“Emma asks whether billionaires have dragons.”
“You make me carry my own tools.”
She smiled slightly.
“I like who I am here.”
Luke looked at her for a long moment.
Then:
“That still sounds like a vacation.”
Raven’s face fell.
He continued.
“So maybe we find out whether it survives Monday morning.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“Dinner.”
“In the city?”
“Yes.”
“With your world.”
Raven smiled.
“Are you asking me out?”
“I think so.”
“You’re bad at it.”
“I’m out of practice.”
“What time?”
He smiled.
“Seven.”
Raven kissed him before he could say anything else.
Not dramatic.
One hand against his chest.
Soft.
Brief.
Then she stepped back.
Luke stared.
“That was presumptuous.”
“I negotiate aggressively.”
He laughed.
Then kissed her properly.
Dinner in Raven’s world was worse than Luke expected.
Private dining room.
People whose watches could pay his mortgage.
Waiters who somehow knew everyone’s name except his.
Raven looked different there.
Not false.
Sharper.
Her posture more controlled.
Every sentence carrying calculation beneath it.
Luke admired her.
He also understood why she came to his garage.
Halfway through dinner, a board member named Preston Vale—Graham’s uncle—looked toward Luke.
“So you’re the mechanic.”
Luke nodded.
“One of them.”
Preston smiled.
“Raven always did have a weakness for projects.”
Silence.
Raven set down her glass.
“Careful.”
Preston raised both hands.
“No offense.”
Luke smiled.
“None taken.”
Raven looked toward him.
He continued.
“Most engines improve when somebody finally admits what’s wrong with them.”
Preston’s smile disappeared.
Raven hid one.
Later in the elevator she laughed so hard she leaned against the wall.
“You cannot say things like that to board members.”
“Why?”
“They remember.”
“Good.”
Raven kissed him.
When the elevator doors opened, Graham Vale stood outside.
He was tall, polished, and immediately recognizable from financial magazines Luke had never read.
Graham looked at Raven.
Then Luke.
“So it’s true.”
Raven’s face became ice.
“Good evening, Graham.”
He ignored the greeting.
“This is him?”
Luke looked toward Raven.
“I assume I’m him.”
Graham smiled.
“You have no idea what you’re walking into.”
Luke said:
“I hear that a lot lately.”
Graham’s gaze moved over Luke’s suit.
“Raven gets bored.”
Raven stepped forward.
“Leave.”
Graham continued.
“She likes people who don’t know her.”
“Then eventually they learn.”
“And everything changes.”
Luke watched Raven.
Graham smiled.
“Ask how many friends she’s kept from before the money.”
Raven’s face went pale.
Luke said:
“That enough.”
Graham looked at him.
“Mechanic.”
Luke moved closer.
Not threatening.
Enough.
“You lost the right to explain her to me.”
Graham’s smile vanished.