“Should I go back to my room tonight?” Ty asked out of the blue. “Or will we be able to work together and fuck each other senseless at the same time?”

“You were right, you know,” Ty whispered.“About what?”Ty swallowed hard. “I sold my soul a long time ago.”Ty gripped Zane’s shoulder and pressed him down,laying him out again, then stretched out over Zane, his handdragging down Zane’s body to push at his boxers.“Ty,” Zane gasped.Ty kissed him. Zane trailed the tips of his fingers downTy’s arm, sliding over the tattoo and the scars and the muscles.“Do you really believe that?” Zane asked.“I know it. I will never be the man you think I am.”Zane’s breaths came harder. “We’ve both been trying sohard to be worthy of each other.”

“Zane heard Ty whuff from within the bathroom, and by the time he looked back, Ty had shoved Julian’s face against the shower wall and was holding him there by the back of his head.“Watch the elbows.”“Watch your fingers,” Julian snapped.“Welcome to TSA training, bitch.”“Want the other set of cuffs?” Zane asked, hoping to appease his cranky partner. “You could spread his arms out.”“Will someone please tell me the safe word?” Julian asked.”

“I love you," Ty said out of the blue, his voice almost sing-song. Zane laughed. "You're drunk.""I loved you before I was drunk.”

“What do you want, MacGuffin, a duel?”“No.” Julian held out both hands, one palm flat, the other held over it in a fist. “Rock, paper, scissors. Two out of three.”Ty rolled his eyes and held out his fist, apparently willing to play. Julian hit his palm three times, and Ty kept time with his fist in the air. But when Julian threw a paper, Ty reached into his jacket with his other hand and pulled his gun, aiming it at Julian.“Ty!” Zane said in exasperation from the front seat.“Glock, paper, scissors. I win.”“You are an ass,” Julian muttered.”

“Ty bit his lip, watching his lover just because he could. He firmly believed that being able to rile Zane like he could was one of the aspects of their relationship that had saved Zane from tumbling back into his destructive past. Every now and then, Zane just needed to feel like he was alive. Everyone should be able to feel that. And if annoying him to the point of homicide was what it took, Ty was up to the challenge.”

“I would have chosen you over anything," Zane hissed. He pulled back, breaking Ty's hold, bunched the front of Ty's shirt in both hands, and jerked Ty forward until they were nose-to-nose, until Ty's feet weren't solidly on the floor. "My job, my family, my wife. I would have given my life for you! But you! You can't even given me the truth!”