.

  “I know.” The need to put a smile on Max’s serious face had him wanting to tease. “You’re not good enough for the team. Way too short.”

  In a smooth move, Max jumped up and pressed on Lucien’s shoulders until he was under water, then let him go so he bobbed up like a cork. “Fucker,” he said with a snort of laughter. He laid on his back and floated away from Lucien, and Lucien copied him, staring up at the glass and concrete ceiling and the reflection of the water in the glass. Sometime he could see himself reflected, lying flat and sculling with small movements of his hands, other times he was looking at the reflection of Max. He couldn’t help himself.

  Max was gorgeous, cute, sweet, sexy, hot, and was also some dangerous bodyguard.

  Lucien didn’t stand a chance.

  It didn’t get any better when the team arrived. Fifteen students milled around and warmed up before all being called over to one point, where the captain, Kev Milsen, was talking strategy. No one called Max on being there at first. In fact, Lucien wasn’t even sure anyone had noticed him. Then Kev blew that out of the water.

  “New recruit, Luke?”

  Lucien startled, then called on years of training in sticky social situations. “Hey, everyone, this is Max.”

  A chorus of heys and his, and as quickly as that, Max was seen, vetted, and sorted.

  They worked on diving, they worked on sprinting, Kev decided that relay was where it was at, but instead of lengths, it was intense widths where there wasn’t much resting. Max stayed on the sideline and didn’t charm himself into being part of the team. That was fine with Lucien at first, until he realized Max was more of a distraction sitting on the edge of the pool than he was hidden under the water.

  At half time they took a break, and Lucien pushed himself up and onto the side of the pool, shoving back his wet hair and grabbing his towel.

  “Hey, Luke,” one of the team called. Lucien turned. Kev and Mickey were coming his way. He groaned internally. He had to show respect to Kev since he was captain of the swim team, and yeah, he was a good swimmer, but he was also an ass. And a little bit too touchy-feely for Lucien’s peace of mind. Kev was always asking for dates with Lucien, inevitably while standing right in front of Mickey who plainly adored Kev. Mickey appeared to roll with it, but Lucien tried to avoid any alone time with Kev, or both Kev and Mickey together.

  The two were forever trying to get him to go out with the team, but the latest idea, an eighties-themed night at the local bar, was just another idea of hell for Lucien.

  “Hey,” he responded.

  “A week Friday for the pub, yeah?” Mickey said with a smirk. He was just as bad as Kev, always teasing and trying to get Lucien in on the social side of the team. It was Kev who talked about team building, but Mickey who talked about how 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 differ? What the hell? I’ve been handling Kev for two years. I don’t think you have any idea what you are talking about.”

  “Lucien—”

  “Don’t Lucien me. You’re here to watch my back and keep me safe. BI may have suggested the boyfriend cover, but we never agreed on it, and I didn’t have time to prepare. You do not drape yourself all over me and make people think we are a couple without warning me first.”