Rain poured down hard on the quaint town of Tree Hill. The streets were partially flooded, the clouds were dark and gray, bringing forth a sense of coldness and dreary-ness. Brooke sat with her chin rested on her arm during study hall, looking out the window, watching the rain flood the parking lot.

Her mind was heavy with thoughts, heavy with regret, heavy with doubts and heavy with the thoughts of Saturday replaying in her mind over and over. It was now Monday and all she could think of was Saturday and her time spent with Julian. How she blew her moment, the moment that she'd been daydreaming about! The moment that she only thought that would happen in her dreams, the single most perfect and gratifying moment of her life…and she had ruined it. Why? Why had she ruined it?! Brooke commanded herself to think of something else, but she couldn't. All she could think about was the way he stood. The way his mouth twisted when he was listening to something interesting. The dimple in his left cheek. The way he walked, in long deliberate strides. His legs, and the way his legs may look inside his pants…

She felt a foot kick her shoe from the desk in front of her.

"Brooke?" Haley's voice brought her back into the real world.

"Hmm?" Brooke murmured, her dreary green eyes looking up at her.

Haley pursued her mouth into a curious pose and asked, "Are you alright? You've seemed…distant all weekend."

Brooke shrugged. "It's nothing." She then placed her head back down, feeling the warmth of her jacket against her smooth cheek.

"Are you mad at me for bailing on you at that work-a-thon this weekend, because I told you a thousand times how sorry I am and…" Haley began.

Brooke rolled her eyes and picked her head back up. "No no Hales, it has nothing to do with you," Brooke stated.

"AHA! So there is an 'it'!" Haley declared with a smile.

Brooke sighed and rolled her eyes yet again, amused. She then put her arms up lazily, surrendering. "Okay, okay, ya caught me."

"Well?" Haley asked, edging Brooke on, impatiently tapping her foot on the metal rod of the desk.

"Well…I mean…It's just…" Brooke began. Could she tell Haley about this? About her…whatever it was that she had with Julian? She was trustworthy and loyal…when she wasn't ditching her for Nathan of course, but could she trust her with this? Would she tell anybody? Hell, would she even believe her? Brooke sighed. "Well, there's this guy…"

Haley's eyes lit up. "A guy?! Who? What? Where? When?!" she exclaimed.

"Uh…well," she began.

Haley looked at Brooke in anticipation and waited for her to continue.

Brooke slumped her shoulders. She loved Hales, she did, but she just couldn't bring herself to tell her about it. It was too risky. "You know what? It's nothing, it's no one, forget it," she said, shaking her head. She and Julian and their relationship, if you could call it that, it was something that was private and she figured it would be best to keep it that way, for now anyways.

Haley's face turned sympathetic. With the wave of sadness that seemed to cloud over Brooke, she knew exactly what guy was making her crazy. In a low voice, Haley asked, "It's Lucas, isn't it?"

Brooke furrowed her eyebrows, "What?" She wasn't expecting that theory.

Haley sighed. "Lucas, you…you're feeling sorry for yourself again, aren't you? The whole, Lucas-Rachel thing and what happened…"

"Look, I remember what happened, you don't have to remind me," Brooke snapped. "And no, you're completely wrong, Lucas is the furthest thing from my mind." Truth be told, she never even thought about Lucas anymore. He was a mere ghost from her past and the only guy, hell, the only thing that she had on her mind was Julian.

"Brooke, you don't have to lie to me, I'm your best friend, I'll never judge you," Haley edged on. She knew how hurt Brooke had been over the entire situation with Lucas, it broke her heart to think that Brooke was back to feeling bad about it, she thought she had gotten over it by now.

"Hales, I know that, and I love you but…" Brooke shook her head, indicating that she wanted the conversation to end. Haley couldn't be more wrong but she needed this conversation to end before she did admit what was going on.

Haley nodded. "I get it." She figured Brooke would tell her when she was ready. She then placed her hand on top on Brooke's and squeezed, "But hey. Anytime you're ready to talk about it, I'm here for you roomie, remember that."

Brooke smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Haley."

Haley grinned, then turned around in her desk and continue to do her previous task: homework.

Meanwhile Brooke let out a muffled, frustrated groan and continued to watch the rain pour down through the glass window. The rain made her feel melancholy, but yet it was soothing to her. It was perfect for her mood. Haley could continue to believe that it was Lucas on her mind all she wanted, but Brooke knew the truth and that was enough for her. She couldn't have Haley knowing about Julian, she couldn't have anybody knowing about her and Julian. Brooke placed her head down on the desk and closed her eyes.

Why was everything was so confusing?

**

Brooke took a deep breath and put on a brave face and walked down the familiar hallway to Julian's classroom. She felt herself trembling, her nerves were eating her alive and it made her stomach churn in a bad way. For the first time in a long time, she felt as though she didn't know what to expect when she walked into Julian's classroom. The feel of students rushing past her, the smell of the air, the melancholy feeling that washed over her due to the rain, that all added to the fact that she was about to see Mr. Baker for the first time since Saturday and that she worked tonight…it was all enough to want to make Brooke gag. Luckily for her, she made it to the classroom and swallowed down any internal gush that threatened to ooze out.

Brooke froze about a foot away from the door. She could feel Julian nearby, she could feel him standing in the entrance of the door, as he always did when he greeted students walking into the classroom. Brooke wondered how he'd look. Did he still have the unshaven look that he did on Saturday or had he shaved? Was his hair disheveled as it had been in all her daydreams this weekend? Or was it nice and tidy, as tidy as those curls of his could even get.

Brooke took a breath. You can do this, you can do this, she internally chanted to herself.

She slowly crept her way towards the door and entered the room. Then she saw him, as usual, standing there with his hands folded behind his back. His hair was as curly as ever, and his face was clean-shaven, with the faintest touch of scruff on it. He looked flawless, as per usual.

"Hey…" Brooke began as she walked into the room, about to call him Julian, "…Mr. Baker," she finished.

Julian's heart clenched seeing her. Her with her wavy brown hair, with her piercing green eyes, perfect white skin, and the warmth that seemed to radiate from her. The same her who turned away from him when he was close to loosing his inhibitions and kissing her. How could his heart not clench and break a little as he saw her for the first time since then?

He forced a tight smile on his face and nodded at her, "Ms. Davis." And two seconds later, he looked away from her and looked ahead at the other students arriving in the classroom. Usually his eyes would always linger on Brooke a little bit longer, but not today. Brooke felt a pang of sadness when he looked away from her. He just treated her like a regular student. Not a friend or…anything else with a different relationship to her. He treated her just like he were to treat any other student, not even giving her a second glance, and that feeling made Brooke uneasy and a bit sad. Was he mad at her? Was he upset about Saturday? Or maybe he was just having a bad day? She'd be sure to ask him about it at lunch. They were going to have their weekly lunches, weren't they? Saturday couldn't have changed things…

After the students were all settle in and Julian had began class, Brooke found herself with her desk pushed up against Haley and Peyton's. The class was working in teams on a paper on verbs, but Brooke couldn't focus. She'd look at the paper, pretend not to know the answer, smile and nod at Peyton and Haley when appropriate, but all the while, her thoughts were on the man behind the desk at the front of the room. She wondered if he was looking at her. She sneaking-ly looked up at his desk, and was disappointed to see him staring at the writing on the chalkboard instead of at her. Normally when everyone was doing their work, she'd always catch him looking at her when she looked up him, but not today. She continued staring in anguish at him, longing to drown in his eyes. Almost as if he sensed her eyes on him, he slowly turned and looked Brooke in the eyes, his gaze breaking her heart. She saw a ting of sadness swimming around his pools of dark chocolate. Disappointment. Heart-break even. His eyebrows were furrowed and a smile lacked. He looked tired, beat, and broken. Was it she that had caused such a pained expression on his beautiful face? Brooke couldn't bare the thought, so she quickly looked down, almost feeling the sting of tears surrounded by the rims of her sleepy eyes. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't, but something about this whole situation sure made her want to. She didn't do anything wrong! Was it a crime to have not been ready to kiss him, her teacher?! Is that what this whole thing was about?! Brooke wanted to run home and curl up on her bed, and lay there forever and just forget the world.

The bell rang suddenly. All the students moved rapidly gathering their things, aligning desks back to their original positions, and Brooke moved in slow motion as she gathered her things. She hoped if she moved slow enough, she'd be the last one out of class, and would hopefully get to have a few words with Julian before his next class arrived. Luckily for her, her turtle speed worked and she found herself in her corner desk, gathering her backpack and starting to head slowly over towards the door, where Julian stood, seeing his students off.

His back was faced to her and she suddenly had a tough time finding her voice.

"Julian?" Julian heard Brooke ask in a small voice. Damn, he internally thought as he shut his eyes. He had figured she had already left the room, he hadn't noticed her still lingering there. He slowly turned around and looked at her. She looked nervous.

"Yes?" he asked. He felt himself being slightly cold to the beauty before him, but his walls her up and his defenses were high. A part of hid pride had felt missing since Saturday. He shouldn't fault her for anything, but he couldn't help it.

"Are you…I mean…are we…um," Brooke stammered, not sure what it was that she exactly wanted to ask him. "Are we okay?"

Julian wanted to shout at her. 'No! We are not okay, Brooke. Does it feel like we are okay?!' But he didn't, instead he hid his pain and swallowed. "Of course we're okay, why wouldn't we be?"

Brooke looked at him, she felt so small. "I…I dunno, it just seems like…" her voice drifted off. She didn't feel like making a complete fool of herself. "Uh, nothing. It's nothing…forget I said anything," she replied, shaking her head.

He nodded. "Well, I have a class coming, so you should probably…" Julian began, motioning to the door.

I should probably get out of your sight and the hell away from you? Got it. Brooke thought. She nodded and headed out of the classroom, feeling as though any moment the tears would come pouring out.

**

Before she knew it, lunch time came around. Brooke sat with her tray in front of her, staring blankly ahead at the table. Peyton was absorbed in eating her chocolate pudding, but Haley was aware that Brooke may have been physically with them, but she wasn't emotionally with them. "Brooke, you okay?" she asked, snapping her fingers in front of Brooke's face.

Brooke snapped out of her trance. "Huh? Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"You haven't even touched your pudding, you love this stuff," Haley commented, concerned.

"Oh, I just…I had a really big breakfast. I'm just not hungry…" Brooke responded. Her mind was so flooded with worries and sadness, Julian and his cool demeanor kept replaying in her mind. He had seemed so apathetic towards her earlier. Gah, had Saturday changed things this drastically? Was this all her fault? Brooke needed to talk to Julian and get all of this worked out, and she needed to do it now.

"You know what? I uh…think I'm gonna go get some studying done in the library," she said, lifting her bag and walking away from the table. Haley sensed a sadness in her voice and looked at her wearily before she walked off, trying to think of something to say that would make Brooke stay and talk, but she figured she'd tell her what's wrong when she felt it was a good time.

"Is Brooke gonna eat that?" Peyton asked, motioning to her left over pudding, having missed the ominous Brooke departure. Haley shrugged no, prompting Peyton to steal the pudding from Brooke's tray. "Yay! She doesn't know what she's missing."

**

Brooke found herself in front of Julian's class room door, rapping on it hastily yet softly.

It was only a matter of seconds before Julian cracked the door open and poked his lovely head out the door. "Brooke…what uh, what are you doing here?" Julian asked opening the door more widely and exiting his classroom slightly. He hadn't been excepting to see her until tomorrow during class. Seeing her again, in such close proximity was too much for his heart to handle.

Ouch, Brooke thought. That sure stung. Julian never forgets our lunch dates…

"Uh, I just…I thought we were having lunch? It's Monday, after all. Brooke pulled out a bag of chips from her bag, "I even brought Doritos," she smiled. She wasn't stupid, she knew things were bad, she felt tension in the air. Julian seemed reluctant and anxious, and the way he was looking around left and right down the hallway made it seem like he was scared of getting caught talking to her.

Julian gave her a tried smiled and nodded. "Oh, right…well, that…sounds great, but…" he hesitated.

"But…but what?" Brooke asked. She was getting worried, he wasn't acting like his usual self, he was being so…distant.

Julian swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. "But I have…a staff meeting today. Er, right now actually, so I should really get going," he replied as the put on his coat and adjusted the briefcase in his hand.

Brooke looked at him disheartened, but understanding. She hadn't even noticed him having a briefcase in his hand until now, maybe he really was on his way out. "Oh. Okay…uh, rain check on lunch?" she asked hopeful. He turned away from her to lock the door behind him.

"Yeah yeah, sure. Of course," Julian replied in a rush, putting his keys back into his pocket. "I'll uh, I'll see you tomorrow, Brooke." And with that, he took off down the hall, not even one taking a breath to look back at her.

Brooke stood there and watched him leave, his pace seeming to speed up by the second, but still managing to be calm and collected. She took a long sigh and placed the small bag of Doritos back into her bag. What was happening? Why was he being like this? It felt to Brooke like he didn't even want to be around her.

Maybe Saturday had changed things after all. Brooke felt him slowly slipping away…and it was the most painful thing that she had ever felt.

Once he was down the hall, Julian took a sharp left and headed towards the glass doors of the school building. Once he got outside and under the safety of the school's large corridor, he took a large breath of relief and set his briefcase down on a near-by bench then closed his eyes briefly. He felt the tickles of raindrops slashing onto him from the outer downpour going on around the corridor.

There was no staff meeting.

He felt awful for lying to Brooke about there being one, but he couldn't help it. He didn't know if he could handle being in the same room with Brooke alone, not after what he almost let happen at the work-a-thon. Re-thinking the moment in his head, he wanted to punch himself. He had almost kissed her. Kissed her! Kissed a student! And she had refused him. Maybe he was just seeing things and she didn't know he was about to kiss her. Or maybe she did know and pulled away. Maybe she didn't feel the same way that he felt. Maybe that's why she pulled away, maybe she just wanted to be friends, maybe she just wanted to be his student. Maybe he had single handily ruined any form of relationship that he had with Brooke.

He placed his hands through his curly brown hair and slightly pulled in frustration, letting out an annoyed groan.

Everything was so fucked up.

**

It was gym class and Brooke was sitting on the bleachers. Due to the rain, the class had been reduced to playing dodge ball in the gym, absolutely perfect for Brooke! She had taken all her aggression and frustration out on the ball and out of the opposing team. She had kicked fucking ass. After winning the first game, she found herself sweaty, exhausted and tired. Now she sat alone on the bleachers with her hand on her knee, staring blankly ahead of her at the current game. It was funny watching Peyton play dodge ball. For such a little thing, she sure knew how to whack a ball. Brooke giggled at her, then her thoughts drifted back to her problems. Leave it to the moments that she feels okay, to feel even shittier. Julian had blown her off, that much had been obvious. Staff meeting? Brooke was almost positive that that had been a lie. Julian was good at many things: teaching, talking, listening…but lying was not among those things.

Brooke sighed and patted the sweat from her forehead. "Uck," she groaned. "I'm a pathetic, filthy sweaty thing," she commented to herself. I need a shower, she concluded. A nice long hot shower would really do me some good…

Brooke rose from the bleachers and headed towards the locker room. She looked around and saw that it was empty. Perfect!

A peaceful shower alone was exactly what she needed.

**

Julian sat shaking his knee impatiently. He sat in Coach Ridley's office, waiting for her arrival. A cheerleader of hers was failing his class greatly and the coach needed a conference with him to discuss tactics to pull her grade up. The coach was supposed to have been here nearly fifteen minutes ago, he was just about ready to get up and leave.

"Mr. Baker!" Coach Ridley bellowed, "So good to see you!" she said as she entered her office.

Julian turned around in his seat. Fucking finally, he though to himself.

He nodded at her. "Coach, nice to see you too."

"Sorry I'm late. My girls are playing dodge ball in the gym. Had to make sure they wouldn't kill anybody, I'm sure they'll be fine now. So! Let's get this meeting over with ey? I know you teachers hate discussing grades and whatnot, as much as I do, so let's do this thing."

"Sounds good to me," Julian agreed. He couldn't have agreed more, he just wanted to get this over with.

After twenty ridiculous minutes over discussing Rachel Gatinna and the fact that she couldn't maintain a passing grade in English of all subjects, they finally worked out an extra credit project that would make the cheerleader eligible to compete in the big cheer competition coming up. Julian, having no school spirit, cared less about some stupid cheerleading competition, he just wanted her to pass his class so he wouldn't look like a bad educator. It may sound selfish, but that was how Julian felt. Plus it was Rachel they were talking about, a part of him held a small resentment towards her, knowing how her actions had hurt Brooke in the past.

"Well, I'm that glad we could come to an agreement, Mr. Baker," the coach said, extending her cold hand to Julian.

"As am I, Coach Ridley," he shook her dry hand with a tightly pressed smile, "As am I."

"I'll make sure she turns in that project as soon as possible," she replied as Julian got up from his seat and headed towards the door.

"Alrighty, coach," he said with fake enthusiasm. His day had been pretty much crap, being nice was something that he felt compelled to do. He couldn't wait to get the hell away from school and get home.

He exited the office with a long sigh and slumped shoulders. He then leaned against the wall of the girl's locker room and embraced the cool feel of the tile against hot neck. He groaned a groan of frustration, frustration for everything that he was dealing with lately. He unconsciously began to pound his head slowly into the tile, internally beating himself up. Fuck my life, fuck my life, fuck my life, he internally chanted with each soft pound his head made. A noise broke him out of his spell. Was that water running he heard?

Julian stopped the pounding of his head, then listened closely. There the noise was again. He listened even closer…

Shit! he thought. That is running water! Julian's eye bulged out of his head. He was in a girl's locker room, and water was running…the showers! Someone was taking a shower!!

I didn't think there was anyone in here…Julian thought nervously. He then looked left and right and saw no one else in there, though he still heard the noise of the shower, coming from a short distance. The door he needed to exit the building was on the other side of the room. Julian wanted to curse himself! He slowly began taking small steps to the other side of the room, careful not to make any noises. Hopefully whoever was occupying a shower wouldn't hear him. When he was halfway across the room, Julian paused dead in his tracks when he looked to his left and heard the water turn off. Behind a short tiled wall, the showers were all aligned, and a figure appeared just feet away from him.

And there, in a single second of unparalleled frozen-ness, Julian realized that Brooke Davis stood before him in all her naked glory. The hypnotic beauty with the body of an epigamic goddess, all of her completely bare. Every curve, every inch of soft snowy skin, exposed. Glowing at him, beckoning him. He thirsted for her, he yearned to throw down his briefcase and take her against the slippery tiles of the shower walls. Suck all the parts of her dripping wet neck dry and press his hungry lips against her moist ones. He literally toppled over thinking of the possibilities.

Brooke was too lost in her thoughts to notice a presence. She nonchalantly twisted her hair and drained the water from it and slowly ran her fingers through her stringy hair, trying to untangle it. She then reached for a towel hanging over the short wall.

Julian gulped and dared himself to tear his eyes away. He was invading her privacy! He had to look away! He needed to look away! He had to! But he didn't want to, God he sure didn't want to. Never had he laid his eyes upon something so breathtaking in all this life. This was a moment that was to be cherished and un-ruined. Until a single squeak of his shoe against the slippery floor did just that. Ruined. It ruined the moment.

Brooke's eyes became wide at the single sound of a squeak. Was somebody in here?!

She whizzed her head around quickly at the noise. Her eyes darted around and paused abruptly. No more than ten feet away from her stood Julian, staring at her like a deer caught in headlights, his eyes wide. Before she even got a chance to breathe, he rushed to the exit door and was gone in a split second, almost as if he had never been there in the first place.

Brooke looked at the spot that Julian had just occupied, thinking about what had just happened. Did…did that really just happen? How long had he been there? Was he watching her? Did he see anything? Brooke felt herself get hot all over. Should she be furious? Should she be angry? Should she be…flattered? Turned-on? Because weirdly enough…that was the only thing she was feeling.

All of a sudden, all the wonders and worries about earlier were gone and replaced with new wonders. What had Julian been doing here?

**

"Hey Haley," Julian greeted her upon his entrance at Karen's Café. A tiny part of him hoped Brooke wasn't working tonight, a bigger part was hoping that she was. He needed to talk to her desperately about what had happened earlier. He wasn't even sure what he'd say to her. That he was sorry? That he hadn't seen anything?

"Hey Mr. B!" Haley replied, pulling out a tablet from her apron as she followed him to his usual table. She pulled a blue pen out from above her ear and waited for him to be comfortably seated.

"What can I get you to drink?" she asked.

"Ah, Dr. Pepper," he replied. He darted his eyes around the café in search of Brooke, yet he didn't see her anywhere. As Haley wrote down his drink order he made small talk and asked, "So are you done with that essay I assigned last week?"

Haley rolled her eyes. "The one that you remind us about every single day?" she asked amused.

He nodded. "That's the one," he replied.

Haley made a guilty face and began, "Well, not exactly…"

"Haley…" he remarked in a very teacher like fashion, "You do know that that essay is worth fifty percent of your grade, don't you?

"Oh okay, lecture me while on the job, why don't ya?" Haley laughed. "And yes, I am very aware of when the essay's are due, and I can guarantee you that I'll get it done on time," she replied, quietly adding. "But, just take it easy on Brooke with your lecturing if you see her tonight, though," she remarked.

Julian froze. What did she mean by that? He nervously laughed, "Why's that?" he asked.

Haley looked around, making sure Brooke wasn't in earshot. "Between you and me? There's some guy that's been getting her down in the dumps lately. I mean, I personally think it's about her ex-boyfriend, Lucas, but that wouldn't make sense because I thought she'd gotten over him by now, she's seemed so happy all year."

Julian felt his fist clench up at the mention of Lucas and the possibility that Brooke possibly still harbored feelings for the jerk who cheated on her.

"Well, I'm not sure who it is, but Brooke seems pretty torn up about it, I'm starting to worry about her. She's been all sad and pout-y since Saturday."

Saturday? Julian thought, suddenly. Saturday was the work-a-thon…

Julian gulped. "Oh, I see," was all he could reply.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened on Saturday, with a guy, that is making her act the way she's acting…but, whatever it is I hope she gets over it soon," she remarked, mostly talking to herself. She wondered what it was that was eating Brooke up so much, it was bugging her, but then she shook her head and realized that Mr. Baker could probably care less about a teenagers girl problems. "Well anyway! Just giving you a heads up, in case she turns the essay in late or something, just try and have some sympathy on the poor girl. And oh yeah, don't tell her we had this conversation."

Julian nodded ferociously. "Oh yeah. My lips are sealed."

Haley smiled. "Good! Your drink will be right out," she replied as she stepped away from him and walked back into the kitchen.

Julian sat there, his mind a mess of epiphanies. Brooke had been sad since Saturday? Had she regretted not kissing him, was she feeling guilty? Was that what this was about? A part of him was happy that the whole situation had caused Brooke agony, another part of him felt awful that he was the cause of her unhappiness. That on top of the incident that had happened earlier…he needed to talk to Brooke, now more than ever.

**

Brooke looked through the kitchen window once more. Julian was finally gone. She breathed a sigh of relief. How long he had been gone, she had no idea. Upon his entrance to the café, she had stayed hidden in back doing inventory, trying as far away from him as she could. She didn't know what she was capable of doing if she were to get within two feet of the man. Would she yell at him? Would she jump him and sexually harass him? Would she even be able to utter a single syllable? Her mind was just as confused as her heart was. She looked at her watch and realized that her shift was over. She breathed a sigh of relief, took off her apron and gathered her things.

After finishing up what she needed finished, Brooke put on her coat and exited the café doors, deciding to walk home. A walk would clear her head…

"Brooke," she heard Julian's voice say. She froze and turned around, seeing him leaning against the building. "We need to talk," he continued. He cautiously stepped towards her, but stayed a safe few feet distance away from her. His hands were in his pockets, as if he didn't trust them.

"How long have you been waiting there?" Brooke asked surprised, bringing her hands up and down her arms, warming herself up against the cold wind. The rain had stopped, but a cold front had taken it's place.

It was freezing out here, how long had Julian been standing out here?! Brooke wondered. She wasn't even sure what else she wanted to say to him, she was just overjoyed that he was here, even if she had been trying to hide from him earlier.

Julian ignored the question and fired back with one of his own. "Can we go somewhere? To talk, I mean, in private? I just…I really think that we need to talk…" he pleaded. His face looked solemn, it was a face she couldn't deny, not that she even wanted to deny it.

Brooke nodded. "Okay." Alone time with Julian, talking? She wasn't sure what she was getting herself into, but she knew for a fact, that whatever it was, she wanted to get herself into it…

Julian began to step towards his car and as if instinct, she followed him and entered the passenger's seat. She settled into the warm chair and let the smell of his car fill her frozen nostrils. It smelled of him. A few seconds later, she felt him entering the driver's seat and she immediately she was drowned completely in his scent, she took a large breath, bracing herself for whatever was about to happen.