What are some other questions to ask after "I don't mean to be rude but do you think we could talk about x?"

I want to have a conversation about a topic that would be interesting to me but I want to make sure the other person is open to the conversation. I feel like I don't want to scare others off by being the person that always just goes straight into asking things all the time. Is there some preface that I could add to this question to make it seem like I'm more just being genuinely curious and not that I'm always just asking Rude Questions?