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“Nothing,” Ty answered with a shrug, his expression unreadable as he turned his head to look at Zane. He sat on the end of the bed, one eyebrow cocked curiously as he waited for Zane to continue what he had been saying.
Zane tilted his head, frowning a little. “Help me out?” he asked, pointing his thumb over his own shoulder.
“Sure thing,” Ty muttered as he stood and strolled over to grab the ointment. “Does it still hurt?”
“If I move too quick or twist side to side, it’s sharp. Otherwise just a dull ache, a few spikes here and there,” Zane said.
“Pansy,” Ty offered with a smirk.
Zane sighed. “I’ll have to lose a limb before I get any respect from you, won’t I?” he said, deadpan.
“Maybe not a whole limb,” Ty answered thoughtfully as he made a dainty little “turn around” gesture with his finger.
Shaking his head, Zane spun slowly in place, presenting Ty with his back. He closed his eyes at the first touch of Ty’s fingers, telling himself to ignore the yank in his gut.
“Relax,” Ty muttered as he placed his hands on Zane’s tight muscles.
“You’re so damn tense, no wonder you still hurt.” He huffed as he prodded at some of the tender spots gently. He dipped his fingers into the tin of salve and began dabbing it onto the open wounds, then massaging it into the areas around them carefully.
“You try taking a sheet of glass in the back and not be tense,” Zane objected, though he had to admit to himself it was more than that. Something about Ty was digging at him; the attitude, the bullshit, the hard-ass style—
none of it fit with the gentle touches of his fingers. Zane’s body was noticing.
“No, thanks,” Ty responded wryly. “I prefer not to be a moron.”
“I’m flattered. I’ve moved up from idiot to moron,” Zane said. “And you have moved up from utterly reprehensible ass**le to only moderately annoying ass**le.”
“Only?” Ty repeated with a huff. “It takes effort to be this abrasive, I hope you realize.”
“Yeah, I guess so. But you just make it look so easy.”
“I make everything look easy,” Ty responded with a smirk that Zane couldn’t see.
“I can’t judge that ’til I see it,” Zane said with an apologetic shake of his head as he rolled his shoulders under Ty’s fingers.
“See what, everything?” Ty asked in amusement.
Zane bit his lip on a smile. “You. Being easy.”
“I am easy,” Ty replied with a laugh.
“Now see here, you’ve already proven the opposite. You’re not easy to get along with, you’re not easy to understand, you’re not easy to keep from getting under my skin,” Zane ticked off on his fingers.
“I think the glass is what got under your skin. And I am perfectly understandable,” Ty said as he let his heavy Appalachian accent take over. “I enunciate,” he replied with special drawling emphasis on the last word.
Zane chuckled, almost against his will. “I was thinking of you more as a thorn, actually.”
“Ouch,” Ty objected with false sincerity.
Zane sighed and tilted his neck to each side as he felt the texture of Ty’s rubbing fingers change. The salve was sinking in and the skin was catching on skin. “We should get back to work,” he said quietly.
“We have the rest of the day off,” Ty replied firmly as he continued to doctor.
Looking over his shoulder, Zane raised an eyebrow. “What are you and I going to do with a day off?” he asked. Was the other agent saying they were going to spend time together? Off the clock?
“I don’t know about you, but a few hours’ real sleep would do me wonders. And we can get plenty done right here in the room. Quite frankly, I’d prefer to stay away from Federal Plaza ’til I can figure out more about who and how.”
Zane nodded slowly. “All right. I agree with all that.” Suddenly, he felt awkward, standing there with Ty still touching his back, especially because Zane didn’t want to move. Not at all. He found that a bit frightening.
He could be partners with Ty. He could, someday, maybe, be friends with Ty.
But anything beyond that was simply dangerous. Zane raised a hand and swiped it over his face, noticing the prickles. “I should shave,” he murmured.
“Why?” Ty asked, genuinely curious as he finished smoothing the salve over the bloody spots.
“Why? Why shave?” Zane asked. “Uh.” He blinked, trying to think.
“I don’t suppose I have a reason,” he answered with a slight shrug. “Habit.
Have to be clean-cut, you know. Don’t want to attract negative attention.”
“Yeah, man, that negative attention, pffft,” Ty responded sarcastically as he stepped away, then pushed Zane slightly to the side so he could step through the bathroom door and to the sink to wash his hands. “You have to sleep in the bloody bed.”
“It’s just the spread that’s bloody,” Zane said mildly, still rubbing his chin as he walked out of the bathroom and toward the bed. “Food later?” he asked hopefully as he yanked the spread and sheets down.
“No, we’re fasting ’til we catch the guy,” Ty answered with a curl of his lip as he came out of the bathroom with a hand towel in his hands.
With an annoyed grunt, Zane snagged one of his pillows and whacked Ty upside the head with it.
“Bastard!” Ty barked as he swatted at the pillow with the damp towel.
Zane laughed and bapped him again. “Now who’s got a stick up his ass?”
“Shove it,” Ty huffed as he pulled back the sheets on his own bed.
Collapsing onto his bed, Zane was careful to stay on his side and keep an eye on Ty just in case he launched a counterattack. “You’re just a big softy,” he taunted.
“The last person said that to me got Viagra in his coffee next morning,” Ty warned seriously.
Zane buried his face in the pillow to try to muffle the sounds of his laughter. “Oh, God. You would, too.” His eyes were wide and dancing when he looked back up.
“Of course I would. He had to question a guy,” Ty told him with the beginnings of a laugh in his voice. “Three hours he was in there, trying to hide this raging hard-on. I’ve never seen a suspect more terrified in my life.” He snickered with the memory.
Zane pulled the pillow over his face, stifling the continuing laughter as he tried to get himself under control. Finally he sighed and looked back at Ty, shaking his head. “All right, I’m warned.” He kept a straight face for a long moment, but ruined it when his lips twitched.
