Cut and Run 3 - Fish and Chips

unobtrusively shifted his phone across the papers strewn in front of him so he could hit the button and read the message without drawing attention to it.
    Pop quiz partner. How many letters in the government alphabet?
    Biting his tongue, Zane tried to decide what the answer to that would be. It was 50/50 that it was a joke. He figured Ty was trying to break him now, to get him to react, maybe even to laugh. As he checked his peripheral vision, he could see Ty watching him, his head lowered just enough to make him look slightly predatory. Zane knew that look well too. Most people who didn’t know Ty were intimidated by the glint in his hazel eyes and the slightly malicious curve to his lips. But Zane had come to learn that Ty only wore that look when he was enjoying himself. And it made his clean-shaven, heart-shaped face that much more handsome, which irked Zane to no end. Irked and aroused.
    Just to egg him on, Zane ignored the message, went back to working on the reconciliation, and tried to build up the resolve it would take to not react to Ty’s next attempt to break his cool.
    The phone lit up again, and this time Ty had returned his attention to his computer when Zane surreptitiously glanced at him. Zane wondered how the hell Ty typed so fast on the itty-bitty phone keypad. He would have liked to have seen it, if it wouldn’t have spoiled their game.
    He made them both wait five minutes through a discussion of assets with Alston before he hit the key combo to open the latest text message.
    Answer: 19. ET went home on a UFO and the FBI went after him.
    Zane blinked several times at the screen as he kept a straight face, though by all rights, that one did deserve a laugh. Who’d have known he’d be tapping into years of undercover experience to hide that he was playing text games in the office? He tapped his pen thoughtfully on the ledger as he stared at it blankly. He was certainly distracted now. He suspected Ty knew it. But they’d both continue to enjoy it if Zane tried not to admit it. He wouldn’t have dreamed of goofing off like this at work a year ago. Hell, six months ago. But Ty Grady had done his damnedest to yank the stick out of Zane’s ass….
    The little message icon in the corner of his phone’s display began to blink, indicating he had yet another message. He hadn’t even seen Ty move. Was it possible to schedule these texts ahead of time? That would take quite a bit of forethought, but it was just the kind of plot Ty would favor. Zane shifted around his stack of folders, took a drink of coffee, and checked the message.
    You know you want to laugh.
    Score one for Zane Garrett. He looked up slowly, face composed, raising one eyebrow.
    Ty was watching him. He winked when Zane met his eyes, but he wasn’t fully smiling yet. He still wore that infuriating smirk. Instead of answering in any way, Zane sniffed and turned to his computer. That reaction would surely get another out of his partner. Besides, Zane was intrigued now to see what Ty would come up with that would be enough to get Zane to laugh despite his practiced control.
    He didn’t have to wait long for Ty’s next attempt. His phone lit up, and Zane was able to catch a glimpse of Ty reaching out to set his own phone on the desk. Zane deliberately waited a couple of minutes before turning in his chair to change out files and check the message.
    Did you hear about the guy downstairs who lost his left arm and left leg in a wreck? Hes all right now.
    Zane stared at the little screen really hard for a long moment before he was able to shake his head ever-so-slightly and turn away from the phone.
    He slowly looked around at the rest of the team, wondering how none of them had caught on. Did they really pay so little attention? Or was it that they weren’t at all surprised to see Ty texting someone , and they just didn’t connect him with his partner? Zane knew Ty received about half a dozen text messages on a normal day from various people, but Ty rarely checked them or responded when he was working.
    Zane deliberately shoved some files into his outbox and did not look in Ty’s direction. He turned his attention to a conversation between Clancy and Perrimore about calling a judge for a search warrant, but he was hyperaware of his partner.
    He heard Ty’s chair squeak as he moved. Ty’s chair always squeaked because he was so damn hard on the thing, always moving around and fidgeting. His chair stayed broken and noisy, just like