Armed & Dangerous (Cut & Run 5)

“Unless he decides to rip the shower enclosure out of the wall… yes.”

After hearing what had come out of Julian’s mouth, Cameron wasn’t too sure Ty should be so happy with himself.

Julian’s dry voice drifted out of the bathroom. “You’re an imbecile.”

“But I ain’t handcuffed to a shower.”

“I want to sit with Julian,” Cameron said.

“No,” Zane said in a pleasant voice.

“Why not?” Cameron asked, standing and holding up his handcuffed hands.

“Because we f**king said so,” Ty said. “Get in bed. Do it now.”

Zane shrugged out of his coat and hung it in the closet before picking up his duffel. “You get in bed too,” he told Ty with a jerk of his head toward the second bed. “I’m not sleeping.”

Ty looked at Zane as if he wanted to object, but he kept his mouth shut. He stripped off the T-shirt he’d changed into earlier and toed off his boots. He fell into the bed in just his jeans and burrowed his head under one of the pillows. He reminded Cameron of a very large dog throwing itself to the ground to take a nap.

He wondered how Ty planned to just go to sleep on command after drinking an entire Red Bull, but as he watched, Ty didn’t move, and soon his breathing evened out. Cameron stared at him in disbelief.

“He’s asleep,” he said without thinking.

“Yeah, he does that.”

Zane didn’t seem to be paying either of them much attention; he’d moved to the table in the corner and was pulling a stack of papers out of his messenger bag. He sat in the corner, running his hand through his hair to leave it unruly, fingers playing with his beard as he got to work. He looked a little more relaxed but still dark and dangerous. Rakish, even.

The gun went on the table right next to the papers. Only then did he glance back up at Cameron and raise an eyebrow.

Cameron wondered if it was too late to ask for a bathroom break.

AFTER an hour of writing down notes by hand, Zane caught himself staring across the room at Ty, who was sprawled on the bed nearest the bathroom, head under a pillow, body loose and relaxed. Zane doubted he was; Ty usually knew where he was even asleep. He could only remember one or two occasions when he’d done something while Ty was asleep and hadn’t woken him.

Just being able to see him was reassuring in ways Zane would have avoided exploring in the past, but now he could admit why. He loved his exasperating partner beyond all reason. He saw him as a lifeline he had desperately needed, an inspiration in so many ways.

Several minutes passed before Zane tore his gaze away from Ty’s half-naked body to glance around the room. Cameron was asleep as well, curled up under the blanket in the other bed. He looked young and innocent, though he couldn’t really be, what with spending so much time with a man such as Julian Cross. Zane looked to the bathroom. It had been quiet in there as well. With a sigh, he pushed back from the table to stand and stretch. He had kinks all up and down his back after the flight and the car ride combined with the tension of the situation.

“Come lay down,” Ty murmured in a low, hoarse voice, muffled by the thin pillow. He hadn’t moved. Zane wondered how he did that sometimes, sensed things without seeing them. Zane had never mastered that art, even while being blinded from his injury several weeks ago.

Zane glanced at Cameron before walking over to stand at Ty’s bedside and lifting the pillow off his head. “You should be asleep,” he said as he set his gun on the nightstand.

“But I’m not,” Ty whispered. “Come lay down with me.”

Zane wasn’t going to pass on a second request, not while all was quiet. He moved around to the foot of the bed and crawled up beside him, settling on his side and scooting up against Ty to lie in the crook of his arm. When he settled his cheek on Ty’s shoulder, he felt a warm calm soak into him as he pressed close to Ty’s exposed skin.

Ty growled and rolled, wrapping Zane up in his arms. “You need rest,” he said. He lowered his voice and moved his lips against Zane’s skin. “And I need you.”

Zane slid his arm up and around Ty’s neck as Ty pulled him close. It was about four a.m., and he’d been awake for almost twenty-four hours. But being this close to Ty after days apart wasn’t conducive to sleep. “Baby,” he whispered against Ty’s throat before pressing his lips to the soft, warm skin.

Ty hummed and ran his hand up and down Zane’s side, tugging at his shirt. He pushed his chin forward and kissed him. Zane sighed against his lips and inhaled Ty’s scent, letting it flood through him. The sandalwood was still there, and Zane would have to remember to ask where it had come from. It was intoxicating, and he was barely hanging on to the thought that one of their prisoners was sleeping not even ten feet away. But one kiss—just one—he had to have it, and he tightened his arm around Ty’s neck to deepen it.

Ty’s hands gripped him hard, and he pushed Zane back just enough to be able to kiss him harder. “Is that kid asleep?” he asked in a quiet rush.

“Seems to be,” Zane said under his breath as he tried to recapture Ty’s lips. “We shouldn’t do this.” But he pawed at Ty anyway.

“Zane.” His name was no more than Ty’s breath against his lips. “I don’t care if we should or not.”

“God, I thought we got this out of our systems,” Zane whispered, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment as his gut clenched with desire.

Ty kissed him again, pulling him until their bodies touched all over. “We can be quiet.”

Zane had to smother his laugh in Ty’s neck. “No we can’t,” he muttered with absolute certainty.

Ty pulled back and looked at him with one eyebrow raised. “Not even a little?” he asked with true disappointment.

“A little? You think I’m going to stop at just a little?” Zane shook his head and kissed Ty. He ached for Ty, inside and out, but this just wasn’t the time. A professional hit man was locked up in the bathroom, and another prisoner was in the next bed. It would have been comedic if it didn’t suck so much. “I want you more than anything,” he murmured against Ty’s lips. “And you can’t possibly imagine all the things I’m going to do to you. But for that, we need to be at home.”

“Goddammit.” Ty pulled his head back and sighed.

Zane nodded regretfully. “But for now we have this,” he whispered, burrowing in close.