Falling For Sakura (Falling For Sakura Trilogy, #1) (3 page)

Darcy fe
lt his heart do a somersault, and an odd pain spread out across his chest. It wasn’t physical pain, but a type of emotional pain he was sure he’d had before that was now buried deep within his heart, forgotten. Now it was there again, and he didn’t have a clue why. He fisted his hands, feeling frustration building up within him as he watched the island getting bigger and bigger as the yacht sailed closer and closer.

Sebastian strode
to the side of the deck and gazed out at the island in the distance. Suddenly, he felt an odd thump in his chest, as if there were something on the island that made him pause, and he wondered why.

Not long after,
the luxury yacht, the
Lady Elizabeth
, came into the harbor of St. Joseph Island, and soon they were ready to drive home to Princeton Mansion, which was located on the other side of the island, about twenty-five minutes’ drive from town.

The brothers decide
d to split up into the two out of the three Mercedes-Benz they’d brought along in the yacht. Tara and Alaina, on the other hand, decided they’d stay in town and do some shopping before driving home.

Once they were
out of the busy, tourist-infested town, they pretty much had the road to themselves, and Tristan being Tristan went over the speed limit and, just to annoy Sebastian, dangerously overtook his brother.

“He’s being
bloody childish,” Sebastian said under his breath.

“He wants to annoy you—
again
,” Nicolas commented matter-of-factly, his attention on his tablet.

“Tell me wh
en we get home.” Conrad informed them before closing his eyes and making himself comfortable on the back seat, resting his head on Darcy’s shoulder.

Darcy grunted and shoved
him back. “Oi, find another pillow.”

Conr
ad pulled a face, made himself comfortable on the other side, and closed his eyes again.

Sebastian frowned
when both Tristan and Logan waved at him, urging him to try to overtake them if he could.

“
There they go again,” Darcy said, shaking his head.

Sebastian wasn’t taking it and had
the urge to give them the finger but managed to control himself. Then just when he thought it wouldn’t get any more annoying, Tristan honked at him five times, waking up Conrad, who also got very annoyed.

“I think I want to
kill him now,” Conrad muttered, glaring at the car in front of them.

“Stay calm now. There’s no ne
ed to be childish,” Nicolas said, typing away on his tablet.

“I see
trouble coming,” Darcy murmured under his breath, knowing very well how Sebastian would respond to the challenge.

On cue, Sebastian
felt adrenaline rushing in his blood. He stomped his foot on the accelerator. He quickly changed lanes and overtook the black car in front of them with ease. When he saw the shocked look on Tristan’s face, Sebastian smiled with satisfaction and sped up even more. He laughed, knowing very well he had left his brothers in his dust once again.

“Good j
ob, Seb.” Conrad chuckled.

“You guys stil
l haven’t grown up,” Nicolas said under his breath.

“Better slow down, Seb,” Darcy said, noting they were going way too fast.

A split second later, it happened. The car turned a corner onto a narrow road, which was covered by thick woods on both sides. Before he knew it, Sebastian quickly stepped on the brake, his heart pounding with dread as the car headed straight toward the person who suddenly materialized as if out of the blue onto the middle of the road.

“Holy
shit!” Conrad shrieked.

“Watch out!” Darcy shout
ed.

D
arcy Princeton, Prince of Darkness

S
akura knew she had a fifty-fifty chance of living or dying once she saw the car heading straight at her. Before she had time to react, she felt herself smashing against hard metal and flying back, landing on the road. She had a moment of sheer panic, wondering if she’d live, when Toby ran to her and started barking at her and licking her hand with concern.

Sak
ura stared up at the sky through her hair covering her face, wondering if she was dead already. Her head was spinning out of control. She closed her eyes, trying to get her bearings back.

The br
others rushed out of the car, their stomachs flipping in dread.

Holy
shit!
Sebastian wondered if he had just killed someone. He knew, however, that he’d stopped the car just in time. If he hit her at all, it was probably only slightly, which would have caused her to fall back like so.

When he saw
the slender body lying there motionless, his stomach flipped again. He rushed toward her.

“Oh shit!” Conrad shriek
ed in dismay. “You hit a girl.”

“I
’m calling the ambulance.” Nicolas dug into his backpack, searching for his cell phone.

“Are y
ou all right?” Sebastian shouted, his voice hoarse, his heart pounding hard.

Darcy
growled. “What do you think? You bloody hit her, for Christ’s sake!”

Just then the black car drew
up behind them, followed by, “Hey, what’s the holdup?” from Tristan.

“Accident!” Conrad shout
ed back.

“What the hell!” Logan
muttered as they all got out of the car.

Sakura stroke
d her hair back from her face and managed to sit up. Toby jumped into her lap and asked her with his eyes if she was all right.

“I’m fine
, Toby,” she said, patting his head in reassurance. The dog whimpered at her and licked her hand.

Sebastian sigh
ed in relief when he heard she spoke, not to him but to the dog.

“Are you all right?” he ask
ed again, thinking she hadn’t heard him the first time. When she didn’t respond, he wrapped his hand around her soft, slender arm to get her attention.

Sakura felt
tingles of sensations rushing through her being, and she shivered at the alienated feelings. She held her breath as he continued to ask her questions she didn’t want to answer.

“Did I hurt you?”

What the hell do you think?
She wanted to shout at him.
You nearly killed me with your reckless driving.

“I’m fine,” s
he replied none too gently.

Darcy, who was
on the other side, felt the odd, furious thumping of his heart the moment he heard her voice.
Calm down, you old beast
, he told his heart. Why was his heart beating so hard and fast? Why was the girl’s voice so oddly familiar?

Curious, he glanced
in their victim’s direction, hoping seeing her would put him at ease, hoping it would explain the reason his heart was behaving so abnormally all of a sudden.

He only glimpse
d her long hair and the side of her slender form as the majority of her person was blocked by Sebastian’s large frame.

Darcy couldn’t help himself. His le
gs moved without his command. He found himself by her side in an instant, opposite Sebastian. He said, “Are you sure you’re not hurt? Let me see.”

The voice! Oh
gosh! The voice!
Sakura had the feeling she’d heard that voice before. Only now it was deeper and manlier and caused her stomach to flip and her heart to race.

She lifted her head and came
face-to-face with a handsome young man with raven-black hair and mauve-gray eyes. Sakura held her breath as she stared at Darcy, drowning herself in the depth of the unique color that once had looked at her with affection.

D
arcy felt his body go rigid, his heart skipped a couple of beats, and he just stopped breathing altogether for a couple of seconds the moment he saw the dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty that was their victim. To say she was beautiful was an understatement. She literally took his breath away, and indeed, he found it hard to find his breath again.
Suddenly he felt the world swimming around him as he continued to gaze at her. Something deep within him stirred, inching its way from within the locked chains that kept it imprisoned, preventing it from ever escaping.

Then it happen
ed. A soft, gentle voice echoed in his head
. Darce! My dear Darce!

That voice!
Whose voice is that?
Why did it call to me? Why was it referring to me as “My dear Darce?”

Darcy did
n’t have any answers to these burning questions swirling within his head as he began to feel himself tense.

Under his intense gaze,
Sakura felt the heat rising steadily within her. Involuntarily, she trembled and quickly glanced away—only to meet Sebastian’s eyes. Instantly, she was lost in the azure color.

Sebastian too was
holding his breath as he stared at her, and his heart seemed to have stopped beating all of a sudden.

Holy
shit!
was his first thought as he gazed at the woman he almost killed.
She is a beautiful creature, all right
. With the blackest hair, the palest skin, and the darkest eyes that seemed to draw him into their mysterious depths. She was so damn beautiful it knocked the wind out of him, and he found he couldn’t stop staring, didn’t want to stop staring.

“Sebastian!” Nicolas called
out. “Is she all right?”

Sebastian finally manage
d to get his wits back and uttered, “I… I think so.”

Saku
ra drew her arm away from Sebastian’s grasp and looked away, feeling his intense stare was beginning to unnerve her. She was hoping he’d walk away and leave her alone when the man gave her a fright by touching her again. He was in fact closer to her now. She could feel his warm breath against her skin and the heat of his large, masculine body against her small, soft one. In response, her body began to shiver.

She pushe
d him away, causing him to fall on his backside in surprise. Tristan laughed from the distance, and Sebastian gritted his teeth, knowing his brother was enjoying his embarrassment.

“I
’m only trying to help,” he said to her.

“Are you hurt anywhere?
” Darcy queried, his eyes still on her. “No broken bones?”

Sakura turn
ed her attention to Darcy and instantly felt her heart do another somersault. Any moment now, she thought, he’d recognized her. Any moment now, he’d remember who she was. The thought didn’t sit well with her.

“How’s that ambulan
ce going, Nicolas?” Conrad asked his eldest brother, who was apparently still searching for his cell phone.

“It’s in h
ere somewhere,” Nicolas muttered under his breath.

“If it were
a serious accident,” Conrad said, “she would have died by now.”

Nicolas frown
ed. “What about your cell phone?”

“I’m fine. No need to cal
l for an ambulance,” Sakura said loudly.

“Are you sure?” Sebastian ask
ed, moving his face even closer to her now.

Shit!
He could smell her—wildflowers and honeysuckle and something else.
Something sweet.
It tickled something nice and warm within his being. He loved it.

“
Yes. I’m fine, thanks,” she said firmly.

“No, I don’t think you’re fine until you’re che
cked thoroughly,” Sebastian commented, and without her consent, he scooped her into his strong arms.

Sak
ura was shocked. In fact, she was outraged.
Oh my gosh!
He touched her! Without her consent!

“What
are you doing?” she snapped at him. “Put me down this instant!”

Sebastian wa
s so taken aback by her burst of outrage that he didn’t know what to do. The other brothers, who had gathered behind Sebastian, looked at one another. This was new, all right. Any other girl would have been over the moon if Sebastian were to pick her up like that. But not this one. This one demanded he put her down—
immediately!
What was even more odd was the fact that Sebastian had willingly scooped her into his arm, which of course made the brothers suspicious—especially Tristan. They moved around to get a better look at their victim.

Sebastian let
go of her and stood up. He didn’t know what to do since she had rejected his offer to help. He didn’t want to touch her without her permission, nor did he want to walk away and leave her sitting there. Then he sensed his brothers gathering around him, and when their victim finally raised her face to them, he heard Tristan suck in his breath and say, “Holy smokes!”

Like moths attracted
to a flame, the rest of the brothers saw the most enticing image they’d ever seen. This was, of course, instantly followed by sharp inhalations. Sebastian wanted to hide the poor girl—who he thought was too pretty for her own good—from his brothers’ prying eyes.

Sakura didn’t like the fact that she had
not only two of the Princeton brothers but all seven of them to deal with. Sebastian was still staring at her as if God himself had just descended from heaven. Nicolas looked so shocked to see a woman and a dog in the middle of nowhere that he couldn’t speak. Tristan, Logan, Hayden, and Conrad just gawked at her as though they were watching a really interesting movie.
And Darcy?
Her heart jolted within her chest as she met his gaze again. Those eyes—so intense—were on her. She felt her body quivering and quickly glanced away.

Fully cons
cious of her predicament, she hugged Toby even tighter against her chest, unaware that in doing so she was enriching the men’s experience of her beauty—with her sitting in such a position that the hem of her dress rested high on her thighs, showing off her slender legs. Not to mention the thin straps of her dress that had fallen down her arms, the material barely covering her breasts and hinting at just how beautiful they could be if she were naked.

Seb
astian had had enough. He couldn’t take it anymore, with his brothers enjoying the poor girl in such a dire situation. He bent down to help her, his hand touching her arm once again. She gasped and pushed him away.

The brothers watch
ed in shocked surprise because no female had ever pushed Sebastian away. Girls flocked to him—as they did to all his brothers. It was the Princeton charm, not to mention the mere fact that they were very good-looking. Women found them hot and would do anything to date them; even just getting close to them was a dream come true. But it was odd indeed that this young woman—yes, this very pretty young woman—was pushing Sebastian away. Did she not find him attractive? Or any of them for that matter?

Toby cho
se that moment to bark a friendly greeting to the intruders, sensing the seven men were only trying to help his poor master. Then, without ever consulting with Sakura whatsoever, he jumped out of her arms and into Sebastian’s.

“Hey.
” Sebastian chuckled. “You’re a friendly one, aren’t you?” Then he glanced up, eyeing Sakura, who looked rather upset about the whole thing. “Unlike your owner.”

Sakura note
d that his eyes were glinting at her, which caused her heart to beat faster. She quickly looked away and began to gather her stuff that had flown out of her bag.

As she was doing this, they simply stoo
d there and watched her. It wasn’t the fact that they were heartless and didn’t want to help, but it was because what they saw was preventing their male brains from performing their functions properly.

Sakura wa
s bending over on her knees as she was gathering her camera, notebook, sketchbook, and coloring pencils. They could clearly see the enticing view of her cleavage, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Then, once she was done, Sakura tossed back her tresses, seemingly in slow motion. It was like she was one of those very beautiful models in the hair commercials Tara longed to do.

The men
couldn’t seem to breathe properly again for a few more seconds after that.

Slowly, Sakura manage
d to get up and stood straight, her body sore all over.

She just couldn’t beli
eve it. None of these men helped her stand. Not when they had been younger, after they played tricks on her, and not even now. The thought brought forward a rush of anger, and she saw red.

She stared
at them, one by one, no longer afraid of them as she’d been when she was young.

First, there
was Sebastian with the typical Princeton looks that dated back for generations and had caused many hearts to flutter recklessly and perhaps even swoon with longing. He was also way too tall, broad at the shoulders, and handsome for her liking. Not to mention the fact that he was wearing one of those studs in his left ear, the stone the same color as his eyes. It made him look like a rogue and way out of any girl’s league.