And she wasn't sure she'd survive it.
She turned away first.
Too fast.
Sienna could feel the weight of everything hanging in the air behind her, like mist clinging to her skin. She needed distance. She needed air. She needed to breathe again before she did something irreversible.
Cassian's footsteps followed behind her, slower.
"Sienna—careful, that part gets—"
Her foot slid on the mossy patch just ahead, and her gasp came too late.
She would've fallen if he hadn't caught her.
One arm snaked around her waist, the other bracing her back as she stumbled into his chest. She landed there, hard, her hands instinctively gripping his shirt.
Time stopped.
Sienna's breath came out in a shaky laugh, completely embarrassed. "God, I'm a cliché. I swear I'm not usually this clumsy."
He didn't laugh.
He didn't say anything.
She looked up—still caught in his arms—and the words died on her tongue.
He was looking at her.
Not just looking—seeing her. With eyes dark and soft and unreadable, like he didn't know if he should run or fall to his knees.
Her heart pounded in her ears.
Cassian's gaze dropped to her lips. Slowly. Hungrily. Almost helplessly.
Sienna forgot how to breathe.
And when his head dipped slightly, pausing halfway—as if asking permission without words—she didn't stop him.
She let him kiss her.
His lips brushed hers, tentative at first. A breath. A question.
She answered by leaning in.
And then he deepened it.
Slowly.
Like they had all the time in the world.
His mouth was warm and careful, his hand still firm on her back as he tilted his head and drew her in. Her fingers clutched at his chest, desperate and searching, like she needed to anchor herself to something real.
He kissed her like he couldn't believe he was allowed to. Like he was trying to remember everything about the way her lips moved against his. The soft, tentative slide of their mouths. The small, shaky sigh she gave when he sucked lightly on her bottom lip.
It wasn't hurried. It wasn't lust.
It was want.
The slow, patient, devastating kind.
When his fingers moved to cup her jaw, thumb tracing the line of her cheek, she melted. Her knees barely held her up. She tilted her chin up further, giving more of herself to the kiss, sinking into it until her lungs protested.
By the time they pulled apart—only by necessity—Sienna was breathless.
And changed.
So was he.
They stared at each other.
Neither spoke.
Then Cassian swallowed, his voice quiet and uneven. "We should... go home."
Sienna nodded. Her voice barely above a whisper. "Yeah. Okay."
He gently released her, but his hand stayed against the small of her back, guiding her.
"This way," he said softly.
And they walked back through the forest—wordless, hearts pounding, and a kiss still lingering between their lips like a secret neither of them would ever forget.