His Instant Heir

Dec rubbed the back of his neck as Ally escorted the lead programmer from the IOS team out of the conference room. He needed a long, stiff drink and an evening where he didn’t have to think about staff reductions. It was clear to him that part of the problem with Infinity Games was the fact that Cari allowed her staff too much leeway. But that was neither here nor there. It was almost six and as he had a date for the first time in almost six months, he was leaving.

“Good evening, Mr. Montrose,” the security guard said as he exited the elevator. The lobby of Infinity Games spoke of heritage. On the wall in large print was a list of accolades the company had garnered since its inception in the early ‘70s. Dec skimmed over the first one, which listed both Gregory Chandler and Thomas Montrose’s names. The next accolade was a partnership with the Japanese video-game giants Mishukoshi, after which Thomas’s name disappeared. And so began the family feud.

Dec looked at the guard. “Good evening. What was your name again?” he asked. He knew in takeovers it was important to have a face to go with every name on his list. Kell wanted this place gutted and soon there would be no need for two teams of security. And this man looked like a prime candidate for early retirement.

“Frank Jones,” the older man said. His blue security uniform was neatly pressed, he presented himself in a well-groomed manner and despite his age, Frank was in good shape.

“Declan Montrose,” he said, holding out his hand. The handshake was firm and strong. There might be some gray in his hair, but Frank’s posture and attitude weren’t as elderly as it had seemed from across the lobby.

“Who hired you?”

“Ms. Cari. She said we needed someone who took this job seriously and understood that security was the most important part of making a game,” Frank said.

“And that convinced you to take the job?” Dec asked.

“That and her smile,” Frank said.

“Her smile?”

“She has this way of making you feel like you’re the only one for the job when she smiles at you. Makes me want to do my best,” Frank said.

“She does have a way,” Dec agreed. Suddenly he had an inkling of why Cari was so popular with her team. There was something to be said about being made to feel important. Obviously it was a skill that Cari had in spades.

His iPhone rang as soon as he was in his Maserati GranTurismo convertible. He glanced at the caller ID and wanted to toss the phone out of the car. He wasn’t ready to download information to Kell, but as the man was his boss and not just his cousin, ignoring the call wasn’t an option.

“Montrose here.”

“Here, as well,” Kell said. “Is it as bad as we feared?”

“Worse. The staff is really loyal. I think if we kick the Chandlers out we might have a mutiny. I’ve spent the better part of the day listening to how great they are.”

“That doesn’t concern me,” Kell said. “We knew the takeover was going to be messy.”

“And I’m mitigating the mess, but it’s going to take some time.”

Kell cursed under his breath. “You said six weeks.”

“And that’s still exactly how long I need. Calling and badgering me isn’t going to speed it up.”

“I know that. I was wondering how the Chandler girl was…Cari?”

She was nervous and sexy and sweet. But his cousin didn’t need to know any of that. And if Dec had learned one thing from his socialite mother it was to keep some information to himself. “She’s hiding something.”

“What? There is no other investor in the wings,” Kell said with surety.

“I’ll find out what I can. But there is definitely something she’s protecting. Maybe one of her sisters. From what I gather, the oldest one, Emma, is something of a barracuda. The staff spoke of her the way our team talks about you.”

“I’ll get in touch and see if I can find out what they are hiding. You keep working on Cari. I think that Allan’s best friend is married to the middle Chandler girl’s best friend.”

“Why do you know this?” Dec asked. Kell just didn’t do personal stuff. If it didn’t affect Playtone Games, usually Kell didn’t bother with it.

“I had the misfortune to try to drink our cousin under the table last weekend and heard all about the girl.”

So Allan knew the middle sister, and unless Dec was very much mistaken—and he was seldom wrong about anything—he himself was going to know the youngest sister very intimately. Again. And this time he was going to…What? He was the adopted son of the Montrose dynasty. He had been abandoned, adopted, pretty much left to his own devices again. He knew he wasn’t a man for commitment. What could he do with Cari except have an elusive affair?

In fact the only thing he’d ever stuck with was his cousins and Playtone Games.

When he was in this twenties he’d tried to strike out on his own, but then Kell had called and the chance to be part of this new generation of game-making Montroses was too much of a lure. Dec still wanted to prove himself to a generation that was all but gone.

“You still there?” Kell asked.

“Yeah, but I’ve got to go. Dinner meeting tonight.”

“With?” Kell asked. In the background Dec heard the sound of the evening financial news show that Kell watched religiously. He was a genius when it came to reading the market, which was in no small part the reason for their success.

Dec had always marveled that he and his cousins, Kell and Allan, each brought something unique to the table that no one else could. They made a very strong triumvirate, and though he knew he wasn’t a blood Montrose, he was definitely a necessary part of Playtone Games.

“Cari,” Dec said at last. “I’m having dinner with Cari.”

“Good. I suspect that you will keep her off balance and maybe you’ll be able to find out what she is hiding.”

He intended to find out all of her secrets, he thought as he ended the call with his cousin. He wasn’t as concerned that she was hiding something that would affect the takeover; frankly, at this point there was nothing else for the Chandlers to do to save Infinity Games.

He pulled into the parking lot at the Marina del Rey Yacht Club and parked his car. The Playtone offices were in Santa Monica just a few short miles from the Infinity Games offices. Something that Kell had done deliberately to make sure that every day when first old Gregory Chandler and now his heirs had gone to work they’d have to drive past the competition.

Tonight he wanted to see if there was anything real between him and Cari. There had to be a reason other than revenge that he was back in her life. He realized that he wanted to move Cari from competition to lover. His time in her bed had been too short and being this close to home always made him long for things he knew he didn’t need and couldn’t have. But for tonight he was planning to ignore all of that and just enjoy himself.

Cari stood in the foyer of her own house holding her son in one hand and her cell phone in the other. Canceling dinner wouldn’t be construed as running away, she cajoled herself. But then DJ reached up and put his tiny hand on the collar of her shirt and made that sweet little sound. “Mamamama.”

“Ugh,” she said, tossing the phone on the hall table and walking back across the Spanish-tiled floor to the kitchen. She put DJ in his high chair and then leaned back against the cabinet. “What am I going to do?”

He just stared at her as she placed a teething biscuit on the tray in front of him. His eyes were brown. Not just any brown, but Dec brown. She knew that if she canceled this dinner, it would be solely due to cowardice. She knew that. Yet she was more afraid tonight than she had been this morning.

It had been one thing to see Dec in the office where she wore her business suit and had a certain air of authority, but this dinner—no matter how she tried to spin it—was more than business. He’d kissed her. And her body had almost betrayed her secret. She knew she had to tell him about DJ before he found out.

She touched her lips and remembered every sensation of his body pressed to hers. God, she thought, this was nuts. Just cancel and then run away.

Dec might be all into her at this moment, but their past told her that he moved on. His own words told her that he wasn’t ready for commitment, and though a lot had changed in the eighteen months they’d been apart, she knew she couldn’t just spring DJ on him. She owed herself, her son and even Dec more than that.

Some things once done couldn’t be undone.

Her grandmother used to say that to her all the time when she’d been young and headstrong. Wanting to adopt a puppy or bring another cat or rabbit into the house. Grandma was always cautioning Cari to remember that when other lives were brought into the equation, it changed.

She gave herself one last look in the mirror. “Tell him tonight.”

But the look in her own eyes and that feeling in her heart told her that telling him wasn’t going to be easy.

But even though she wasn’t a bossy woman like Emma or a badass rebel like Jessi, she’d never been a coward. And running away wasn’t her style. Besides, she knew it was past time to tell Dec about his son. Until she did, he’d have one thing over her—guilt. She felt guilty about him not knowing about his son.