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Zane lifted his fingers and laid his palh several responses, discarding some as too intimate to bear, others too htly, his eyes not leaving Zane"s as he considered the question "Because there hasn"t been anyone but you in a long time And I don"t think there will be," he answered bluntly

There wasn"t any reason to play around, not when Ty was being so blatantly honest "Good," Zane whispered, his thu Ty"s bottom lip "I"ve… felt that way… for a while now," he adrew, and he nodded "I know"

Zane wrinkled his nose and lowered his eyes, a little bit of eht he was that easy to read Ty"s fingers brushed over his wrist, sliding up his arm slowly, but Ty re to let the nerves go If there was anyone he should be comfortable with, truly be himself with, it was Ty As their eyesthat Ty knew hiood and the bad

Ty was still sentle smile that was unusual for his partner There was no trace of a tease, no joke in his eyes He was as serious as Zane had ever iht then, a gentle tenderness that, combined with his sincerity, made Zane"s pulse pick up a little He moved his hand back to cover Ty"s on Ty"s chest Zane couldn"t think of anything to say, anything that wouldn"t ruin the ently to Ty"s

Ty slid his hand up Zane"s shoulder and hugged hi warmly, his hand on the back of Zane"s neck "Go clean up," he ordered gruffly, a s his lips as his hazel eyes shined with renewed ain quickly before he sat up and roan He rubbed his hands over his face as his head whirled That kiss was so da his ar his back before he let his arms flop back down He pulled off the condo toward Ty as he crossed the room

Ty had pushed hied, his eyes closed and his head bowed as he ran a single finger across his eyebrow His forehead was creased orry lines, and he was al weighing heavily on Ty"s mind It made Zane"s stomach plummet as he entered the bathroom He chucked the condom at the wastebasket and turned to head back to the bed, cli out to touch

Ty looked up at hih

"What?" Zane said with a wave to his own body

"You didn"t even bring me a towel! What kind of Rohtly, his hand pausing just short of Ty"s chest

He wasn"t able to reconcile Ty"s quick shift of hidden emotions, and it bothered him That frown he"d seen on Ty"s face bothered him But he offered Ty a half a smile, pushed himself off the bed, and padded into the bathrooht and looked at hi to banish that tightness that wasit difficult to breathe The worry lines on Ty"s forehead when he didn"t know Zane could see scared him He was terrified that Ty would pull away fro into a serious addiction Zane kne Ty felt about addictions

If Zane let hirow, it would drive Ty away And it would hurt like hell when he lost him

Chapter 10

SMUGGLING the spare scuba tank to the platforms where the boats were moored was not as easy as it had been to sneak in the ceramic knife he had used on his last attempt He"d had to diseet ahead of the cruise ship, then track down the service that would be used for the scuba excursion But he was quite good at his job, and he et to the staging area unmolested

He had failed to kill or maim the blond man on the rock wall, and he had been shocked when he"d learned the man hadn"t even fallen when his rope broke, nht be easily underestimated, but he had fallen into the trap anyway This time he did not intend to fail He did not have to kill the man to succeed, ear lay lined up on the pier alongside the sroup to sea later today The gear had been conveniently labeled with the na to size and skill level He scuttled along the bundles until he found the one for Del Porter He hefted the tank he"d brought with hiht It was filled with the correct aen: approxierous mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide Maybe it wasn"t lethal, but breathing it would induce a certain lethargy, courtesy of the poisonous carbon dioxide, and combined with the euphoric effect of the nitrous oxide, that certainly would be lethal when a person was underwater

If the target realized his air was bad once he got down there, he h to try to surface before he drowned

"HOW long has it been since you went diving?" Zane asked as he struggled to pull the skintight suit up his legs The da to hiet my certification re-upped every year," Ty answered, the fake British accent in full force again today He wasn"t struggling with the neoprene suit There seemed to be a technique that Zane didn"t know Ty looked up at Zane and s, and the dark stubble contrasted alarlasses he"d snuck off and purchased, the ones alhtly rakish air as he grinned crookedly and zipped up the suit "Why?"

"Wondering if you"ll be bored while they give us refresher lessons," Zane said of their " excursion He huffed and finally worked the suit up over his thighs and hips Now he just had to pull it up over his chest to squeeze his ar waswould be

Ty shook his head and picked up his tank "Instructor told us the experienced divers can go off on their own, farther down the shelf Do you need help?" he asked bele

"An extra hand or three would be appreciated," Zane said, although it seeet cold in Caribbean waters," he groused about the heavy, insulating suit

"At least it"s a three-quarter and not a stealasses, but Zane so up at him instead of down as he rolled the wetsuit up Zane"s torso

Zane let his sh for a public venue," he agreed, his voice a low purr

Ty inclined his chin, reaching to take his aviators off and peer at Zane studiously He looked at ho wetsuit His skin was a healthy brown in the sunshine, and the salty breeze playfully lifted his unnaturally colored hair off his brow His eyes were a deep green in the sunlight And Zane had no desire whatsoever to look away