Page 43 of Rogue Royal

“Hey!”

Mav chuckled and grasped her hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“So…how is this relationship triangle working for you?”

“Katrina!”

****

Chapter 16

Maverick

Mav spluttered the drink he’d taken, spilling it down his shirt. Douglas jumped up and grabbed a napkin from the table, helping Mav to mop it up.

“God, I’m sorry, Maverick. My mouth has been known to say stuff before my head has finished deciding if it was a good idea or not. I was only wondering how you were going to manage your relationship while Maverick works for you, Doug.”

Katrina wasn’t what Mav had expected when Douglas had described her. He was stereotyping a royal friend, but he’d expected a tall, slender, high-fashioned woman, but Katrina was much different. She was five-foot-five, if that, had a head full of curly brown hair and was overweight. Somewhere in Mav’s mind, he’d obviously put real-life Dommes in a box with the ones he’d seen on porn sites. This feisty, opinionated woman was not at all like he’d expected.

“It’s fine.” Mav smiled in her direction, forgiving her.

“You can stop pawing at him now, Douglas. I think he’s as clean as he’s going to get.”

Mav shook his head, laughing. “I think drinking—any kind of drink—around you might be a bad idea.”

Douglas threw the wet napkin at Katrina. “Shut up, Kat.”

“What didIdo?”

Douglas sighed. “Mav is my media manager and sorts out my schedule, along with other stuff.”

“I know who he is, Doug, but that’s my point. How are you keeping the relationship separate from the work?” She gulped her wine, finishing half the glass in one go.

Mav stared at Douglas, who glanced at him with a small smile. “We’re working on it.”

Mav raised his eyebrows.Working on it?What were they working on? Mav had assumed they were on the same page when King Andrew had interrupted them earlier that evening, but had Mav misinterpreted something?

They had blurred some lines when they’d “played” in Douglas’s rooms at Windsor, but now that they could do it here, it would be easier to keep the different aspects of their relationship separate. Wouldn’t it? It wasn’t as if they were in a romantic relationship. It was purely sex or sensation play, anyway. It’s not as if he had to worry about anything long-term.

His phone chimed, and he excused himself to check it.

ZARA: Crossed the line yet? ;-) x

Mav shook his head. He was sure she was telepathic. She always seemed to send him messages when he’d been thinking something about the same subject.

“Everything okay?”

Douglas’s hand was warm on his back, and Mav smiled over his shoulder at him. “Yeah, a message from a friend.” He refocused on his phone and replied.

MAV: Several of them x

He shoved his phone back into his pocket and tuned back into the conversation, which appeared to have changed from their situation to the charities Douglas was supporting. Mav listened as they talked through each one and what they were about, Mav throwing in his thoughts as they considered the best options. Finally, between them, they’d chosen three charities for Douglas to focus on for the time being.

Mav cleared away the paperwork, tucking it into his bag. When he stood, Douglas caught his hand.

“Are you not staying?”

Mav’s heart pounded with need, but he shook his head. “No. I’m going to go home. Rest up for tomorrow.” It was past midnight as it was. He needed space to figure out what the hell was going on between them.