Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run 6)

“You were sweet tonight, with Sadie.”

“It’s easy to be sweet with a cute kid in your lap.”

“Sadie’s way too pretty for my peace of mind. I’m glad I’m not her daddy.”

“She already knows how to wield the batting eyelashes. Teach her to handle a gun, give her a classic muscle car, she’ll take over the world.”

Zane chuckled. “At least you’re true to type. If she’s raised like I was, she’ll have at least two guns before she’s a teenager. More likely a truck than a muscle car, though.”

“Shame.”

“My uncle taught me to shoot.”

Ty ran his fingers down Zane’s cheek. “You could teach her, you know.”

Furrows appeared on Zane’s brow. “If we end up putting her daddy in jail, there might be some strain there.”

Ty nodded. He didn’t like suspecting Mark any more than Zane did, but there was a lot that wasn’t adding up.

“Run it through for me, okay?”

Ty nodded again. He held up his hand and pointed a finger to count. “He knew Stuart’s name in the bar. He tried to throw you off the scent by telling you about LeJeune. He dogged my steps out there, tried to convince you and I to go after the tiger instead of the poachers, and he’d have access to the kind of information and type of tranqs he needed through Annie’s vet practice.”

Zane looked at Ty’s hand, now displaying all five fingers with the points he’d listed. “Jesus, Ty,” he said, and he ran his hand through his hair.

“I’ve been wrong before.”

Zane shook his head. “How are we going to explain to Sadie that her daddy’s in jail because Uncle Z put him there?”

“She’d have you, Zane.”

Zane met his eyes and took in a deep, shaky breath. “I don’t know. I’ve never really been around kids. I’m not sure I’d know what to do.”

“They’re just little people. They can be charmed like anyone else. Be a little silly, let them know what they’re saying is the most important thing in the world, teach them right from wrong. You’d be fine.”

Zane met his eyes, thoughtful. “You like kids, don’t you?”

“Some of them, yeah,” Ty answered with a shrug. “I love the little ones, when they still look at the world with stars.”

Zane smiled wistfully at the sentiment. “I’ve seen you with Elaina. And now with Sadie. She’s an outgoing kid, but she took to you like glue. You’re really good with them.”

Ty just nodded, wondering why Zane was lingering over it.

Zane glanced away, then back to meet his eyes. “Did you think about having kids?” He paused a moment before adding, “With Ava?”

Ty blinked at him. Ava Gaudet had been a near-miss of Ty’s while undercover in New Orleans. Probably the last serious relationship he’d had before Zane. He was glad Zane had asked, though. There was too much between them they still kept hidden, either on purpose or subconsciously. It was high time they started asking each other questions any normal couple would ask.

Ty nodded. “She wanted kids. Not when we were together, but eventually. It was never really an option for us, though.”

“Well, you were still undercover. And hadn’t told her about it.”

Ty winced and looked past Zane’s shoulder to the ceiling. “That didn’t really factor in.”

Zane frowned. “I don’t follow.”

“When I was younger, I took a bullet in the wrong place.”

“Is there a right place to take a bullet?” Zane asked with a smirk.

“No, but for the purposes of having kids, there is definitely a wrong one.” Ty pulled the hem of his shirt up and pushed his pants down to show Zane a faded white scar, right at the juncture of his hip, that he knew Zane had seen before. Hell, Zane had licked it before. “Even if I wanted kids . . .” He shook his head and put his hands under his head again. “The doctor that did the surgery said nothing doing.”

Zane’s eyes widened before his expression settled into something sadder. “Tytanium,” he whispered as he ran his fingertip across the scar. “You can’t tell me that doesn’t bother you.”

Ty shrugged. “It did for a while, at first. I mean hell, I was twenty-two. But I never lived the life of someone who could be a good daddy. It was never in my cards.”

“I guess that’s true,” Zane said before turning his gaze toward the windows.

“Tell me what you’re thinking, Zane.”

Zane inhaled deeply and let it out in a soft sigh. “Becky and I never talked about having kids,” he said. “Not real seriously. We were both working a lot. I was a rising star, she was doing charity work.”

“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.