"Gorgeous, darling! Are you sure this is just a business dinner?" Jessi asked.
"Yes," she said, though the heat of her blush made her realize that she wasn't as confident in that answer as she should be. "What else could it be? He's a Montrose."
"Don't forget it," Jessi said as they both walked back into the bedroom.
Emma gave her the thumbs-up. "You look good," she said. "What are you not supposed to forget?"
"That Dec is essentially my enemy."
"Dec?"
"That's his name."
"His name is Declan, Cari. And you said it like … " Emma watched her shrewdly.
She didn't ask like what. Cari knew how she'd said his name. Like he was her salvation and her downfall. And he was both. No matter how she tried to spin it. No matter what she wanted to pretend. No matter that he was a game changer and she had to decide how to proceed.
So far she'd let him get the upper hand at the office, and for her own sake and DJ's, she couldn't let that happen tonight. She had to be the one in control.
She glanced at both of her sisters as she sprayed perfume on her pulse points. They looked worried, and she just smiled at them as she adjusted the high ponytail she'd put her hair up in and fingered the bangs on her forehead.
Tonight she was going to be rebel, boss and angel all rolled into one. Tonight Declan Montrose wouldn't know what hit him. Tonight she would walk away victorious.
* * *
Dec was waiting in the bar for her when she arrived at the Chart House restaurant in Marina del Rey. He looked sexy and sophisticated dressed all in black. Pants, tie, shirt and jacket. On anyone else it would have looked like too much, but it suited him. He wasn't lighthearted at all and this dark attire reflected that.
But it also made him look devastatingly handsome. She noted that women sneaked covert looks at him as they sipped their drinks. She sighed and wondered if she was really up for this. Talking herself into being brave had been a daily ritual since she'd realized she was pregnant. She continued the practice now, put her shoulders back and walked over to him.
He turned just as she approached. And she arched one eyebrow at him in question.
"I saw you in the mirror," he explained, holding out a drink. "I recall you were a gin-and-tonic girl."
"Still am," she said. "But since I need my head about me tonight, I'll settle for just the tonic."
He smiled. "I'll get you a different drink."
He turned back in a second handing her a highball glass with a twist of lime in it. She took a sip of the refreshing drink and decided to stop her worrying for tonight. Somehow she'd figure out how to tell him he had a child.
"How was it today?" she asked.
"I don't want to talk shop tonight. I want to catch up on you," he said. "We've got fifteen minutes until our table will be ready."
He led the way through the semicrowded bar to a small intimate booth in the far corner and gestured for her to sit. She slid onto the seat and took an inordinate amount of time to straighten her dress about her legs.
"I make you nervous," he said when she looked up.
"Yes. You did when we first met, as well," she admitted.
"Why? Is it because I'm a Montrose?"
She thought about it. But really she didn't need the time to consider his question. She'd already spent a lot of time dwelling on Dec Montrose. "No. It's something about you. You seem so confident and determined … makes a girl feel like she needs all of her wits about her."
"You don't seem to have a problem with me," he said.
"There are one or two ways to keep you off balance," she said. "But I can't always count on being able to kiss you."
His surprised laugh made her smile. The black clothing wasn't a front where he was concerned. Dec was serious most of the time. So when he did smile or laugh it felt like a sort of gift.
"I'm willing to let you try it."
"I bet. Tell me about Australia," she said.
He shook his head. "That's business."
"You haven't done anything but work for eighteen months?" she asked. "I don't believe that. You seem a bit different than before."
He shrugged and took a swallow of his scotch on the rocks. "It might be the fact that after ten years of hard work Playtone Games has finally met our goal."
"Taking over Infinity Games?"
"Yep," he said. "Guess you don't want to talk about that."
"No, I don't. I should have thought harder about going to bed with someone who has a decades-old feud with me."
"I'm not feuding with you," he said.
"Really?"
"Not anymore. I've won the battle. Now it's simply a matter of cleaning up the mess and moving on. No conflict of interest between us anymore."
But there was a big conflict of interest, and for the first time since she'd given birth to DJ she realized that her son could be the leverage she needed to make Dec do what she wanted him to. As soon as the thought entered her mind, she shuddered with repugnance and pushed it aside. She'd never use her own son as leverage. That was despicable.
As was not telling him. Though she believed her reasons were valid. He hardly seemed like the kind of man who'd want a family or a son. But she owed it to him to let him make that choice now that he was back in her life.
"So, there's something I should tell you," she said, not sure how exactly to begin this conversation.
"Is it a secret?"
"Sort of," she said.
"Kell did want me to find out what you are hiding," Dec said.
"What?" How did his cousin know she was hiding something? Did he know that she'd had a baby with Dec?
"I told him I thought the day had gone well, except I felt there was something you weren't telling me."
"Oh." So he assumed it was something to do with the takeover. Why wouldn't it be? They'd had a one-night stand, not an affair or a fling. He'd never guess what she'd been keeping from him because his mind wasn't going along that path.
"Well, he'll be disappointed. I'm not keeping any business secrets," she said.
"I think you are. The security guard said that the staff would do anything if you smiled at them."
She blushed. He had to have been talking to Frank, who was like a Dutch uncle to her. "Frank exaggerates. Besides, what would I get them to do?"
"Mutiny," he said.
"You're not the captain of a ship," she said.
"But I am. I'm the one who's going to steer them through the shark-infested waters-"
"I thought you were the shark."
"Only in your eyes," he said.
But he wasn't a shark in her eyes. She reached over and took his hand and squeezed it in hers. "The acquisition isn't going to be easy, but I don't blame you for anything you have to do."
"What do you blame me for?" he asked.
"Leaving me." The words just slipped out. But now that they had been spoken she realized they were the truth.
"I'm back now."
"Yes, you are. For some reason, I'm not sure why you are here with me. You already satisfied your curiosity with me, right?"
"I'm nowhere near satisfied with you, Cari. I want more and I intend to get it."
Four
Dec couldn't relax. All he could do was stare at Cari and wonder why he hadn't seen this side of her eighteen months ago. There was a confidence in her that had been lacking before. Now she flirted and leaned in to make a point, whereas before she'd let him take the lead and set the pace.
A part of him acknowledged that if she'd been like this in the hotel in Atlanta, he would have had a harder time leaving her.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked.
"You're a beautiful woman … you must be used to men staring," he said.
She shook her head and looked away from him. "Not for a while. I've been busy."
"Busy at work?" he asked. Given the state that Infinity Games was in, he highly doubted it.
"Not just work. My life is crazy right now," she said.
"What do you do outside of work? Charities?" he asked. It was what his mother had busied her time with and what his grandmother had, as well.
"You sound a bit disdainful," she said. "There is nothing wrong with charity work."
"I know. But the women I knew who spent all their time volunteering rarely had time for their families."
"Ah, your mom?"
"Mother," he said. "She didn't like the informal mom."
"Really? I don't know much about your past," she said.
"Why would you?"
"We're mortal enemies. I have done a few Google searches on you," she said with a sparkle in her eye. She took another sip of the water she'd ordered with her main course and smiled over at him. "But the internet was mainly just business-related articles, so tell me more, Dec. Let me know what your kryptonite is."