His Kindness

I moved slightly and felt the softness of the mattress under me. My head rested on a comfortable pillow, and I was covered by a warm blanket. I took a deep breath, inhaling a masculine, slightly citrusy scent. Somehow it made me peaceful, but the quickly returning awareness shattered my moment of bliss.

I opened my eyes and realized that I was in an unfamiliar bedroom. I jerked up to a sitting position and noticed an auburn-haired woman sitting by my bed. She was wearing a navy blue suit and a black button-up shirt. “No need to be afraid,” she said, offering me a soft smile as her green eyes drifted up and down my body, studying me. “I'm Jackie. I'm a doctor. Darren called me over after he brought you here.”

My brows knitted. “Darren?”

A nervous chuckle escaped her. “Right… Um… Awkward.” She scratched her head. “Darren is the guy who saved you from being hit by a truck. When you fell unconscious, he—idiotically—decided to take you to his apartment instead of behaving like a normal human being and take you to a hospital.”

“Saved me... a truck?” I muttered as the shreds of memory returned.

Jackie nodded. “He said that you tripped and were going to fall right in front of the truck. He grabbed you and pulled you away.”

My stomach flipped. “God… He saved my life,” I croaked.

“Yes, he did,” she confirmed before leaning closer and squinting her eyes at me. “Not quite understand why he would do such a thing for a stranger.” Then she sighed and rose to her feet, taking out a little flashlight from her pocket. “I need to check your pupils and reflexes,” she said before all but blinding me with the sharp light.

The check-up took a few minutes. When she finished, she handed me three different vials of pills. “These are vitamins. You should take those to get stronger. I'll have your full blood test results in a few hours. I will let Darren know if you need anything else.”

I blinked. “My… blood test results?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, well, I had to take your blood to find out what's wrong with you.”

I nodded slowly. “I'm sorry for being a little distrustful, but this place—this whole situation—makes me a little anxious.”

“Relax. You're not kidnapped or anything.” She winked and started walking to the door. “You seem to be fine, and I need to go now. I will let Darren know that you woke up.”

“Wait!” I called out as she was about to grab the door handle.

“Yes?” She looked over her shoulder and smirked.

“Um… I'm wearing a nightgown,” I started hesitantly. “I was just wondering…”

“Selene, the housekeeper who comes here three times a week, dressed you up,” Jackie assured. “Darren might be a world-class bastard most of the time, but apparently, once he brought you home, he turned into a gentleman.” I could see her roll her eyes at the gentleman part. Her description surely didn't lessen my restlessness, but before I could ask her another question, she had already left the room.

Drawing a shaky breath, I looked around. The bedroom was huge, and judging by the breathtaking view from the row of floor-to-ceiling windows, this apartment must have been on the thirtieth floor or even higher. I didn't know who the man who saved my life was, but he had to be rich to afford to buy a place like this.

A moment later, the door of the bedroom opened again, and my lifesaver entered. His black hair was slightly ruffled, as if he combed it over and over again with his fingers. The lower part of his cheeks, jaw, and chin were covered by a light shade of one-day stubble. He was wearing a loose, black sweatshirt with a V-neckline and a pair of jeans. Our eyes met, and his full lips stretched into a sultry smile, causing my heart to trip over itself.

“Jackie said that you woke up.” He slowly walked toward me and sat on the bed.

I sucked in a ragged breath. “Thank you for saving my life.” My voice came out a little breathless.

“You don't need to thank me,” he said, fixing those sapphire eyes on me. “I'm just glad that you're OK.”

I nervously fisted the sheets as my lips twitched into a hesitant smile. “I don't mean to sound rude, but... why did you bring me to your apartment? It happened outside the clinic. You could have just—”

“Are you always like this?” His eyes traced every detail of my expression.

I frowned. “Like what?”

His eyes zeroed in on mine. “Annoyingly polite.”

My brows rose. “Would you rather I curse the one who saved my life?”

A breathy chuckle escaped him, and my whole body shamelessly reacted to its sound, flooding me with heat. “I'd rather see that strong woman who obviously had a shitty day, broke her heel, but then tore off the other one and walked out of the restaurant with her chin held high,” he said.

“You…” I swallowed. “You remember me from that day?”

His hand moved toward me, and he pulled a strand of my brown hair behind my ear. “It's nearly impossible to forget you, Lilly Sanders.”

“How did you—” I cut myself off as the realization came. “Right… my purse.”

He chuckled and scratched his chin. “Actually, I did a little research on you. You were married for five years to Kenneth Welch, weren't you? How come you've never changed the name on your ID?”

A sorrowful smile tugged at my lips. “Let's just say that I was never welcomed in that family. Keeping my mother's name wasn't my choice; it was more like... forced.”

He frowned. “What kind of family does that?”

“My husband's... well, my ex-husband's.” A dry chuckle escaped me. “He handed me divorce papers on the day of our anniversary. To think that I was looking forward to that dinner…” I stopped myself and gave him a nervous smile. “I'm sorry… I'm not sure why I'm telling you all this.”

“It's OK,” he assured me, rising from the bed. “In a moment, Selene will bring you some clothes. I also retrieved all your things from the hotel you've stayed in. They're in my study room. You can take them anytime you want.”

I swallowed. “You… took my things from the hotel?”

He nodded as if it were the most natural thing to do. “You don't belong in such places,” he stated firmly. “Now, I will call Selene. You can let her know if you need anything else.”

A moment later, he was gone, and I finally decided to crawl out of the enormous bed. A smiling lady in her early sixties knocked on the door after a moment. Her beaming smile brightened up her round, gently wrinkled face. Just like Darren said, she brought me clothes, or rather, several different types of outfits to choose from. I decided on the light blue fitted dress. It seemed comfortable, but it also made me feel feminine.

“You look lovely, Ms. Sanders,” Selene told me as I started in the mirror. “I'm sure Darren will love it.”

Darren? The casual way she called him startled me. “I'm sorry. I thought you worked here…”

She snorted. “I do work for that brat, but I watched him grow, so I cannot imagine suddenly calling him by his mighty last name.”

I smiled at that. “So you're like his family.”

She huffed out a laugh. “He wished.” She took the rest of the clothes I didn't choose. “When you finish, just walk out the door and go to the end of the corridor. Darren would like to eat dinner with you, if you don't mind, of course.”

I shook my head. “Not at all. I will gladly join him.”

I felt the warmth flooding my chest. There was no reasonable way to explain my reaction. It seemed like my entire body was surrendering to this man's unique captivity. I could admit that he was handsome—or rather irresistibly hot—but I used to meet attractive men before and never spared them more than a glance. Certainly, I was married then, and now I was no longer in a relationship, but could one truly fall out of love in two days? Were two days enough for one's broken heart to mend itself and welcome something new? My brain answered: certainly not. My heart said: perhaps…

Using the cosmetics I found prepared for me in the bathroom, I applied light makeup and walked out the door. As soon as I did, I saw Darren waiting for me at the end of the corridor. He offered me another madly seductive smile and extended his hand. I smiled back at him and let him lead me to the dining table served for two.

I must have gone insane to accept all this without asking even the most basic questions, like why he was so kind to me. Perhaps my brain hadn't fully recovered after the recent series of shocking news, or perhaps I was simply too exhausted to ask.

He pulled out a chair for me and helped me sit down. That dumb little gesture almost made me cry. Kenneth had never done anything like this. Only a few days before, I would have said that things like this didn't matter. But they did matter. They were small tokens of appreciation and respect. I had never received any of them from a man to whom I had given my all. Yet to Darren, those gentle acts seemed as natural as breathing.

“Have I done something wrong?” he asked as amusement played on his lips.

“I'm just not used to this kind of treatment,” I confessed.

His brows rose. “What kind of treatment?”

I breathed out a laugh at the simplicity of what I was about to say. “Gentleness. Kindness. I think it makes me suspicious.”

Any signs of amusement disappeared from his face. “I'm not giving you special treatment, Lilly. You are my guest.”

My eyes narrowed. “Is that all?”

“No.” His eyes locked on mine while his lips curved into a smirk. “I will not lie and tell you that I've brought you here for purely altruistic reasons.” He leaned forward from his side of the table. “I couldn't stop thinking about you from the moment I saw you. There's an unexplainable need in me to take care of you.”

My breath caught in my throat while my heart began to hammer against my chest as if it had forgotten about all the pain. I blew out a ragged breath. “So… what do you want from me?”

“Stay,” he said. “Stay with me for as long as you want.”