Chosen by a Stranger (Craved Series #5) by Hazel Kelly Page A

least I
hadn't told her I proposed twice.
     
    "You should," she said. "Besides, what's really
more important in the end: getting an answer or getting the girl?"
     
    "Good point."
     
    "I thought so."
    I smiled. "Maybe we could keep this between us?" I
asked. "Just until I get an answer. Or the girl. Preferably both."
    "Of course," she said. "But in the meantime, get a
ring."
     
    The thought of slipping a ring on Audrey's finger made my heart
swell in my chest.
    "Cause when you see her again," she said.
"Something tells me you'll want to be ready."

Chapter
12: Audrey
     

    Follow your heart.
     
    Megan's advice echoed in my mind all day.
     
    Meanwhile, Jack's presence continued to haunt every shift of my
seat, every blink of my eyes.
     
    He'd only been in my apartment for one day and yet everything was
different now- strange, new, more exciting. Like the other side of the bed and
the shower head lying in the bottom of the bathtub.
     
    And even though the flowers he brought remained in the corner of
the kitchen, resting against the cabinets in my popcorn bowl, it wasn't just
that spot that seemed brighter.
    All the colors around me seemed more intense somehow, like I'd had
all the windows cleaned or something.
     
    It was tangible, this effect he'd had by breezing through my life.
In fact, comparing him to a breeze seemed like the perfect analogy in every
way. After all, he'd come out of nowhere and seemed to make everything fresh
and new.
     
    Follow your heart.
     
    I went to my jewelry box and opened it, reaching past the necklace
he got me for a ring I had, a piece of costume jewelry that I just happened to
know was exactly the size of my ring finger.
     
    It had a cubic zirconia in it and looked like an engagement ring.
I never did much but try it on, though I must've done so a thousand times. Of
course, there was never a man in my mind when I did it so it was mostly just
for the strange sensation of having a ring on that finger where there never was
one.
     
    But this time when I slipped it on, it felt different. Maybe it
was because there was a legitimate proposal on the table. Maybe it was because
when I stuck my hand out in front of me, I could imagine what it would be like
if he slipped it on, his big hands dwarfing mine as he slid it down to the base
of my finger, nudging it just farther than it would go to be sure it was on.
     
    And for the first time, it didn’t seem awkward or like something I
could never get used to. On the contrary, it was a good feeling to think he
wanted me to be his in that way and that he was crazy enough to want to be
mine.
    I mean, the emotions I was experiencing now weren't exactly the
ones I expected to have when I imagined what it would be like to be proposed to
as a little girl. I was more contemplative than ecstatic.
     
    But there was an inner calm coursing through me ever since he laid
his cards on the table, and I regretted the fact that I hadn’t given him the
same peace of mind.
     
    But he was confident to a fault. He wouldn't be rattled. He
probably just figured I was intimidated. And he was absolutely right.
     
    Surely, there were three kinds of proposals a girl could get.
     
    The first was from someone you didn't love, didn't desire, and
couldn't see a future with. That would be easy to decline. Uncomfortable
certainly, but easy.
    Then there was the Goldilocks proposal from a man you've dated for
ages so the mystery is long gone but the love remains. In that case- when
you're marrying your best friend- it's probably easy to say yes, not least because
you see it coming.
     
    Finally, there's a proposal like Jack's where an amazing man takes
you by surprise, and you're instantly overwhelmed by the idea that you might
achieve a happiness so far beyond your wildest dreams that you completely
panic.
    And now that I wasn’t in it- now that I’d had a chance to step
back and assess the situation from a safe distance- I could clearly see that
there was a right answer to