Falling For Sakura (Falling For Sakura Trilogy, #1) (10 page)

“Um,” Lauren said from somewhere behind
Conrad, “I do have lots of dresses.”

The bro
thers turned to look at her, which caused Lauren to blush considerably for gaining their undivided attention.

“Why doesn
’t Sakura change here? Surely at least one of my dresses will fit her.”

Sakura wasn’t please
d they weren’t consulting her regarding what she wanted to do with her wet dress. This pissed her off even more when Sebastian said, “It’s sorted, then.”

She wanted to box his ear
when he turned to her and ordered her to, “Go change.”

Instead of doing as she wa
s told, which she was very bad at, she glared at him, telling him to go and order someone else around.

Sebastian understood
she was standing her ground. He sighed and said, “You’re wet and—”

Sakura f
rowned. When she realized he was gazing at her breasts, she glanced down. Instantly, she went bright red. The thin material of her dress was soaking wet, clinging to her skin and clearly showing the shape of her breasts and nipples.

She covered herself
by crossing her arms across her chest, her frown even darker as she glanced at the brothers. Tristan and Logan were hiding their smiles. Darcy’s face was expressionless. Nicolas shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Conrad blushed. And Hayden tried to keep his face as straight as he could.

“Come on, Lauren,” she said tightly, heading toward the grand stairs, her head held high.

“Err, okay,” Lauren replied, hiding a smile as well. “We’ll be back in a minute,” she said to the brothers.

The brothers’ eyes followed them as they climb
ed the stairs.

Logan
whistled. “Nice package.”

“Nice legs,” Tristan said.

These remarks were of course rewarded with a dark scowl from Sebastian and a hard shove from Conrad to Tristan.

Nicolas said sternly, “She’s your adopted sister.”

This quieted Logan and Tristan. Conrad sighed.

Sakura, on the other side, wanted to die from humiliation as she headed up the stairs, unaware that her
seven adopted brothers were admiring her slender legs. She just couldn’t believe they’d seen her breasts—well, the shape of them anyway.

Once they were on the first floor and in Lauren
’s very pink and very large bedroom, Sakura sank on the cozy king-size bed and groaned.

“Which one do you want?” Lauren asked.

Sakura sat up and watched Lauren, who was standing in front of her gigantic walk-in wardrobe filled with designer-brand clothes, holding up a few of her dresses. And yes, they were party dresses all right
. Frills.
Lots and lots of frills and lots and lots of pink. And yes, lots and lots of dresses with no straps.

“Holy
smokes!” Sakura said, her eyes almost blinded by the color pink.

“I know
.” Lauren chuckled. “I love clothes.”

“I can totally see,” Sakura uttered in amazement, blinking a couple of times.

“Let’s find one that fits you,” Lauren suggested.

Twent
y minutes later, Sakura stood in front of the full-length mirror, staring at herself for the second time that day. She couldn’t believe she was wearing this. It was a cute dress—
for a sixteen-year-old girl
—and she was no sixteen-year-old girl.

“Sorry,” Lauren said. “It’s the only one that fits you.”

Well, it wasn’t so bad. It was a satin strapless dress, baby blue, not pink, thank God. There was some very pretty draping to the side of her waist, and it had a tutu-like skirt. The only thing Sakura really opposed was that the dress was designed in such a way as to push one’s breasts up and—
voilà!

“You look amazing, Sakura
,” Lauren said in awe. “I wish I looked like you. You look so pretty.”

Yeah. Sakura
had heard that many times before. Sometimes she liked it. Then other times she really hated it because of the way she got treated.

“Your boobs!
” Lauren made a face that showed she was awed as well as envious. “And your shoes are a perfect match with the dress. Jimmy Choo, isn’t it?”

“
Yeah. Thanks,” Sakura said. “I’ll return the dress tomorrow.”

“Oh no, that’s okay
. If it’s all right, I’ll come up to the house and get it myself,” she said eagerly.

That was when
it dawned on Sakura. She realized Lauren wanted to see her adopted brothers again.
Or is it just one in particular?

She chuckled. “All right. Then maybe you could s
tay for dinner or something,” she suggested.

“That’l
l be great,” Lauren said eagerly.

“Come on
. I think it’s time to blow out those eighteen candles of yours,” Sakura said, heading out the door, and Lauren happily followed.

When the girls reached the ground floor again, 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
didn’t look too pleased.

Sakura wasn’t pleased
either that they 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 eye
s on Sakura.

“Do you really remember me wearing that on my sixteenth birthday
back in New York?” Lauren asked him, her eyes bright.

Conrad blinked and then laughed uneasily, remembering no such thing.

“She looks like a sixteen-year-old girl,” Sebastian said, a hint of disapproval in his voice.

“Who wants to get laid,” Darcy muttered under his breath.

“You look very nice, Sakura,” Nicolas said.

The brothers didn’t miss Nicolas saying Sakura’s name for the first time either, as though he
were really cherishing it.

Darcy
turned on his heel and headed toward the drawing room to join everyone else. Sebastian turned and left as well.

Sakura was quite pissed with Sebastian’s
behavior thus far. Oh, she’d heard him all right when he said she looked like a sixteen-year-old girl. She wasn’t an ignorant sixteen-year-old girl, for Pete’s sake.

She was also pissed with
Darcy, who had said she wanted to get laid. Yes, she was a virgin, but she never wanted to look like she wanted to get laid—
ever!

“Come on,” Lauren said to Conrad. “I
t’s time.” She grabbed his hand and led the way to the drawing room. Conrad laughed uncomfortably as he trailed behind her. Sakura, Nicolas, Logan, Tristan, and Hayden followed them.

It was
jam-packed with guests in the drawing room, and before long, Mr. Simpson gave a good, long speech for his daughter’s eighteenth birthday. Then when it was ready, the cake was brought in, and a chorus of “Happy Birthday” followed. Lauren happily blew out the candles that stood on top of the biggest and grandest cake Sakura had ever seen. So that was what Mrs. Simpson had splashed her money on—
the cake!

“Sorry I’m late,” a voice suddenly said behind Sakura while everyone was cheering loudly.

Sakura turned to see the boyishly handsome Mark Chatsworth smiling at her. “Hey,” she said. “Where have you been?”

“Hey,” he said back. “At the lab. You look great.”

“Err, thanks,” she replied. “Want some cake?”

“Sure.”

Some twenty minutes later, James came over to his sons, wondering why they were looking so serious at a party. When he turned to observe the object of their interest, he grinned.

“Who’s he?” Conrad asked.

“Mark Chatsworth,” James said. “
Dr.
Mark Chatsworth.”

“Are they dating or something?” Logan asked.

“Not that I know of,” James said honestly.

T
his was of course followed by sighs of relief from Logan and Conrad.

“Come on
. I’ll introduce him,” James announced and led his sons toward Mark and Sakura, knowing very well they were dying to know who this guy really was in relation to Sakura.

“I don’t trust that guy,” Conrad whispered to Sebastian.

“Why not? He’s a doctor.” Nicolas chuckled from behind.

“
Oh, shut up,” Conrad snapped.

James heard the conversation and hid a smile. “Sakura?” he said the moment he was beside her. “A new dress?”

Sakura turned and gave her adopted father a grand smile. “Accident,” she said. “And your sons are to blame.” She glared at the brothers, who looked as though they were ready to pick a fight with their defensive stances and serious faces.

“Really?” James asked and turned to his sons. “Which one of you
is responsible?”

“Me,” Conrad said without hesitation.

“In that case, I believe you owe Sakura. How about repaying her by volunteering for Dr. Chatsworth’s research?”

“Oh. That’s great,” Mark said before Sakura could say no. “And they are?”

“My sons,” James said. “Nicolas, I believe, is the same age as you.”

Nicolas shook hands with Mark—
tightly
. He also made sure his hand was on the top, which pleased him and his brothers mightily.

“Logan
.” James nodded to Logan. “Tristan, Sebastian, and Conrad.” Then he nodded toward his other sons. “Hayden and Darcy.”

Mark shook hands with all of them, pleased. “Are you all volunteering for my research?”

When the brothers all nodded, Mark clasped his hands together and said, “Why don’t we go to the lab now? I’m quite eager to—”

Sakura wasn’t happy.
All of them?
Volunteering for the research? Good God!

“But,
Mark, you haven’t had lunch yet,” she cut in.

None of the brothers had lunch yet either
, and they were quite upset she didn’t notice—especially Conrad.

“Beside
s,” she added, “it’s rude to leave a party without saying farewell to the hosts.”

Mark chuckled. “All right. We’ll eat first.”

Sakura sighed and walked away to get some food. She’d do anything to delay going to the lab with the brothers. God! She had to take their blood, and the thought didn’t sit well with her. She was an expert at venipuncture, having had excellent experience working in the hospital as a lab scientist, and as part of the job description she had to bleed patients as well. It was just that now she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to do a proper job simply because it was the brothers.

It was an hour later when Sakura reluctantly wished Lauren a happy
birthday and told the girl she had to leave. Then she found herself sitting in the back seat by herself while Conrad sat in the front seat next to Mark, who was driving the car. Behind them, Sebastian drove the silver Mercedes with Nicolas and Logan as passengers, and Tristan drove the black one with Darcy and Hayden as passengers.

Sakura was even more uncomfortable to be surrounded by eight very tall men in the small lift as they headed up to the fifth floor of the public hospital where the main lab was located. She held her breath until they got out, and by then her lungs were starving for oxygen and her whole body was aching because
she’d been so tense.

Sherry, the
lab assistant working under Mark, greeted them as they came in. She was quite shocked to see the Princeton brothers with Sakura. She blushed profusely when they smiled at her, and her hands shook uncontrollably when she handed them each questionnaires a little while later.

“What’s this for?” Logan asked.

“Err, your well-being questionnaires,” Sherry replied, blushing again. “It’s just the standard. Take your time. I’m here to help if you need any. When you’re done, Sakura will take your blood.”

The brothers got down to it, answering questions about their diet,
medications (if they had any), daily routine, and exercise regime. Tristan and Logan, as usual, treated it like a competition and raced through the questionnaires. But it was Sebastian who finished first and headed out of the small reception area to the lab behind. Tristan muttered under his breath as he watched his brother go. Nicolas put his pen down and chuckled.

Once he stepped into the laboratory area, Sebastian was taken aback by the scene before him. There were massive machines running tests everywhere
, some as big and as long as the length of the whole room and connected together like trains. There was quite a number of staff on the floor, working, putting test tubes filled with blood through the analyzers.