Falling For Sakura (Falling For Sakura Trilogy, #1) (16 page)

H
ayden Princeton, Prince of Rebel

The brothers
had decided that Sakura was in great danger where Richard Collins was concerned after all. The man was a flirt—even worse than Tristan—and they knew he had his sights set on Sakura the moment he laid eyes on her. He looked like he’d just seen an angel descending from heaven.

Yes, the brothers decided
they no longer liked Richard very much. Not that they had ever liked him very much before anyway. They’d always considered him a bit of an oddball and rather fishy. Of course, after they’d seen how he hugged Sakura for a bit too long and how he had his arms around her as if she belonged to him, and
of all things
gave her a peck on her left cheek? That was the final straw. Their expressions were fouler than the northern storm that was raiding the Scottish sea as they watched Richard taking advantage of
their
Sakura. Sebastian was all but ready to pull the man away from the helpless girl and throw him into the ocean. Darcy was thinking of giving him a good knock to the face.

“How are you, my dear Sakura
?” Richard said, his voice rather too charming for the brothers’ liking. Darcy narrowed his eyes dangerously at Richard. Conrad gritted his teeth in annoyance.

“Richard, you haven’t changed a bit,” Sakura said, all but be
ing squeezed in Richard’s arms. She chuckled uncomfortably and blushed intensely. She surely hoped the brothers weren’t watching them. One glance in their direction, however, told her a different story. They looked as though they were ready for war.

“And you have changed a lot sin
ce I last saw you,” Richard remarked. “What? Since you were sixteen? Look at you now, all grown up.” He said the last sentence so softly and so sensually, as though he were caressing every single word with his tongue.

The brothers noticed this, and it bothered the hell out of th
em—especially Tristan, who scowled darkly. He decided that Richard had improved his flirting technique, and he didn’t like that, especially when used on Sakura.

Sakura cocked her head to
one side in thought. “Yes. It’s been a rather a long time, hasn’t it?”

Nicolas decided the hug was long enough and interrupted them. “Richard, long time
no see,” he said. He extended his hand so Richard had no choice but to move away from Sakura to do the manly, friendly handshake.

“Nicolas
,” Richard responded. “Man, it’s been a long time.” Then he turned to wave at the other six brothers who all gave him a cold greeting. He turned back to Sakura. He was about to give her another peck on the cheek when Sebastian saved her by pulling her to his side.

“Come on, let’s get going,” he said, leading her away.

Sakura was pleased she was saved from the embarrassment of getting another peck on the cheek she didn’t want. She looked up to Sebastian and gave him an appreciative smile.

Sebastian decided to return her smile with
a cold scowl and said none too gently, “Stay away from him.”

She returned his scowl and muttered, “Why are you telling me what to do?”

“Because I’m your brother,” he replied with a no-nonsense tone of voice.

A
nnoyed at how he was treating her, she shrugged her arms free from his tight grasp to tell him she wasn’t pleased with his behavior. Then she stomped past the brothers and headed straight to Mary, who was busy hugging and kissing her fiancé, Peter, as if she hadn’t seen him for centuries.

“What did you say to her?” Tristan asked, interested.

“She’s totally pissed,” Hayden added with amusement.

“I told her to stay away from Richard,” Sebastian replied. “Did I do something wrong?”

Tristan laughed at his brother’s naïveté. Really, he thought, Sebastian needed to hang around women more to understand their behavior. Nicolas nodded, telling Sebastian that he did indeed do something wrong. Darcy, however, agreed with Sebastian and said, “You did the right thing.”

Richard came up behind them
as they started heading toward the car. “So what are all my cousins up to these days?”

“The usual,” Nicolas said.

“Man, I still can’t believe Sakura has grown up so much,” he said. “Can still remember her when she was a teenager. She was so quiet and shy you didn’t even know she was in the same room.”

Sebastian thought that wasn’t true. Yes, she
’d been rather quiet and painfully shy when she was young, but he’d always noticed her. She’d always been there, quietly observing them, quietly going about her business. But Sebastian didn’t know why he’d forgotten all about her for those past years. Perhaps it was because he’d never seen her again since she left for boarding school. Of course, he’d also been busy with studies at high school and then university. Not to mention friends, work, and the occasional girls who came and went. Her existence just kind of faded out of his mind.

“Took us a whil
e to bring her out of her shell.” Richard continued.

“You brought her out of her shell?” Conrad asked, appalled.

“Yep.” Richard confirmed. “We did. Mary, Katherine, and I. My three little darlings, out and about doing all sorts of mischief. Mind you, I had to look after them. Sakura has always been my favorite. Once she’s out of her shell, she’s the most difficult to control. So much spirit in her and very wild too. I’ve been waiting for so long for her to grow up.” He chuckled. “And now she has. I think she’s ready.”

The brothers didn’t like what Richard was implying. Their cousin was waiting for Sakura to grow up so he could what?

Sebastian had a good idea what Richard wanted and decided the cousin would have to get over his dead body first to get Sakura.

“What are you implying?” Conrad, bein
g the one who always took the bull by the horns, asked straight out. “You want to date her or something?”

Richard laughed. “Uh-ho! Is that brotherly concern I hear?”

Nicolas nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Naturally,” he said. “We are her brothers, after all.”

“Come on
, guys, I’m your cousin here,” Richard said.

“
Shouldn’t you be more concerned about her welfare?” Darcy asked. “You can’t date her. She’s your cousin.”

“Yes,” Logan said. “Incest, my cousin, incest.”

“But she’s not related to me at all,” Richard argued.

Hayden said
coldly, “Still wrong, Richard, very wrong.”

“No hard feeling
s, cousin.” Tristan slapped Richard on the shoulder so hard that the man nearly went sprawling to the ground. Then the seven brothers all walked ahead, leaving Richard standing there looking rather confused about the whole situation.

Sakura, who was standing on the other side, wondered how they were going to get home with only two cars when there were
now eleven of them. Then she decided perhaps she should ring home and tell Daddy James they needed a lift. Or perhaps she could wait and go up to the house with Katherine when her friend finished work at the café.

Mary saw her dilemma and said, “Well, that means one of you will have to stay behind or else ride in the
trunk. Who’s volunteering?”

“It’s okay
,” Sakura said. “I’ll stay with Katherine. She’s coming up to the house this evening to try on the dress. I’ll come up with her.”

“Are you sure?” Mary asked.

“No,” Hayden put in. “I have my motorbike at the yacht. So there’s no need to argue who’s staying behind.”

“Then that should work out,” Mary said.

It was decided then, and Sebastian took Sakura by the elbow before Richard had the chance. “Come on,” he said, leading her to their car.

“Wait!” Richard said. “I haven’t seen Sakura for ages.” He put both his hands on her shoulders and steered her toward Mary’s car. “Young lady, you’re coming with us.”

Conrad would have none of it, however, and said, “We can all catch up when we get home.” He brushed Richard’s hands aside and steered Sakura toward their car. “Mind what you’re touching,” he said.

“What is wrong with
you guys today?” Mary asked. “Maybe it’s the coffee she made them,” she muttered to herself. “Did she put something in it?”

Peter, who found the whole situation a bit weird, finally had to put in a word.
“Two of you will have to ride with us. There won’t be enough room in that car for everyone.”

The brothers
looked at one another.

“I’ll go
,” Nicolas volunteered.

“Me, too,” Logan said.

The two brothers reluctantly headed to Mary’s car while Conrad and Sebastian led Sakura to theirs.

Sakura wasn’t pleased with how things had gone so far. First there was
Sebastian, who was being rude to her. She couldn’t believe that after last night, after he’d said how he had wanted to begin their sibling relationship anew, he would go this far. She decided to glare at him to show him she wasn’t pleased and that she didn’t want him—
or any of them for that matter
—to interfere in her life like that, especially when they’d never given her a thought before.

Sebastian nudged her gently to get her into the car. She
harrumphed loudly, and before she decided she’d changed her mind and wanted to go home with Katherine after all, she was being pulled away by an arm.

She gasped in surprise a
s she felt a strong hand wrap tightly around her slender wrist and none too slowly drag her to the other side of the street, her feet stumbling behind two long, powerful legs.

She glanced up to see Hayden laughing merrily as he pulled her along with him.

“She’s coming with me, guys,” he shouted once they were safely on the other side of the street.

The brothers stood
there watching them in shocked surprise. A moment later, Tristan laughed loudly. Sebastian wasn’t pleased. He scowled severely. Conrad shouted, “Hayden! What the hell are you doing?”

“He’s taking her
for himself,” Darcy said.

Sakura didn’t know what was going on until they
’d reached a couple of blocks away. She had to catch her breath and wriggled her hand a couple of times to get Hayden’s attention. He wouldn’t release his hold on her, however, though he did stop to let her catch her breath.

Sakura collapsed against the brick wall of a building. Hayden watched her, amused. He came to stand in front of her, blocking out the afternoon sun that was glaring down
on her face. When she opened her eyes again, she gasped and caught her breath at the back of her throat. Hayden was standing so close to her that she could feel his warm breath fanning her face.

“Sorry about that
.” He chuckled, grinning at her.

Sakura was still heaving. When she finally stopped, she gazed up at him, confused and dazed.
What is he doing?
Why had he taken her away from everyone else all of a sudden?

Hayden moved his face closer to her
s, as if he was about to kiss her. Instead, however, he chuckled softly and gently blew air in her face to get her attention. She blinked.

“Wanna go sightseeing with me?” he asked.

Sakura blinked again and cocked her head to one side. Hayden? Asking her to go sightseeing?
She wanted to laugh. Of all things, he wanted to take her sightseeing?

Yes, she remembered him asking her—

No,
not ask. Hayden had never asked. Hayden had basically dragged her with him, as he’d just done moments before.

Yes, from her very early experiences, sightseeing with Hayden usually meant sneaking out of the Princeton Estate and doing something dangerous and illegal, such as stealing
a motorcycle, for example.

S
he still remembered those days so clearly. He’d dragged her out with him late in the evening into town and then had stolen a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that he’d had his eyes on for ages. After the thieving, he’d taken her riding with him for a good hour or two—dangerously near the cliff’s edge, of course. He said it was thrilling—
even more so with a girl
. And she had to be
that
girl. Of course, this had gone on a couple of times until he’d crashed one of the motorcycles. Naturally, Tara and Alaina had found out and had sneakily told Daddy James what happened. Hayden had been grounded for months, which pissed him off so badly that he turned to blame her for telling on him. She hadn’t told on him but couldn’t go against Tara and Alaina’s words.

Sakura tu
rned her attention to the earring on his left ear then. She remembered him pressuring her to pierce his ear for him after that particular incident. He told her that since he’d been named the black sheep of the house, he might as well go all out and pierce his ear too to get that perfect bad-boy image. She even had to pick him an earring and paid for it with her own money since he said it had been her fault from the start. When she’d given him the pair of silver earrings, he threw one back at her, telling her he only needed one. To this day, she still had that earring kept safely in her secret box.