Alone, Sakura walked about the room to stretch her legs, at the same time trying to calm her nerves by humming to herself. Now and again, her eyes would drift off to gaze at the beautiful scenery before her, which stretched across the horizon of the sea. Her worries were forgotten as she smiled, enjoying the exquisite sight.
“Well, hello there.” Sebastian’s voice came to her, and Sakura jumped in surprise.
She turned away from the window to see the man leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, a handsome grin on his face.
The moment she turned, Sebastian’s breath was momentarily snatched away as he stared at her.
Sakura asked, “Sebastian?”
At the call of his name, he managed to regain his senses. At that moment, when Sakura had turned to look at him, the sight of her had taken his breath away; she was so exquisitely beautiful. This very vision of her reminded him of when he had first met her again, as adults back on St. Joseph Island, when the brothers had returned home for their cousin Mary’s wedding.
Sebastian remembered once again that he had fallen in love with her that very day, when he had met her along the road leading up to Princeton Mansion on St. Joseph Island. He had come to realize that he loved her in the deepest depths of his soul.
He remembered now that this love had begun when they were children, when Sakura was drowning in the lake and he hadn’t been able to do a thing to save her because he couldn’t swim. That had also been the reason he had taken up swimming competitively during high school.
Then, after Mary and Peter’s wedding when Sakura had nearly died from Kate’s ambush and almost drowned in the stormy sea off St. Joseph Island, that love grew even deeper. The thought of her in danger, on the verge of losing her life, and of him on the verge of losing her, really roused the fragile emotions within him, frightening him so much that he thought he might just die himself.
Now, the sight of her standing there and gazing out to the ocean, looking all calm and serene, really put his feelings for her into perspective. He, Sebastian Princeton, deeply loved this woman, as he had never loved anyone else in his life. She was everything to him. Everything he held dear, and he vowed to cherish and protect her until his very last breath.
“Wow,” he said, as he stepped into the room toward her.
Once he was right in front of her, so close she could feel the warmth of his breath on her forehead, she raised her eyes to look at his face.
“Wow?” she asked. “If you mean the view, then I agree. It’s very nice from here.”
He chuckled as he placed his fingers under her delicate chin. “No, I mean you, silly.”
Sakura pulled a face. “Me? But I’m not even dressed yet. I’m still wearing my T-shirt and jeans.”
“Then,” he said, moving his hand to her exotically bound hair, “you’ll be even more exquisite.”
Sakura chuckled. “Thanks, I guess. And what are you doing with my hair?”
Sebastian, who was currently caressing a striking hair embellishment in the shape of a butterfly, said, “I’m curious as to what this is.”
Sakura wrapped her hand around his wrist to make him stop. “It’s a hair ornament to make me look pretty. Stop messing with my hair. Do you have any idea how long it took for Kay to do this chignon? An hour and a half, you know, and my whole body was sore after sitting for so long. If you mess it up, Kay will be very upset, and I will also be very upset because we’ll have to go through it all over again. Not to mention Mr. Tachibana because then there’ll be a delay.”
Sebastian finally moved his hand away and chuckled as he apologized. “Sorry, but from the look of it, I haven’t ruined anything, yet.”
“Good,” she said. “And why aren’t you dressed?”
“My turn doesn’t come until later,” he said. “Now they’re concentrating on Nicolas, Sosuke, Tristan, and Logan.”
“I see,” she said, nodding.
They were both quiet for a moment. Then Sebastian changed the topic and asked, “Sakura? Yesterday, when Darcy went to get you… Did Darcy mention anything particular?”
Sakura was suddenly curious as to what he was referring to. She cocked her head to one side. “What do you mean?”
Though he was trying not to show it, she noticed he looked a little embarrassed and troubled at the same time. Sebastian? Embarrassed? Troubled? Never, right?
She licked her lips, her mind now flashing back to yesterday when Darcy had come to get her before she joined everyone else to watch the games.
She remembered him apologizing for pressuring her into making her decision. She remembered him kissing her on the forehead. And what else?
She shook her head. “Nothing in particular. I mean, erm…I guess he was a bit on edge the night we arrived, and yesterday morning, he came to apologize. That’s all.”
“And nothing else?” he asked.
Sakura was suddenly suspicious. Then she wondered if Sebastian, too, was insecure about her feelings for him, as Darcy had been.
Wanting to ease his uncertainty, she gently touched his arm and said, “Sebastian, you know I love you, right?” When he nodded, she continued. “And I also love Darcy.”
Again, he nodded. “Yes, I know that. I accept that.”
She sighed as if it pained her to be so selfish as to love two men at the same time, and furthermore, they were brothers.
She said, “To be honest, I have never loved any man before in my life. You and Darcy are the only two so far.”
He interjected. “And I hope it will always be that way.”
She brushed aside his words. “I know I’m very selfish, Sebastian. But I just can’t help myself. There must be something wrong with me for sure.” She raised her gaze to him again. “What I’m trying to say is, Sebastian, that I love you. Be assured of that. Right now, I just need time to think. I mean, I don’t want to break either of your hearts. That’s for sure. It’ll kill me. I know it will.”
Noticing the emotional tears in her eyes, Sebastian suddenly pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight.
With her small form swallowed up in his tight embrace, Sakura savored the moment and wished she could be in his warmth forever.
Sebastian kissed her gently on the forehead and said, “You don’t have to choose, Sakura. You know that. Why make the hard decision when you can make the easy one?”
Sakura raised her face then and frowned at him. “What are you on about? You’re confusing me, Sebastian. If you must know, it’s hard making this decision. After all, I’d be losing one of you.”
He smiled. “I see you need more time to think about it.”
When his lips were about to touch hers, she stopped him in his tracks. “We can’t kiss.”
“Why the hell not?”
She smiled, noting how demanding and impatient he was. “Because I have makeup on, and if you kiss me, my face will be ruined and Keri will not be pleased.”
Sebastian sighed. “Fine. But you owe me a kiss today.”
She raised one brow. “I owe you a kiss? Don’t make me laugh, mister. I do not owe you anything.”
Sebastian shook his blond head. “You owe me a lot of things, young lady. Kisses and more kisses and love. An eternity of love.”
Sebastian had the sudden urge to bury his face in the crook of her neck, and blast it…he didn’t give a damn about ruining her makeup. Hence, he did just that.
He placed one hand behind her perfectly coiffured head and then buried his face in the curve of her slender neck.
Sakura gasped and shrieked, “Sebastian! What are you doing?”
Sebastian didn’t answer. He kissed her there, his lips hot and his tongue seductively licking and stroking, even sucking at her skin until she was breathless.
Sakura found herself clinging to him for dear life as she groaned and her body became weak.
“Oh…” She breathed, her eyes half closed. “Sebastian…”
By the time he terminated his seduction, Sakura was more than a little aroused. Blushing pink from the experience, she snapped, “Now look at what you’ve done. I have a photo shoot with Nicolas soon, and you’re doing this to me. You’re a beast, Sebastian. How could you? My mind is a mess now, and my body…”
She couldn’t say it out loud. There had been many times when this man had purposely seduced and aroused her, and she in turn had simply wanted to let go of convention and give him permission to do wild, sexy things to her—make her moan and scream with pleasure. Indeed, this was one of those times. But of course, she must resist the temptation, as work was very important and she couldn’t afford to mess it up. Thus, she pushed him back by the chest and gave him a good glare.
“We need to keep some distance, Sebastian,” she said. “I’m sure I’m not safe alone with you any longer.”
He chuckled with amusement. “You will always be safe with me. I assure you.”
She stroked her slender fingers about her hair bun as she said, “Not where my virtue is concerned.” She sighed. “Listen, Sebastian.” She raised her eyes to look up at him. When she noted that he was waiting for her to continue, she sighed again.
“Yes?”
She cleared her throat because the passionate fire in his azure eyes made her heart race. Not good. This was not good. He was too handsome and tantalizing for her liking.
She quickly glanced away and said, “You are not allowed to seduce me until I’ve made my decision, all right?”
Sebastian gave her a handsome smile then. “All right,” he said reluctantly. “But please don’t make us wait too long because it’s damned hard keeping our hands away from you.”
Sakura blushed at his words.
A moment later, he gave her a kiss on the forehead and headed toward the door. “Good luck with the photo shoot.” He even gave her a wink before closing the door behind him.
Once alone, Sakura found herself collapsing on the chair. God, her heart was still racing and her whole body was trembling. She touched her cheeks and found they were hot.
Sebastian was getting brasher with his seduction, Sakura realized. The same could be said of Darcy. That man was also growing more determined.
“Sebastian. Darcy,” she whispered. “What am I going to do?”
It was then that Kay returned, and the moment the woman saw Sakura, she said, “What happened?” with a shocked face.
Sakura went pale. I knew it! Despite her warning, Sebastian must have ruined her hair.
“I’m sorry,” she said, touching her chignon. “Is it that bad?”
Kay rushed over to her and made a big fuss. “It’s bad. This is very bad.” She tipped Sakura’s face to the right and inspected the left of Sakura’s slender neck. She shrieked, “A hickey. It wasn’t there before. I’m sure of it. Now we’ll have to cover it up.”
Sakura blinked. So, it isn’t my hair. “A what?” she asked, surprised.
“A hickey. You know, a love bite.”
Sakura swallowed hard at this revelation as she remembered Sebastian kissing her neck. Had he planned on branding her?
Sebastian!