She remembered the time she had offered to help a new ‘friend’ when she first arrived at school. The girls in her dorm, except Grace, had laughed at her saying that in the big city they had doctors for that type of thing. So Kyndel never offered again. She kept a small herb garden in the window of her dorm room and told anyone that asked it was her way to feel close to home. The ‘city folk’ bought it and everyone was happy. Now that she had her own place, even though she rented it, she had almost every available inch of her yard filled with herbs and plants that she could use for Granny’s teas or liniments. She always had beautiful fresh flowers to brighten her day and loved watching the butterflies and birds flitter by her kitchen window. She figured Granny must have been right about their family having a green thumb because no matter what it was, she could grow it. Not to mention, having her hands in the dirt just grounded her, helped her think. It filled her with happiness and kept the sadness of being the only one of the Masterson family left at bay. When she was working with her plants she felt close to her ancestors, something most people would scoff at if she was the type to share.
Kyndel set their juice glasses on the bedside table and went to the bathroom to get towels, a basin of warm water and her jar of liniment. Once again she marveled at Rayne’s incredible strength. How had he not been unconscious or at least whining about his pain? Yea, he had dropped off a couple of times but she had a sneaky suspicion he had never been completely out. His reactions were sharper than hers had ever been even with his injuries. Then he had walked the four blocks to her home without a complaint. He hadn’t even stumbled or slowed at all but kept pace right beside her. It was almost as if he was used to pain or somehow immune to its overwhelming effects. It hurt her heart to think that he’d had a hard life or had suffered at all. Maybe he was some kind of policeman or in the armed service, perhaps a bodyguard of some kind. Whatever he did, he definitely possessed an iron will. She reminded herself that she would get all her questions answered as soon as he woke up, of that she would make sure, but first she had to help him. It was a compulsion from deep within that could not be denied. If there was a way to make him hurt less, she had to do it.
With her arms full of supplies she walked back over to the bed and looked down at the huge man laid across her bed. He had gotten some blood and dirt on her comforter. Oh well, nothing that wouldn’t wash out. Maybe she would use it as an excuse to buy the white comforter set with pink and lavender hyacinths she had seen in the Anthology catalog this month. She would have to think about that later. All she could focus on in that moment was getting her pleasantly round ass on that bed so she could tend to her patient.
She snorted to herself, “pleasantly round ass…” She really was turning into a goofball.
“OK, big guy, I am going to wash the dirt and blood off your back then get some of this liniment on you. It’ll fix you right up. We also need to get that grossness out of your pretty hair.” Was it wrong to call a man’s hair pretty she wondered? Oh who gave a crap anyway? Not like he could hear her.
She wondered if she really had lost her mind. Was it not enough she had a stranger in her home, who was hurt, spread across her bed but she was talking to his unconscious ass too. He was completely dead to the world and she was carrying on a conversation with him. She snorted at her poor choice of words.
He most definitely was not dead and she had threatened him within an inch of his life to make sure he did not die, especially while in her home. She stared at her hands. They were shaking and sweaty, something that rarely happened to her, along with the butterflies that had just taken up residence in her tummy. What in the world was the matter with her? He was injured and needed her help. She was not getting ready to date him. There was no reason for her jittery nerves, at least none she could come up with. She had never been the type of person to get nervous about anything. The longer she thought about it, the more she realized it really didn’t feel like nerves. It felt more like anticipation, like once she laid her hands on him nothing would ever be the same again. This night just kept getting weirder and weirder. After all, Rayne was just a guy, albeit a mouth wateringly gorgeous guy, but still a guy that had gotten hurt and needed her help, nothing more. No sooner had that thought flitted across her mind than it was followed with the words, ‘so much more’. Sure she was losing her mind; she decided to give her best Scarlett O’Hare impression and ‘Think about it tomorrow’.
With her mind made up, Kyndel placed the basin of warm water next to Rayne’s shoulder then scooted herself forward until she was sitting Indian style next to his hip. She dipped one of the washcloths into the warm water she had mixed with her own special recipe of herbal bath oil. The oil along with the liniment would ease at least some of his soreness after he woke up. She gently wiped across his shoulders and rinsed the washcloth in the basin. She repeated the process until the water in the basin was murky and dirty. She slid off the bed, grabbed the basin and headed back to the bathroom for clean water and more clean cloths.