"Oh, yeah, like what?" Nathan said, knowing Quinn wanted him to.
"Sex with women." The blond shuddered. "You can keep your FBI bonding stories between the two of you. And the woman thing too. Just do not understand why anyone would want to limit themselves to pussy when there is dick in the world."
"It's not so bad, Quinn, once you get the hang of it." Drew had to laugh at the horrified look on the man's face.
"And don't forget that I noticed you didn't even look at Natalie," Quinn said hastily to cover his own embarrassment. "Not going to pick up where you left off, then?"
"That was too long ago. We went out once or twice, but my job and her school got in the way. And then I left for DC not long after that. It wouldn't have worked then. And now, well, I'm not going to be here long enough to do more than what we're doing now. Catch up. When the time comes, I'll hand this over and move on to another assignment."
"You're a deep cover agent." Nathan looked at him, his eyes that inscrutable shade of steel-gray that Drew came to associate with trouble.
"Something like that, yeah."
"A what?" Quinn looked from Nathan back to him.
"I'm not an investigator anymore, Quinn, I'm … Well, I do all the dirty undercover work. I go into a situation, see what's what, and report back. Sometimes I stay inside; most times, I move on."
"I'm surprised you even let me know you were here at all." Nathan finished his beer and tossed it into the trash under the sink.
"If it were anyone but you, I wouldn't have. Besides, I needed a way into the plant."
"And there's a plan for that?"
"Yeah, Natalie and I worked it out. I'm supposed to meet her foreman, Alonzo Ortiz, tomorrow morning and go from there. She'll tell him as much as he needs to know. I'll be in for a couple of days, entry-level, keep my head down and my ears open."
"Will you keep me in the loop?"
"For now, as long as it's your investigation."
"I guess that's all I can ask," Nathan said just as the house phone rang. He went to answer it, leaving Drew alone with Quinn.
"Now I know why you're different," he said, taking Drew by surprise.
"Why's that?"
"Maybe you should think about the man you were when you were here last. Larger-than-life Agent Walker who came in guns blazing and had Nate spitting mad. Who single-handedly figured out who killed my father and helped me save Nate. And then kicked my ass when I was falling apart. This man sitting in front of me isn't even a pale imitation of that one."
"That was nearly three years ago, Quinn. You were so wrapped up in loss and grief then, you saw what you wanted to see. I'm the same person I was then, or I wouldn't be doing this job now." But he wasn't the same. Too much had changed, and that time had been the turning point.
"That was Natalie, Mom is back. She went shopping and bought a ton of food. There are steaks, but we have to go cook if we want to eat." Nathan stopped when he noticed the tension between them. "Is this something I should know about?"
"Not really, just talking about that time again, and the three days we spent together while you were comatose."
"Oh," was all Nathan said, but Drew noticed how he went sort of pale. "Well, I'm going to go fire up the grill. You two coming, or do you want to be alone with your memories?"
"And here I thought you rich people had people to do the shopping and cooking for you." Drew took the last slug of his beer.
"Sure, we do. Little half-breed Puerto Rican boys to clean our pool. Oh, wait, ours just quit. What about it, Drew, you want a job as our pool boy?" He expected that kind of comeback from Quinn, that it was Nathan left him stunned.
"Ooh, will there be lots of man-sex involved? If so, sign me right up for that." Somehow he managed to keep a straight face, right up until Quinn nearly choked on his soda.
"Oh, shit, Drew, if I knew that was all it took to get you bent over, I'd have tried that years ago. Of course, it was snowing back then and we didn't have a pool, but I would have thought of something you could polish." Nathan took another beer from the fridge and gave it to him with a slight punch to his arm as he walked by. "Now I'm going to cook something. Either one of you ladies care to come and help?"
"Right behind you, Lord of the Charcoal Cooker." Quinn was still snickering when he dragged his ass off the bar stool. "Come on, Esai, let's go watch Nate burn something. That's always good for a few laughs."
In three days, Drew would be on his way to another part of the world. In three days, he would wonder why he felt at home in this kitchen with two smart-ass men he barely even knew. But that was three days away. He popped the top off the new beer, and without a care in the world, he looped his arm through Quinn's. "Lead on, Hee Haw. Lead on."