She leaned back in her seat as reality crashed around her ears. “I could never afford a home like that. The commission I make on the sale will be enough for me to get a down payment on a cottage. Maybe, in a few years, I’ll be able to get something bigger. That’s enough for me. I’ve never had a home of my own. I don’t mind starting small.”
A small smile ghosted across his lips. “I see. So, not only are you beautiful and kind, but you are also patient. Ambitious. Practical. All admirable traits in a woman.”
Something about the way he said it senta shiver through her. Why did his praise affect her so deeply when nothing anyone else in the world could have said to her would penetrate the thick-plated steel armor she had around her heart? “Are you trying to butter me up?”
His smile transformed his face from drop dead gorgeous to…shit. Was there even a word to describe the panty-soaking heat between her legs? “Is it working?”
“No.” Neither one of them believed her. She narrowed her eyes. “Why do I feel like you’re planning something?”
His smile softened as motioned Talon over and asked for a piece of paper. He wrote something down and handed it back to Talon, who glanced up, nodded and tucked the message away. After that intriguing interlude, he refocused on her. “My plan is to court you. Spoil you. Take care of you and seduce you.” His grin was wicked, and she had to fight like hell to breathe. “I’m going to keep you, Raven. Any questions?”
Holy. Shit. He had to be joking. Right? Well, not about the sex part, but about the keeping her forever part. No one made that kind of commitment after just a day or two. She hesitated for a moment before setting her glass down. “You keep asking about my dreams,” she said, tilting her head slightly. “What about yours?”
Vector's gaze held hers, the emerald depths flickering with something unreadable. He took a slow sip of his drink before answering. “My dreams?”
“Yes.” She leaned forward slightly, curiosity overriding her caution. “What do you want out of life? You almost died. Did that change things for you?”
His expression didn’t change immediately, but something in his posture shifted—more relaxed, yet somehow more intense. “I want what every man wants,” he murmured, his voice lower, rougher. “To find that one person meant for me. To have a family. To build something that lasts with a woman who loves me.”
Raven blinked, caught off guard by his response. She had expected something else—something about power, dominance, or business. Not this. Not something so... personal.
She swallowed, her fingers tightening around the edge of her glass. “You don’t seem like the family type,” she said, her voice quieter now.
The hurt in his eyes made her heart physically ache in her chest. “You have no idea what I would sacrifice for my family,” he countered. “For you.”
A warmth spread through her chest, a strange mix of nerves and something dangerously close to hope. She shouldn’t be affected by his words, but she was. Because a part of her—one she barely acknowledged—wanted the same thing. A home. A place to belong. Someone who looked at her like she was their world.
But Vector wasn’t that man. He couldn’t be. Not after one night.
Could he?
He leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to something softer, more intimate. “Does that scare you?”
Raven’s breath hitched. She opened her mouth, then closed it, unable to find the words. Did it scare her? She wasn’t sure. The idea of a man like Vector—possessive, dominant, powerful—wanting something as vulnerable as love and a family? Claiming that he wantedher?It was unsettling. Tempting. Made her want to believe him.
She licked her lips, a nervous habit, and his eyes darkened as he tracked the movement. The air between them thickened, the hum of the jet engines suddenly the only sound filling the space. She could feel the heat of his body despite the space between them, the tension curling in the air like smoke.
“I don’t know what to think,” she admitted finally, her voice barely above a whisper. “You barely know me.”
Vector’s lips curled at the edges, not quite a smile, there was too much pain, too much darkness in his soul for that. “I know enough.”
Her stomach flipped, her heart thudding against her ribs as he leaned back in his seat, watching her with a gaze that made her feel stripped bare, exposed.
The tension between them thickened, like an invisible pull tightening around them. Raven’s breath came slower, shallower, as Vector’s thumb brushed over the inside of her wrist again, lingering there, pressing lightly against her racing pulse. Her entire body feltalive with a low hum buzzing through every cell, hyperaware of him, the heat radiating off his skin, the scent of him—a mix of spice, cedar, and something purely masculine.
His gaze dipped briefly to her lips, and she knew—knew—that he was considering closing the space between them, that if she leaned forward even an inch, his mouth would claim hers.
She swallowed hard, forcing herself to look away, to break whatever spell had settled between them. But his grip on her wrist tightened slightly, enough to make her aware that he wasn’t letting her go just yet.
“Not yet,” he murmured, more to himself than her, his voice rough.
Not yet? The words sent another shiver through her, a mix of relief and disappointment curling deep in her stomach. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if he had kissed her, but the realization that she might have let him wasterrifying.
Talon, seated across the aisle from them, cleared his throat. “ETA is under two hours.”
Vector didn’t look away from Raven. “Then we have plenty of time.”
Raven forced herself to look out the window, watching the endless sky stretch out before them. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had just stepped into something far more dangerous than she was prepared for.
