AidenIt was wonderful having Haru in his arms, and Aiden slept soundly throughout the night, so much so that when he woke, he felt damn refreshed. Of course, Haru was still deep in his slumber, which he found cute. Because he couldn’t help himself, he tightened his arms around the boy and snuggled his nose against the boy’s soft dark hair, inhaling the sweet spring scent that never ceased to please and calm him. Then he closed his eyes again, not to go back to sleep, but to simply savor the moment.It was half an hour later when he felt Haru move in his arms. He could feel Haru’s gaze on him. He wondered if the boy thought he was asleep. Suddenly, he felt Haru’s hand stroking his face, which was followed by a gentle kiss on the lips.Holy shit, but that was sweet, which made Aiden’s heart melt. He opened his eyes then, a bright smile on his face. “Morning,” he said seductively. “Was that a morning kiss?”He noted Haru’s cheeks turning red. “Yes,” the boy said.“Not good enough. Do it
HaruLunch with Uncle Jin and everyone was fun and the food was delicious, but I must admit that deep down, I felt like shit. The reason? That woman named Patricia Steel.Wearing that kimono and with her face perfectly made up and her long hair done, she was beautiful, which made me feel uncomfortable, more so when she was flirting with Aiden in that subtle way of hers. I knew this feeling well. I was afraid and I felt insecure, especially where Aiden was concerned.Fact was, I hadn’t yet figured out how she knew Aiden, how she knew us brothers. I had put off asking Aiden, or any of the others for that matter. Deep down, I was afraid of what I’d find. What if she was more than just a friend to Aiden? What if they had some sort of deep, more intimate past together? If so, did Aiden still have any lingering feelings toward her? I mean she was freakin’ beautiful, after all. Hot, even, and comparing me to her…She was a woman, and I was a man, so…Shit! This was getting on my nerves, and
HaruHuh? His words caught me off guard. I didn’t know that Noah found me cute, or the fact that he had paid me any particular attention.What the hell was this new development?Noah took a deep sigh. “Fuck! That was stupid of me. Sorry, forget about what I just said.” He was serious again now. “Why don’t you wash your face? You look like you just got dumped.”I wiped my eyes. “Do I look that horrible?”Noah said, “Not horrible. Just…” He grumbled something unpleasant under his breath. He pulled me up from the bed and nudged me toward the attached bathroom. “Let’s just clean your face and make you look more presentable.”He watched me as I splashed water on my face. When I felt better and refreshed a few moments later, Noah said, “You look at least presentable now.”We were just heading out of the bedroom when we saw Aiden, and behind him was Patricia.Aiden looked surprised at seeing me coming out of a bedroom with Noah. He asked, “What were you guys doing in there?”I said, “I was j
Haru“You okay, Haru?” It was Mason who was asking me that question. Damn, but I guess every one of my brothers noticed me feeling down.I smiled at him since I didn’t want him to worry about me. “Yeah, I’m fine.”He nodded. “That’s good.” He signaled for me to come to him. I did, wondering what he wanted.He asked, “Are you cold?”“Just a little,” I said. “Is it going to snow again?”Mason placed his box, which contained his kimonos, on top of mine in my arms and then turned me around. With my back to him, he wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head.“It’s cold,” he said. “Let’s stay like this for a little bit, until Higa-san brings around the car.”“Is that where he is?” I asked. “Bringing around the car?”“Mm-hmm.”We both were quiet for moment, and then I asked, “Were you worried about me?”“Mm-hmm,” he responded.“Thanks,” I said and then chuckled. “I’m being spoiled, aren’t I?”Mason said, “You know, sometimes I wonder why you chose Aiden. Why you fel
AidenAiden felt guilt rising in the pit of his stomach the more he thought about Isaac’s words. To be frank, he hadn’t been neglecting Haru. It was more like he didn’t have the chance to be with the boy today simply because Patricia seemed to know when to intercept his approach. She appeared desperate in wanting to talk to him, which had been why he had allowed her to be with him because he knew he would have all the time in the world with Haru. As for Patricia, she could say whatever she wanted to say and be done with it. Except she hadn’t said anything of substance yet. She had just been talking about old times, reminding him of their past relationship.Noah’s voice came his way, drawing Aiden’s attention away from his thoughts of Haru and Patricia. “What?”“I said, can we talk?” The brother nodded toward the sliding door. “Outside.”Aiden didn’t know what Noah wanted to talk about that they needed to do it outside, away from the others. He nodded nonetheless and the two left.Maso
HaruI was still seething and my face flushing hot from embarrassment when Mason sat down on the futon beside me.“You okay?” he asked.I nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said as I lifted the back of my hand to my lips.Mason caught my wrist. “What are you doing?”“Cleaning away the lipstick,” I said.He looked troubled for a moment. He said, “You’ll…dirty the expensive kimono.”Shit! He was right. I might accidentally rub my lips against the kimono and stupid Isaac would be pissed with me.“Tissue,” I said, looking around the room for signs of one. But of course, there was none.I scrambled up, but Mason caught me again and asked, “Where are you going?”“To the bathroom to clean my face and take off this kimono,” I said.“Before that, can we talk?” he asked.I guessed he wanted to calm me down, which was so Mason, the peacemaker of the family.I obediently sat. “Okay.”He chuckled. “That’s our Haru.” He ruffled my hair, his hand warm on my head.“So you’re upset with Isaac?”I nodded. “I
AidenThe moment Aiden was roused from sleep, everything that had happened yesterday came rushing back, throwing him off-balance so damn early in the morning.Shit, but his head was starting to ache. A first in a long time; that was for sure.Noah was in love with Haru. That revelation still hadn’t fully sunk in yet.When had it started? Why had Noah been hiding it for so long?Then he thought how stupid his questions were. Hadn’t he himself been hiding his forbidden feelings for Haru for over two years?He frowned. Had Noah been in love with Haru longer than that, way before Aiden himself? He must admit Noah was damn good at hiding it. Even the nosy Tina hadn’t figured it out even though she had spent quite a bit of time with them.Aiden sat and shifted his gaze to the middle futon, which belonged to Noah. Obviously, it hadn’t been touched.Noah didn’t come to bed? And it was morning now. Was he still in the living room?Moving quietly so as not to disturb Connor, who was still aslee
AidenUncle Jin said, “Back in the Heian era, our ancestors supposedly formed a contract with the four guardians.”Aiden said, “The dragon, fox, snake, and cat.”He nodded. “In exchange, we must offer them one of our children. She must be beautiful, and beauty in the Heian era is nothing other than silky black hair, alabaster skin, and an exquisite face that has the power to bring men to their knees. They gave the girl the title of Shrine Maiden. Under the contract, the Shrine Maiden is trapped to live with them for all eternity, or so the legend goes.”Though the tale seemed far-fetched, Aiden was intrigued.Uncle Jin continued. “When the Shrine Maiden died, for she is human, after all, another would be born to replace her. Her soul and her power continue in another child’s body. It’s called reincarnation, Aiden-san.”Aiden said, “Are you implying that Haru is really a Shrine Maiden of your family?”Uncle Jin nodded. “A Shrine Maiden in our family brings wealth and prosperity. Do you
MasonMason felt his stomach churning sickly when he received the text message from Haru. It said: Mason, just want to let you know I’m on St. Joseph Island with Noah. Please don’t worry about me. I’m fine.He could only stare at the message. Just how the hell did Haru end up on St. Joseph Island with Noah?He texted back, demanding answers. Haru promptly replied with: Something happened and Noah brought me here with him. Everything is fine. Please don’t worry about me.Just how was everything fine when he was on St. Joseph Island with Noah alone? Mason wondered. That bastard second brother of theirs was undoubtedly going to confess to Haru and then fuck the hell out of the boy; he knew it.Fuck! He clicked on Haru’s name and pushed on the call button, but it went unanswered. Haru was probably busy talking to Aiden.Mason raked his fingers
HaruNoah was such a good kisser, and despite my experience learned from Aiden, I still found it hard to keep up with him. He was vigorous and intense; every tongue stroke, caress, and lick was exquisite, sending ripples of pleasure surging through me and driving me mindless.I shuddered, a flourish swirl of bliss dancing inside me as he stroked his tongue around mine in one full motion, feeling all of me, and then sucking at me. Meanwhile, his hand hotly trailed down my body to my already hard cock, and he groped it in his palm.“Ngh...” I groaned out softly, loving the way he was caressing me down there.When he finally released my mouth, allowing me to breathe properly, he turned his attention to my neck where he then kissed, sucked, and licked my skin.I wrapped my arms around him, just feeling his body against me, loving the heat exuding from him and the hardness of his form. He felt stern
NoahIn the en suite, Noah made quick work of showering and cleaning himself up, making sure his body was properly washed off. He was pedantic about smelling nice and fresh, too. When he was done fifteen minutes later, he wiped himself dry with a fluffy white towel and then headed out the door, stark naked.He was grinning from ear to ear when he was back in the bedroom, and his smile became even wider when he saw Haru did a double take at him.“What... What the heck...” Haru uttered, his eyes large and his face flushing hot.Stroking his wet, dark hair back with his fingers, Noah eyed the boy and noted that Haru wasn’t wearing what he had offered him earlier. The boy had donned one of Noah’s navy with white striped work shirts he usually wore under his suit jacket.Fuck! Just holy fuck, but Haru was so cute wearing his shirt that was way too big for him. It looked like the boy was
NoahNoah was grinning widely like a Cheshire cat when he walked out of the elevator, his hand clasping firmly over Haru’s who was beside him.“I heard they have nice food here,” he said as they headed toward the entrance of the restaurant located on the fifth floor of The Princeton Hotel and Resort. “You’ll like it.”“Ugh! I’m so hungry, I can eat anything,” Haru said.A maître d' took them to a table that had a great view of the ocean to the left and the small, picturesque town of South Hampton to the right. As Haru made himself comfortable and scanned over the menu, Noah shifted his gaze across the restaurant, not because he was interested in how luxurious the place was, but because he wanted to ensure none of his colleagues were dining here. He didn’t want to bump into any of them, after all, especially now that he had Haru with him. He wanted to h
HaruI saw the pain expressing in his eyes and his face darkened. He said, his voice cold, “If you don’t want to have anything to do with me, then I’ll leave the apartment. I won’t be a part of the family anymore.”I felt sick to my stomach at hearing this. That meant he already had a backup plan. Typical of Noah.“What about your job with Uncle Jin?” I asked. “Are you going to break your promise to him just like that?”“I don’t usually break my promises, Haru, but in this case, I will have to make an exception. I’ll call Uncle Jin and explain everything to him.”“You’re an idiot,” I said. “Just because of me, you’d throw away your future to help run a big company that makes millions?”He chuckled. “Yeah. When it comes to you, I’d throw everything away, even my life. I&rs
HaruI had no idea how I got here and how the fuck it happened, but here I was, standing in the foyer of The Princeton Hotel on St. Joseph Island, looking around the elegant place like a lost little lamb. Meanwhile, Noah was checking in at the reception.Fuck! Just what the fuck?I took in a deep breath for a moment, working on collecting myself.It had only been four hours ago when Noah just suddenly turned up at The BlueSky where Sean and I were having lunch. I must admit it had been great, with us chatting about Aki and Sean’s puppies and kittens, but then it all turned to custard when Noah appeared as if out of thin air.It had all been a whirlwind when Noah dragged me out of the restaurant and then into his car, and then we were on the ferry—where I had ranted about how stupid Noah was and he about how stupid I was and us arguing over each other during the whole journey. And now h
Noah“I can’t believe you’re going to St. Joseph Island,” Isaac said, grinning. “If it’s nice there, maybe we all could go there some weekend, you know, for breaks and have some fun?”Noah snorted. He reached out and ruffled Isaac’s bed hair. The boy had just gotten up, having spent the night sleeping there on the sofa.“You’re always looking for fun, aren’t you, Isaac?” Connor asked from the across the room. The man was busy cooking breakfast: French toast with bacon.“Well, fun is fun, isn’t it?” Isaac said, his eyes glued to the French toast Connor was transferring from the hot pan onto the plate.“Then I’ll be tagging along,” Connor said. “Tell me when you guys are going there. St. Joseph Island is beautiful, especially in spring.”“Really?” Isaac asked as he go
HaruAfter Aiden left the room, I turned on my side and resumed my sleep. I was dead tired, after all, and was damn glad I didn’t have any classes today. I just knew I wouldn’t be able to make it, that was for sure. Aiden had been a demon last night. I couldn’t believe he had gone all out and fucked me so many times.I found myself smiling, though, when I thought about him and how much he wanted and loved me.I sighed deeply in that content way and then shut my eyes, and soon, I fell asleep again. When I next woke up, it was to feel a pair of lips on mine and a hot tongue sneaking its way into my mouth. I fluttered my eyes open, wondering if Aiden had returned.My gaze came to rest on a gorgeous face with a pair of gold-brown eyes, and I felt a gentle hand cupping the side of my face. Mason?I gasped and was about to utter his name out loud when his tongue invaded my mouth and be
Aiden“Where are you taking me?” Haru asked.Aiden gave the boy a smile. “Let’s continue this on the bed. Doing it in the bathtub is a bit difficult.”“Oh,” Haru expressed. “But we’re wet.”Aiden, his eyes dark, gazed at Haru, taking in the sight of the boy wet from head to toe, his milky skin smooth with droplets of water beading on him. He must admit the boy was exquisitely beautiful, and the sight turned him on even more. Now he understood the charm of seeing one’s partner naked and soaking wet. It was fucking sexy. He wondered, too, if Haru found him hot like this. Naked, muscles taut with sexual tension, and his skin beading with water droplets.He got his answer when he put the boy on the bed and saw Haru slowly, as if taking his time, drifting his gaze from his face to his cock, which had already sprung back to life.&ldquo