He pulled in behind her car again and made a mental note to ask her about the rental. He cut the engine and gathered his stuff, the plastic bag hanging from his fingers.
When he pushed open the front door, he stuck his head into the foyer and called out, “Hello?”
Seemed strange to be doing that in his own house, but he wanted to make sure she wasn’t dancing around the room in her skivvies...or less.
“We’re in the kitchen eating.” Emily’s singsong voice drew him in with its promise of companionship and comfort. He hadn’t even realized he’d been missing those things.
Denali finally tore himself away from Emily feeding Wyatt in his high chair and trotted up to him, his nails clicking on the hardwood floor.
With his hands full, Nash nudged the dog with his knee. “You’re not supposed to eat garlic. I’ll feed you in a minute.”
“I fed him already.” Emily waved Wyatt’s spoon in the air. “We had quite an afternoon.”
“Yeah, about that.” Nash swung his laptop case on top of the opposite end of the kitchen table, where Emily was sitting next to Wyatt’s high chair, and put the bag with their dinner on the counter, where a bottle of wine stood uncorked.
“I haven’t been secretly drinking away the day. You mentioned Italian, so I found a bottle of red and I’m letting it breathe.” She dabbed Wyatt’s chin. “Hope that’s okay.”
“Perfect. I should’ve thought of that myself.” He unpacked the salad and the garlic bread. “I know you aren’t a lush because I have the house outfitted with cameras.”
She jerked her head toward him and two red spots formed on her cheeks. “Oh. I guess you witnessed our little impromptu swim.”
“Sorry. I should’ve told you about the cameras before.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That’s okay. I should’ve figured you had them. I doubt you would’ve been so quick to leave a relative stranger in your home with your friend’s baby. Besides—” she scooped up another spoonful of food from the jar “—it’s not like I was skinny-dipping.”
Nash swallowed and turned his attention to getting dishes for their dinner. “Wyatt must’ve liked the water, since you were out there for a while.”
“He loved it.” She touched the baby’s nose. “Didn’t you, my little fish?”
“You’re so good with him.” Nash divided the salad into two bowls and unwrapped the bread from the foil.
“Those cameras, is there audio, also? Just in case I want to break into song. I wanna warn you first.”
He sucked some tomato sauce from his thumb. “No audio.”
“Good.” Emily stood up with the empty jar of baby food in her hand. “Wyatt had a long nap this afternoon, so I doubt he’s going to be sleeping through our dinner. I’ll leave him in his high chair while we eat as long as he’s not fussy.”
“Sounds good to me.” Nash raised the bottle of wine. “You get Wyatt settled and I’ll get everything ready for our dinner.”
He took out a couple of place mats from the drawer next to the fridge and put them on the table. He dumped the pasta on two plates and poured the wine.
By the time he placed the silverware next to the plates, Emily was settling Wyatt back into his chair. She scattered an offering of toys on the tray and collapsed next to the high chair.
“I can take the seat of honor next to Wyatt, if you like. I mean, if you need a break.” Nash tore off a corner of garlic bread and popped it into his mouth.
“I’m the nanny. I don’t need a break.” Picking up her wineglass, she swirled it around.
“Even nannies need breaks.” He grabbed his own glass and touched it to hers. “Here’s to fortuitous meetings in grocery store parking lots and fate.”
“Yeah...fate.” She clinked his glass and took a gulp of wine.
Nannies didn’t need breaks? She guzzled that cab as if her sanity depended on it.
“Whoa, that’s good.” She placed the glass on the table and stabbed at her salad with a fork. “What does your job entail?”
Nash blinked. “My job?”
“Border Patrol agent. What do you do mostly? Is it people, drugs, both?”
“There are different sectors down here that report to Tucson, and we deal mostly with drug interdiction in Paradiso. That’s our main focus. We don’t have many illegal border crossings on our end.”
“Is there one cartel in particular in this area?”
“We encounter them all, but Las Moscas is the main source of drug smuggling along the border here.”
“The decapitated people?”
He nodded. “Las Moscas.”
“The cartels have...collaborators on this side of the border? People who finance them? People who move their product?”
“You are your father’s daughter, aren’t you?”
The glass in her hand jerked, and a few droplets of wine stained the tablecloth. “Why do you say that?”
“I don’t know. Most women aren’t interested in my job.” He pushed back from the table and yanked the dish towel from the oven door and ran it under the faucet.
He returned to the table and dabbed at the red spots on the white material.
“I’m sorry. Let me.” She made a grab for the dish towel, but he held firm.
“I’ve got it.” He waved the towel at Wyatt. “Besides, I think your charge needs another toy. He’s thrown all of his on the floor.”
Emily leaned over. “Wyatt, Denali has slobbered over all your toys. Do you think it’s okay to give Wyatt a piece of this bread to suck on?”
Nash lifted his shoulders. “You’re the nanny. Will he choke?”
“I—I was just wondering how garlicky it was. He might not even like it.” She pulled the soft center from a piece of bread and put it to Wyatt’s lips.
The baby sucked the bread into his mouth and then spit it out onto his tray.
“I guess there’s your answer—no garlic for dogs or babies.” He picked up the bottle of wine. “Do you want a refill?”
Pinging her fingernail against the half-empty glass, she shook her head. “I still have to drive back to my motel, and one glass is my limit for
