Page 90 of On The Edge

I expect to feel the scratch of his jeans as he pushes them down. To hear the rip of foil from the condom. To let me pleasure him.

But instead he leans forward and kisses me with unexpected gentleness. I taste myself on his tongue as his hand comes up to frame the side of my face.

“See you in a few days, Madds,” he murmurs before pushing off me and standing.

“Cruz?” Let me reciprocate. Let me feel you inside of me. I start to sit up and he leans over and kisses me one more time.

“After the race. Leave me hungry for it.” He leans back and the smile lights up his eyes. “I like to leave my woman satisfied and wanting more.”

And if ever there was a Cruz Navarro comment, that was it.

But as he walks out the door, it doesn’t bug me like it might have when this first started. Rather it has me hugging my pillow and smiling.

Leave me hungry for it.

Doesn’t he know that’s a permanent state for me when it comes to him?

CHAPTER THIRTY

Maddix

“You never get used to it.”

I glance over to the woman standing beside me. I was so engrossed in the race that I didn’t notice her walk up. My smile is stuttered when our eyes meet. There are so many people here that I never know who is press or staff or a guest of Gravitas.

And I’ve learned that each one of those groups needs to be handled differently.

She’s stunning with her dark hair and light eyes framed by thick lashes. She’s statuesque in posture and if I didn’t know better, there’s a gracefulness to her that makes me think of a dancer.

“Never get used to which part?” I ask, curiosity piqued.

She smiles, the motion softening the sharpness of her features. She looks familiar, like I should know her, but I can’t place her. “The exhilaration. The rumbling in your chest. The whine of the engines. You hear it when you close your eyes at night to sleep.”

“This is my second race so I’m learning.”

“I know.” Her smile widens as I stand a little taller, desperate to move my eyes back to the monitor so I can watch Cruz fly around the track, but at the same time needing to know who this woman is. “I’ve been around it my whole life. My grandfather. My father. My brother.” She lifts her chin to the monitor as they show Cruz’s car, and now I know exactly who she is.

If she wanted my undivided attention, she now has it.

“Sofia, right?” I ask.

“Ah, so he does talk about me.” She holds her hand out to me. “Nice to meet you, Maddix.”

So Dominic Navarro can talk shit about me, can mean mug me across a garage, but he doesn’t have the balls to meet me face-to-face. He sends his daughter in for the recon.

I shouldn’t have expected any more from him.

I look at her hand for a moment before reaching out to shake it. “Nice to meet you too.”

She’s not good enough for a Navarro, plain and simple. Take care of the problem or I will.

The chip on my shoulder weighs heavy as Dominic’s words repeat in my head. I look toward the left of the straight, waiting for the few seconds I get to see Cruz.

“And your thoughts?”

I wait for the pocket of cars he’s in the midst of to zoom by before turning my entire body to face her. I narrow my eyes and stare right back since it’s clear I’m being assessed. “About what? Racing? Your brother? If I’m good enough for the Navarro name? What I plan to get out of this whole relationship? How many of those things are you here to evaluate and report back to whoever sent you?”

We wage a visual war and the slow curl of a smile on her lips surprises me. “I knew I liked you.”