Page 91 of On The Edge

“I’m sorry, what—”

She holds her hands up. “I’m not my father, Maddix. I assure you, I’m one hundred percent Team Cruz.”

My only response is to purse my lips and stare.

“Take me at my word. Don’t take me at my word. No skin off my back.” She shrugs, unoffended, and for the first time I notice that her body language is identical to Cruz’s. The tilt of her head. The crooked smile. The subtle arch of one eyebrow. “Just know that I’m fully aware of the situation the two of you are . . . engaged in, and I approve.”

That comment could mean two things. The fake dating or the sleeping together, and I’m not sure which one to respond to.

A wave of sound comes from the grandstands. I whip back to watch the monitor and see one of the Moretti cars barely kiss the wall out of a turn before gunning to pass Cavanaugh on the back straight.

I watch a few more seconds, my breath held and my heart pounding, knowing that after he chases down Cavanaugh, he’ll have a go for Cruz.

“C’mon,” I murmur to myself as if my lone word will grant him any luck at all.

“Monza has always been good to him. For him,” she says, referring to the track and pulling my attention back to her. “And it seems quite surprisingly, so are you.”

Her words take me by surprise and this time when I face her, she simply lifts her eyebrows and gives a hint of a nod and a knowing smile, despite continuing to look at the monitor.

“I’m not quite sure how to respond to that,” I say, letting my guard down ever so slightly as I’m desperate for some female companionship. Um, you’ve known her a whole five minutes and you’re already believing her? Maybe you ought to run this by Cruz first before you’re anything but cordial to her, considering the gem his father seems to be.

“You don’t have to respond. I’ve been looking for you all weekend though. Where have you been hiding?”

“I had . . . work. I had to come in early this morning.”

She nods and I feel like she can see straight through my lie.

It’s not work that has kept me away. It’s Cruz’s contractual obligation to get a set amount of sleep during race weeks that has. And since keeping our hands off each other has served to be quite the problem, sleeping when the two of us are near each other only comes after a round (or two) of toe-curling, sweat-inducing, orgasm-giving activity.

That doesn’t guarantee great sleep.

And Cruz may not be by the book on anything else in his life, but he sure as hell is when it comes to his job.

So rather than spend the entire race week at Monza with him, I opted to fly in early this morning to avoid being a distraction. Even though being his distraction is unbelievably awesome.

“You know, sometimes distractions are a good thing.”

I open my mouth and then close it. My cheeks heat, but I don’t fight my smile.

She crosses her arms over her chest and gives a quick look around, as if to check and see who’s near, before looking back at me. “I’m not a fan of the women he normally dates. Shallow. Opportunistic. You, on the other hand . . . it seems you are loyal to him. Protective. Private. I like that for my brother. From what he tells me, you challenge him, and being challenged is good. It makes you a better person. I know you two have only been ‘together’ for a short time, but I’ve already started to see a different side to my brother. A better side. And I like that.”

I glance over my shoulder and then back to her when I see no one’s near us. “You do know I’m just doing my job, right?” At least that’s what I keep telling myself. “In a few months he’ll have the deal signed, and we’ll both go back to our separate corners of the earth.”

She chews her tongue and fights a smile. “Whatever you say.”

“What does that mean?”

“You two are just way more alike than I expected you to be.”

I eye her, torn between watching the race and the significance of this conversation—because there most definitely is one. I’m just not sure what it is yet.

She’s not who I expected upon first meeting her. I assumed she’d be in Dominic’s corner, not her brother’s. And the fact that she clearly isn’t, makes me like her instantaneously. But I have a feeling if I’d met her under different circumstances, I’d have taken to her and her no-nonsense nature just as quickly.

Like her brother, there is just something about her that pulls you in.

Don’t get attached, Maddix. To him. To her. To this family. To this situation.

This whole thing is temporary.