Book 2: What Happens Here - Chicago (What Happens Here Series)

Chapter 25 - Jasmine

Spending time with Ethan's family had been incredible. She had fallen in love with not only their adorable puppy, Batman, but she'd also fallen for his mother as well. Kim Daniels was a sweet and kind woman, and she could see where Ethan got his caring nature from. His brother Caden was hilarious, and Jasmine could see him being the younger brother that she never had. Then there was his father, Patrick, who was an older version of his gorgeous son, and although he had gray in his hair, and a few extra wrinkles around his eyes, she could tell that Mr. Patrick Daniels had been a heartbreaker in his younger days. Hell...he still was! Smiling to herself, she couldn't help but imagine what her cousin Candace would say if she'd seen Ethan's dad. She shook her head at the thought because she knew that Candace would've made some flirty comment that would've completely embarrassed her in front of Ethan's family, and with that thought Jasmine made up in her mind that Candace would never be invited to Chicago!

As Ethan's mother and brother walked them to the porch, and they'd said their final goodbyes, a sense of peace washed over Jasmine. Before they had arrived, she had been so nervous and filled with dread at meeting Ethan's family because she thought it would be a repeat of when she had met Marcus's family. To say that first meeting had been...horrible...would be an understatement.

She had been dating Marcus for six months when he had finally asked her to meet his family. By that time, he had already met her friends and her family, but she had not met any of his, with the exception of a friend of his named Andre. Marcus's family had been having a Labor Day fish fry, and when he'd introduced Jasmine to his mother, she had gotten a sense that Mrs. Reynolds was less than thrilled to meet her. Jasmine wasn't sure why his mother had taken an instant dislike to her, but it seemed to only have gotten worse after that day. Due to the constant looks of disapproval, that his mother had been throwing her way all afternoon, Jasmine had excused herself and had gone to the bathroom to steal a few minutes of privacy so that she could regroup, but before she could make her way back outside, Marcus's friend Andre had cornered her in the kitchen.

Andre had tried to make small talk with her about some nonsense topic that she felt obligated to entertain, and Jasmine hadn't been sure if he'd simply been drunk, or if he were just a disgusting asshole but when he'd boxed her in, and forcibly kissed her, that's when she shoved him away. She'd been shaken and upset when she'd fled the kitchen, and unfortunately, she'd ran into Marcus's mother on her way out. Initially, she'd had a look of concern on her face when she'd looked at Jasmine, but when she'd glanced over and saw Andre, her expression had morphed into a look of utter disgust and suspicion, and that's when her treatment of Jasmine, or lack thereof, had gotten worse. Marcus's mother pretty much treated Jasmine as if she were wearing a damn scarlet letter "A" on her chest from that point on, and it had been clear to Jasmine that she'd misunderstood what she'd seen that day, but Jasmine had felt no desire to correct her assumption.

Andre Milton had made Jasmine uncomfortable from the first moment that she'd met him, and when he'd made a "move" on her, she'd made it clear to him that she was not interested. Even after that day, Andre had stared at her as if she were naked whenever they would see one another at functions that she and Marcus attended together, and when she'd been unable to hold in her fear and unease around Andre any longer, Jasmine had shared her feelings with Marcus. She'd debated on telling him about the incident in the kitchen on Labor Day, but after Candace and Van had urged her to do so, she'd told Marcus the entire story. Marcus had made a huge "production" of wanting to go and kick his friend's ass, and he'd even suggested that since his friend had "stabbed him in the back", he'd never speak to him again. And as with pretty much every word that came out of his lying ass mouth, that too had been a lie, because less than a week later, she'd been out to dinner with her mom when she'd seen him and his "friend" laughing together as they'd walked out of a sport's bar. Marcus had lied, and told her that he'd had a business meeting, but clearly, he had been hanging out with his buddy behind her back. The worse part about the lie was that it had been an unnecessary one, much like the majority of the lies, half-truths, and lies by omission that he'd told Jasmine over the course of their relationship. Jasmine didn't care if Marcus hung out with the scumbag, but after what Andre had done to her, she never wanted to be alone with him again. Thinking about that time made her want to take Van up on her offer to let Mike and his cop friends kick Marcus's ass because he clearly had not valued her or had taken her feelings and concerns into consideration.

"Hey baby. You, okay?" Hearing the concern in Ethan's voice pulled Jasmine from her thoughts, and she plastered on a huge smile as she said, "Sorry...yes, I'm great. Promise." His look was doubtful, but he smiled and said, "Okay. We're going to head to E&D, and after that, I can get you and the twins home so you guys can get some rest." Jasmine's eyes widened as she scanned around to see if Ethan's mom or brother had heard Ethan's comment, and when she saw them heading back inside of the house, she laughed, and said, "You suck!" Arriving at his truck, Ethan opened the door for Jasmine, allowing her to get in. Ethan's eyes flashed with desire, and scanned over her body, before he licked his lips and said, "Soon baby...I promise." Once she was seated, Ethan leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips, before saying, "I love you." Taking her breath away as he so often did, Jasmine had to inhale a breath before slowly exhaling it as she said, "I love you too."

When Ethan stood staring at her for a moment, at any other time the situation would have been awkward for Jasmine, but it wasn't, because it was Ethan. The moment felt intimate on a level that she'd never experienced before, and Jasmine cupped Ethan's face before pulling him in for another kiss. Jasmine moaned in protest when Ethan pulled away but laughed a second later when she watched as he shook his head, before reaching down to reposition the obvious erection that he was currently sporting. With one final heated glance, Ethan smiled and closed the door. After loading their dinner into the back seat with their luggage, Ethan opened the driver's door and got behind the wheel.

As they drove in silence through his parent's neighborhood, before they exited back to the highway, Jasmine was truly happy for the first time in a long time, and after the past year that she'd had.... hell, after the past six years, she found that she was having a hard time truly trusting in it. Glancing over at Ethan's profile, she was amazed at the fact that it had only been 72 hours since they'd met. But what really surprised her was that she had fallen in love with him and had just met his family! Ethan was an incredible man and knowing that he felt the same way about her that she felt for him brought tears to her eyes. She quickly blinked them away and turned her head to watch the scenes of Illinois pass by her window.

Half an hour later, Ethan was pulling up to a huge building that appeared to be more of a large log cabin, than a landscaping company. The landscaping was absolutely gorgeous. Flowers, trees, and shrubs of various sizes, shapes and colors surrounded the building, and there were people going in and out from various exits and entrances. While some were customers, based on the shirts sporting the E&D Landscaping logo that the others were wearing, those were clearly members of Ethan's staff.

Jasmine had been so wrapped up in watching the comings and goings outside of E&D, that she'd missed the fact that Ethan had parked his truck and had been watching her. Her attention was drawn back to Ethan when she heard his chuckle as he said, "So, what do you think?" Turning her head to give him her full attention, Jasmine said, "Ethan...this is incredible. I'm so proud of you babe." At her praise, a huge smile, accompanied by those sexy as hell dimples, spread across his face, and he said, "Thank you baby. Coming from you, that means a lot to me." Jasmine smiled when Ethan said, "Come on. The sooner I can check on things here, the sooner I can get you into bed." A roguish smile crossed his face when her jaw dropped at his comment, and he cleared his throat before saying, "So that you can rest." Rolling his eyes, Ethan shook his head before giving Jasmine a playful smile as he said, "Get your mind out of the gutter! Is jumping my bones all you think about?"