When the girls reached the ground floor, the brothers were still there waiting for them. Conrad grinned like an idiot. Nicolas nodded appreciatively. Logan whistled. Tristan winked. Hayden cocked his head and said, “Not bad.” And Sebastian and Darcy had impassive expressions their faces.Sakura wasn’t pleased the brothers had to be there, witnessing her awkwardly descending the stairs in her heels and short skirt.“What do you think, Conrad?” Lauren asked. “Doesn’t she look great? I wore that dress on my sixteenth birthday. Do you remember? But it fits her perfectly.”“Yes, it’s beautiful,” Conrad said, his eyes on Sakura.“Do you really remember me wearing that on my sixteenth birthday back in New York?” Lauren asked him.Conrad chuckled uneasily, remembering no such thing.“You look nice, Sakura,” Nicolas said.The brothers didn’t miss Nicolas saying Sakura’s name for the first time, as though he were cherishing it.Darcy turned on his heel and headed toward the drawing room to join
She stood up straight and prepared the tubes and needle. She wiped his skin clean with an alcohol swipe and then put a tourniquet around his arm. She told him to fist his hand to pump out the vein. He did as he was told, all the time watching her closely.Sakura felt quite nervous by the fact that he was always looking at her. She didn’t know why, but she had the feeling he’d done that before when they were children. There was something in the way he was staring at her that made her nervous. Something that stirred her on the inside, making her restless.“This will hurt a bit,” she said, leaning down toward him, and then she slowly inserted the sharp needle through his skin and into to his vein.He didn’t even flinch. In fact, it didn’t look like he felt the needle going into his skin at all as he sat there watching her.Sakura hoped he was only staring at her because he didn’t want to see the needle, like most people do, and so he concentrated his attention on something else. But it w
Sakura tried not to breathe—or move, for that matter—since she was being squeezed in the back seat like a sandwich between Logan and Conrad. Honestly, she thought, why did she have to return home with them? Why couldn’t Mark have dropped her off? Why had Mary taken her car away without telling her? Why, oh why?She pulled Sebastian’s large jacket—the one he had unceremoniously dumped on her person the moment she’d taken off her lab coat back at the lab—across her front tighter. Then she folded her arms across her chest, trying to relax. But how could she relax when Conrad kept staring at her and giving that dazzling smile of his? To be honest, she found it rather funny since he reminded her so much of Toby when the dog was trying to please her. She wondered if Conrad was trying to do the same thing.“Sakura,” he began, “what interesting things have you been doing?”Sakura wanted him to stop bothering her and thus gave him a good scowl.“Stop frowning, my sweet Sakura,” Logan said, whi
Sakura collapsed onto her bed once she got into her room. She sighed in exhaustion and could still feel her body trembling from the encounter.Oh, God! She couldn’t believe she’d just stood up to Tara. She knew she was no longer afraid of people, of what they thought of her, or of her displeasing them. But to see Tara again right in the face and fighting with words with her was truly an experience.She touched her chest, feeling the hard thumping of her beating heart. Toby barked to get her attention. She sat up and leaned to face him up close. “So,” she said, “you don’t like her much, do you?”“Woof,” was Toby’s reply.“Hum, thought so,” she said, nodding. Then she cocked her head to one side. “Tara!”Toby barked aggressively and growled.“Alaina!”Again, Toby barked aggressively and growled.Sakura had to laugh. “Good boy.” And then to test the little dog even further, she said, “Nicolas!”Toby gave her a friendly bark and then stuck his tongue out.“Huh?” She cocked her head to the
Sakura flashed her eyes open to see Tristan smiling at her—that flirty smile of his that any girl found most irresistible. His face was also only inches from hers. She could feel his warm breath on her skin.She licked her dry lips and stammered, “No… nothing. I… I was just looking for Toby.”Tristan cocked his head to one side, not believing her one tiny bit. “You’re blushing, Sakura. Why? Has one of my brothers harassed you?”“I… I said it was nothing,” she muttered, her cheeks flaming hot. Then, before he could ask her any more questions, she hastily moved to the side, away from him, and rushed off with Toby in her arms.Tristan watched her go, grinning knowingly. He cocked his head to one side, wondering which one of his brothers was responsible for his adopted sister’s weird reaction.Ah! She was blushing. A pretty blush, he thought. And her eyes, the deep-brown color, were exceptionally bright this evening. Not to mention the lips. They were full and very red as though they were
James was pleased Sakura had decided to join them for dinner this evening. He gazed at her across the dining table, noting she wasn’t nervous or uncomfortable with the brothers surrounding her as she had been this morning. Mary, who kept up a constant chatter, was sitting on her right. To her left was Conrad. The moment he’d seen Sakura sitting down, his youngest son had snaffled that particular chair before anyone had a chance to steal it from him.Tara and Alaina, who were sitting on the far end of the table, were both glaring at Sakura as though they couldn’t stand to be in the same room as her. Sakura, on the other hand, paid them no heed. She continued to enjoy her meal and now and again gave some chicken to Toby who was sitting on the floor behind her.“The wedding is going to be beautiful, Mary,” Brenda said. “The cherry blossoms by the pond will be in full bloom.”“That’s why I waited until spring to get married. Sakura kept telling me how beautiful cherry blossoms are in spri
The moon was bright and high above the dark gray sky. It was quiet and peaceful, and Sebastian stood there gazing out of his bedroom window, deep in thought. In the distance across the garden, he could see the slight figure of a woman. It was Sakura, and she was walking along the dragon bridge that stretched across the pond. Her gait was slow, as if she were strolling through a park, enjoying and appreciating the scenery. Then once she got to the middle of the bridge, she stopped and turned her eyes to gaze up at the moon. A moment later, she leaned both her elbows on the railing of the bridge and gazed down at the pond instead. He could sense her smiling even though he couldn’t see her face from this far, and he imagined just how beautiful she’d be. His heart glowed with delight at the thought.He noted it was quite breezy outside, with petals of cherry blossoms floating around her, and Sebastian felt his blood warm. She looked so at peace, and he felt his heart radiate with love tow
Water! It was all around her, suffocating her, wanting to kill her. Her body, small and weak, was washed about in the dangerous, angry whirlpool of water. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t control herself. She wanted to scream for help, but when she opened her mouth, water rushed in and suffocated her. She shook her head, tears burning in her eyes, her heart intense with pain. She was scared. Her heart raced. Her body ached. And she knew she wouldn’t last. She’d die soon. The water spirit would take her far away. She knew it would please her new brothers and sisters a lot. She closed her eyes. She was exhausted and couldn’t fight the water anymore. Then she stayed still. She felt her small body floating there in the deep ocean, her eyes half-closed. As she sank deeper to the bottomless pit, she glimpsed rays of light flickering beautifully from above. Then she saw a small figure of a boy reaching his hand out for her, the azure eyes large with fear, and his small boyish face pal