Chapter 28 THE ALMOST KISS
The elevator ride to the penthouse crawled upward like time itself had conspired against her.
Harper’s pulse hammered. Sebastian’s hand was still wrapped around hers, his thumb tracing slow, deliberate circles that sent heat spiraling through her body. The air felt charged, heavy, on the edge of something inevitable.
The elevator dinged. The doors opened.
They stepped inside the penthouse. Sebastian barely closed the door before Harper turned, and he was already reaching for her. His hands gripped her waist, firm and sure, pulling her against him. She lifted her face, breathtaking.
"Harper," he said, her name dragged from him like a confession.
"Yes?"
"Are you sure about this? Because once we cross this line, I will not be able to pretend with you ever again."
"I do not want you to pretend." She slid her palms up his chest, feeling his heart pounding against her hands. "I want this. I want you."
He framed her face in his hands, searching her eyes, desperate to find even the smallest shadow of hesitation. He found none. So he leaned in slowly, as if savoring a moment he had wanted for too long.
"I have been thinking about this all night," he whispered. "Watching you in that dress, listening to you laugh, knowing I would go insane if I could not get you alone."
"Then do something about it."
His lips brushed hers, heat and breath and promise, so close she could already taste him.
Then his phone rang.
The sound was too sharp and too loud, slicing through the moment like a blade.
Sebastian froze. "Ignore it," he said against her mouth, his voice thick and unwilling.
It kept ringing.
Harper’s eyes stayed closed for one stubborn heartbeat, clinging to the ghost of the kiss she had been seconds from having.
"It might be important," she said, though every cell in her body screamed to let it ring.
Sebastian tore himself away, groaning in frustration. One glance at the screen and everything in him changed.
"It is Marcus."
The heat inside Harper turned to cold.
Marcus Hyland. The uncle who made no secret of wanting Sebastian out. The board member who would happily burn the entire company just to watch Sebastian choke on the smoke.
"At eleven?" she asked.
Sebastian answered the call. His posture shifted instantly. His shoulders tightened, and his jaw went rigid. Harper watched every trace of softness drain from him.
"When did this happen?" His voice sharpened. "And you waited until now?"
He paced, listening, tension vibrating off him. His free hand curled into a fist.
"No. Do nothing. I will deal with it. I am coming in." He ended the call with a clipped motion.
"Sebastian?" Harper asked. "What is going on?"
"Everything is going on." His breathing was uneven, his composure cracking. "One of our biggest investors is threatening to pull out. Marcus has been feeding him doubts. Questioning my judgment. My stability."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means Marcus is using our marriage to prove I make impulsive decisions." His voice was low and lethal. "He is calling an emergency board meeting for Monday morning."
"Can he do that?"
"If he has the support. And apparently he does. He has been building this for weeks. And I..." Sebastian exhaled sharply. "I should have seen it coming."
He ran a hand through his hair, destroying the last traces of his careful appearance. The frustration rolling off him was almost painful to watch.
"Harper, I have to go to the office."
The words hit her like a physical blow. They had been seconds away from everything, from crossing the line they had both been tiptoeing around for months.
And Marcus had ripped it away.
But she saw the fear beneath Sebastian’s anger. The fear of losing his company. His legacy. Everything he had fought to earn.
"Okay," she said softly. "Go. Do what you have to do."
He stepped close again, cupping her face with a tenderness that made her heart ache.
"I am so sorry. The timing is..."
"Terrible," she finished for him. "And not your fault."
He kissed her forehead, lingering. The kiss felt like a promise and an apology wrapped together.
"I will make this up to you."
"Just come home safe."
He gave a strained, humorless laugh. "No promises about not murdering my uncle."
And then he was gone.
The penthouse felt cavernous without him, the silence echoing with the kiss they had almost shared.
Harper changed, washed her face, and tried to breathe. She tried not to replay the moment where everything had shifted. She tried not to remember how close his lips had been or how ready she had been to fall into him completely.
She texted Jessie.
"Still awake?"
"Always. Did Sebastian finally ravish you behind a potted plant?"
"Almost. His evil uncle called. Now I am sitting here in flannel pajamas feeling homicidal."
Jessie replied instantly. "I hate him. And I have never even met him."
"You would hate him more if you had. He is a cartoon villain with a better tailor."
The penthouse lights shimmered across the glass as the city stretched out below her, bright and indifferent.
Another message came. Sebastian this time.
The moment she read it, her stomach dropped.
Marcus had leaked information about the marriage timeline.
The one detail that could unravel everything.
They texted. They planned. They were worried. Harper tried not to imagine Monday’s meeting as the execution Marcus had been waiting years to deliver.
By sunrise, Sebastian still was not home.
Her heart clenched when she read his four a.m. message.
"Still at the office. Do not wait up."
Claire texted next, furious on their behalf.
Then came the message from Marcus.
Harper deleted it instantly, blood roaring in her ears.
Hours later, when Sebastian finally walked into the penthouse, he looked wrecked. Exhausted. Unraveled at the edges.
But when he saw her, something warm flickered in his eyes.
He pulled her into his arms, holding her like she grounded him.
"Harper, I am sorry," he murmured into her hair. "About last night. About all of this."
"It is Marcus. Not you."
She told him about the text.
Sebastian went rigid. "You are not speaking to him. Not once. Not at all. Promise me."
"I promise."
Their eyes held.
The unkissed moment from last night pulsed between them, sharp as hunger.
"Sebastian," she said quietly. "We need to be ready for Monday."
"I know." He exhaled. "I need sleep first. Then we will fight him."
She nodded.
He started to walk away, then turned back.
"Harper?"
"Yeah?"
"Last night... everything I was about to do... I meant all of it."
Heat bloomed in her chest.
"Me too," she whispered.
"Good," he said. His voice dropped, rough and sure. "Because after I deal with Marcus and protect this company, we are finishing what we started."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
He disappeared into his room, leaving Harper standing in the hush of the penthouse, her heart pounding.
Waiting.
But first, they had to survive Monday.
And Harper had a feeling that the board meeting was going to change everything.