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The brothers watched on, wondering if Conrad had gone just that little bit overboard with his hallucination. He claimed to have heard Toby barking since early this morning. Of course, they concluded it must just have been one of the neighbors' dogs.
"Toby!" Conrad called out again. "Come here, boy."
Tristan came over to his brother and put his hand over Conrad's shoulder. "Come on, bro. Let's have some coffee."
Conrad gave Tristan a dark frown. "I swear I saw Toby just now in the garden."
Logan said, "Look, Conrad, we know how much you miss that little dog, as do we, but come on, man. The pup is with Sakura right now, in Soho."
Conrad took a deep breath, wondering if his imagination was running wild. "Yeah, you're right." He turned on his heel, a dark scowl on his face. A few moments later, he, Logan, and Tristan headed back inside the penthouse.
"Well, that was fun," Nicolas said.
Sebastian chuckled and nodded. Darcy stared at the closed door to the other side of the garden, the way to the corridor that led to the main building. He was pretty sure he saw a shadow of a girl there.
"What are you looking at?" Sebastian asked, curious.
"There's someone there," Darcy said, nodding his head in the direction of the door. Sebastian flicked his gaze there and narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, in the darkness, they saw a shadow of a girl running across. In a flash, both Sebastian and Darcy took off, feet pounding against the lawn. Nicolas was just behind them. Around the corner, they saw the slight figure exit another door.
"Who was that?" Nicolas asked.
"Don't know!" Darcy shouted.
"Why the heck is she running away?" Sebastian muttered.
"Why the heck are we chasing her?" Nicolas asked no one in particular, rounding another corner. They were rushing down the stairs, two steps at a time, and then out through a door when--
Bang!
Nicolas found himself colliding against a small, soft body. He caught her by the waist before they both could fall to the hard floor below. They spun and then he fell on his back, his bottom slamming hard on the polished marble.
Nicolas stared hard at Akira in his arms, his large hand intimately cupping her backside. The man was too shocked to find such a pretty woman in his arms that he didn't bother to let her go, or notice she was blushing from head to toe and his brothers were staring at him with amused smiles on their faces.
Akira pushed herself back and said, "Nicolas, get your hands off my ass!"
Her loud noise got through his fogged mind and he quickly released her. Akira stood up and said, "Why the hell did you run into me?"
"It was only you?" Nicolas asked, perplexed.
"Of course it was me," Akira snapped. She turned her attention to Sebastian and Darcy and said, "Sorry."
"It's all right," Sebastian said.
"Are you all right?" Darcy asked.
Akira straightened her dress and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Thanks." She turned to Nicolas. "And no thanks to you."
Then she turned on her heels and walked down the hallway. Halfway, she said, "Good night."
With the brothers' nods, she turned again and disappeared around the corner.
"What happened?" Conrad demanded the moment Nicolas, Sebastian, and Darcy stepped into the living area a few minutes later.
"It was Akira," Nicolas said.
"You mean there was someone outside our garden," Tristan queried with raised brows.
"I think so," Nicolas replied, a sour look on his face.
"Are you sure it was Akira and not Toby?" Conrad asked again, just to be sure. Logan and Tristan looked heavenward, as if anyone would have mistaken the international supermodel Akira to that of a little dog.
"But why did she run?" Darcy questioned no one in particular.
Tristan had a very logical answer to that. "It's Nicolas's fault. He growled at her the last time she came up to explore the garden."
"Did you?" Sebastian turned to their eldest brother.
"Yes, I did," Nicolas muttered. "Why the heck did she have to run away? I did tell her to come again anytime she wanted."
"Well," Logan put in, pouring himself a cup of Beth's tasteless coffee, "you were such a dragon to her the other day."
Nicolas wanted to say the woman had seen him naked, for God's sake, when he thought no one had been home. And then there she was, staring at him like she'd never seen a nude man before. If she were to look away, as if it wasn't such a big deal, then he wouldn't have growled at her. But no. The oriental beauty had to blush and stare at him as if she wanted to eat him alive.
And damn his own body. He responded to the stare and look of pure desire in those enchanting dark-brown eyes. He was bloody turned on by her sight and had desperately wanted to grab her into his arms, kiss her, and do so much more to her than his logical mind permitted. For the first time in his twenty-nine years, Nicolas wanted this woman, wanted Akira.
"Then I shall personally tell our lovely Akira that she can come up to enjoy the garden anytime she wants," Tristan said, nodding.
Nicolas nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat. "Do whatever you bloody want." With that, he headed out the door.
Tristan blinked. "What did I say wrong?"
Logan laughed. "I think Akira is getting under his skin."
*
Sakura woke at quarter to five the next morning. Usually, she wouldn't be up until the next hour or so, but this morning, she was alert. She turned on her side and tried to go back to sleep but found she couldn't. Her mind, of its own accord, was drifting off toward the Princeton brothers. She wondered if Luke had already told them about her and her life, that she own the Tanaka Gallery in Soho and she was an artist. She wondered if they'd been there to check out the place. Luckily, though, she'd already relocated, so any opportunity to meet her there was absolutely zero.
Again, the image of Sebastian and Darcy came into her mind, and she groaned, her heart fluttering within her chest.
"Stop thinking about them," she muttered under her breath.
She tossed and turned, and when she finally couldn't stand it anymore, s
he got up and out of the bed.
"I'm going for a swim," she said, nodding her head.
Some ten minutes later, now in her navy-blue bikini that fit her slim, toned body to perfection, she walked toward the pool. Luckily, it was still very early in the morning, so she had the whole place to herself. She was actually very pleased with that.
This time around, there was no worry of her drowning like that accident a year ago back on St. Joseph Island. Since then, Sakura had learned, with a lot of determination and hard work of course, how to swim. One could say she was like a mermaid now, so comfortable in water.
With her long hair down her back, her eyes closed, and a smile on her face, she stood by the edge of the pool. Then she took a deep breath and dove in, her body delicate and smooth, gliding into the water like a fish. Her perfect figure sailed through the liquid. Slowly, she came up to the surface to take a quick breath, and then she dipped her head in again as she stroked her arms in a wide arc. She swam around for a couple of laps, and once she had enough, she stopped and allowed herself to just float there, like a cherry blossom petal on top of the water.
She gazed up at the ceiling, at the beautiful prism of blue and white dancing and flickering. She laughed, and suddenly, the scene reminded her of that time when she'd been floating in a pool back at Princeton Mansion a year ago. She remembered Sebastian diving from atop the platform, his strong, powerful body sliding into the water cleanly. She remembered him kissing her in the pool, his lips hot and tongue eager to taste her as he squeezed her against him.
A delicious quiver formed in her stomach, and she licked her lips. Suddenly, she craved for him to kiss her again, his tongue licking her lips and stroking the inner lining of her mouth.
Immediately, she told herself to stop. She closed her eyes and dipped herself deep under water. Then she came back up and swam to the other side of the pool. She pulled herself out and then walked around to the other side again.
"Stop thinking about him," she whispered under her breath. And then she dived in, her body once again slipping into the water cleanly.
*
Like clockwork, Sebastian found himself awake and ready for action by five that morning. His body screamed at him, informing him he needed to exercise, needed to swim, since he hadn't for a few days now.
He got out of bed and, in minutes, he was ready. He was just passing the kitchen when he saw Darcy hovering around the refrigerator.
