They had planned to be open and out when they got home, planned to move in together and stop feeling like they needed to hide.
Now, though….
“Grady, Garrett!” Dan McCoy called from his office.
Clancy thanked Ty as she wiped her eyes and hurried away, leaving Ty and Zane staring at each other. Ty could feel the fear growing in both of them.
“Hey, fruitcakes! Now!”
Zane stood, and Ty followed him to McCoy’s office, feeling like he was moving through water. Of all the things that had happened in the last month, he thought maybe Michelle Clancy’s news was the hardest for him to take.
TY AND Zane filed into McCoy’s office to find Richard Burns sitting there waiting for them. McCoy closed the door for them, and Ty thumped down into one of the chairs. Zane followed a little more gracefully.
“We’ve still got all kinds of paperwork pending, but now that the CIA is deigning to tell us what the hell was going on over there, I expect this all to clear out pretty quickly,” Burns said from his seat behind Dan McCoy’s desk as he shuffled papers. He’d come all the way from DC to speak to them, rather than make them drive any more than they had to at that point.
Zane nodded absently, listening with half an ear, tapping his pen idly on the pad of paper in front of him. Another crisis past, another case closed, but so much had changed in the handful of weeks they’d been away. He felt off-balance being back at home in Baltimore. He felt like the world had changed, with all the revelations between him and Ty. Zane felt like he’d changed. The nervous swirling inside him was gone, replaced by an almost eerie calm. The uncertainty he always fought was taking a backseat to confidence he’d forgotten he possessed. And the most glaring change of all, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the love he was feeling for Ty was the real thing and that Ty reciprocated that conviction.
As Burns kept talking, moving on to a précis of what they’d missed, Zane glanced to his side. Ty was slouched, palm pressed to his cheek as he leaned his head on his hand. One foot rested on a knee, bouncing to a rhythm only he could hear. He was watching Burns attentively, but whether he was listening attentively was anyone’s guess. Zane gave him a fond smile and tuned back into what Burns was saying.
“… if anyone from over there contacts you directly again, you tell them to talk to me, got it?” Burns asked, thumping his fist on the desk.
“Yes, sir,” Ty murmured. He shifted in his seat, putting his foot on the floor and leaning forward expectantly. “If contact is made in person, are we allowed to hit or throw anything at them?” he asked, deadpan.
Zane chuckled and leaned back as he watched Burns roll his eyes.
“As entertaining as it might be to watch, I doubt that will happen,” Burns said.
“Yeah, we also sort of doubted that agents of another federal organization would try to hunt us down and kill us,” Zane muttered.
Ty glanced at him dubiously as if he disagreed, but he was smirking as he looked back at Burns.
“Is there anything else?” Ty asked almost cheerfully.
“No.” Burns waved a hand at them. “Go home. Relax. Come back to work Monday.”
Zane blinked. “But it’s Wednesday.”
“Shut up, Garrett,” Ty muttered as he stood and patted Zane on the shoulder. “Let’s go before he changes his mind.”
Zane immediately got to his feet. “Thank you, Director.”
“Get out of here,” Burns said with a melancholy smile.
Ty hesitated as he looked down at Burns. “Dick. I… I’m sorry about Jonas. I know how close you were.”
Burns nodded, pursing his lips. “He was a spook. And no matter how good your intentions, spooks always end up transparent in the end.” Zane glanced at Ty, uneasy. “When you get home, dump your second phone.”
“Sir?” Ty said, obviously too surprised to voice anything else.
“Get rid of it, Ty. I won’t be calling it again.”
Ty nodded, still looking shocked and just a little hurt by the words. Zane almost reached out to put a hand on his shoulder but stopped himself.
“You’ve given enough. There’s nothing more precious than trust, boys,” Burns said, voice somber. “You’ve got it. Don’t do something stupid and lose it, huh?”
“Yes, sir,” they both murmured before heading for the door.
They were almost to the elevator before Ty turned to look at Zane appraisingly. “Trust.”
Zane cut his eyes to look at him. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
Ty hummed, a sound similar to the one he made in bed. Zane’s body noticed. “Long weekend,” he said instead of commenting on trust again. “It’s dangerously close to the ‘vacation’ word.”
“And yet, you still said it.” Zane slid his hands into his pockets as they walked.
“I like to live on the edge.” Ty reached out and punched the button, then turned to lean his shoulder against the wall next to the elevator doors. He watched Zane.
Zane stifled the urge to shuffle his feet and simply returned Ty’s look with a raised eyebrow. Ty didn’t speak as he met Zane’s eyes. The elevator doors opened up, and he nodded for Zane to step in. Zane let out a slow breath as he did, turning to lean back against the side wall as Ty joined him.
As the elevator doors slid shut, Ty leaned against the mirrored back wall and sighed. “I’ve interrogated people who looked more relaxed than you.”
Zane offered Ty a wry smile. “I don’t want to have to hide. But… I don’t want to be sent to North Carolina either.” He felt a little more comfortable when he could look at Ty openly rather than constantly reminding himself not to watch his lover’s every move. That was tiring. Zane didn’t remember doing that to himself before.
Ty nodded, swallowing hard. “We can still be together.” His manner was calm and soothing, but beneath the surface Zane could hear a hint of nervousness, so rare in his partner that he wasn’t sure he hadn’t imagined it.
Now that Zane had the opportunity to say something, everything in his head sounded so… silly. He gave in to the nerves and rubbed the back of his neck. “You still want me to move in?” he asked, chancing a look at Ty.
Ty pressed his lips together and nodded, glancing down at his feet. “We could have all your things moved by the weekend. We can pull it off. Don’t you think?” he asked as he looked back at Zane. “Say you’re renting a room from me or something.”
Zane tilted his head to one side as their eyes met again. “I think I could pull anything off if it meant waking up with you every morning,” he said, his voice barely audible.
Ty nodded, not looking away from Zane. “Well,” he started, a smile forming as his hazel eyes warmed. “Why don’t we start with tonight, and we’ll go from there.”
The relief made Zane laugh, and he nodded. How the hell did Ty make everything seem so simple? “I’d like that.”
Ty chuckled, the sound low and warm and familiar. “Life is hard and confusing, Zane. Love doesn’t have to be.”
Zane raised both brows in mild surprise as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. His instinctive response would have to wait until they were out of the building. He walked alongside Ty down the hall as they headed into the parking deck. “No more fortune cookies for you,” he said as he caught Ty’s eye. “You’re way too Zen.”
“I’ll quit my fortune cookie moments of Zen when you stop making awful puns.”
“But I’m such a punny guy,” Zane mock complained, one hand over his heart.
“Quit it, Cheeseball.” Ty swatted at Zane’s head for emphasis.
Zane grinned and ducked, turning to walk backward in front of Ty. Ty looked him up and down with a rakish smile. It warmed Zane almost to the point of distraction. “So Chinese is out for dinner. Anything else sound good?”
“Let’s go out.”
“You just don’t want to be left alone in the house with those cats.”
“They’re not so bad. Once you get used to their heads spinning. But seriously, let’s go sit down somewhere where you get real silverware and I can grope you under a classy tablecloth.”
Zane laughed. He didn’t care where they went, as long as they were together. “It’s a little early yet, just now four.”
Ty sneered and looked across the parking deck in the direction of his rental. “Let’s go drive that thing into the harbor and see how long it takes the insurance adjustor to get there,” he said, his eyes shining just enough to make Zane fear he might actually do it.
“Let’s not and just fantasize about it at an early dinner.” Zane would rather Ty not go postal over another vehicle just yet. He reached out and snagged Ty’s arm as he turned to walk beside him. “How about a trip to the batting cages, then we can clean up and get a decent dinner?”
Ty looked sideways at him, grinning widely. He nudged him with his shoulder as they walked, the smile turning warmer and somehow more intimate without really changing. “Are you asking me out on a date?”
Zane smirked. “I guess I am. If by ‘date’ you mean we end up naked and sweating.”
Ty laughed. “You do know how to charm me,” he said, looking away and shaking his head.
“Hey, I can be charming,” Zane said, bumping Ty’s shoulder as they came to a stop at Ty’s rental.
Ty turned to him, leaning against the sedan and crossing his arms loosely against his chest. He was still smiling. Not his usual smirk or crooked grin that always warned Zane when he was up to something, but an honest, serene smile. “Yes, you can be,” he said after a few moments of comfortable silence.
The concession made Zane’s pulse speed, and he knew he was smiling like a fool. He inhaled deeply and willed away an impulse that could only bring trouble. They had to be more careful than they had been. They could do it.
“Pick you up in an hour?”
“I’ll be waiting,” Ty promised in a low voice that was smooth as honey. Somehow he seemed to know the effect his words had on Zane, and he was antagonizing him with the gentle flirtation.
Zane narrowed his eyes and glared at Ty for a moment before turning toward his own truck, trying to ignore how flushed he was. He’d get back at Ty tonight, in the privacy of their home. The home they would be sharing from now on.
Ty would be there; that was all that mattered.