Max squeezed his eyes shut. “Marie-Therese. She’s grown up a lot since then. That was fifteen years ago, half a lifetime. She’s one of my few family members who was at school with me. Most of my cousins attended day schools here like”—Max’s chest clenched, and he took a breath to steady himself before proceeding—”like Nico did. Alexandre and Christine were at Le Rosey, but she never got involved with taunting him. She was a music and theater kid and didn’t have time for teenage angst-drama.”
“And what was your nickname?” Dree asked, smiling a little more.
Maxence smiled at her in return, though his was a little sheepish. “Just a minute, let me text the security detail very quickly.” He typed texts for Major Richard Bernard, who was Quentin Sault’s second in command in the Secret Service, instructing him that Quentin Sault had been relieved of all duties, and Magnus Jensen and Rogue Security would now be his superior for the immediate future. He instructed that Jensen and his operators would need to inspect and evaluate the throne room immediately. Dree’s moment of upset had distracted him from the task, but as usual, he was back to taking care of the minutiae of running Monaco.
Max turned back to Dree and ignored the texts that immediately pinged his phone. “Arthur nicknamed me Pope Fuckitall.”
Dree snort-laughed at that, and even covered her mouth. “Pope Fuckitall? That’s hysterical.”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“So even then, you were telling people you wanted to be a priest, huh?”
“Ever since I read about Henry VIII and his older brother, Arthur Tudor, amusingly. Arthur Tudor was the heir to the throne, and Henry wanted to go off to Rome and be the Pope. But then, of course, Arthur died, so Henry Tudor became Henry the Eighth. I think it got into my head pretty deeply.”
“It’s funny that your nickname is sarcastic, too.”
“Not really,” Max said, thinking back over it.
Dree nodded. “Yeah, like Arthur, who’s the Earl of Givesnofucks, because he gives too many and wants to be the lord of everything. And Casimir is Prince Monster because he was reclaiming the word that hurt him and because he’s anything but a monster underneath.”
“Well, yes,” Maxence mused, but his nickname wasn’t sarcastic like theirs.
“And you’re Pope Fuckitall because Monaco is so important to you. No matter how much you tried, you couldn’t just say ‘Fuck it all’ and leave forever. When you were trying to hide who you were, you called your country ‘Monagasquay’ because you couldn’t stop talking about it. It’s always at the top of your mind.”
No.No, that wasn’t it. Maxence had been trying towalk awayfrom Monaco and the line of succession ever since he was old enough to figure out he was trapped.
“And then when Monaco needed you,” she said, “you immediately got on the helicopter and then the plane, even though we both thought it might be a trap, because Monaco was calling you. And then you just walked in and took over like you were always meant to be here,” Dree continued. “You walked into the Prince’s business office and set up shop like you owned the place because you do.”
“That’s not it. Somebodyhadto run Monaco. Even a city-state as small as Monaco can’t function if someone isn’t at the helm. I just did what needed to be done to stabilize the government until someone else could take over. I was grooming Nico to be elected this evening.” They had a few hours before the Crown Council meeting to rest and eat.
“Yeah,” Dree said, gazing at the long windows looking over the sea, “because you’ve always loved Monaco, and it’s your home. The country is your family because that’s what you love.”
She was laughing, so Max said, “I guess so.”
They stared at each other, still smiling, as their laughter died down.
“We’re safe,” she said, a little like she didn’t believe it.
“Yes,” he said.
“We’re safe, and you’re here, and you’re not on a boat somewhere being hurt, and I’m not in a closet listening to people discussing how they’re going to kill me or worse.”
When she said boat, thin slivers of ice branched through Maxence’s veins, but he stomped on them,no.
“We’re safe,” he told her, threading his voice with persuasion. He held her lovely little face in his hands, framing her cheekbones. “Look at me. We’re safe, my love, mychérie,and I will do anything,absolutely anything,to make sure nothing ever happens to you again. I’ll always come find you. I’ll always be there.”
Her blue eyes were huge and liquid, and he fell into them forever as she said, “I’ll always come back for you. I’ll always notice if you’re missing, whether if it’s because your motorcycle has a problem or someone else takes you away. I’ll always come find you.”
His chest clenched, and the palace seemed to dissolve into fog. She was his whole world, his everything. She was every single beat of his heart.
Dree searched his eyes with her gaze, and he saw the moment she chose to believe him. She inhaled, deep and with a gasp, and then she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him, her mouth slanting over his.
When women made the first move, their eventual surrender was so much sweeter. Max just needed to hold back, just a little, for a few minutes.
He opened his mouth and stroked her tongue with his, and running his hands up her hips and over her waist to her ribs, Maxence lifted her to her knees so she felt likeshewas kissinghim.
Even as his brain filled with testosterone-fueled fire and his body heated, Maxence let her take the lead, though her fingers running through his hair and her other hand stroking down his back was winding him up.
