Ty hastily removed his fingers, fumbled with the small bottle next to Zane"s knee, and then liberally applied the lubricant to himself. His hand slid over Zane"s lower back appreciatively, and the slow slide just made Zane quiver as he felt fingers stroking over the skin. He breathed Ty"s name again, trying to hold as still as possible as he gripped the sheets. Ty seemed to be holding his breath as he pressed against Zane.

As he felt Ty brush against him, Zane wondered if Ty had ever done this without a condom—he hadn"t himself—but Ty"s cock pushed into him before he could think about it more.

Ty gave a wanton groan as he rocked slowly in. Zane tried to relax as Ty pushed, but the desire gripping him made him tense up all over. He bit his lip against a gasp and tried to wiggle a little to get Ty to move.

“Stop moving or I"m just gonna come all over your ass right here,” Ty growled to him as he dragged his fingers down Zane"s back.

Zane hung his head and tried to take in even breaths as his body adjusted to let Ty slide in. Then he moaned aloud and pushed back his hips in encouragement.

“That"s it,” Ty groaned with difficulty. He reached around Zane and stroked him slowly, his hand practically trapped between Zane"s body and the bed. He pushed in further, moaning again as he did so, and he laid himself out on top of Zane and flexed his hips.

Zane cried out wordlessly before burying his face against the sheets. Ty"s weight on him changed the whole experience, and he couldn"t think at all now. He could only react. “Please,” he whispered over and over as Ty moved slowly inside him. He could feel the rock of Ty"s hips against his ass, feel the push of his bare cock deeper and deeper, feel his breaths on the back of his neck. Just knowing that Ty would be literally emptying himself inside him made Zane"s body tingle—he was so very aware of it.

Ty groaned, a plaintive moan as he began to rock his hips rhythmically, pulling almost all the way out and then sliding back in slowly. He gripped Zane"s hip beneath him and trapped Zane under him, and he pressed his open mouth against the back of Zane"s shoulder and whispered his name. Moaning constantly, Zane tensed again as the climax started to threaten, and his muscles clamped around Ty as he began to twitch, trying to shift and get just a little more stimulation on his cock.

Ty raised his hips and pulled at Zane, lifting him just enough that with each thrust Zane was pushed into his hand. “Come on, Zane,” he coaxed in a low voice. “I promise I"ll keep fucking you after you come.”

Once he was thrusting into Ty"s hand, Zane started writhing, gasping Ty"s name with each push. But it had to be faster, harder, deeper. Ty knew, though, just as he always did. He picked up his own rhythm, driving into Zane harder and harder, erratically hitting his prostate, forcing Zane"s cock into his slicked hand as he fucked him.

Zane bit off a loud yell as he hit orgasm, his hot come stringing over Ty"s fingers to drip to the sheets as he pushed back on Ty"s cock over and over.

Ty called out in a hoarse voice as Zane"s movements became wilder, but he managed to keep thrusting even as Zane clenched and spasmed around his cock. He slid his hand up and over Zane"s hip, smearing come on his skin. He gripped him hard and began truly thrusting into him, rocking Zane"s body and slapping their damp skin together.

Zane finally moaned out a long, aching wail as his body clutched around Ty. If Ty kept going, Zane was going to come again. He could feel pleasure building again deep in his gut and his balls, and he moved with the pummeling, leaning forward to press his forehead to the sheets. Ty had promised to keep fucking him, and God, was he ever.

Ty stretched out over him, slowing his hips as he whispered,

“Okay?”

Drawing in a shaky breath, Zane opened dazed eyes to stare at the tangled sheets. “Don"t stop,” he breathed. He wanted to come again with Ty"s cock deep inside him. He wanted to hear Ty. He wanted to feel Ty empty himself into him at that moment. Oh fucking hell, he wanted it, to feel Ty so fucking close….

Ty lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Zane"s back, whimpering and then growling plaintively as he complied. He pushed back up, gripping one of Zane"s hips and his shoulder to use as leverage. He gasped with the pounding thrusts, and Zane groaned between harsh breaths as he reveled in the way Ty was using his body.

He was half-hard again, pleasure radiating from his groin with every move. He reached under himself to palm himself again, reaching far between his legs to massage Ty as well.

Ty simply moaned in response and clutched at Zane hard as he finally found his release. He panted against Zane"s skin as his hips continued to rock, his body jerking with the stimulation. Zane gripped himself as Ty came and pumped hard to a smaller but sharper climax, his body tensing around Ty"s pulsing cock.

After an eternity of almost painful pleasure, Ty stilled and pressed his forehead against Zane"s back, breathing harshly. Then he pulled out quickly, maybe enjoying the fact that he didn"t have to worry about a condom. Zane shuddered as he felt a hot trail of come slide along the inside of his thigh, and it was on the tip of his tongue to tell Ty to do it all over again.

Once Ty shifted back, Zane"s arms finally gave out, and he sank to his belly, his knees spread wide, before he curled to his side, still flinching as shocks of sensation coursed through him. He watched through barely open eyes as Ty crawled up onto the bed like a man who"d just run a marathon and collapsed beside him.

Ty scooted closer and slid his knee between Zane"s legs, pulling himself over and nuzzling against Zane"s cheek before kissing him.

“You okay?” he asked again softly.

Zane slid his arm over Ty"s waist to help them remain close.

“Yeah,” he whispered, giving in to the urge to shift his hips and feel more of Ty"s come sliding between his cheeks and thighs. “You?”

“Maybe,” Ty murmured in answer. “We"ll see in the morning,”

he added with a small smile.

Zane was solemn, though. “You gonna wake up in the morning and think better of this?”

Ty kissed him again languidly, sliding his cleaner hand into Zane"s hair and breathing in deeply through his nose so he could kiss Zane harder and longer. “No,” he assured him once he finally pulled away.

Zane rolled to his back long enough to free his other arm so he could wrap both around Ty possessively. “Okay,” he whispered as he managed a breath. He moved just enough to press their foreheads together. “Never saw this kind of thing coming.”

“Damn,” Ty responded wryly. “Then I could have said it was all your fault.”

Zane jabbed at Ty"s ribs. Ty oomphed and jerked, snickering.

“You know what I mean,” Zane muttered.

Ty quieted and nudged himself closer. “Maybe,” he admitted slyly.

Narrowing his eyes, Zane pulled his head back to look at his partner. “Maybe?”

Ty"s entire body shivered with a pleasurable ripple as the cool air began to touch him. “You know you wanted me,” he teased gently, a smirk in his voice.

Zane snorted quietly. “Certainly wasn"t your pleasant disposition that caught my attention,” he muttered as he lightly kissed Ty"s jaw.

“Sure it was,” Ty huffed. “It"s my best feature.”

“Your ass is your best feature,” Zane corrected. Ty gave another insulted huff and began to roll away from him. Zane laughed and flexed his arms, not letting him move. “What? You want me to say something else? Something poetic? Like your flashing eyes? Or your full, pouty lips?”

“My sparkling personality,” Ty provided cheekily.

“Your insatiable sex drive,” Zane drawled, splaying his hands on Ty"s back to anchor him in place as he tangled his lower legs with Ty"s.

“That"s partly your fault,” Ty accused.

Zane grinned. “I"ll take the blame,” he said. “If you tell me my best feature.”

“That"s easy,” Ty answered. “Your partner,” he said cheekily, managing to maintain a straight face.

Zane"s smile softened, and slowly he nodded. “I"d say you"re right.”

“Oh, don"t do that,” Ty groaned with a little jab to Zane"s ribs.

“Joke,” he murmured. “It was a joke.”

Zane just chuckled and shook his head slightly, stealing a kiss just like Ty"s. “No joke,” he disagreed, though still smiling. “I am no kind of prize.”

“Tell me about it,” Ty groaned.

Zane laughed and buried his face in the juncture of Ty"s neck and shoulder, inhaling deeply.

Ty hummed quietly and rolled onto his back, taking Zane with him. “We should think about getting cleaned up,” he muttered. “You made a mess.”

“I made a mess?” Zane asked pointedly.

Ty growled deep in his chest as he pulled Zane closer, preventing Zane from fondling him like he was about to. “I enjoyed it,” he said with a leer.

Zane turned his head to nip at Ty"s neck. “Shower, then?”

“Mm hmm,” Ty responded, though he seemed to have no plan for moving.

“Sounds promising,” Zane mumbled, smiling against Ty"s collarbone.

“If we stay here all sticky, I may have to fuck you again,” Ty warned.

“Oh, the agony,” Zane drawled, pulling Ty closer to kiss him soundly.

Ty rolled him suddenly, putting himself on top of Zane with clearly every intention of continuing on in the same vein. But they were closer to the precarious edge of the round mattress than either of them realized, and when Ty put all his weight into Zane, both went tumbling off the edge of the round bed in an ungraceful heap of limbs, curses, and peals of laughter.

Chapter 11

THERE were twenty high rollers on board the Queen of the Mediterranean, give or take, and Zane had played poker with them all.

Most of them were above average players. They wouldn"t be in the private room of this exclusive pay-to-play lounge if they weren"t. A few were excellent players, whether by virtue of skill, intuition, or the ephemeral Lady Luck, it didn"t matter. And then there were the experts.

Zane hadn"t yet decided if he"d count himself one of those, simply because Vartan Armen and Lorenzo Bianchi weren’t, so Zane hadn"t pushed himself against the pros he knew well enough to be wary of.

Two of those Zane considered experts sat at the table now with him, Bianchi, and Armen, making a flexible table of five. Luckily, he was here to relax and schmooze, not to win. Considering what a roller coaster his day had been so far, he could use an uneventful night at the table. Zane shifted slightly, trying to ease the mild discomfort from his rather active afternoon. Thinking about leaving Ty all warm and soft and sated in their bed made Zane smile.

“Are you enjoying your evening, Mr. Porter?” Bianchi asked.

“Definitely, Signor Bianchi, definitely,” Zane drawled as the dealer approached the table with several new packs of cards.

Seeing the ship"s crew actually involved in the high-stakes gambling operation surprised Zane the first night. But it turned out the dealers were paid above and beyond their normal salary to work on their off hours for the players funding their own games in this private lounge. The ship kindly donated use of cards and chips of much higher denominations than any “normal” passenger would see in the game room proper.

Money really could buy more money.

Here in the private game, it was player"s choice as they went around the table. They played the old classics five-card draw and seven-card stud, the popular stars Texas Hold "em and Omaha Hi Lo, and occasionally variations like Crazy Pineapple and Follow the Bitch.

Crunching the numbers and figuring the percentages was in a way soothing for Zane. It was easy, it wasn"t life-threatening, and he didn"t even have to stress about the money. Granted, it was rather appalling to play $5,000 antes or $6,000 big blinds, but after a while the amount of money didn"t mean anything anymore.

It all came down to the chips.

Zane looked lazily around the table, cataloguing what he knew about his opponents. Expert Numero Uno played aggressively and liked to bet big and bet often, but he bowed out early if he didn"t have the cards. He preferred seven-card stud. The lobes of his ears flushed red when he got excited. Expert Numero Dos played evenly, always stayed in to see the bulk of the cards, and ran a decent bluff. She liked Texas Hold "em. But she had a bad habit of tapping one of her manicured fingernails on something when she had good cards. Armen was stoned-faced—big surprise—but just as stuck-up a card player as Zane figured him a businessman. He always chose five-card stud to force the other players to ante. Armen didn"t stay in long or risk much unless percentages were on his side. And Bianchi, he was as amenable a poker player as he was a person, laughing and smiling and talking, which was nearly as impossible to see through as Zane"s own emotionless mask.

Bianchi enjoyed the poker variations, something different every time.

But, as Ty had pointed out, he rubbed his cuff links when he was on to something.

Ty"s observation had really made Zane pause and think about what he was doing. Drinking aside, he knew he could outplay anyone here, if he put his mind to it. He knew the numbers, he was patient, and he literally had nothing to lose.

For the first hour and a half or so, Zane played conservatively, stuck to Evian over ice with a lemon twist, and kept an eye on the other players, confirming tells and, even more importantly, confirming mood.

Even the best player was more likely to betray himself if he was excited or upset or angry rather than content with the world. The cards didn"t matter, because a player brought mood with him to the table.