"Was he?"
"Would I have let her marry him if he was?" Jessi said, sounding disgusted. "Allan got all macho man and told me to back off."
"Just from having a private investigator look into John's past?"
"I may have also offered John a bribe to see if he'd take it and run," Jessi mumbled.
Cari shook her head and couldn't help laughing. "Oh, I'm sure that went over well."
"John forgave me, but Allan hasn't."
"Well, that doesn't matter," Emma said. "I want to know more about Cari and Dec. I know you went on one date with him the first night he showed up at the office, but scuttlebutt says you two are dating. That's not right, is it?" Emma asked.
Cari walked over to the large overstuffed leather sofa and plopped down on it. "Yes, it is right. We ended up talking about more than business at dinner and kind of hit it off."
"Hit it off?" Jessi said. "That doesn't sound like you."
"Well, it is me," she said. She didn't want to have this conversation, but realized it was exactly what she needed to do so that when she told them about Dec and DJ, it wouldn't give them both heart attacks. "I guess he just came along at the right time."
"I don't think dating him is a good idea," Emma said.
"Hell, I'm going to have him investigated," Jessi said. "Then we'll see if you can keep dating him."
"No," Cari said, standing up. "I'm sorry, but this is my decision. I'm going to date him despite the fact that we have some history with his family."
"Does your family mean so little to you?" Emma asked.
"No, it's not like that. But men like Dec … "
"Men like Dec?" Jessi asked. "How well do you know him?"
"Not as well as you're implying, but I do sort of like him. And I haven't met that many men who I want to get to know better."
"Not since you realized you were pregnant," Jessi said.
"Yes. I don't want you two meddling in this. It's hard enough dealing with the takeover and starting to care for him. I know what I'm doing."
"I hope you do," Emma said. "Because he's not going to put you before Playtone Games. With the board meeting tomorrow morning I think it's safe to assume there isn't anything else you can do now. I just want you to be sure you know what you are doing."
Cari wasn't sure. She knew she was already putting Dec before her obligation to the company. In her mind there had to be a way for her to convince him to leave the company as it was and to keep him in her life. She wasn't going to be happy with anything less than that.
Cari believed she'd planted the seeds in his mind that he couldn't treat Infinity Games like just another business to be gobbled up. She hoped his feelings for her would lead him to the conclusion that she and her sisters and their company should stay intact.
* * *
Cari left her sister's house and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway with no real destination in mind. She had a Yo Gabba Gabba! CD on for DJ who seemed happy enough in his rear car seat.
There was no reason for the tension in her stomach. Right now she knew she was doing all she could to protect her staff from trouble at work. Right now she knew her sisters were safe and healthy. And right now she still believed that she and Dec were going to end up together and be happy.
But she knew that Jessi and Emma had planted a seed of doubt in her mind. There was no way she could just keep moving forward with Dec while not knowing what his plans were for her and her sisters and their jobs.
She knew that there was a chance-okay, more than a chance-that Dec was going to recommend that she and her sisters be cut from the head count. Everyone knew that they didn't need two sets of executives in one company who did the same thing.
But she had been hoping as the weeks had gone on that there would be a way to truly merge the different corporate entities. Today, though, she was going to have to face reality. There was no way that the Montrose heirs were going to let her and her sisters stay on.
Even worse, Cari understood where Dec and his cousins were coming from. She pulled her car onto a scenic overlook and sat there with the motor running as the truth of why her stomach hurt hit her.
She was afraid that even after he destroyed her family's heritage she'd still love him.
She hadn't wanted to admit that even to herself, but it was the truth. In fact, she loved him right now.
She glanced in the backseat at DJ and she realized that from the moment Dec had walked back into her life, she'd wanted this.
But she also wanted Dec to save her company, fall in love with his son and love her back. She wanted him to change completely from the man she knew him to be.
And that wasn't realistic. She didn't need Jessi's P.I. to tell her that Dec didn't make business decisions from the heart. She'd called him a cyborg, and in truth that was what he was when it came to slashing the game-making companies that Playtone acquired.
She also knew that he had bonded with their son. She'd seen him on the floor playing with DJ. When he thought she wasn't looking, sometimes he held the boy close and kissed the top of his head. And she had seen that look in Dec's eyes. The one that showed how very much he cared for his son.
And he did like her. And lust after her. He made her feel like she was the only woman in the world. No matter that to him this might be something that only lasted six weeks.
She rubbed the back of her neck. In that moment she decided that she was just going to ask him flat out what his intentions were. There wasn't going to be any more guessing if he wanted her or if he was going to stay with her.
She reached into her huge handbag and took out her mobile phone, then dialed his number.
"Montrose here," Dec answered.
"It's Cari. Do you have a sec?"
"Just. I'm on my way out to play volleyball with my cousins. What's up?"
"Um … I'd like to invite you to come and have dinner with me tonight," she said. "My place six-thirty."
"I'd like that," he said. "I've got a few things I want to discuss with you."
"Me, too," she said.
"Not business," he added.
Perfect, she thought. She'd let Jessi and Emma rattle her, but she'd been spending a lot of time with Dec and her instincts where he was concerned were good. "Me, too. I'll see you later."
"I'm looking forward to it," he said, disconnecting the call.
The tension that had been in her stomach disappeared and she smiled to herself in the rear-view mirror. She needed to know where she and Dec stood and, it seemed, he wanted answers to the same questions.
The love she'd been afraid to admit to started bubbling up inside her and she had to sit in the car another minute before she started driving along. She wanted to enjoy this magical feeling inside her. Her sisters had warned her how impossible her dreams might be. Warned her that she couldn't have it all with Dec. But at this moment she realized she had to at least take a chance on him and see if her secret dreams could come true. The future she craved where she had her man, her company and the father of her son.
* * *
Dec wasn't sure how the tradition had started, but on Sunday afternoons if they were all in California, he, Kell, Allan and John, Allan's best friend, got together for a game of volleyball in Clover Park in Santa Monica. As it happened this Sunday, John was in town for the weekend. While Dec had been in Australia, John and his wife, Patti, had bought a B and B in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, after Patti had sold her interior design company for a small fortune. Dec had learned early on that it didn't matter who his biological parents were when it came to sports. No one cared as long as he was good at them. And he was. As a child, because he'd had a lot of excess energy, he'd always been signed up for something to keep his nanny from going crazy.
Kell was already there when Dec arrived wearing a sleeveless Sloppy Joe's T-shirt and a pair of board shorts. He waved when he saw Dec.
"How's it going, man?"
"Can't complain," Dec said. "It's been too long since I've done this."
"We should have come to see you in Australia," Kell said.
"Nah," Dec said with a shrug. They weren't that kind of family. "You were busy fulfilling Granddad's dream for you."
"I doubt he'd be pleased with me yet. The Chandlers are still running Infinity Games."
"Yeah, about that," Dec said. He had been slowly realizing there was no way he was going to be able to recommend that Cari lose her job. She was so much a part of the daily operation, he honestly-well, maybe his emotions were influencing him a little-thought she was necessary to the continued success of any division of Infinity.