Stars & Stripes

“Did you want them?”



“That’s what I was just thinking about. I don’t know. We never really did see ourselves as parents.” He shrugged and met Ty’s eyes. “And then she was gone, and I didn’t have any reason to think about it anymore.”



Ty pursed his lips and laid his hand across Zane’s where it rested on his chest.



“You’d make a great dad, you know,” Zane said, his voice quiet and melancholy. Ty glanced up, eyebrows climbing high. “I think I’d almost like to see it.”



“Are you saying you might want kids one day?”



“I don’t know. Tonight was literally the first time I truly thought I might.”



Ty gaped, at a loss for words. Was this what Zane had been thinking about all night?



Zane remained quiet, watching him for several breaths before echoing, “Tell me what you’re thinking, Ty.”



“Uh . . . I’m thinking . . . I love you. And I’m glad things didn’t go to plan when we were both younger.”



Zane slid his fingertips across Ty’s lips. With a blink, his expression changed, and he was gazing at Ty with such longing and love that he might as well have screamed it at the top of his lungs. “I wouldn’t change it,” he rasped. “Any of it.”



He leaned his hands on both of Ty’s shoulders, right on top of the cougar scars, and bent down to kiss him.



Ty hummed and let the warmth of Zane’s demanding hands spread through him. Zane’s lips gave against his. He moved one hand to tug Ty’s T-shirt up, and then slid it under to smooth across Ty’s side and lower back. Ty winced when Zane’s fingers dragged over the scrapes and bruises he’d earned from being keelhauled by a goddamned tiger, but it didn’t stop him from grabbing a handful of Zane’s hair as they kissed.



Ty smiled against his lips. Zane hadn’t finished changing yet, and Ty let his fingers dig into and linger over Zane’s bare skin. He ran his hands down Zane’s sides, irritated that the cast was getting in his way. It also had sharp pieces now, both from where the knife had gone through it and the tooth marks.



For the first time, they were actually discussing their future in concrete terms. They’d both known, on some level, that they intended to spend the rest of their lives together. It felt like a solid force now, though, something as real as the hands that pressed into his back or the lips that met his over and over as they made love.



Chapter 9



“I think we need to go to San Antonio,” Zane said. They were sitting at the little breakfast table in the guesthouse, eating cereal and watching the sunrise through the bank of windows.



“What? Why?”



“We can drop in on the field office, see if we can put a bug in someone’s ear.”



Ty stared at him, chewing his Rice Krispies.



Zane shifted under Ty’s attention. “What?”



Ty waved his spoon through the air. “Go on.”



Zane rolled his eyes and sighed. “Okay, fine. I want to take a page out of your book and use us as bait. See if anyone follows. And I figured you’d go nuts over the Alamo and I wanted to walk down the Riverwalk with you. We could spend a night there, maybe. Enjoy Texas a little before Mother’s big party on Sunday.”



They’d be heading home after the Fourth of July. They’d done all they could here without stepping on jurisdictional toes, and though there were still poachers out there, and Ty’s tiger was still on the loose, they did have jobs back in Baltimore to get to. It just wasn’t their case to work. Zane thought a side trip to San Antonio before they left was well-deserved after what they’d been through.



“So? What do you think?”



Ty smiled, one of his rare smiles that showed his dimples. They drove Zane crazy. “I’d like that,” Ty drawled in a way that sent shivers up Zane’s spine.



“We’ll head up to the house, let Dad know what we’re doing, and then we can head down there.”



“How long’s the drive?”



“An hour or two, depending on traffic and the shape of the back roads.”



Ty nodded, looking down at his cereal bowl. Zane had lived for his job for so long it was odd to think he might want something different, but he could imagine that, in ten or twenty years, they’d be able to do this every morning. Get up late, fix breakfast together, and plan their day as they ate. The thought of retirement came to him more often now.



What he’d said to his family at dinner the other night was true. The thought of asking Ty to marry him was appealing. There were obvious problems, first and foremost being that they’d have to go to another state or country to do it. But the more Zane thought of it, the more he liked the idea. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’d spend the rest of his life with Ty. And after last night, he could even picture himself and Ty with kids. Not soon, because he wanted Ty to himself for a while. But it was something solid in their future.



“You’re thinking kind of hard,” Ty said. He sat back and cocked his head.



Zane took in a deep breath. He didn’t want to tell Ty what he was thinking; he wanted it to be a complete surprise when he finally did it. Ty narrowed his eyes, but Zane gave him an enigmatic grin and stood to tidy the dishes.



“Fine, keep your mysteries, Garrett. They make you fun.”



Zane laughed. That pretty much summed up how Ty saw life. He glanced over his shoulder. “This party is going to be a bitch, you know.”



“We can always abscond in the night.”



Zane pointed at Ty. “You get to face Mother after that, buddy boy.”



“See, we need to go over your definition of abscond.”



Zane turned and threw the dishrag at Ty’s head. They both laughed. “Go pack and we’ll head on.”



“I love it when you get all bossy,” Ty said with relish as he headed for the stairs.



He sauntered away. He was barefoot, had no shirt on, and his sweatpants were barely staying on his hips. How could he be so damn sexy and in such a good mood after almost getting eaten by a tiger and being in a tranquilizer-induced coma for a day? Zane couldn’t help himself; he called out, “Hey, Ty?”



“Yes, my darling?” Ty responded sarcastically from halfway up the staircase.



“I love you.”



Ty grinned and started up the steps again. “I like what Texas does to you, Zane.”



“I don’t care what you say, Harrison, or what he says, that man is taking advantage of our son and I will not stand for it!”



Harrison sat in his recliner with yesterday’s newspaper in his lap, unread. He was massaging the bridge of his nose and seriously considering taking a few of the painkillers the doctor had given him for his shoulder, just so he could have an excuse to go hide on his porch. Anything to get away from his wife. Their marriage had never been about love. It had all but been arranged for them, to solidify the wealth of the two families. When it had turned from convenient to intolerable, he couldn’t quite identify.



Harrison just wanted to do good by his horses and his family, and he was a happy man. But Beverly had always been driven by power, money, and status. At one time he’d seen vestiges of that same drive in his son, and he’d resigned himself to never being able to understand either of them. But something had reached inside Zane, something had changed him, and Harrison was damn sure that something had involved Ty.



“Beverly, Zane is his own man, and he’s a smart one at that. And if you’d take a minute to get to know Ty, you’d find that he’s a good man too.”



“How can you approve of them? Does it not bother you that your son, your only son, the very last male to carry the Garrett name, goes home from work every night to another man? That doesn’t offend your sensibilities?”



“Not one bit,” Harrison said. He picked up his newspaper again. “At least he looks forward to going home.”



She grabbed the top of his newspaper and yanked it down. Her eyes were flashing and her nostrils flared.



“Mind your blood pressure, Beverly.”



“What if they go off and get married? You know they allow that in some states? That . . . that hooligan could be entitled to half the estate!”



“You can’t take it with you. What do you care? As I see it, they’re happy. Zane has every right to be happy, and I for one would rather see him more than once a year. If welcoming Ty into the family with open arms is what it takes, then I find that quite agreeable.”



“He will never be part of my family, Harrison. I won’t allow it. He can stay here and fight the good fight all he wants, but I won’t allow my only son to be brainwashed like this.”



Harrison scratched at his chin, pursing his lips thoughtfully. “If that’s the way you want it.”



“It most certainly is,” Beverly snarled. She spun on her heel and stomped off.



Harrison pursed his lips and finally nodded. “What do you think, Bullet?” he grumbled to the Australian Shepherd at his feet. “Think you can dig us a hole deep enough nobody’d find her?”



The dog answered with a wiggle of its docked tail. Harrison grinned and rubbed the dog’s head.



There was a knock on the doorframe, and Zane stepped into the room, smirking. Harrison put his paper aside.



“Don’t get up,” Zane said quickly. “We’re not staying long.”



Ty leaned against the doorframe and didn’t come farther. He was wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses, and the way he held himself made it look like he was being careful with how he moved.



“Morning, Ty.”



“Good morning, sir.”



“How you feeling?” Harrison asked as he eased back down.



“Still a little hungover, to be honest.”



Harrison laughed and nodded. “And sore?”



“That too.”



“What are you two up to today?”



“Oh, I just figured I’d show Ty some more of Texas. Head down to San Antonio and visit the Bureau office there,” Zane said. He shot a sideways look at Ty. “Maybe spend a night in Beaumont.”



Ty smacked his forehead and turned his head away.



“Not much in Beaumont to see,” Harrison said with a frown.



Zane grinned. “Even so, we’re going to try to get it in.”



Ty had his hand over his mouth, his head down. He was either going to throw up or he was laughing. Harrison felt he’d missed a joke, but he thought maybe he didn’t want to know.



“You planning to miss the barbeque?” he asked Zane.



“No, sir. We’ll be here.”



“I know what you’re doing, Z. It ain’t a good idea.”



Zane just raised an eyebrow.



“You two are traipsing down to San Antonio seeing if anything comes out of the woodwork to follow.”



Zane just laughed. “It kind of crossed my mind. Spread the word around that we’re leaving, huh? Call me if anything happens.”



Harrison nodded. “You boys have fun.”



Ty smacked Zane in the arm as they walked out of sight, Zane’s laughter echoing off the marble hall in the foyer.



Harrison nodded. It was soothing to his soul to see his son happy again, and to know that he might come back more often now that he’d gotten so much off his chest.



If Beverly wouldn’t allow Ty to be part of her family, then she might just need to find herself a new one.



They checked into the Hyatt on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Ty realized that he had revealed one of his hidden passions to Zane, and Zane was exploiting his love of history for everything he was worth. Just like the battlefield at Gettysburg months ago, Ty went completely crazy over the Alamo.



They spent a solid hour exploring the tiny footprint of the famous mission, and then they strolled along the Riverwalk hand-in-hand. They finished their foray with a candlelit dinner, and as Ty gazed across the flickering flame at his lover, he could tell there was something Zane wanted to say. It was almost fun to watch him try to work up to it and then chicken out and back down. Ty was curious, but he’d found that sometimes it was better to let Zane make his own way though his mind. How long would it take him to finally get it out?



Dinner ended with Zane in an atrociously good mood and Ty just buzzed enough to be malleable as they wove through a celebratory crowd on the edges of the Alamo. Zane had Ty’s hand in his, leading him somewhere. They found their way into the Alamo Gardens amidst a few dozen other people. The crowd had a feeling to it, like everyone was waiting for something to begin.



“What’s going on?”



Zane gave a shrug, but turned to look back at Ty with a half-smirk. Ty narrowed his eyes.



“I know a good spot,” Zane told him.



“For what?”



“You’re not triggered by fireworks, are you?”



“What?”



“Fireworks. Do they . . . trigger flashbacks or anything?”



Ty shrugged. “Only happened once. It was right after I got home, though.”



“Good.” Zane’s hand tightened in Ty’s and Ty had to laugh as he dodged a low-lying oak branch and tramped along in the moonlight and flickering light of the lanterns that lined the Alamo. It wasn’t hard to see, but it was hard to keep up with Zane and his excitement.



Ty couldn’t help but smile as Zane led him toward the massive, sprawling oak tree that stood as the centerpiece of the gardens. Ty had marveled at it when they’d visited earlier. They passed by it, heading for another of the trees near the perimeter of the walled courtyard. A low branch hung out over the grass, and beneath it, a blanket had been laid out.



“You sneaky bastard,” Ty said as Zane laughed.