Touch&Geaux (42 page)

them from the top of the stairs. They bonded over hot wings,

discussing all the ways the job fucked up their relationships.

Perrimore got engaged, and Zane was shocked and slightly

panicked when he asked Zane to be his best man. He had

never planned a bachelor party, but when his mind turned to

Ty, to the obvious person to ask for help, Zane pushed it away.

He could do this.

He’d driven to Philadelphia to see Deuce, Livi, and their

baby girl. Amelia Rose Grady had been born a few weeks

before Christmas, and at five months old, she was already

pul ing Deuce around like he was on roller skates. She had

her mother’s white-blonde hair, and her eyes appeared to be

turning that particular Grady green that seemed to serve as

nature’s warning to other creatures.

He had spoken to Ty every week.

It had been a good month. A good start. Zane was proud

of himself, and he realized that he hadn’t been able to say that

in a very long time.

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He finished up his paperwork and packed it away. He was

the last one in the office, and as he was walking to the elevator,

he turned to look at the stairwell. He still wondered what the

hell had happened a month ago. He believed Ty now when he

said he hadn’t known that Burns was in Baltimore the night of

Zane’s twenty-year party, but Zane knew he’d seen the man.

It frustrated him not to have all the answers.

His steps echoed in the empty parking garage. His leather

jacket creaked as he slid his arms into it. It was times like this,

times when he was alone, when the world was quiet, that he

thought of Ty. It would be just like Ty to show up now, maybe

sitting on his motorcycle with a smirk, reminding Zane that

his birthday was in a few days. That was the type of entrance

Ty would make.

Zane grinned at the thought. He found his bike sans Ty,

but the thought still made the ride home a good one.

He parked in the backyard, behind the lovingly covered

Mustang, and clomped up the steps to the door, humming to

himself. When he stepped inside, he set his helmet down on

the counter nearby and dumped his keys into the bowl next

to it.“Honey, I’m home,” he said wryly to the empty row house.

“It’s about damn time.”

Zane’s head shot up. Ty was sitting on the arm of the

sofa, smiling. He was more tanned than he had been, and

he certainly looked healthier. His hair was shorter, and the

western style shirt he wore seemed to stretch across the taut

muscles of his chest and arms.

“Ty,” Zane breathed.

“You look good.”

Zane took a few steps closer and Ty stood, his smile

growing softer.

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“You look really good, Zane.”

Zane lunged for him and wrapped him up in a hug. The

smell of Old Spice permeated Zane’s senses for the first time

in a month.

“How are you?” Ty asked as they hugged.

“I’m good,” Zane managed. He pressed his nose to the

scar on Ty’s throat. “You?”

Ty nodded jerkily. He didn’t let go of Zane. “Are you

ready for me to come home?” he asked, voice breaking.

“Yes,” Zane answered before Ty had even finished the

question. He grabbed Ty’s face in his hands and kissed him,

over and over until Ty was laughing and trying to fend him

off. At last, Zane took a step back to examine him. “How have

you been? How’s Kelly doing?”

“He’s good. They sent him home, and I think his ex-wife

plans to take care of him, so he’s desperate to get better so

she’ll leave. My suspension’s been revoked. They’re letting me

come back next week.”

Zane grinned. He grasped Ty’s hand and moved around

the sofa to pull him down with him. “Tell me everything.”

Ty licked his lips, smirking.

Zane grinned widely. “And then I’ll show you the new

sheets I put on the bed.”

Ty laughed and crawled onto the couch with him.

Zane wrapped his arms around him, pul ing him into his

lap instead. Ty straddled him, sitting back and cocking one

eyebrow at Zane.

“What’d you do while you were down there?”

“I sang. I stayed with Kelly. With Ava gone, I was the

closest thing to a relative Murdoch had left, so I took care of

his estate.”

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Zane frowned. “The bar?”

Ty bit his lip and nodded. “It’s mine. I uh . . . I closed it

up. Looking into selling it. I’ll donate whatever it makes to

one of the groups trying to rebuild. There was a kid who used

to bartend there, had real talent with the bottle juggling and

mixing and stuff. I saw him at Murdoch’s funeral. His boss is

interested in buying it.”

“You don’t want to keep it?”

Ty shook his head. “It wouldn’t last long as it is, not

without Murdoch and Ava there. Her voice was what brought

them in. He was what gave it life.”

“I’m sorry.”

Ty shrugged it off and nodded.

“Did you ever get the curse lifted?” Zane asked.

“Yes. Yes, I did,” Ty drawled, but he frowned as he patted

Zane’s chest.

“What’d the priestess tell you?”

“She told me I had dark days ahead.”

Zane didn’t want to believe in any of it—the voodoo, the

mysticism, the incredible coincidences Ty said were fate. But

the words made his stomach flip. “Do you believe her?”

Ty met his eyes. “Do you believe we met in New Orleans

because we were meant to?”

Zane’s mouth went dry. “Yeah, I do,” he whispered.

Ty nodded, looking grim. He leaned forward and brushed

his lips over Zane’s. “We’ll be okay.”

“More than okay,” Zane said. “We’ll be us.”

Ty smiled against his lips. Zane chased him when he

pulled back, kissing him again. It grew more heated, needier,

devolving quickly into two men who hadn’t seen each other

in a month and desperately wanted to touch each other. Zane

rolled Ty until they both tumbled off the couch and Ty was

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sprawled on the floor, Zane straddling him. “Have we caught

up enough that I can start taking your clothes off?”

Ty laughed, a carefree, boyish sound, and glanced to his

side, distracted by what he saw. “You moved the rug.”

“I kitty-cornered it.”

“Why would you do that?” Ty asked, aghast.

“To see you lose your shit when you got home.” Zane

leaned closer, grinning evilly. “There are other things out

of order too. Books not alphabetized. Coffee mug handles

facing different directions.” He lowered his voice to a whisper

as Ty’s eyes widened in horror. “The closet isn’t color coded.”

“You’re just watching the world burn, huh?”

Zane laughed.

“God I missed you,” Ty said in a rush of breath.

Zane grabbed a handful of Ty’s hair and tugged, and

when Ty’s head tipped back, Zane kissed him hungrily, not

letting go of him. Ty’s laugh turned into a growl, and suddenly

there was no space between them. No tears or lonely days, no

secrets and no lies. Just Ty and Zane. On the floor of their row

house. On a crooked rug.

Zane reached between them to unzip Ty’s jeans, and then

began struggling with loosening his own belt.

Ty’s growl became a groan as Zane rose up onto his knees.

Ty jerked Zane’s pants down to his thighs and sat up, kissing

his stomach.

Zane’s fingers tightened in his hair. He watched, inhaling

sharply as Ty wrapped his hands around Zane’s hips and

dragged his teeth over Zane’s hip bone. He tugged Zane’s

briefs down, grasping the back of one of Zane’s thighs.

“Jesus, Ty,” Zane managed. He wanted nothing more than

to hold the back of Ty’s head right there by his hair and shove

himself down Ty’s throat, but there was something else he’d

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been fantasizing about as he lay in bed alone, something he

had to do now that Ty was back.

So he gripped Ty’s hair harder and moved off him. “Get

on the couch,” he growled.

Zane grabbed the back couch cushions and tossed them

to the floor. Ty began to laugh again, but he climbed onto

the couch like he’d been told. He reached up to touch Zane,

fingers digging into his hips. He thought Zane intended to

fuck his mouth. He was ready for it, grinning.

Ty was too much to resist like that, and Zane leaned

down to kiss him messily, settling between Ty’s legs to let their

bodies rub together as he moved.

Then he pushed back up and unzipped Ty’s jeans the rest

of the way, tugging at them. He didn’t pull them off, though,

instead standing to kick out of his suit pants. Ty sat up long

enough to pull off his shoes and socks and toss them to the

floor, then shimmy out of his jeans and boxers.

“You gonna do this wearing the jacket?” Ty asked.

Zane closed his eyes as that image flashed through him.

“You should have kept that skull bandana, Zane, it was

the hottest thing I’d ever seen.”

“Christ, Ty,” Zane snarled. He yanked his battered leather

jacket off and tossed it aside, struggling out of the rest of his

clothes. Once naked, he knelt on the floor and bent over

Ty’s lap, taking him into his mouth to suck and tease, hands

traveling up and down Ty’s thighs and gripping his hips.

Ty breathed Zane’s name as he arched his back. It was

a sound Zane had sorely missed. He had missed everything

about this: the easy teasing, the feel and smell of Ty’s body

against his, the sounds Ty made when Zane touched him.

Zane’s month alone had been a good one, but God was he

glad to have Ty in his arms again.

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Zane pushed off him and raised his head to kiss him

again, tugging him close, wrapping him up. He stretched his

hand down Ty’s body, soaking in the warmth, re-familiarizing

himself with the hard muscles and pul ing at Ty’s hip.

He wanted to maul him.

The muscles of Ty’s shoulders and back bunched as he

reached for Zane. He licked and kissed at Zane’s ear. “What

do you want?”

“I want you the other way,” Zane commanded.

Ty raised one eyebrow. “You sure?”

Zane nodded and grinned, his hands sliding over Ty’s

skin. Ty kissed him one last time, then Zane was stretched out

on the couch and Ty clambered carefully over him. Ty shifted

back until his cock slid along Zane’s cheek. With a groan, he

dropped his head and licked along the side of Zane’s cock.

Zane didn’t waste any time. He wrapped his hands around

Ty’s hips and took Ty into his mouth, yanking so Ty would

thrust down. He groaned appreciatively at the added stimulus

of Ty’s tongue. Very little could get Ty hotter faster than a

hard cock between his lips, but it had taken Zane a few years

to accept that the same might true of him. This was one of

Ty’s favorite things to do. Ty had told him that many times.

So why the hell shouldn’t Zane enjoy it to the fullest?

Ty started moving his hips, tentatively pushing down into

Zane’s mouth. Zane heard and felt Ty’s groan.

Zane let his hands roam as he sucked, shifting to push up

against Ty’s tongue, pul ing down to encourage Ty to thrust

harder. It worked, and Ty finally gave him a firm thrust. He

was supporting himself on one arm, the fingers of his other

hand wrapped around the base of Zane’s cock to squeeze.

Zane went into sensory overload. With Ty’s mouth

around his cock and his lips closed around the head of Ty’s, his

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ears began buzzing and pleasure built in his groin. He dug his

hands into Ty’s hips, dragging his fingers along his skin, then

raised one knee up and worked it under Ty’s arm so he could

wrap his legs around Ty’s torso. Ty gasped, pul ing his mouth

off Zane to curse under his breath and moan desperately

before sucking Zane onto his tongue again.

Even if Zane had wanted to say something, Ty was pressed

too close for him to get his mouth free. Ty’s measured strokes

began to grow erratic as Ty sucked Zane harder. His fingers

dragged along the crease of Zane’s thigh and slide down to

tease between his legs.

Zane hiked his leg up higher, writhing under Ty’s body

and moaning loudly as Ty thrust into his mouth. It was only

a few more strokes before Ty groaned desperately and pushed

himself up on both hands, coming almost free of Zane’s

mouth. “Zane,” he gasped.

“No, come back,” Zane breathed as he grasped Ty’s hips

and raised his head to take Ty back to his mouth. He licked

him up and down, then ran his tongue over Ty’s balls and

sucked one of them into his mouth.

“Oh fuck.” Ty huffed and reached for Zane’s cock,

wrapping his mouth around the leaking head and starting to

suck again.

After giving each one of Ty’s balls thorough attention,

Zane let them roll off his tongue and guided Ty’s cock back

between his lips. Ty groaned and thrust down into Zane’s

mouth, harder and deeper than before, and he sucked Zane as