On the Edge (Full Throttle #2)

by K. Bromberg

When I step inside the jet, Cruz is standing there, holding a cardboard E.

I don’t think I have ever felt so much love and relief flood through my body as I do in this moment. It’s him. It’s really him.

“Hi, Madds. Fancy meeting you here.”

“What? Hi. I mean . . . Cruz.”

“This is where we started. Here. On this jet. When I pulled you into my lap to prove a point—that we could pull this off. It was then I knew I was in a shitstorm of trouble. You just fit. In my lap. In my arms. In my life. You sat down and tried to pretend I didn’t affect you and from then on, I spent every second of every minute of every day pretending you didn’t affect me either. But I failed. Because not only did you affect me, you scared me. You made me want to be more. You made me want to be better. And I’m sorry that it took you leaving for me to realize it. For me to own it. So I’m giving you this E—if you’ll have it. It stands for Everyt...

“I need you, Madds. I’ll keep learning, keep trying, keep accepting that you love me and aren’t going to leave me, but I might slip up at times. I might spook. And when I do, just know it’s only because I love you so much it hurts. I want you to sow the rest of your oats with me. As a team. Fighting for one another. Fighting against the world—just the two of us. I never stopped loving you. I simply believed you couldn’t possibly love me . . . and that was wrong of me. I just hope—”

“I never stopped loving you, Cruz. Not for a single minute.” But it’s then that it hits me. What Tessa said about caving. About giving up my dream. About the false bullshit answer I gave her. It’s fine if I say it, but I need him to understand it too. “But . . .”

“But what?” Panic flickers in his eyes.

“But I still need my life. My job. My goals. I love you, Cruz, but you can’t be my be...

“I don’t want to be your beginning, middle, and end. I want to be your bookends. The person you leave in the morning and come home to at night. The person who takes care of you but allows you to be you. I want you to fit me in your life. I want you to let me be a part of yours. I want you to let me love you.” Cruz’s hands frame my face and he bends his knees so his eyes are level with mine. “I love you, Maddix Hart. I love your quirkiness. I love that you love your family. I love your family and how they love you. I have loved watching you grow over the past few months into the woman you are today...

“Loved?” I c...

“Well, not really, but you took a stand. You made me see you knew your worth. Watching you walk away was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. But in the process, you taught me more than you’ll ever know.” He presses a kiss to my lips. A kiss I’ve craved for weeks and dreamt of at night. “And while I watched you do all of this, as I...

“What I thought was going to be the worst day of my life, gave me the best thing ever in my life. You. So what do you say, Madds? Did I earn the E?”

“Everything?” I ask, my smile growing.

“Everyt...

I press my lips to his and kiss him. “You defini...

P1. He won. Cruz fucking won.

“No, you don’t,” she says. “You are just as much a part of this team as anyone else, Lucky Charm.”

“See?” he asks. “I told you. You’re my good luck charm.” He kisses me and then says quietly so just I hear him, “In more ways than one.”

dinner. Had dinner plans. We’re going to dinner.” He shakes his head as if he can’t believe what he’s seeing.

“We are. But I thought we’d celebrate your new world championship with dessert first.”

“Maddix.” My name is a hoarse plea.

“You once told me you wanted to fuck me with just the heels, just the jewels on.” I hold my hands out to my sides, putting myself on display. “Here I am. All. For. You.”

“You really know how to throw a man’...

“Did you have something more important to do than fu...

“Not more important. Maybe just as important,” he says as he steps forward and runs his hands up and down the length of my hips. He leans in to kiss me. “I like t...

ago. “I like you naked even more so.”

“But I think there is one more thing I’d like even better.”

“This better be damn good, Navarro, if you’re stalling taking advantage of me to prove a point.”

“This.”

My eyes widen. A gasp falls from my lips. And my head shakes ever so slightly back and forth as I realize what is nestled in that box is not your run-of-the-mill ring. It’s a giant oval cut diamond solitaire haloed by other smaller diamonds. It’s stunning. It’s overwhelming.

“It’s perfect, just l...

shyly. “I had plans. Dinner. A cruise on the boat. A moonlight proposal. But . . . seeing you standing here, like this, for me . . . I know...

I chuckle nervously. “Cruz,...

“Marry me, Madds. Because you want to sow your oats with me. Because you want to be my bookend. Because you want to navigate this crazy life we have together. Because you want to be the sunrise to my sunset. The finish to my start. The calm to my storm. Marry me, because I’m so madly in love with you that there ...

“This isn’t exactly the most conventional way to get engaged.”

“When have we ever been conventional though?” He kisses me and my whole world rights perfectly. “What do you say? Will you marry me?”

“I say, thank God you hate the color red.” Another kiss. This time slower. Gentler. Sexier. And when I lean back all I see is him. All I ever want t...

“Okay. I’ll see him after the picture.” I glance up to see Maddix. Jesus, how one look from her can make every single stressful moment worth it. She’s . . . everything. “There you are.”

“Ready for the picture?”

“Yep. Sure.” She worries her bottom lip bet...

Something is off. “Y...

“Yep. I’m more than okay.” She kisses my che...

I stand and turn to the sign and my heart fucking stops in my chest. There’s Maddix, her hands on the top of it, and her smile as wide as can be. But it’s the words spelled out on the board that own me. “Congratulations, Daddy.” I read it several times as my tongue feels like a lead weight in my mouth. But it’s the tears welling in Maddix’s eyes that tell me it’s right. That my guess is right.

“Congratulations, Cross.”

“Are you serious?” I can barely get the words out as el...

I get to be the father to something part me, part Maddix. I get to be the father to my child that I wish mine had been to me. That I get to love something—someone—unconditionally and share somethin...

“I...

I think I whoop. Or call her name. Or something I can’t remember because I almost knock the sign over getting to her. Pulling her against me. And ki...

“A baby,” she says as I mee...