Dec laughed. “Why do you like that frilly furniture so much? It’s not very businesslike.”
“Yes, it is. And people like it. Shows I have personality,” she said. “That I’m not just another boring corporate drone.”
“They don’t need to see your office to know that,” Dec said, glancing around them and then stealing a quick kiss. “Let’s find a place to sit down.”
She followed him to the picnic tables and as they approached, two of the game developers waved them over. She knew that Dec had been talking to her staff, but as she sat next to him at the table she realized he’d actually been integrating himself into the company. She didn’t know if that was because he was trying to make the transition smoother or if he had another purpose.
But as she listened to the conversation flowing around her, she realized that he was a part of this group. Since observing him at the trade show a year and a half ago, she sensed that he’d changed. She wondered if it was a permanent change or if this was just his way with takeovers. She had no way of knowing for sure, she realized. She was just going to have to decide if she trusted him or not.
And as he reached under the table to squeeze her thigh, giving her an intimate smile, she knew that she already trusted him. She saw him now as a man who knew how to be a part of something bigger than himself. A man who understood that to have a successful future you had to build something, not just tear up what existed. A man whom she was glad to call her own.
* * *
Dec found a quiet spot out of the sun and away from the crowds at the picnic. Late afternoon was waning into evening and soon to come was a fireworks display and a band that would be performing as soon as dusk fell. He’d spent the day surrounded by the staff of Infinity Games. They’d all been friendly and made him feel like he was a part of the team.
He knew he wasn’t. He knew that in just under two more weeks when he presented his findings to the board he was going to have to cut some of them. And the thing was, he had the feeling they knew it, too. He had never expected to care, he realized suddenly.
Takeovers weren’t the place for someone who was empathetic and who couldn’t keep his eye on the finances. Never before had he struggled with this, and he knew a certain blonde was to blame.
She kept expecting him to be better than he was and damn if he wasn’t trying to live up to that.
But this wasn’t him. He had made small talk all day long and smiled and played volleyball. And he had just reached the saturation point of being surrounded by people. He didn’t want to feel vulnerable here. Business was the one place in his life where he’d always been so calm, so cool, able to keep moving forward.
But not now. Cari Chandler was changing him, and not just in his personal life.
“There you are,” she said, coming up next to him.
“Mamamama,” DJ said. The boy was dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a blue Polo Ralph Lauren shirt.
“Hey there, buddy,” Dec said, reaching out to his son. The boy leaned over and Cari handed him to Dec. He wished the boy would call him Dada, but he was learning that with babies and Cari everything happened in its own time.
As he cuddled his son close, some of the tension inside of him eased. “I just needed a break.”
“I get that. These days can be so long. Wait until you go to the staff holiday party.”
“Cari, about that,” he said.
“Yes?” She looked over at him with those big blue eyes of hers and he felt a pain in his gut at the thought of saying what needed to be said.
Then he got disgusted with himself. “By Christmas, Infinity Games won’t be like this.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know I’m here to acquire your company. One of the things we’re looking at is moving some of your staff to the Playtone campus.”
She flushed and glared at him. “After today, you’d still do that?”
“Cari, that’s my job.”
“I thought you were starting to care.”
“I am. I do care about you and about DJ.”
“But not about his heritage.”
Her words were quick and he understood where she was coming from. The past four-plus weeks had started a bond between them that he was reluctant to see broken, but he knew what he had to do. Kell wasn’t going to give up on vengeance just because Dec had started to care about one of the Chandler sisters.
“The same could be said of you and your sisters,” Dec pointed out. “The company was vulnerable. We weren’t the only ones sniffing around at buying you out.”
She shook her head. “We were having such a nice day. Why are you being like this?”