by Abigail Roux
He snorted as he lay there alone, and he had to look away before he began laughing harder and made a scene. Once he’d regained control, he looked back as one of the women stepped closer to Zane, her face clear to Ty since she faced him, and she very deliberately placed a hand on the bare skin of Zane’s hip to brush her fingers near the tattoo. Ty whistled softly, hoping the henna or whatever they’d used to put the tattoo on wouldn’t rub off when it was wet.
He couldn’t have heard the proposition any clearer if he’d been standing right there next to them. He lowered his head, watching idly as he let his hand fall to his side. He’d never really seen Zane flirt, other than his playfully pitiful attempts at trying to seduce Ty into bed. And during their first week together in New York when they’d met with Serena Scott.
She was the type who ate her bedmates afterward. Zane had seemed to like it.
The woman’s mouth formed a surprised O before a slight frown crinkled her brow. Zane turned enough that Ty could see the smile curving his lips, tipping his head in Ty’s direction as he placed his hand on hers and removed it from his hip, though he kissed her fingers before releasing it to ease the rejection. The flustered woman stepped back and nodded, offering him an embarrassed smile, and Zane turned to walk toward Ty, Corbin’s smile still in place.
Ty didn’t move as he watched Zane approach. He merely kept his eyes on him, a smile quirking his lips as Zane got closer. Then Zane stopped at the foot of the lounger and openly looked him up and down. “Enjoying yourself?” he asked before wiping at his face again with the towel he carried.
Ty couldn’t help but stretch under the frank appraisal. He gave Zane a content smile. “I am now,” he answered wryly, the accent coming easier to him. The accent, he’d found, actually made it easier to be Del Porter. When he stopped using it in private, it was much more difficult to find the headspace. He couldn’t commit himself to using it all the time, though. It sounded too damn silly.
Zane’s smile turned into a smirk. “Sit up, doll,” he said as he rubbed the towel over his chest and abs.
Ty raised an eyebrow. Zane really seemed to be enjoying his role. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, gave Zane a crooked smile, and sat up as requested. Zane straddled the lounger, sat, and slid in behind him, then leaned back, Ty neatly between his sprawled legs. “Ah. Much better vantage point for tracking interesting people,” Zane murmured pleasantly, dropping Corbin’s oily drawl.
Ty reached over to the table beside the chair and retrieved his sunglasses. He rested an elbow on Zane’s knee, looking around as he let his fingers coast along the damp skin of Zane’s calf. The dark shades masked his perusal of the crowd. Several people were watching them, some deliberately, some surreptitiously. One man in particular observed them from across the deck and had been doing so ever since Ty had caught sight of him more than thirty minutes ago.
“I think I’ve made one of our contacts,” Ty told Zane as he let his hand travel to the back of Zane’s knee and along his thigh. He resisted mentioning the tattoo. He didn’t think he could without laughing yet.
Zane grunted in acknowledgment. “Only one? Spot any of the team?” He laid his hand over Ty’s shoulder, stroking lightly with this thumb.
Ty’s lips twitched. “Not yet. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he declared in amusement, turning to glance back at Zane briefly. His fingertips just barely brushed Zane’s skin. It was a chaste, tantalizing gesture.
Zane’s look edged toward a leer. “Hell yes,” he said.
Ty smiled and turned his head to fully look at Zane, one eyebrow raised behind the designer sunglasses. It was rare to catch Zane in this mood. Ty wanted nothing more right then than to head back to the luxury stateroom, lock the door, and get on his knees. And he was okay with that.
He took his sunglasses off and met Zane’s eyes, knowing his partner would read him like a book.
That leer was firmly in place in Zane’s flashing eyes as Zane reached out, wrapped one hand around Ty’s neck to pull him close, and kissed him hard. Ty flailed slightly when he was yanked, having to contort a little and lean far backward to meet the kiss. But he relaxed into it quickly, letting the odd feeling settle over him.
It was an entirely new sensation for him, kissing another man in public. Something he had never done. Something he was really enjoying. He reached up to drag his fingers through Zane’s wet hair. He hummed along with the kiss, letting his body react and not trying to fight it. They had two weeks of this on their cake surveillance assignment. They might as well enjoy it. It seemed like forever before Zane pulled back, though it couldn’t possibly have been more than eight or ten seconds.
“Let’s go,” Zane rasped. “I’ve had enough sun for one afternoon, and I’m sure you’ve had your fill of people-watching.”
Ty smiled and turned his head to glance around the pool again. His entire body buzzed after the kiss, another new thing for him, and he didn’t want to move and ruin it just yet. The man across the pool still watched them casually from behind his own sunglasses.
Ty cocked his head at him. He was tall and thin, his hair a deep black and his complexion what Ty might have called swarthy. They couldn’t approach him. He would come to them at the specified time, whenever the hell that was. Until then, all he and Zane had to do was… be married.
Ty grinned and deliberately leaned his body back against Zane’s chest. He rested his head on the front of Zane’s shoulder and turned his face until his nose brushed under Zane’s chin. “I’d rather stay here a while longer,” he said in a low voice. His hand slid up Zane’s inner thigh, disappearing between their bodies.
The low rumble of an amused chuckle shook Ty slightly as Zane dropped his chin to steal a kiss, quicker this time, before curling his arm around Ty to rest his hand on Ty’s belly. He was now pretty much serving as the back of the deck chair, and Ty was lounging against him. “If you want. You’ll make it up to me later,” Zane teased.
“Oh, I know it,” Ty responded as his fingers found what they’d been seeking. He smiled mischievously, lowering his voice as he let his fingers glide over the bulge in Zane’s swim trunks. “I look forward to being bent over the balcony railing,” he told Zane with certainty, his voice low.
That got a reaction that wasn’t smooth, cocky Corbin. Both Zane’s hands tightened as he sucked in a quick breath, and his cock jumped against Ty’s hand. When Zane spoke, his voice was thick and rough. “Whatever makes you happy, doll.”
Ty grinned triumphantly. His fingers continued to move teasingly, hidden behind his back. The exotic-looking man still watched them. Ty found it odd and slightly disconcerting. He laid his head against Zane’s chest again, brow furrowing as he fondled his lover, hidden in plain sight.
Zane slid his fingers through Ty’s hair, and Ty thought he just might have felt those fingers shaking. Then Zane tugged gently after a particularly firm caress. “You are skating on thin ice.”
Ty smiled and looked around again. He was being fairly discreet. No one around them seemed any the wiser. He moved his other hand to glide idly along Zane’s thigh as he used it as an armrest. He could see how some enjoyed this game of passive seduction. The thrill was in Zane’s reaction. How far could he go before Zane lost his control?
“You plan to punish me somehow?” he asked in the most innocent voice he could muster. The accent actually helped with that.
“Oh, I think I can come up with something suitably chastising,” Zane said darkly. His voice was dropping closer toward a growl.
“If it doesn’t involve me on my knees in some fashion I shall be wildly disappointed,” Ty drawled as he gave a squeeze of his hand in emphasis. He was pleased with himself for remembering the intricacies of the dialect.
Zane laughed aloud, and Ty could see clear interest on a few other faces. Zane was drawing a lot of attention, and well he should be. Hell, probably half the people up here—women and men—would want Zane to bend them over a balcony railing.
Ty turned his
head to nuzzle against Zane’s chin again. “You didn’t tell me about the tattoo.”
“I figured you’d noticed,” Zane murmured. “It’s not exactly subtle.”
Ty laughed and shook his head. “Haven’t had occasion to see that side of you lately.”
Zane chuckled, and it shook both of them this time. “So what do you think?”
“I’m more impressed with the rest of you,” Ty assured him with another smirk. He gave Zane a few slow strokes. He wanted Zane in him, and now. But more than that, he wanted Zane to want it enough to make a move.
Zane hissed quietly. “Doll….” His voice carried a warning tone. “You’ll make me forget we’re supposed to be working.”
“We are working, remember?” Ty drawled as he continued to slide the tips of his fingers against Zane’s swimsuit.
Zane splayed his hand over Ty’s chest and started stroking up and down his sun-warmed skin, going a little lower each time. “And I’m wondering just how Corbin would decide between being smug and showing you off or being jealous and dragging you to bed away from prying eyes,” he said throatily.
Ty shifted his body against Zane suggestively. If they were getting up to head to the cabin any time soon, he wanted Zane just as turned on as he was. He might even be able to push him over the edge and get him to go rough on him. God, that was fun, watching Zane battle between control and wild passion. His fingers stroked along the hard ridge in Zane’s shorts.
“I vote for the bed,” Ty murmured with a smirk.
Without warning, Zane surged up out of the deck chair, practically lifting Ty to set him on his feet. He grabbed a towel in one hand and Ty’s wrist in the other and started stalking for the doors that would lead into the concourse of luxury cabins. Ty nearly stumbled, barely grabbing his sunglasses, and Zane’s grasp on his wrist was the only thing that kept him on his feet as he was dragged away from the pool. He bit his lip in anticipation of what might be coming and tried to look suitably chastised as he followed.
Zane pulled him inside, and the forced air spilled over them as they moved through the entryway and into the wide stairwell. Once they were around the corner, Zane swung Ty around with a growl and pinned him to the wall, his head narrowly missing a sprig of holiday cheer taped to the bulkhead. “You have any idea how close I was to tipping you back on that chair?” he growled, grinding his obvious hard-on against Ty’s thigh.
Ty tangled both hands in Zane’s hair and bit his lip again against the smile that threatened. “God, I love it when you do this,” he told Zane with relish, his voice a bare whisper as he tried to catch his breath.
“This?” Zane purred against Ty’s ear as he pressed his body against Ty’s from chest to thigh, heated bare skin catching and skipping instead of sliding. He deliberately dragged one hand down Ty’s side toward his shorts.
Ty shook his head, fighting the grin as he let his fingers slide down Zane’s face. “I believe you were growling,” he corrected. He wrapped his arms loosely around his lover’s neck and tilted his head up, silently requesting a kiss.
Zane’s response started as a hum in his chest and built to the requested growl as he dipped his chin and pushed his lips firmly against Ty’s just as his palm cupped behind Ty’s thigh to hitch him closer. If Ty didn’t know better, he’d think Zane planned to fuck him right there in the hallway. When Zane growled again, dropped the towel, and slid his other hand under the fabric of Ty’s shorts to cup his ass, Ty suddenly wasn’t so sure he really did know better.
Zane had just dragged his tongue along Ty’s lower lip when Ty heard someone very close by clear his throat. He jerked back in alarm as Zane’s hands abruptly tightened on him, and Ty banged the back of his head against the wall. It was a knee-jerk reaction to being caught Ty was pretty sure he’d never get over. He didn’t like being surprised.
A man stood in the middle of the corridor looking into the stairwell, watching them passively. It was the same man Ty had seen observing them outside. He was quite striking up close. His hair was dark and curly at the ends, cut just above his shoulders and slicked back, with hints of gray at the temples and along his hairline. His stylish goatee was carefully maintained, hiding the hard lines of his lips. He held his expensive sunglasses in his hand now as he looked at Ty and Zane in bemusement. His eyes were a deep mahogany, a beautiful color, but cold and emotionless. The steel gray bathing shorts he wore just intensified that effect.
Zane straightened to his full height, curled his arm around Ty’s shoulders, and subtly pulled him closer, splaying his hand across Ty’s collarbone possessively. Ty bit back the annoyance the protective stance caused.
“Can I help you?” Zane said, the sounds rumbling between put out and wary.
“Mr. Porter?” the man asked in heavily accented English. Ty couldn’t quite place the origin. Turkey, maybe. He wasn’t sure. What was obvious was that this had to be one of Corbin Porter’s contacts aboard the ship. And he definitely wasn’t Italian. That left Vartan Armen, the acquisitions specialist.
“I’m Corbin Porter,” Zane acknowledged. “You must be—”
“Vartan Armen, yes,” the man broke in. “Only the one telephone conversation more than a year ago does not give one much with which to draw a conclusion, I know.” Armen paused and looked Ty up and down. “I must admit, your… husband gave you away.”
Ty had to fight not to bristle at the man. He felt like a pit bull, his hackles rising because he didn’t like the scent of the man. He snorted at him as if amused. Zane must have picked up on the tension, though, because the hand on Ty’s shoulder began to rub soothingly. “He does attract attention, doesn’t he?” Zane said.
Armen gave Ty a polite look and nod. “Quite striking, indeed. I am aware we are not to meet until some days hence, but I feel all this cloak and dagger is quite cumbersome. We’re not here to hide from one another,” he said with a smile that seemed genuine. “My stateroom is 8520, if you wish to contact me before our scheduled activities coincide. I feel dinner and drinks would put us all more at ease before we convene any business.”
“I agree,” Zane answered as he nodded. “I’m sure it won’t throw our itinerary off too much to make a change.”
Armen gave a courteous nod. “Very good. I shall be in touch.”
Ty remained silent, practically vibrating with the desire to jump in and say something, dig for information, anything before the man left them. He remained silent though, feigning boredom as he looked away with a long sigh. He slid his sunglasses on as if preparing to return to the pool, and he looked back at Armen. With one push of his thumbnail to the inside of the frame, he activated the tiny camera inside the designer sunglasses. He stared at Armen just long enough to hope the camera got a clear shot, then pushed the button again and looked away.
“We’ll see you soon, Mr. Armen,” Zane said, a slight hint of closure clear in his tone.
“Until then, Mr. Porter,” Armen said. He nodded to Ty. “Mr. Porter.” And then he was gone, through the doors to the promenade.
Ty stepped back slightly, letting his hands slide down and away from Zane’s body as he watched the man disappear. “He’s kind of slimy, huh?” he said, still using his accent for fear of losing it.
“Yes.” Zane watched the doors with narrowed eyes. “That’s a good description.”
“So much for sticking to our itineraries,” Ty murmured. But if Armen was advancing the schedule, perhaps this job would go faster than they’d anticipated. “But hey, now we know where he’s staying,” he added brightly. “Right the fuck next door.”
Zane finally turned his chin and refocused his full attention on Ty. “And we don’t need to worry about any meetings for the rest of the day,” he said with a ghost of a smile.
“Good, gives us time to contact the backup team, get some eyes and ears on this guy. I think I got a good picture, which means we’re already halfway done,” Ty answered distractedly as he peered at the doors and reached out for Zane again almost unconsciously. Hi
s hand met warm, firm skin as Zane took a step closer.
“Is that all?”
Ty looked at him with a twist of mischief on his lips. “And my accent is slipping,” he claimed as he moved closer to his partner, his fingers dragging against Zane’s skin as he wrapped his arms around his waist. “I think I’m going to need a little more practice before dinner.” He pressed a kiss to Zane’s chin.
Zane’s lips quirked as his arms slid around Ty’s waist. “Who are you and what did you do with Ty Grady?” he asked under his breath.
Ty smiled and pulled himself closer, brushing his lips against Zane’s. “Don’t get used to it, darling,” he drawled, kissing Zane again languidly.
Zane’s low chuckle was practically a purr. “Then I’ll enjoy it while I’ve got it. C’mon, baby. Finish what you started out by the pool.”
THEY were in foul moods by the time their scheduled dinner came around, mostly because they’d discovered after getting to their cabin that their luggage included a whole lot of lubricant—flavored, scented, warming, desensitizing, stimulating, silicone, gel, and one tiny tube that Ty suspected had glow-in-the-dark and/or explosive properties—but not a single condom to be found.
Ty cursed himself again for not having foreseen that. Zane had gone to take a shower, muttering darkly after watching Ty go through all the luggage. Now Ty could hear things clinking and sliding and thumping on the marble vanity in the bathroom. When Zane stepped into the doorway, his hair was all slicked back, and he wore tailored black pants that rode low on his hips and a braided gold chain around his neck. Nothing else.
“Dinner had better be good,” he said in resignation. His mood had taken a hit with Armen’s appearance and had deteriorated all afternoon, capped off by them losing track of time. Now they didn’t even have time to make the evening interesting before dinner and let off some steam.