His Instant Heir(16)

"Sure," Dec said. He might be new to this dad thing, but with Cari close  by he figured he could handle it. Besides, there was little in his life  that he hadn't been able to figure out. And this was no different. When  he'd first struck out on his own he'd had nothing but his wits to guide  him, having refused to touch the money his parents had wanted to give  him, and his desire to prove himself. And he'd done a damned fine job of  it.

"Do you need a hand?" she asked as she came back with the yogurt.

He'd been staring at the car seat instead of putting the baby in it. He  got him in and fastened the straps before turning to the dinner he'd  brought for them. "Mind if I close the door?"

"Not at all," Cari said.

She started spoon-feeding DJ mouthfuls of yogurt, and the little man  didn't look too thrilled with that. "Are you sure that's good for him?  He's a boy."

Cari rolled her eyes as she looked over at him. "I think I know what my son needs."

He held his hands up in a truce motion and went back to setting up their  dinner. "I guess I'm a little jealous of all the bonding you've already  done with our son and I hardly know anything about him. I didn't even  know he'd like yogurt."

"Well, he loves chicken, too," Cari said. "I can see you have a lot to catch up on. Are you sure you want to put in the effort?"

He looked at her and wondered what she was getting at. The first  stirrings of anger moved through him, but then he looked down into her  eyes and saw an emotion that looked like fear in them. He had to  remember that he'd left her. After one night.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"That I wish you'd told me about him before he was born," Dec said with all the emotion he felt. "I feel like you cheated me."

"I know I did," she said. "I can't even say I'd do it differently now.  Given that we had a one-night stand and you weren't easy to find … it just  seemed like maybe I was meant to keep DJ for myself."

"I can understand that," he said, and that was a big part of why he was  conflicted. He also felt that she was fully justified to have some  doubts where he was concerned. "I do want to. I don't know if I'm  changing or what this is, Cari, and you have every right to question me.  Because every time you do it just reinforces my own desire to be here  for my son."

She gave him a tentative smile. "Good. I intend to."

She wiped DJ's face and then went back to the refrigerator, heated the milk in the microwave and returned with a bottle.

"Is he on formula?" Dec asked.                       
       
           



       

"No. It's milk I expressed earlier," she said. "It's easier to keep to my work schedule if I do it this way."

She handed the bottle to DJ who took it and started sucking on it. A few  minutes later his eyes started to drift shut. "He's like clockwork.  After he eats he needs a nap."

"I guess that's a good thing for us tonight. Our dinner is ready," Dec said.

"Let me move his seat to the floor where I can keep an eye on him while we are eating," she said.

Dec watched as she got their son comfortable, putting a stuffed toy next  to him and tucking a blanket around him. "I hate to leave him in the  seat, but when I'm working late it's easier on him if he sleeps in here  until I'm ready to go."

"Do you work late often?" Dec asked.

"Well, not to make you feel guilty-"

"You can't."

"I have only been working long hours since we got wind of the takeover," she continued as if he hadn't interrupted.

"I'm sorry you've had to. I could have warned you there was nothing that  was going to keep Kell from his goal once he fixed on it."

"I'm not surprised. Stubbornness seems to be a Montrose trait."

"I'm a Montrose in name only."

"You were raised by them, Dec. Why do you always point out that you are different?" she asked.

"I've always felt different," he said. "It wasn't anything anyone said  to me per se, just my own feeling that I had to work a lot harder to  prove myself."

"Why? I've done some searching on your family and without your mom's  money Thomas Montrose wouldn't have had any chance of reviving his game  empire."

Dec looked over at her. It was odd to him, but it felt like she had just  defended him and his right to be a Montrose. It wasn't like she'd said  anything he hadn't already known, but hearing someone else with that  opinion made the difference.

"That's all true, but I always felt like I didn't fit in," he said.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't keep DJ from you because you didn't  'fit' my idea of a father. I just wasn't sure enough of myself to invite  any other complications into the mix."

He nodded. He could see that. She was a good mom and her love for DJ was  evident. He hoped someday that he'd be part of that circle of people  she cared for.

* * *

Cari learned a lot about Dec as they dined after she'd taken DJ down to  the nursery where the day-care staff were on extended hours. They had  cribs and DJ was much more comfortable sleeping there than in his car  seat. Plus she wanted a chance to have Dec to herself and figure out  what she was going to do with him.

It was as if it were their first date. He didn't talk any more about his  past. But she felt as if for the first time they were on the same  track.

There was still an undercurrent of desire between them. Every time she  looked over at him and caught him watching her she felt her blood flow a  little heavier. And when their hands brushed, tingles ran up her arm  and sent a delicious shiver through her entire body. But tonight was  about more than sex. It was about getting to know each other. She  wondered if perhaps it was fated that they do things out of order.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, breaking into her thoughts.

"That I'm finally getting to know the real guy you are," she said.

"That's not true. You've seen me naked. You know the real me," he said.

She shook her head. "You're wrong. Today I noticed this for the first time."

She reached over and ran her forefinger over the small scar under his left eye. "Where did you get that?"

He brought his hand up and caught hers, carrying it to his mouth for a  brief kiss. "That scar is from when I was nine. It was the first time I  went camping with my grandfather and Kell and Allan. They'd both been  going with him since they were six, but Mother and Grandfather had been  feuding so I hadn't been able to attend until that summer."

"What were they feuding about?" she asked. Seemed old Thomas had a beef with everyone.

"Her money," Dec said. "So when we got to Bear-"

"Big Bear?" she asked. "My maternal grandparents had a house up there."

"Yes, Big Bear," he said. "Am I going to be able to tell this story?"

"Sure, but with lots of interruptions," she said with a grin.

"So we got up there and my cousins were already expert snowboarders, but  I had never been on one. I knew how to ski because my mother insisted I  learn when we were in St. Moritz the previous winter. But Kell said  skiing was for wimps so I asked for a snowboard and then proceeded to  lose control and run into a tree. I had a lot of damage to the left side  of my face and had emergency cosmetic surgery. This scar is all that's  left."                       
       
           



       

She hadn't been expecting that. She reached over and took his hand in  hers and rubbed her fingers over his knuckles. She felt for that little  boy that Dec had been. Desperate to prove himself to the Montroses and  find his place. "Can you snowboard now?"

"Nope. Just ski and I don't care if Kell thinks it's for wimps. He felt  bad because he'd sort of dared me into taking the snowboard."

"You were just boys. Your grandfather should have stepped in."

"He thought that kind of thing was good for us. He said we should always stay hungry."

"Well, I don't agree with that. I'm not raising DJ that way."

"Good. I'm not complaining about the way I was raised, but I want DJ to have a more comfortable childhood than I did."

"Is that why you are trying to have a relationship with me?" she asked.

"Part of it. I don't want him to ever think that I didn't want him. I  know how I felt knowing that my biological parents …  Well, that's old  news. What about you? Any scars?"

She didn't want to let the subject change. She wanted to know more about  Dec and dig into his psyche, but she could tell he wasn't going to  answer anything else about his past.

"I have one scar and if you guess where it is-"