The moment Jeremy saw Chandra come in through the door, his eyes widened with delight. She was a sight to behold. Her hair was done up in a loose bun at the top of her head, and her cocktail dress fit perfectly about her slim frame. Her smile was radiant when she said, “Hi, Jeremy.”Sitting there, Jeremy’s throat felt rather dry. Opposite him were Dara and Soriya. They smiled at each other with delight at the reaction they’d received from Jeremy. Score! That was exactly what they wanted. A pleasant surprise of beauty showing up on a date. They could totally tell he was smitten with their sister.Jeremy cleared his throat at that point and then said, “Hi. You look beautiful.”Chan didn’t expect that. After all, she didn’t think she’d put that much effort into looking good for the date. She’d been told by her sisters The Twilight was a fancy restaurant and had urged her to dress up a little. And this was exactly what she’d ended up wearing. A nice cocktail dress, but nothing too fancy.
She couldn’t take her eyes off him as he got up from his seat and headed their way.Sam wasn’t surprised to see Chandra and Jeremy here in the restaurant. In fact, he’d known they were going to have their date here and had devised a meeting. Hence, this was not coincidental.He couldn’t take his eyes off Chan the moment he’d seen them upon the landing. She was beautiful tonight, dressed in a lovely cocktail dress and her hair done up. All he wanted to do was be with her. And hell, he wished this were his date with her, not hers with Jeremy.His eyes were locked on her as he came over to them. “Jeremy.”Jeremy chuckled. “I didn’t know you were having dinner here.”Sam was a bad liar, so he kept his mouth shut and simply nodded. He asked his cousin, though his eyes were on Chan, “I thought you were having a date today.”Chan didn’t miss the sarcastic tone beneath that deep, smooth voice of his. Nor the way he looked at her. God! Couldn’t he look at something else? Those warm brown eyes
“Are you sure it’s around here?” Chandra asked her sister as they drove along the streets, both sides lined with huge, breathtaking mansions accompanied by immaculate gardens.Dara nodded. “I’m sure it is. Here, turn left here.”Soriya said, “Man, this place is awesome. I bet only billionaires live around here.”“I think it’s quite a new development,” Dara said. “Most of the mansions here were only built within the last five years or so.”A few moments later, they found the house they were looking for. It was hard to miss since there were colorful balloons tied to the gate in front of the house, an indication of a birthday party for a child. Not to mention there were cars parked along this street. Chan was pretty sure those belonged to the people attending Lilly’s party.They found a spot at the end of the street a few moments later, and the sisters climbed out. Dara went ahead to get the container that held salad, while Soriya took the presents—three different sizes and shapes—for Li
It was nearer to lunch when Jayden, Alexandra, and of course, little Andy showed up, along with Alec and Ruby. Unfortunately, Chan’s other friends—Nikkita, Georgina, and Isabella—had all returned home. Nikkita back to South Australia and Georgina and Isabella to New Zealand.Chan greeted them with delight, and Dara and Soriya immediately went to kiss Andy. Jayden and Alec joined Sam, helping the man prepare the barbeque for lunch. By that time, more kids arrived along with their parents and, of course, Nina and her group of posh friends.Nina, dressed in a sexy black dress, her hair styled beautifully, came into the kitchen and told Marian in a condescending manner to start setting up lunch for the kids and adults outside because it was getting late. Marian rolled her eyes and wanted to slap the woman. But of course, she couldn’t. Her hands were deep in satay meat.Dara stared at the woman and said, “So you’re the one organizing this party?”Nina glared at Dara. “Yes? You have a probl
Lilly’s birthday party went great, starting from lunch until well after dinner in the evening. Drinks and food flowed freely as both adults and children enjoyed themselves tremendously. Chan was indeed happy she was a part of the celebration.Of course, as with any party, the people who helped out would always be tired by the end of the day, and this rang true for Chan. She and her sisters had been at Sam’s house at nine that morning and had helped out ever since. It was well after dinner; Lilly had blown out her seven candles and had opened all of her presents. The cake had been cut and shared, and now all there was for Chan to do was go home.Her dear friends, Alex and Ruby, and their respective partners had left straight after dinner, as they had an early start tomorrow. Alex, her husband Jayden, and their baby boy Andy were flying back to America, while Ruby and her fiancé Alec were returning to England. Chan hugged her friends goodbye, while Dara and Soriya sadly kissed Andy, pro
It had been almost an hour since Sam had seen Lilly leading Chandra up the stairs toward the floor where their bedrooms were situated. He had no idea why his daughter was taking Chan up there, but he wasn’t worried. In fact, he kept the conversation going with Chan’s sisters and a bunch of other people.Nina was sitting intimately close to him, which, for the first time, made him rather uncomfortable. Jeremy wasn’t far away, laughing and enjoying himself tremendously. The subjects of their conversation ranged from world peace, charity, which Dara was very passionate about, and the effect of global warming.“We should be going,” Dara said finally. “Man, that was a good talk.”Soriya couldn’t agree more. “Speaking of which, where the heck did our sister disappear to?”Nina eyed the two sisters with distaste. She didn’t really care for them, nor their pretty sister in whom Sam seemed to be too interested. Although she’d heard that particular sister was dating Jeremy, she didn’t see how f
When Chandra woke the next morning, it was to the sound of rustling papers. She fluttered her eyes open, feeling a little more than disorientated. She gazed long and hard up at the ceiling, wondering why she didn’t recognize the beautifully ornate designs of birds and butterflies and flowers.Where am I? she wondered contritely, suddenly very aware she wasn’t in her own room.More rustling of papers.Chan was curious. She squinted her eyes as she turned to her right. There, sitting comfortably in bed, was Lilly. The little girl was already up and reading the book they’d started last night.Chan shot up immediately. Oh my God! She’d fallen asleep right there in Lilly’s bed, and in Sam’s house of all places!She panicked and scrambled to make sense of what had happened.Lilly saw her sitting up and smiled. “Hi.”Chan cleared her throat. “Hi,” she replied. “Is it morning?”Lilly giggled. “Hmm. You fell asleep, too.”Chan sighed. “God, I must have just dozed off.” She touched her forehead
Chandra poked her head out the door a few moments later, her eyes scanning the bedroom for Sam. She found him on the other side, checking his phone. She cleared her throat. “Err, Sam?”Sam raised his head, his eyes bright and a smile plastered on his lips. “Hmm?”Chan licked her lips, blushing profusely. “I was wondering if you have a spare shirt and pants I could borrow. My dress is all wet and not quite…”Sam understood. He chuckled. “Sure.”“Really? Thanks.”“No problem,” he said and headed over to the walk-in closet.Still hiding behind the bathroom door, with only her head peeping out, Chan clutched the towel tightly against her body as she watched Sam retrieve what looked like a man’s shirt. His shirt.No. That wasn’t what she meant. She wanted a female shirt and pants. Not his shirt.But it was too late. He came over and handed her one of his casual T-shirts. She stared at it, not knowing what to do.“I don’t think my pants will fit you,” he said. “Just wear this for the time b