Claimed by a Stranger (Craved Series #2) by Hazel Kelly

the
present.
    Even if that wouldn’t change the fact that I was totally fucking
sprung.
     

Chapter
16: Audrey
     
     
    I tried to read in bed for a while, but it wasn’t long before I
realized I wasn’t registering a single word that was passing through my field
of vision.
    Who was I kidding? I couldn’t concentrate on reading at a time
like this!
    I flipped my ebook back to the beginning of the chapter and
closed it. Reading was a waste of time.
    I couldn’t think of anything except how awake I was and whether
or not Jack was sleeping. Of course, he probably was. After all, that’s what
guys did after sex. They passed out. Or at least enough people seemed to be of
that opinion that I figured it must be true. Of course, it had been a long time
since a man had fallen asleep beside me for the night.
    Emmett came back to my apartment once after an office outing,
but he was gone in the morning when I woke up. I didn’t even speak to him again
until the next workday at which point he didn’t even acknowledge what had
happened.
    I thought he was being coyly professional. It’s only now that I
know he was being an inconsiderate dickwad.
    But Jack wasn’t a dickwad. If anything, he was far nicer to me
than he even needed to be. I mean, he was hot enough that I would’ve happily
let him use me even if he treated me like shit. And I’m not saying that to be
down on myself. I just know myself well enough to know that it’s the truth.
    Lord knows it wouldn’t have been the first time I let a guy who
I thought was out of my league walk all over me. That was sort of my thing. The
only mistake I seemed to make more often was eating ice cream for breakfast.
    But it seemed like Jack actually gave a shit about my feelings
as opposed to only caring about whether or not my pussy was ready for him. So
it was a good thing I was leaving soon because that kind of consideration could
spoil a girl.
    I might start thinking there were actually nice guys out there.
Then my expectations would get even more warped than they already were and I’d
be alone forever for sure.
    Whatever. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I enjoyed
the little time I had left with him and harnessed those good feelings to get my
life back on track. At least that way, falling too hard for my holiday fling
wouldn’t be a complete waste of time.
    I turned off the lights around two and closed my eyes, but my
brain was still racing. It reminded me of when I used to come home from places
where they played the music too loud and my ears felt like they’d never stop
ringing. Finally, after what felt like several years of deep breathing, I
started to unwind.
    But a moment later, I heard the doorknob turn and opened one
eye.
    The light from the hallway flooded a small section of the
opposite wall as Megan tiptoed in and closed the door behind her.
    She swore when she bumped into the mini fridge. Then she knocked
a bottle of water out of it and it bounced across the floor several times
before she could grab it. By then I had both eyes open and was watching her
fumble around in the dark, her eyes not yet adjusted like mine as she wobbled
on her heels towards the bed.
    Finally, I reached over and turned on the light.
    “Well, well, well,” I said. “What do we have here?”
    “I’m so sorry!” Her curly hair was wild and her eye makeup was
heavily smudged. “Go back to sleep,” she said. “I’ll be quiet.”
    I sat up and propped a pillow behind me. “That’s okay. I wasn’t
asleep.”
    Her shoulders relaxed. “Okay good.”
    “Though I can’t say the same for the people in the room below
us.”
    She made a little ‘o’ with her lips and raised her eyebrows.
“Have you been back long?”
    “A little while,” I said. “Did Matteo drop you off like this?”
    “Yes,” she said, falling face down on the bed and kicking her
shoes off so they fell to the floor with two soft thuds.
    “Good night?” I asked.
    She lifted her head and rested her