Unscripted After

Chapter 17

Neither of them slept.

Talia lay in bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling as if it held answers to questions she wasn’t ready to ask. Every time she closed her eyes, she could still feel him, his mouth, his hands, the low growl of her name against her skin. The room was quiet now, painfully so, but her heart refused to calm.

What had they done?

No, what had she let happen?

She turned to her side, clutching her pillow, trying to push the memory into some corner of her mind where it wouldn’t replay. But it refused to leave. And worse, she didn’t want it to.

On the other side of the apartment, Cassian was waging a similar battle.

He sat on the edge of his bed, fingers laced together, jaw tight. The moment kept crashing into his thoughts over and over, the way her breath hitched, the way her body melted into his. He hadn’t just wanted her. He had needed her. And she’d let him.

Now, in the stillness of night, that hunger had morphed into something else. Confusion? Regret? No. Not exactly. But clarity hadn’t arrived, either.

They’d crossed a line. Pretending it didn’t matter was the real lie.

The Morning After

Talia padded into the kitchen, wrapped in a hoodie that definitely wasn’t hers, hair tied up in a messy bun. Cassian was already there, shirtless, coffee in hand, like he hadn’t just helped rewrite the rules between them hours ago.

"Morning," he said, voice even. Too even.

"Hey," she mumbled, eyes flicking everywhere but at him.

She opened the fridge, stared at it like it was a portal to another world, then shut it just as quickly. Her fingers fidgeted with the sleeves of the hoodie.

"You didn’t sleep much," he said.

"Neither did you."

He took a slow sip of his coffee, gaze settling on her a moment longer than it should’ve.

Then, casually, almost like it was nothing, he said,

“I called someone to fix your water heater. Should be handled today.”

Talia blinked.

It was such a normal thing to say, so casual. But it said everything.

He remembered. Every single second.

So did she.

Her stomach flipped.

Talia’s Internal Conflict

She retreated to the living room, clutching a throw pillow to her chest as she sat. Her thoughts ran wild. Was it just the heat of the moment? Did he think she was… easy? Was he regretting it already, or too polite to say?

Part of her wished he’d just say something—anything. The silence was starting to feel louder than their moans from last night.

She should be drafting a chapter right now, she thought fleetingly, not replaying him in my head. But the thought barely registered before it was swallowed by memory.

Cassian ’s POV

He watched her disappear down the hall, shoulders tense, distant.

This was a mistake.

That’s what he told himself, anyway.

But his body said otherwise, eyes lingering too long, throat tight when she walked past, hoodie bunched slightly in her hands. The faint scent of her shampoo still lingered on the fabric, teasing him.

It felt right. Too right. And that scared the hell out of him.

He needed to believe it was a mistake. Needed the distance. For her sake. For his.

But damn it, he still wanted to do it again.