Page 124 of Texting Dr. Stalker

Lowering my helmet, I turned to face her.

She petted Peng, her gaze bouncing from me to the bike and back again. “Is it safe?”

I shrugged. “What do you call safe? Is this as safe as a car? Absolutely not. Is it safer than swimming with a crocodile? Yes, I’d say so.”

“But isn’t it reckless to ride something you know might hurt you or even possibly kill you?”

“Gotta be a little reckless sometimes, I guess.”

She sniffed. “You’re not usually reckless?”

Our eyes locked, and I strode far too close to that line again. Words I hadn’t censored fell from my lips. “Oh, I’m reckless all the damn time lately, but at least this hobby won’t destroy me as badly as that little habit will.”

Slamming my helmet on, I slung a leg over my bike. “Have a good day, L—Sailor.” Cranking my key, the splutter of the combustion followed by the thunderous roar made me shiver with freedom.

Ah yes, I needed this.

I really,reallyneeded this.

“Wait.” Sailor cut in front of my bike, holding Peng who definitely didn’t appreciate the racket like I did.

For a second, I panicked that I’d said something to give away my identity, but then she looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Take me with you.”

* 31 *

Sailor

Flirting With Freedom

WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?

What possessed me to ask that?

I held a squirming kitten and fought every instinct telling me to get away from Zander before Milton found me flirting with the neighbour, but all I could think about was that motorbike. The roar of it. The freedom of it.

With one snarl of that engine, whatever vixen lived inside me woke up, yanked on her riding leathers, and flung herself on the back of Zander’s bike.

All I wanted to do was clutch him close, say fuck off to the past and the man who’d hurt me, and tell my kind, slightly nerdy neighbour to go as fast as dangerous lightning.

He scowled, his helmet cutting his face in half.

For a second, I saw X.

I saw the same faint lines around his eyes. The same possessive, protective stare.

My heart skipped and tripped. It wasn’t the first time I’d wondered, but…with the full sunshine gilding Zander’s vibrant green eyes and pale skin marking him a natural redhead, he looked nothing like the black-haired man who’d appeared in my bedroom just because he’d heard me scream.

X brooded.

Zander smiled reservedly.

X protected me all while possessing me.

Zander flinched if I got too close and fumbled with his glasses.

The two men might have similar eyes—if one wasn’t rich brown and the other sparkling emerald—but they couldn’t have been more different in personality. I could never imagine Zander pinning me on my back or going down on me. I couldn’t imagine X blushing like Zander did when he’d touched Peng and realised how close we were.

The fear I had toward my neighbour was slowly melting away thanks to X’s help, but I could still hear the slurs of Goblin-Milton in my head.

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