The Dark Stranger: A Sharon Brown Erotic Romance (3 page)

He walked into the hospital lobby, as the nurse came out of her room. He nodded to her in acknowledgment and stepped inside. The room was cast in a mellow glow from the light from the bulb. She was sound asleep. He sat down on the chair beside her, looking her over. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful sleeping like this. His mind questioned him, who was she? And that was what he wanted to find out.

“Who are you?” He was taken aback by her musical voice. Her big, blue eyes were looking directly at him and he felt himself falling deeper into their melting depth of them. Her rosy lips were spread into a gentle smile and he suddenly felt himself at a loss for words.

“Hi,
I am Jake Michelson.” He said, feeling a little weird introducing himself.

“I’m Sharon Brown. Nice to meet you, Jake.” She said, smiling at him.

“Nice to meet you too, Miss Brown.” He said courteously. Her smile faltered for a second but then brightened again.

“How did I come by the accident, Mr. Michelson? I don’t remember anything.” She said, sounding confused. She took the cue of using last names.

“A car hit you and the driver ran away. All I knew the next second, you were bleeding in the middle of the road and I brought you here.” He told her.

“I see.” She said and lay back on her pillows. “Well, thank you Mr. Michelson for saving my life.” Jake looked at her, at her wilted expression but he couldn’t decide what he said had caused her to react like that.

“You should rest now, we will talk more tomorrow.” Jake said, taking in her peaky complexion.

“Will you be here tomorrow?” She asked.

“Yes, I will be here.” He said.

“
G’nite, Jake.” She grinned and slipped back to sleep.

****
 

The next morning when Sharon woke up, Jake was sitting
right beside her bed working on his laptop. She watched him, wearing a white shirt that stretched wide over his broad shoulders and a maroon tie. His coat was hanging by the door and he was intent in work. Thick brown hair, gray eyes and a sensual mouth that she wanted to feel against hers, the man in front of her exuded pure male sex appeal. She watched as his muscles stretched when he worked on the laptop. A lock of his hair fell on his forehead and how she wanted to touch and feel it. Mentally reprimanding herself for where her thoughts were going to, she looked at him.

“Good morning.” He said when he saw her awake, looking at him.

“Morning.” She called back.

“How are you feeling today?” Jake asked her, closing the screen of his laptop.

“I am feeling well. Less painful now.” She gave him a small smile. “But I am so stiff.”

“The medicine is working, I see.”

“Do you suppose they will let me go today? I have to be somewhere.” Sharon asked, worried about Gary and the work that was pending.

“No. I don’t think you are well enough to leave the hospital just now. It would be better until your bandages are removed to go home.” He said.

“I have work to attend to. People are depending on me.” She was literally whining. Jake observed her in silence.

“Well, too bad but that will have to wait until you are well enough.
By the way, what is the work that you talk about?”

“I am a fashion designer
and my fashion show is scheduled for fourteenth of this month.”

“I see.” But he did not see. He had no idea what the fashion designers did; his clothes were always taken care of by his valet so he had no idea about the clothes. To be honest, he had never cared about such minor details in life when he had more pressing matters to take care of.

“And what about you, Mr. Michelson?” she asked.

“I am the CEO and President of United Group of Industries.” At the name of his company, her eyes grew wide and she started mumbling incoherent words.

“Is everything okay?” Jake asked her.

“Perfectly.” She replied and then burst into laughter. Jake sat, watching her dumbstruck.
The nurse came in at that moment.

“Is everything okay, Miss Brown?”
She gave her the same answer. The nurse turned to Jake.

“Mr. Michelson, if you would please excuse us I would like to change her bandages.”

“Sure. “He said and stood up, picking his laptop. Sitting outside the room, Jake wondered at her weird behavior when she found out that he owned United Group of Industries. Her attitude and behavior confused him all the more and he planned to ask her why she had found that so much funny.

It had been a week since Sharon’s accident and she had been released from the hospital with a promise to visit the doctor regularly until he was certain that she had no lingering symptoms of the bruises. She promised the doctor and left the hospital with Jake that day. She told Jake about her life, about her work and everything she thought was special about her.
She was refreshingly honest and Jake liked that, it was a quality that he didn’t find in many girls.By the time they had spent together, Jake had come to know her very well. She was full of life, energetic, lively and had a strong will to live a life that she had chosen for herself. She wasn’t a workaholic but she took her work seriously. She enjoyed her life as well as her work. Jake enjoyed her company as she talked to him about everything from the latest fashions to the most obnoxious of them and that made Jake laugh.

He had never laughed this much in his entire life. Sharon made him feel special and he liked her attention. Under her care, Jake was slowly changing. His mother had also noticed the change in him when he started taking her often out for dinner and other entertainments. With Jake’s experience of women, he always
had thought they were wile, cheating, desperate creature who couldn’t contain themselves with one man or wanted only material things. His opinion hasn’t changed in the least over the years, although he always justified his thoughts with the opinion that his mother was different.

He was in his office that day, going over a proposal with Gordon when his private line rang. He looked at the clock on his computer screen: It was
12 p.m. his mother wouldn’t be home then who was calling him, he wondered.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Jake. It’s Sharon. Remember me?” Her voice sounded like music to his ears.

“Hey, Sharon. How are you now? Head not bothering you much, I hope?” He revolved his seat to talk to her.

“Not at all. I am as fit as new. Thank you for asking.” She said.

“You’re welcome, young lady.” He smiled into the phone.

“Well, I’ve had a small problem Jake. I was hoping if you could help me out with it.” She said, hesitantly.

“Sure. Tell me about it.” He
saidhis attention on her.

“Oh, I will visit you at your office at the lunch hour. Is that okay with you?”

“Alright.” He said and placed the phone back on the cradle. Gordon was observing him with an amusing expression on his face. Jake looked at him over the papers he had in hand.

“Everything ok, Gordon?” he asked.

“Yes! Absolutely.” He said. “Was it your mother?”

“No.” was Jake’s only reply.

“Who is she?” Gordon asked, completely interested to know about her. Jake regarded his friend in silence and then relaxed, throwing the papers on his desk and lying back against his chair. “Your mother mentioned to me that you seemed worried and weren’t even talking to her.”

He told Gordon about the accident, how she was bleeding in the middle of the road and how he had taken her to the hospital. He told her he had spent days with her at the hospital so that she was well and what the doctor suspected of her losing her memory.

“Son of a bitch!” Gordon said when Jake told him the car driver had run over her and ran away.

“So, she is just a nice friend. We talk sometimes, that’s it.”

“Talk sometimes. You seemed like a man in love back there for a few seconds. I would have thought so if I didn’t know you better, Jake.” Gordon said. Jake just regarded him in silence.

“I would like to meet this young lady someday,” he said, “
She seems to have broken well-constructed walls, if you know what I mean.” With that, Gordon took his leave saying that they would continue the next day.

****
 

Sharon walked through the lobby
, her heels making a clip-clop sound on the well-polished floor. She stood at the receptionist's desk, smiling at her

“Mr. Michelson is expecting me.” She told her.

“Please wait for a second, Miss Brown. I’m just going to inform him of your arrival.” The receptionist said.

“Sure.” Sharon said. Just that second, the door to his office stood open and there was Jake, looking handsome as ever. Sharon beamed at him and he invited her inside.

“Remarkable beauty that is what depicts your office.” She commented as she entered. The office was decorated in shades of beige and white, with a beige carpet and white leather sofas sitting on it in an L-shape design. His mahogany desk was in the middle of the room with three chairs upholstered in beige color sitting neatly in front of her. On the opposite wall, there were different paintings from Picasso to Michelangelo to artists that she did not recognize. He was a fan of beautiful paintings, she gathered. 

“Thank you.” He said. “Just give me a second to make an important phone call,
and then we will leave for lunch.”

“Sure.” She said, as she walked over to the paintings and watched them. When she was onto the fifth one, Jake came behind her and whispered.

“Shall we go?” The whisper sent a tingling sensation all through her body, down to her toes and she felt heated all over. She nodded.

Jake picked up his coat and they were on their way. Once in the car, Jake noticed her in silence. Light brown hair, tied into a pony tail at the crown, beautiful sparkling
blue eyes, a size six figure clad in a beautiful dress of lemon yellow and matching bead necklace at her neck, she looked like a model.

“What are you looking at?” she asked, suddenly self-conscious.

“You.” He said and smiled. Sharon blushed.

“So, what you see is acceptable to you?” she asked.

“Immensely.” He said that one word. She smiled in reply.

They reached
Charpop, one of the most expensive restaurants in Calgary, and were greeted by a lady in a fur coat. They were taken to their special table at the back and once seated; Jake ordered a bottle of wine and then regarded her in silence.

“So, let’s hear what problem you have put yourself into.” He said. Sharon gave him an embarrassed smiled.

“The day of the accident, I was in your building. I had come to meet the CEO of your marketing department, Mr. Benedict, for a sponsorship to one of my fashion shows. He had me thinking that I would get this sponsorship and therefore, I had called Gary, my coworker, telling him I would get it therefore, he ignored the other sponsors. And now, my show in just in three days and we have no sponsors.” She was on the verge of crying.

“What did Benedict tell you?” Jake asked.

“He told me that he wouldn’t sponsor such a lowly, measly cheap fashion show and spoil his company’s name.”

“I see. I will look into the matter, Sherry. Don’t worry; you will get your sponsorship.” Jake assured her.
Sharon smiled at him.

“So, tell me about your fashion show.” He asked, clearly interested in her work and dealings.

“Initially, I started off with a small boutique with clothing for women. They ranged from all types, western, eastern, casual, trendy you name it, we had it. Then my coworker, Gary, he is my best friend since childhood as well suggested that I expand my line of clothing and convert it into a brand. So, we started doing fashion shows, picking up models who weren’t exactly well-known models but were striving hard in their careers. It’s like you are making someone’s dream come true.” She said.

“I love it when the eager models wear my designs. It’s like I have accomplished something and the feelings are beyond explaining.” She continued. “You should come to my fashion show, be my guest of honor.”

“Sure, I would love to.” Jake smiled at the eagerness in her voice, at the excitement and passion he noticed behind her words. He did not have the heart to turn down the invitation and break her heart. The fashion show was the sole reason for her existence and he promised himself, he would make sure it would be one of the hit shows ever. But first, he had to talk to Benedict. Soon after, their lunch came and they dug in, talking about general stuff all the while.

Jake watched as Sharon talked animatedly about her family. She had lived a happy life, with siblings, a friendly home,
and loving parents. She had everything a man could want and therefore, her lively nature was something that Jake had always yearned for. She brought sunshine into a room where she entered, she was like an angel. She spread her wings and beamed at the people around her. Day by day, as he met her he felt a magnetic pull towards her that was beyond his control. She was becoming his reason to live and his reason to breathe. She had brought life into his darkened heart and the darkness he used to feel due to his childhood. He was falling in love with her.