Last-Minute, First Feeling

Maren built her career on precision, process, and the kind of discipline that keeps powerful people from bending the rules. Kieran built his reputation on results, speed, and a confidence that makes deadlines feel like a game he always wins. At Whitby House, they have been rivals for so long that even their silences sound like arguments. Then a last-minute crisis hits, the kind that can't be solved with charm or perfect spreadsheets. One high-stakes week. One pressure-cooker project. One series of meetings where the room keeps shifting under their feet. What starts as professional friction turns into something sharper and far more dangerous: trust. As they work late nights under watchful eyes, Maren realizes the institution isn't only testing her competence. It's testing whether she will trade her voice for comfort. Kieran realizes the system he believed in has a habit of using people's private lives as leverage. And when a "clean exit" is offered at the exact moment their feelings become undeniable, they face the real question beneath every deadline. Will they protect their careers by playing along, or protect their integrity by refusing the bargain? Last-Minute, First Feeling is a contemporary workplace rivals-to-lovers romance about pressure, power, and the quiet kind of love that doesn't rescue you by making you smaller. It steadies you while you stay fully yourself.