Chapter 16: You Had Me at “Quarterly Forecast

10:02 AM.

Katherine sat in a painfully ergonomic chair in the sleekest boardroom she’d ever seen, trying very hard not to fidget with her pen. Or her dress. Or her nerves.

The Brand & Expansion Investor Meeting was in full swing.

Which basically meant: half the corporate world had shown up to judge them.

The walls were glass. The table was mahogany. The water had labels.

Sebastian stood at the head of the room, presenting quarterly growth like a man who had never once felt a single ounce of anxiety in his life. Crisp suit. No tie. Collar slightly open.

Katherine was not okay.

She told herself to focus on the slides.

Instead, she focused on his voice.

Low. Smooth. Like velvet dipped in thunder.

She didn’t hear a word about the Southeast Asia campaign, but her brain somehow managed to record every inflection of his vowels.

“Miss Brown,” whispered Cara beside her, nudging. “You’re staring.”

“I’m observing,” she whispered back. “For science.”

Sebastian turned slightly.

Their eyes met.

He didn’t smile. But his eyes twitched. The good kind.

Katherine swallowed. Hard.

Someone else began to present — someone from analytics — and she took the moment to try to breathe normally again.

She was failing.

---

12:31 PM.

Applause. Handshakes. Champagne flutes being passed around with a little too much enthusiasm for a weekday.

Sebastian nodded politely to the investors, exchanging calculated smiles. But from time to time, he looked over his shoulder.

Toward her.

Katherine, meanwhile, stood by the window, trying to figure out if she was having a professional crisis or just very distracted lust.

Spoiler: it was both.

A familiar voice startled her.

“You’ll be joining us tonight, I hope.”

She turned. It was Sebastian. Close. So close.

He held a glass, untouched. His scent was all expensive woods and unfairness.

“The… dinner?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Will there be food, or is it just suits and egos?”

His brow arched. “You tell me. You’re bringing the chaos.”

“I’ll bring the wine too, if I must suffer.”

His gaze dipped — just a flicker — to her mouth.

“Try not to set the place on fire,” he said.

“No promises,” she grinned.

He tilted his head. “Wouldn’t expect any.”

Then he was gone.

And Katherine’s knees were once again considering resignation.

---

7:03 PM.

Location: The Haversham Ballroom.

Lighting: Golden.

Music: Low jazz.

Dress code: Corporate chic meets red-carpet menace.

Katherine arrived in a black satin dress with a slit that had no business being approved by HR.

Her hair was pinned up, exposing her neck.

Her chaos? Contained… barely.

Sebastian saw her the moment she entered.

The glass in his hand suddenly felt unnecessary.

“You came,” he said when she reached him.

“Were you doubting me?”

“Never. Just… preparing.”

“For?”

He let his gaze travel — subtly, slowly — from her eyes to her lips, down to the neckline of her dress and back up again.

“Impact,” he said.

Her laugh was breathy. “God, you’re dangerous.”

“So are you.”

They didn’t touch. But they stood just a little too close for it to mean nothing.

---

Dinner was exquisite. Conversations — corporate. Drinks — flowing.

At one point, Katherine felt a hand brush her back as she passed a crowded table.

Sebastian.

The touch was fleeting.

But it burned.

Later, as she leaned near a dessert table, trying to make sense of tiramisu logistics, he appeared again.

“Are you stalking me?” she teased.

“I’m supervising dessert choices.”

She raised a brow. “I don’t take orders.”

“I know. That’s why it’s so fun.”

And there — there it was.

That glint in his eyes.

The one that wasn’t CEO or strategist or executive.

It was… man.

Looking at her.

---

10:17 PM.

The ballroom began to empty.

Katherine walked out onto the terrace to catch some air.

Sebastian followed.

She didn’t hear him approach — only felt the shift in atmosphere.

“You should be careful,” she murmured without turning.

“Why?”

“You keep looking at me like that, I might do something unprofessional.”

He took a step closer.

“What if I’m counting on that?”

She turned then.

Face to face.

Eyes to lips.

Breath to breath.

And still — no kiss.

Not yet.

Just the space between them shrinking to a heartbeat.

“I thought you liked clarity,” she whispered.

“I do,” he said softly.

And then — finally — he lifted a hand.

Fingers brushed her jaw.

Gentle. Careful. Devastating.

She didn’t move.

Couldn’t.

His thumb traced the line beneath her ear.

“I’m just not sure what we’re calling this yet.”

She smiled. “A prelude.”

He stared.

And whispered:

“Then I can’t wait for the story.”

---

10:32 PM

The air on the terrace had turned cooler, brushing over Katherine’s bare shoulders. She didn’t flinch — not from the breeze, and definitely not from the way Sebastian still stood close enough that her perfume clung to the air between them.

He hadn’t moved his hand.

It was still near her jaw, warm, steady, grounding.

For someone who was famously reserved, Sebastian Mason was breaking more rules in thirty seconds than he had in his entire career.

But neither of them stepped back.

A single strand of hair fell across her cheek. He moved without thinking — brushing it back, his fingertips grazing her skin.

The breath she took? Shaky.

The smile she gave? Dangerous.

“Are you always this composed?” she asked quietly.

His lips quirked. “Around you? Rarely.”

Her laugh was soft. Disbelieving. Almost shy.

And that — that was the crack in her armor.

He saw it. Felt it.

And something in him snapped.

Not completely. Just enough.

“Katherine.”

He never called her that. Not fully. Not like this.

She looked up.

Their eyes locked.

And for one second, everything slowed down — the noise from the ballroom, the clinking of glasses, the distant jazz — it all faded into the static hum of maybe.

Maybe they’d close the distance.

Maybe they’d finally cross that invisible line.

Maybe—

A voice interrupted.

“Mr. Mason? They’re looking for you inside.”

The spell broke.

Sebastian blinked, straightened — too fast.

Katherine took a half-step back. Just enough to breathe.

Just enough to not regret anything.

He turned to the assistant with an unreadable expression. “Thank you. I’ll be in shortly.”

The assistant nodded and left.

When Sebastian looked at Katherine again, something in his face had shifted — the CEO mask reassembled with expert precision.

But his eyes… his eyes hadn’t cooled.

“I’ll see you inside,” he said, voice lower now.

She nodded. “Sure.”

But as he passed her — walking away — his hand brushed her lower back.

Not accidentally.

Not urgently.

Just a promise.

And she stood there, alone on the terrace, absolutely ruined by one almost-kiss and the memory of his touch.

---

11:09 PM

By the time Katherine returned inside, the ballroom had thinned. Some execs were gathering their coats, others mingled near the exit. She spotted Sebastian across the room, locked in a brief conversation with an investor, his face perfectly professional.

Except for the slight glance he gave her as she walked in.

Just one.

But it seared.

She took a sip of champagne and muttered to herself,

“Miss Brown, you’re in trouble.”

---

11:27 PM

He found her again by the coat check.

This time, there were no assistants. No speeches. No terrace lights to soften the moment.

Just them.

And a quiet, dangerous closeness.

“I’ll call a car for you,” he said.

“I’m not drunk.”

“It’s cold.”

She raised a brow. “You’re worrying about me now?”

He leaned in, his voice just above a whisper.

“I’ve been worrying about you for weeks. I’m just now admitting it.”

Her heart did something traitorous.

He held her coat out. She didn’t move.

Instead, she looked him straight in the eye and said,

“If you keep looking at me like that, Mason, I might not make it home without committing multiple HR violations.”

His answer?

The ghost of a smirk.

“I’ll risk it.”

And as she slipped into the coat, his fingers brushed her shoulders — one last touch before they parted ways for the night.

But something had changed.

Something unspoken, yet undeniable.

They’d danced close to the edge all evening.

And tomorrow?

Tomorrow, there might not be any turning back.

---