Chapter 10
548 Words
Chapter 10 – His Control Slips
Sebastian Vale was not a man who lost control.
He planned. Calculated. Anticipated outcomes before others even realized there was a game being played.
But Aria Monteverde had become the variable he couldn’t neutralize.
The realization hit him late that night, alone in his penthouse, city lights stretching endlessly below as he stood with a glass of untouched whiskey in his hand. He replayed the meeting—her steady voice, the fire in her eyes, the way she’d stepped back instead of leaning in.
She was slipping through his fingers.
And that was unacceptable.
His phone buzzed.
ARIA: I can’t stop thinking about what you said.
His jaw tightened.
SEBASTIAN: Neither can I.
Seconds passed.
ARIA: This is getting complicated.
He exhaled slowly.
SEBASTIAN: It already is. I’m done pretending otherwise.
There was a knock at his door less than twenty minutes later.
When he opened it, Aria stood there—coat wrapped tightly around her, eyes bright with conflicted emotion, hair slightly undone like she’d run her hands through it on the way over.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said quietly.
“I know,” she replied. “But I needed to see you.”
He stepped aside without a word.
The door closed behind her, sealing them into the charged silence of the penthouse. She didn’t move farther in. Didn’t take off her coat. Like she needed the option to run.
Sebastian crossed the space between them in three slow steps.
“You said you needed time,” he said.
“I thought I did.” Her voice wavered. “But distance didn’t help. It just made everything louder.”
He stopped in front of her, hands clenched at his sides.
“This is me losing control,” he admitted quietly. “I don’t like it. I don’t trust it. But I won’t lie to you.”
Her breath hitched.
“I think about you constantly,” he continued. “In meetings. In negotiations. When I wake up. When I shouldn’t.”
He lifted a hand, stopping just short of touching her cheek.
“And it’s taking everything I have not to pull you into me right now.”
Her eyes darkened.
“Then don’t,” she whispered.
That was all the permission he needed.
His hand slid into her hair, tilting her face up as his mouth claimed hers—deeper than before, hungrier, the restraint finally cracking. The kiss wasn’t frantic; it was demanding, deliberate, full of everything he’d been holding back.
She responded instantly, fingers gripping his jacket, body pressing into his like she’d been waiting for this moment to break.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against hers, breath uneven.
“This is what happens when I lose control,” he murmured. “Tell me now if you want me to stop.”
She shook her head.
“Then stay,” he said quietly. “Tonight. No games. No running.”
Her answer came not in words, but in the way she let her coat fall to the floor.
And for the first time in longer than he could remember, Sebastian Vale allowed himself to stop calculating the cost.
Because whatever this was becoming—
He was already willing to pay for it.
- Writer
