One thing he did know: Ty was fearless.
He laughed slightly, shaking his head and turning around to look through the cabin. He wondered where Ty had gotten to. His partner had mentioned something about needing to run an errand as they left the restaurant after lunch. Zane had already decided to be lazy for a while, so he"d come back to their cabin, kicked off his shoes, and padded across the room to the chaise, where he sat and stretched out with a sigh.
It was only a few minutes later when he heard the door to the stateroom open and close, and then the rustle of a plastic bag as Ty came in and set down whatever he"d bought.
“I"m pretty sure I just got groped while buying toothpaste,” Ty told him with a frown as he struggled with the tiny buttons of his shirt.
“By a tiny little old lady with dead butterflies on her hat.”
Zane had to fight hard not to laugh. He had noticed the past few days that whenever Ty got frustrated, he began pulling off pieces of clothing left and right. It wasn"t like Zane didn"t mind looking, but the fact that he was doing so now probably meant he didn"t think being groped was funny.
“I"m surprised it wasn"t more than that, you wearing those pants,”
Zane murmured, eyeing Ty"s ass.
Ty rolled his eyes. Zane wondered how much longer Ty would go before he put a stop to the lecherous comments Zane intended to keep making. He watched his partner, appreciating the view as Ty went to sit on the sofa, propping his feet up on the table in front of him. “I"m bored,” he told Zane grumpily. “How do people live like this?”
“I have no idea,” Zane murmured sleepily. He was bored too. But at least he could go to the casino and feel like he was doing something worthwhile, even if he hadn"t discovered anything useful so far. He"d seen Vartan Armen twice outside of their poker games, but only for the seconds it took for Armen to nod and move on. It obviously wasn"t
“time” yet.
They"d been dancing, shopping, touring, swimming, and neither really had any interest in shuffleboard. Zane had been only half joking when he suggested the country-Western line dancing lessons, which had set Ty to cackling. Aside from those options, Ty was stuck…
sunning himself and making nice with Signora Bianchi, whom he desperately avoided every chance he got. It had moved past funny into ridiculous a day ago.
Ty dug the heels of his hands into his eyes and groaned miserably as he rubbed at them. Zane opened one eye to peer at him. “What"s wrong?” he asked. The rubbing looked like more than simple tiredness.
“Are you that restless?”
“Yes,” Ty answered in frustration. “I haven"t gone for a run in a week,” he grumbled as he sat up, and his knee began to bounce rapidly.
“The only thing I"ve managed to do is climb half a rock wall and then nearly fall off. And paddle lazily around some private island.”
“So go for a run,” Zane said easily, ignoring the sarcasm.
“There"s a really nice running track around the upper outside deck.
You"ve got the body of a runner. No one would think anything about it.”
“Oh, I have the body of a runner, huh? Zane,” Ty said slowly, closing his eyes as he leaned forward, as if he were about to broach a complicated subject with a small child, “I have never been leered at so much in my life,” he said with emphasis. “By men or women. There is no way in hell I"m going to any of the gyms or running anywhere unless it"s nighttime and everyone"s at the clubs trying to get laid.”
Zane couldn"t hold in the quiet laugh. “Poor baby. You cannot tell me you haven"t been ogled a lot in your life.”
Ty looked at him with wide eyes, his frustrated expression one of complete sincerity. “No,” he insisted. “At least if I was, I never fucking noticed it!”
Zane frowned. “You"re serious?” He looked Ty up and down significantly.
“Yes,” Ty said in an affronted voice. He shifted uncomfortably under the sudden scrutiny and stood. “Why?” he asked defensively as he began moving toward the balcony.
“Because….” Zane had seen Ty use his good looks to his advantage. He knew that Ty was aware of how he appeared to others.
He could turn on the charm and all but the coldest of hearts would melt for him, and half of that battle was physical. But Zane suspected what Ty was talking about now was a different type of ogling, and he thought better of a flippant answer. He studied Ty for a long moment, realizing that blowing off the question wouldn"t make his partner feel better. “You"re a very handsome man,” he settled on, keeping his voice low and serious.
Ty turned and looked at Zane over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised as if he expected there to be a joke following the statement.
When he saw that Zane was serious, he gave him a slight jerk of his chin and snorted at him before turning to look out at the ocean that rolled past the ship.
Zane rose to his feet and walked over to stand behind him, curling his arms around his waist. He was getting used to this being-able-to-touch thing. “What"s the matter?” he teased gently. “It"s all fun and games "til somebody pays you a compliment?”
Ty was silent, his head bowing as he looked out the balcony doors diligently. “I guess you catch me off guard when you"re being honest,”
he finally decided with a wry twist to the words.
“I think we"re honest with each other,” Zane murmured against Ty"s cheekbone. “We just don"t… volunteer much to be honest about.”
Ty turned his head slightly, tensing briefly under Zane"s hands before he relaxed again. “Volunteer,” he repeated carefully.
“Neither one of us is much for sharing,” Zane stated, one of his thumbs beginning to rub Ty"s belly.
“I share,” Ty argued stubbornly. His hand slid into Zane"s hip pocket in an unconscious gesture.
Zane cleared his throat in a disbelieving sound. “Such as?”
Ty was silent, obviously trying to come up with an answer.
Finally, he grunted. “What do you want me to share about?” he asked.
He sounded uncomfortable.
Zane just shrugged. “It was more of a comment on past information,” he said. He wasn"t about to push Ty to “volunteer”
anything right now. They hadn"t seriously argued in two days. He enjoyed the bickering and teasing much more.
Ty was chewing on his bottom lip, one hand in Zane"s pocket, the other resting on top of Zane"s. “I don"t mind questions, you know,” he finally said softly. “If I can"t tell you what you want to know, I"ll just tell you that,” he assured Zane. “Just… for future reference,” he said.
“Like if I asked about the phone calls in the middle of the night that send you off to work without me?”
Ty was silent for a moment, and then he lowered his head slightly and leaned forward. “I can"t tell you what you want to know,” he answered, voice low and monotone.
Zane nodded. He"d known Ty wouldn"t be able to talk about the odd jobs, but he"d asked anyway. He had his suspicions. After a few months of practically living with Ty, little clues had added up. Ty"s Force Recon background gave him a special set of skills for wet work, he was a skilled undercover operative, he disappeared “on assignment”
unannounced—sometimes for one night, other times for days—and he was unusually close to their boss"s boss, Richard Burns, Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI. If somebody higher up in the Bureau, like Dick Burns, was going to tap anyone for a little “side job” that needed a special touch, Ty would be a clear choice.
Zane"s other theory had to do with high-class prostitution rings and a sketchy office fantasy football league.
“In a way, it"s a relief to at least hear that,” Zane said quietly. He could feel Ty holding his breath, the way he did when he wanted to speak but didn"t plan to. “It"s okay. I do understand why you can"t talk about it.”
Ty jerked his head in a nod, but he still hadn"t exhaled. “Maybe one day I can tell you about it,” he finally said tightly.
“All right,” Zane murmured. He cast around for something to distract Ty from the tension. “How about something off the wall?
What"s your favorite dessert?”
Ty turned his head, and his cheek brushed against Zane"s lips.
Zane could feel him relaxing as the subject changed. “I don"t like chocolate,” he answered after a moment"s thought. “But turtle pie. You know what that is?”
“Ice cream with caramel and pecans,” Zane said. “But it"s covered in chocolate.”
Ty smiled slightly. “Walking contradiction, ain"t I?”
Zane hummed as he squeezed his arms around Ty before loosening them again. “Always have been, always will be,” he confirmed. “Drove me nuts when we first met.”
“Well, you returned the favor,” Ty muttered. He pulled away and turned around. “What do you mean?” he asked as an afterthought.
“Didn"t want me as a partner but made sure I wasn"t hurt. Hated me but took care of me when I was hurt. Acted like a muscle-bound idiot but displayed intelligence at odd times.” Now that he thought of it, Ty still did that. Zane paused, remembering those first days fondly now that they were further removed. “Fought with me the whole time but missed me when I was gone,” he added with a smile.
Ty moved in front of him, stepping farther away. Wincing internally, Zane let his hands fall free rather than holding on to him. He feared he"d shared too much; Ty was never comfortable when they started reminiscing or talking about feelings, something Zane tried to keep in mind. Inhaling deeply, he shifted his weight to give Ty some room.
“Odd times, huh?” Ty finally asked in an amused voice.
Zane paused after only moving a step. “Well, at first,” he allowed, his lips quirking into a relieved smile. “You were dead set on having me think you were a total asshole.”
Ty grinned slowly. He"d obviously enjoyed it at least a little bit.
He cleared his throat and looked down at his hands as the smile faded.
“I was hoping… to keep you at arm"s length,” he admitted as he looked back up at Zane and winced.
Zane frowned. “What do you mean? Keep the pansyass poster boy an arm"s length from the case?”
Ty shook his head wordlessly, his eyes serious and slightly sad.
“You mean….” Zane shook his head. He didn"t need to dwell on the past. “And now?” he asked instead. “I"m closer than an arm"s-length away.”
Ty smiled slightly. “It wasn"t personal, Zane,” he offered. “I"d just lost my partner. I didn"t want another one.”
Zane relaxed. He remembered that now. It had only been a year or so since Ty"s partner had been killed when Zane first met him.
Nodding, he went back to the chaise and sat, stretching his legs out. “I hated you, but you knew that.”
Ty smirked. “That was my goal. You didn"t have much choice,”
he offered flippantly as he turned back toward the balcony.
“No shit. And I hated even more along the way that you forced me to keep revising my opinion.”
Ty lowered his head and glanced over at Zane. Zane wondered what he was thinking. He almost always wondered what Ty was thinking when he couldn"t read his emotion in his face. Now, though, he thought he just might be comfortable enough to ask. “What?”
Ty shook his head and moved toward him. “Let"s let the past stay in the past for now, huh?” he murmured as he sat down next to Zane and sprawled gracelessly.
“Yeah,” Zane murmured. Then he shrugged. “Your turn.” He leaned back and yawned, arching his back.
Ty looked at him in surprise. “My turn for what?” he asked.
Amused with himself, Zane laughed lightly. “To ask an off-the-wall question. It"s a game, baby. Get with the program. I thought you were bored.”
Ty snorted and looked over Zane carefully. “Why"d you switch over to guys?” he asked.
Zane"s nose wrinkled. That wasn"t a question he"d expected, but he didn"t mind answering. “It came up during a long-term assignment.
Tried it, liked it, stuck with it. And it reminds me less of the past.”
Ty nodded and looked away. He seemed like he wanted to ask something more, but he remained silent, idly playing with the ring on his finger that he hadn"t been able to get off.
“You can ask, too, you know,” Zane said after watching him for a minute.
Ty sighed heavily and looked up at him with a small smile. He held up his hand, displaying the silver ring. “Got any tricks for getting these things off?” he asked. It was painfully obvious that it was not the question he"d wanted to ask.
Zane fought the urge to frown and growl at him to just ask the damn question already. Instead he rubbed a hand over his eyes. “Go soak your hand in cold water and then use some soap under it,” he said quietly.
“I already tried that. Tried the Astroglide too. Useless,” Ty mumbled as he looked down at it. He sighed and stood again, pacing away from Zane.
After watching him walk back and forth, Zane did finally growl at him. “For fuck"s sake,” he said tiredly. “Ask the damn question. I"m not going to take your head off for it.”
“I know,” Ty answered immediately, not at all surprised that Zane knew he had something more to ask. “I just… I don"t think I want to know the answer,” he admitted.