Read Online Chosen by a Stranger (Craved Series #5) by Hazel Kelly - Free Book Online Page B

full name. "That's me."
    "Special delivery," he said, setting the box at his
feet. "Could you sign here?" he asked, shoving the clipboard in my
direction. "So my boss knows I got here without dropping it?"
     
    I furrowed my brow and signed my name, minus the Cordelia part.
     
    The kid reached down and handed the box to me.
    I took it with both hands.
    "Have a nice day," he said, shoving his hands in his
pockets and turning back towards the elevator.
     
    I watched him walk away for a second and then disappeared into my
apartment with the large box. It was too big to set on my entryway table so I
brought it to the kitchen where the fading evening light was still flooding the
small space.
    The rectangular box had a fat lavender ribbon around it, and as
soon as I went to untie the bow, I saw a small square envelope tucked
underneath it with my full name written on it.
    Something about the handwriting made my insides stir, and I
unstuck it from the box, slipping a finger along the edge so it flapped open
and I could pull out the card.
    "Time is standing still without you xx Jack."
     
    I smiled, remembering his watch on my bedside table where I'd been
childishly pretending it lived since I found it.
    If he knew he left it here, why not come back for it?
     
    But I knew the answer.
    My insistence on needing time had driven him away in the first
place, and it didn't feel like a stretch to conclude that it was probably what
was keeping him away.
     
    But where the hell had he gone?
    I shook the question from my head and laid the card down so I
could untie the ribbon. And as I lifted the lid, a smile spread across my face.
    It was a vase, a big fancy crystal one large enough to fit the
flowers he bought me. I squinted. The only time he could've seen my makeshift
popcorn bowl vase was when he came in the kitchen last night to get booze for
our bath.
    Which meant he bought it today.
     
    I glanced at the gold embossed address on the inside of the box.
It was from the florist in the hotel, the same hotel where he was supposed to
be but wasn't.
    I sighed.
    I pulled the tissue paper off the vase and went to the sink to
fill it up. Then I set it down beside the popcorn bowl and lifted the bouquet
straight up, letting it drip over the bowl for a moment before lowering it into
my new vase.
     
    "What a guy," I said to myself. "What. A.
Guy."
     
    I pulled out a kitchen chair and sat facing the vase.
    It was nice of Jack to get it for me. Considerate. But I was
starting to think he was just that kind of guy and not just on his best
behavior. In fact, with every minute that passed, I became further convinced
that I knew him better than I thought.
     
    After all, when we were together, we were so in sync. The
conversation flowed effortlessly and the quiet moments weren't uncomfortable in
the slightest. I could genuinely imagine the rest of my life being one long
conversation with him.
     
    And it was a comforting feeling.
     
    But just because I said I needed time didn't mean I should wait
around like a sitting duck.
    Besides, he was probably waiting for me to get back to him.
     
    After all, when I replayed the morning in my head, it was clear
that he'd left to give me time and space, and I hadn't said how much I needed
of either.
     
    Because I didn't know.
     
    I still didn't.
     
    But I knew something else even more important which was that I
couldn't figure it out on my own. The only way I could move forward was with
him, and everything made more sense when he was around.
     
    Plus, I hated being apart from him when I first left Thailand. It
was terrible trying to convince myself that I would never see him again. And by
some miracle he'd walked back into my life and proved it wasn't just about sex
or the chase by dropping to his knees and asking me to be his.
     
    Suddenly, I knew what I had to do.
     
    It was time to stop letting life happen to me and go after what I
wanted.
     
    And I wanted Jack more than anything. And the more I