Chapter 4
JASMINE
The private garden behind the clubhouse at the golf course shimmered with heat under the afternoon sun. The white umbrellas dotting the perfectly manicured lawns were doing their best to shield us but it turned out that Chicago summers could be as brutal as their winters.
Thankfully, the heat was much more my speed. So even though it felt like my mascara was melting off, I was still relaxed, leaning back in my chair as I watched waiters drift through the crowd with silver trays of champagne and canapes.
Deja had outdone herself with Isaac’s party, filling the garden with musicians, flowers, and people we actually knew rather than making it a social event where we wound up spending half the afternoon pretending to remember names.
I was genuinely enjoying myself, taking up one of the umbrellas with Deja on one side and Ashanti, our sister-in-law, on the other.
It was just the three of us at this particular table.
The rest of Isaac’s family and friends were spread out across the garden.
Several of the Westwood women had gathered around the gorgeous, white play area Deja had brought in for the kids.
Their screams and squeals of joy pierced the air every so often.
I smiled into my wine, wondering how it was that the moms always ended up drumming around the playground while the dads got to go off, playing with their sticks and balls all afternoon. Deja must’ve caught my smile because she suddenly leaned forward too.
“Isaac told me he had to drive you home from the nightclub the other night,” she said. “Care to explain what happened?”
I nearly choked on my drink. “I can’t believe he told you that.”
“Was it supposed to be a secret?”
“No, but it wasn’t like that. He didn’t have to. It’s not like I couldn’t have made my own way home. I was perfectly sober. Like I’d literally only been there for a half hour or so.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry. He didn’t make it sound like you were a mess or anything. That’s not why he told me. It’s more like he was traumatized by the experience.”
I scoffed. “Don’t let him fool you. He was happy to do it.”
Ashanti giggled. “Somehow, I doubt that. We know you, Jasmine. Which means we also know there’s a story here.”
“No story,” I insisted. “We ran into each other at the club and that’s the end of it. When I wanted to leave, I asked him to drive me and he agreed.”
Deja folded her arms loosely over her chest, wine glass still held lazily in one hand as she arched an eyebrow at me. “You asked him? Funny. You rarely ask anyone to do anything. You tell them.”
“That’s irrelevant.” I sighed before I took another sip of my wine. “He didn’t fight me on it. If anything, he looked relieved to be able to leave.”
“It’s not relevant that you essentially kidnapped him?” Ashanti asked, eyes sparkling with barely restrained laughter. “Have you heard about a little thing called Stockholm Syndrome?”
“Oh, please. He didn’t even object once. He was fine.”
Deja laughed before pointing a finger at me. “You should be nicer to Isaac, Jas. He’s a good guy.”
“I am nice to him.” I scrunched up my features. “He’s the one you should be talking to. If one of us isn’t nice to the other, it’s him. He’s a bully.”
“No, he’s not.” She chuckled, glancing toward the heavens for patience before looking back at me. “I mean it. He is genuinely a nice guy. He’s not one of those ridiculously muscled peacocks you usually collect.”
I pretended to gasp, bringing my hand up to clutch imaginary pearls. “I do not collect peacocks.”
“Fine,” Ashanti said, hiding a smile behind her glass. “They’re not peacocks, they’re idiots, and you prey on them because they worship you.”
“They’re nice to me,” I countered. “And they’re not bad to look at either. Why not keep a few around to stare at when I get bored?”
“Because you make them think they have a chance?” Deja suggested. “Anyway, peacocks, idiots, or whatever, my point is that Isaac isn’t like that.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t argue the point because she was right. Isaac definitely wasn’t like those guys. He didn’t prance around, thumping his chest for attention or flexing his muscles in the hopes that someone would notice him.
Mostly because he didn’t need to.
People noticed him no matter what he did. He just had that rare air of understated confidence about him, a presence I could practically feel whenever he walked into a room.
As Ashanti and Deja moved on from defending Isaac’s honor, I stared out across the gardens. My mind wandered back to our drive home from the club. Surprisingly, I had some fond memories of him that night.
In the past, he and I had somehow always ended up clashing just a little bit.
I didn’t think it was because we couldn’t get along or anything like that.
It’d been more playful and teasing than anything else, but at the same time, it felt like we challenged each other in a way that made any exchange carry the potential to become explosive.
That night, however, it hadn’t been like that. Isaac had stepped into my orbit seamlessly at the club, quickly convincing me to come sit with them, and then highlighting my role in GlobalStar’s various enterprises like he actually respected me.
It had won him some points, for sure, but more than that, it had also just been easy to be around him.
I didn’t have to try to impress him or keep up the Untouchable Model act.
I didn’t have to be aloof, or dumb myself down, or any of those things I routinely did simply to keep people at arm’s length.
Instead, I’d just been able to be myself and he had seemed to appreciate that. At one red light, he’d glanced at me, one hand resting casually on top of the steering wheel, and he’d smiled, looking so gorgeous in that moment that it had been difficult to look away.
As I thought about it, the men came into view on the fairway. Dad walked beside Colin and talked with animated gestures that made it obvious he was discussing business despite being on one of the prettiest golf courses on this side of the ocean.
Isaac wandered behind them with a little cluster of Westwoods around him, laughing with the one I was sure was called Theo. It looked like they were having a good time horsing around together, and for some inexplicable reason, the sight made me smile.
I watched them a little more closely, but my focus was definitely more on Isaac than any of the men he was with. Today, he was in a light blue Polo shirt with a white ballcap, his dark blond hair curling out slightly around the sides.
My heart fluttered a little as he glanced over, and I averted my gaze and pretended I’d been tuned into my sister and Ashanti’s conversation all along. “I miss Egypt.”
“Already?” Deja said instead of responding to Ashanti’s question about a new flower market being opened up near Alexandria. “You’ve only been here a few days.”
“Yeah, I know, and I love Chicago. I specifically love visiting you in Chicago, but don’t you get homesick?”
Deja thought it over for a beat before she shrugged. “Sometimes, but we go back there so often that I haven’t really had time to miss it.”
Ashanti nodded her agreement. “I get homesick for here, actually. No matter how much time Khaled and I spend in Chicago, I always want to come back just a few days after we get home to Cairo.”
“Yeah, but you grew up here,” I said. “I think that probably makes it different.”
For the next while, we talked about what made each place feel like home, but eventually, the sun started setting and Deja gathered everyone for a beautiful dinner inside.
By chance, I found my name card right next to Isaac’s and I smiled, but when the men came in from the golf course, my dad had him deep in conversation—and he was seated on Isaac’s other side.
Neither man even glanced at me as they sat down. Poor Isaac was completely trapped with Dad. “They’re not considering the structure in their restoration,” Dad was saying. “It’s a nightmare.”
Isaac winced. “That’s asking for trouble. Especially with old buildings like that.”
“Exactly!” Dad agreed enthusiastically. “That’s what I keep telling them, but no one listens.”
It continued for the next fifteen minutes straight while the appetizers were served. Candles had been lit on the long tables, washed in warm colors from the sunset outside, but I doubted Isaac or my father had even noticed all the effort Deja had put in.
When they started discussing seismic reinforcement despite Egypt having very little seismic activity, I decided to intervene. Jeez. Someone has to, otherwise Dad will have him debating the emotional well-being of support beams soon.
“Daddy?” I said, choosing to speak to him in English so Isaac would know I was riding to his rescue this time. Dad didn’t even skip a beat, so I cleared my throat and leaned slightly across Isaac to catch my father’s eyes. “Daddy? I’ve been thinking.”
That did it.
Finally, my father’s dark eyes jumped directly to mine, a soft sigh coming out of him. “Why does it sound like this is going to cost me money?”
I shot him a sweet smile. “I want another horse.”
“No.”
“Why not?” I asked, clutching at straws, but it was worth it to see Isaac’s mouth twitch with amusement. “Miss Degara looks so regal in pictures, but customers will soon bore of her. We need a white one.”
Dad blinked hard. “A white one?”
“Yes.” I nodded firmly. “Perhaps gray could work too.”
He sighed. “Can we talk about this later?”
“Oh, no.” I widened my eyes at him. “I’ve seen a gorgeous stallion for sale just outside Cairo. He popped up on my Instagram and he’s gorgeous, Daddy.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “You haven’t mentioned a price.”
I waved my hand. “That’s because I find numbers so restrictive, don’t you?”
When I glanced at Isaac, he was slightly flushed with the effort it took to keep from laughing. Or maybe it was just because he’d been out in the sun all day, but either way, he nodded at me, obviously trying to look serious. “Yeah. Numbers are so restrictive.”
I winked at him, hoping it had been hidden behind my hair so Dad wouldn’t notice, and also hoping Isaac knew that I’d fabricated this bit of bickering to give his mouth a rest so he could actually eat some food.
“Jasmine, darling, I don’t think GlobalStar needs a stallion right now,” Dad said gently. “Besides, while you might find numbers restrictive, they’re reality. I’m sure this stallion of yours costs as much as a house.”
I sighed. “Reality is flexible, Daddy. The stallion will make his money back in no time and Miss Degara needs a friend. Just wait until you see him.”
I reached for my phone despite my father’s groans of protest, but naturally, when I opened my Instagram, there was no horse in sight.
After scrolling for a moment, pretending to search for it, I felt Isaac’s gaze on my screen.
When I glanced up at him, I knew that he’d realized I was doing this for him.
There was a certain look in his blue eyes that made me pause. Even my extremely skilled thumb forgot how to scroll. Is it just me, or is it suddenly really hot in here?
There was no way it was the other thing, which was that I was shockingly attracted to Isaac Thayer after spending just one decent night in his company. Yeah, there’s no way. Maybe the venue’s air-conditioning is just struggling to keep up with the heat.
It had to be that because there was absolutely zero chance that the warmth spreading through me had anything to do with Isaac. I finally managed to tear my gaze away, shrugging at my father as I dropped my phone back into my purse.
“You know what? I can’t find him. We must be too late.”
Dad breathed a sigh of relief, but I still felt Isaac watching me every so often throughout dinner—and every time I did, the air-conditioning seemed to struggle just a little bit more.