Truth Or Fiction

Chapter Forty Seven

Akiho had to almost restrain himself from bouncing in his seat as he unfurled his scroll. Hearing about his best friend's first date with Mal? Yes please!

As the two of them drove off to the location of the date known only to Ben, Mal couldn't help but wrap her arms around the Prince. If only to prevent herself from falling off the bike as she told herself.

"Keep telling yourself that Mal," Uma chuckled. It was clear as the sea that her cousin was at least intrigued by the Crown Prince.

And hey, they wound out married so there had to have been something between them. Even if it wasn't there before.

Ben though couldn't help but smile as he felt her arms around his torso.

Benji smiled at the memory. "It felt nice. There was always so little contact between Audrey and me on dates...this felt more personal in a way."

"Grammy always said that it's improper for there to be contact between a Prince and Princess on a date," Audrey said.

Benji shook his head. "We were already dating Audrey and everyone knew that! At the very least could have held your hand as we walked or had my arm around your shoulder. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Grammy always said that it's important to make it clear that there's not a sign of impropriety between couples before the marriage," Audrey said. "That way, there's no doubt about the heirs."

Lonnie couldn't help but facepalm as she heard that. "Oh for Gods' sake, it's Ben! He'd eat his own arm before he did anything to make you uncomfortable Audrey! But fine, if that's how you view it, more Ben cuddles for Mal."

"And I'll thank you to stop filling my daughter's head with that nonsense," Aurora said, glaring at Leah.

"So, I don't mean to pry," Mal said as they rode along. "Actually, who am I kidding, I love to pry. But um, shouldn't you have a swarm of security following us right now?"

"Yes! Pry about the lack of security!" Chip nodded.

"Isn't that something Akiho would normally say?" Emir asked.

Chip shrugged. "Since he's reading, I figured I'd take over for him for now."

"Technically yes," Ben said with a small smirk.

"Technically?"

"I gave them the day off," Ben chuckled at her reaction.

"Still can't believe you did that," Malinda shook her head.

"Brad and James had more important things to do than guard me on my date," Benji said. "Brad had his daughter's piano recital and James's sister apparently had given birth that day. Family's more important than work. Besides...I paid them time and a half every time I gave my security team a day off."

"That would explain why they never complain about not being able to do their job," Chip mused. "Oh wait a minute, they do!"

Audie smiled as she heard that. "So no matter the timeline, you've got the same two guards for your main security team."

"You did what?" Mal gasped. "Why?"

"Because I figured neither one of us wanted my security team following us around on our date. Do we?"

"And I for one didn't want my best friends potentially scaring off Mal either," Benji added as Emir and Akiho opened their mouths.

"Well, no not really," Mal told him. "But Ben, you're heir to the throne. I'm a VK. Wouldn't security just be natural?"