Chapter 6
DEJA
The yacht gleamed against the calm waters of Lake Michigan, its white exterior catching the last rays of golden light as the sun sank toward the horizon. Chicago’s skyline was stunning in the distance, the edges of its glass and steel buildings softened by the warm haze of sunset.
“Deja!” Alex called as soon as I stepped onto the deck, his grin as warm as if he was welcoming a long-lost relative as opposed to someone he’d met exactly once before. “We’re delighted you could make it.”
I smiled as I accepted his outstretched hand. “Thank you for having me. Your wife was absolutely spot on about the views. The city is breathtaking from here.”
He chuckled. “You ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait until we’re out on the water.”
Turning away from me, he greeted Ashanti and Khaled with that grin still plastered on his lips, and my suspicion deepened as I watched their interaction. Something strange was definitely happening. No one was this excited to have almost complete strangers on their yacht just for the fun of it.
Business seemed the most likely explanation.
In many ways, Alex Westwood reminded me of my father. Even though I knew he’d inherited his company from the generations of Westwoods that had come before him, I also knew that he was taking it to all new heights.
Pretty much like my dad, who’d never given up either.
They were both sharply intelligent, and while I didn’t know Alex well at all, it felt like they shared the ability to make people underestimate them, while in reality they were calculating the game from three moves ahead.
Both men were absolute sharks when it came to getting what they wanted, but tonight, Alex wasn’t acting like a ruthless corporate predator.
Instead, he was a doting, attentive host, like we might disappear if he didn’t shower us with warmth. We followed him to the upper deck, but my mind was racing with all the possibilities about why we were really here.
My best guess was that Alex was the connection Khaled had been referring to when he’d said he might have someone who could help us with manufacturing facilities in America. What bugged me was that it should’ve meant my brother licking Alex’s behind instead of the other way around.
Plus, they were all being incredibly secretive about whatever was going on. Surely, as the person who would be most affected by the expansion of our operations here, they should’ve just told me. There was no reason to act like they’d all become intelligence operatives.
Bad ones, at that. They certainly sucked at discretion.
My musings were interrupted when we boarded.
On the deck, cocktail hour was already underway.
Once again, it looked like this wasn’t just a quiet dinner.
The deck was crawling with people, children darting between adults and overlapping conversations coming from at least four different seating areas.
When a baby began crying, no less than three adults responded. It was rather chaotic, but in a comforting, familiar kind of way that reminded me of our family gatherings back home. As soon as Alex started introducing us around, I realized why.
This was his family, some of his brothers with their wives and children.
Jesse and Jacqueline, Zach and Adeline, and Nate and Kate.
There was no way I was going to keep all these names straight, but I smiled my way through the introductions and made small talk about schools, summer camps, and what everyday life was like in Egypt.
I genuinely liked all these people, but after a while—and a very serious interrogation by a super cute, but super strict little girl named Lu—I needed a minute to breathe. With my cocktail in hand, I skirted around the edge of the deck until I had accidentally-on purpose left the party behind.
I wandered around the yacht, enjoying the relative quiet as I descended a staircase to a lower deck. At first glance, it appeared empty, but then I noticed someone standing at the railing, staring contemplatively at the city lights in the distance.
Colin must’ve heard my heels click when I took the final step onto the deck because he turned to look over his shoulder, blinking a few times when he realized it was me.
I smiled, doing my best not to notice the way the breeze moved through his dark hair, making it just a little bit messy, which I liked.
“Hiding from your family?” I asked lightly as I joined him by the railing.
A guilty smile appeared on his lips and lit up his entire face. My heart tripped over itself as I stood there, absorbing the sight. The man was already handsome, but that sexy smile was going to get me in trouble.
“Maybe,” he admitted without even trying to hide it. “Hiding from yours?”
I let out a quiet laugh, forgetting to answer for a moment when the last traces of fading light caught in his gray eyes.
They were especially striking, the color so rare that I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen it in the wild until I’d met Jane, but Colin’s were lighter, a grayish, glacier blue that made them impossible to ignore.
Mercifully, I remembered that he’d asked me a question as soon as that flash of light that had caught his eyes was gone, lost to the speed at which we were cruising and the evening fast approaching. “Maybe I am.”
When he smiled again, I edged closer to him without consciously deciding to. Soon, we were almost shoulder to shoulder, both looking out across the water rather than at one another.
The lake churned gently as the yacht moved steadily away from the shore, the sky above us clear and only just starting to reveal a star here and there. I rested my forearms against the railing and Colin did the same, both of us probably having escaped from the party for the same reason.
It was odd to think that he might be like me in some ways, this tall, beautiful American man who was somehow simultaneously mysterious and an open book. His facial features made him easy to read at times but there was also a depth to him that added a sense of mystery.
One I fully intended on unraveling.
Ever since I’d first met him at Jane’s party, questions had been lingering in the back of my mind. I knew Jane and Ashanti had been friends for years, but Jane’s history remained a bit of a puzzle to me. Whenever people referenced it, details seemed to become extremely vague.
Then there was the Thayer name itself.
I remembered hearing it years ago, back when Dad had first been exploring business opportunities in the United States, but those conversations had ended abruptly.
Those memories resurfaced with surprising clarity now, though. With Colin standing beside me, I couldn’t help but get the sense that our fates were supposed to have been intertwined, but then something had happened, derailing the Saad-Thayer connection.
When I’d asked Ashanti about it, she’d simply shrugged and said that Jane had gone through hell, but she’d left it at that. Given how openly the Saads tended to talk about nearly everything else, her omission to explain stood out like a sore thumb.
I turned to rest with my hip against the railing, facing him, and took another sip of my cocktail. “I heard you have a lot of brothers.”
The corners of his mouth twitched, but he didn’t quite smile. “I heard the same thing about you.”
I shrugged. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
He finally turned his head toward me, arching an eyebrow before cocking his head like I’d scandalized him. “Here? Deja, there are children on board.”
I chuckled. “Something tells me those children have heard far more interesting things than a conversation about family size.”
“You’re not wrong.” He grinned as he glanced back toward the upper deck. “I’m pretty sure Cameron was hearing insider info about every big acquisition in the Northern Hemisphere by the time he was a week old.”
“That’s probably a fair assessment.” I kept sweeping my gaze across his profile, the strong line of his clean-shaven jaw, and wondered why he was being so cattish about sharing absolutely anything about himself. “Fine. I’ll go first. I have six brothers and a sister.”
“Wow,” he said. “Your family is even bigger than mine. We’re only six. There’s me and Jane, and four younger brothers.”
“See, was that so hard?” I asked teasingly.
The faintest outline a flush streaked across only the very tops of his cheekbones. “It was, actually. I’m not really used to answering personal questions.”
“I can tell,” I said, sounding coy without really having aimed for it. “Is this how you get the girls, Mr. Thayer, by being a man of mystery?”
He seemed so surprised that he laughed. “There’s no mystery. Trust me.”
I smiled. “Oh, but there is.”
Something about him was so unexpectedly appealing that it was difficult not to tease and flirt at least a little bit.
At first glance, he came across as so serious that he was almost reserved, but now that I was actually having a conversation with him, he was warmer than I’d anticipated and it turned out he even shared my sense of humor.
“Are they aboard this evening as well?” I asked. “Your brothers, I mean. So far, I think I’ve only met Westwoods, but to be honest, there are so many people that I might’ve lost track.”
“Nah, they’re scattered all over at the minute. Jane, Isaac, and I are in Chicago. He works for Thayer as an engineer. The others are mostly still in college or working on projects in different parts of the country.”
The ease with which he spoke about them made it obvious how much he cared about his family. Since I was close to my own, that was another thing we had in common, but curiosity was still simmering in my veins. Maybe even more so now.
“If Isaac also works for Thayer, why isn’t he an executive?” I asked. “You said he’s an engineer, not a Chief Officer of Whatever.”
Strangely, Colin’s shoulders went a little rigid at the question, his jaw ticking. His attention drifted toward the dark water sliding past the yacht. “Yeah, that’s a complicated one.”
As I watched, he lifted a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing the muscle in his shoulder almost as if it was a habit he’d developed after years of being asked questions with no easy answer.
I waited for a moment, knowing that in big, old-money families who headed up big, old-fashioned companies, when people said something was complicated, it usually was.
“Thayer has gone through a lot of changes over the last few years,” he said finally. “Most of the executive positions were filled during that time. I was moved into mine during the shift and Jane eventually managed to earn hers, but Isaac was still in college then.”
Meaning that, for some reason, their brother was presently still working his way up. Despite his last name and his relation to the CEO. There were definitely pieces missing from this story, but I doubted it was false.
Ashanti’s comment drifted back into my mind. If Jane truly had gone through hell, then judging by Colin’s reaction, the rest of the family had gone through it with her.
Finally realizing that this probably wasn’t a topic he wanted to dredge up with a near-stranger during a cocktail party, I let it drop. As I turned back to the water, my shoulder actually brushing his because of how close I got to him with the movement.
Colin abruptly ducked his head and sneezed.
The sound echoed across the otherwise quiet deck, and for a second, he looked mildly annoyed with himself. “Excuse me.”
I laughed. “Are you allergic to me?”
His eyes widened, but also immediately began watering. “No.”
“I don’t mean any offense, but that wasn’t very convincing.”
Another sniffle followed and I pressed my lips together in a failed attempt to compose myself. “If you’re not allergic to me, then why do you keep sneezing whenever you’re in my presence?”
“I have terrible allergies,” he said vaguely. “They always act up at this time of year.”
When I started laughing again, unable to help myself, he joined in. It wasn’t even that funny, but neither of us stopped until a voice spoke up from behind. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over.”
We both turned to where Jane stood near the staircase, her hands resting lightly on her hips. “Dinner is being served.”
I pushed away from the railing and glanced at Colin. “I’m sitting next to you.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Why does that sound like it might be dangerous?”
“Only if you’re actually allergic to me.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, chuckling as we started toward the stairs. “I have an EpiPen.”
Jane glanced between us with a small, knowing smile on her lips, and as soon as I saw it, it revived the suspicion I’d been carrying around all week. Whatever Alex and Khaled were up to, Jane and Ashanti were in on it.