Page 169 of Texting Dr. Stalker

Storms and Secrets

I’D DANCED IN THE RAIN BEFORE WHEN I was young.

I’d spun in a summer storm with my face tipped to the sky and caught fat raindrops on my tongue. Nana had said the rain could wash away all my worries, and she was right.

But this?

Nothing could compare to this.

There weren’t words.

This was…flying through a waterfall. Swimming through a falling river. Racing through a water world with raindrops cascading, mechanical thunder rumbling, and the strongest, warmest protector charting a course through all my nightmares.

Zander leaned into the corner, taking me with him as I hugged him from behind. The snarl of the engine overshadowed the grumble of thunder above as we plummeted down rain-slick roads and past black-shrouded trees.

I tipped my head back and shivered as water splashed on my face. Both of us were soaked, but I wasn’t cold. Zander kept me warm with his scalding body heat, all while thrilling, addictive adrenaline made my heart flutter.

As we roared through the wet night, the storm didn’t just wash away my worries, I feltreborn.

Thiswas what I needed.

This was what I’d been craving.

Not recklessness, not danger.

Connection.

Connection between me and the elements, earth and rain and stars.

And I shared this magical experience with someone who’d always been there…waiting.

An avalanche of affection had me squeezing Zander’s waist.

The fact that he’d called me Lori repeated in my mind.

That one word had stopped me dead. The image of X had spliced with Zander, and for a second, I waspositivehe’d been lying to me all along.

But then I recalled all the times in our youth when Zander had called me Lori. I’d been the one to give that nickname to X to use, but that name had always belonged to Zander.

So…who was real?

The stalker who thought it was my real name or the boy next door who’d come up with it?

I wanted to ask him point-blank.

But the longer we flew together, the less it really mattered.

The less I worried because…itdidn’tmatter.

Not really.

Both men were incredible.

Both men were kind.

And I’d been incredibly lucky to know each of them.

I hugged him again, feeling carefree and amazingly light.

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