“My housing situation,” I said, drawing in a breath. “And my dad.”
“Okay.” Henry nodded once, already turning toward the living room. “Let’s talk.”
Sebastian and I lingered a second behind him, both of us still reeling from whatever the hell had almost happened.
“Thanks,” I said again.
“Don’t mention it.” His expression softened into something closer to the Sebastian I knew. “I’ll leave you two to it.”
“Ash,” I said before he turned. “Could you stay a little longer?”
He paused.
“I mean, it’s fine if you’re busy,” I added quickly. “But you can stay—for the talk… and after? Maybe figure out the job. It’s not every day you get a CFO volunteering to help sort out your entire life.”
A quiet huff left him, almost a laugh. He hesitated—long enough to make my chest tighten.
“Sure,” he said at last. “I’ll just make a call.”
Relief slipped into my smile. “Thanks.”
Sebastian felt like magic in that moment. After one of the most overwhelmingly horrible calls of my life, he had somehow breathed calm into me.
That didn’t just happen.
What we had wasn’t chance. It wasn’t something that could exist with just anybody.
We were bigger than everything else.
I knew we were.
The rest of the fucking world was just going to have to deal with the fact that we were meant to be.
Sebastian was meant to be mine.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ASH
“So, is this thebestidea you’ve ever had?” Elena asked from her spot, arms crossed, leaning on her desk, and looking out the glass screen.
Afternoon light spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind her, painting the skyline in warm gold. Her office—sleek marble, dark wood, not a single thing out of place—looked like it had been built to intimidate lesser men.
“No.” I didn’t need to follow her gaze to guess exactly what she was looking at. “Definitely one of the worst.”
“A self-aware man. I love that.Don’tlove the HR nightmare you just sent my way.” Her tone stayed light as she pushed off the desk. Her heels clicked softly on the polished floors, her tailored black suit cutting a razor-sharp silhouette.
“It doesn’t have to be forever, and he’s in a different department. It’s only part-time—I’m not even his boss, and I barely deal with marketing?—”
“Ash, you’re one of the heads of this company,” she cut in. “You’re the boss of everyone.”
I rolled my lips and shrugged, giving her my best doe-eyed expression.
Elena huffed a laugh before rubbing her temples, rings glinting under the light. “God. Please just keep this professional, Sebastian. The last thing we need is an internal relationship becoming ammunition right now.”
“There’s nothing going on between us,” I said firmly. “There’s nothing to report.”
She gave me an unimpressed look, which made me drop my gaze to my lap.
