Lucas caught Brook before she reached the door. "Please don't leave."

She glanced down at his hand wrapped around her upper arm. "I have to." Her voice shook. "Let me go."

"At least give me a chance to explain." He had trouble breathing. He hadn't had a panic attack in years but he could feel one coming on. "I think I know why you're bolting and I want to set things right."

She looked up at him. "I'm having this baby in New York, Lucas."

"I know you are." He cleared his throat. "Haley knows you are, too. She's already trying to figure out if she can manage a trip up there in January."

"Then why did she…"

"Let's step outside." He'd become aware of people watching them. And in Tree Hill news travelled fast. He'd rather not share his private business with the whole town or have it get back to his mom that he had knocked up Brooke before he had a chance to tell her.

"As it happens. I'm on my way outside."

"I can see that. Will you let me go out there with you for a bit?"

"All right, but please let go of me."

He did

"And I don't think you can solve everything by kissing me."

"I would never think that."

"Yes, you would."

"Okay, maybe in some situations, but not this one."

"You'd better believe it." She sounded shaky but determined. "Let's talk over by my car, that way when you've finished explaining, I can leave."

He hoped to hell his explanation would be enough to keep her there, but if not, he'd have to let her drive away. That would be tough.

They reached her car and she turned to face him.

"Go ahead."

He took a deep breath and told her about the book he'd downloaded. He bit the bullet and admitted he'd been terrified that something awful would happen. "So I told Haley and she made an appointment for us to talk with Tess. It was designed to calm me down, and it worked. It wasn't part of some devious plot to get you to move back here."

"But you want me to."

"Sure I do!" he started to reach for her and thought better of it, shoving his hands into his pockets instead. "Obviously, Haley would love it, too. But she wouldn't try to manipulate you into doing it. She'd just say it straight out."

See peered at him "Do you even have an e-reader?"

"No, I read it on my phone."

"I didn't think ebooks would be your kind of thing."

"Not something I really enjoyed."

"So why didn't you wait until you could buy them?"

He rubbed the back of his neck where tension lingered, although the threat of a full-blown panic attack was gone. "I wanted to get a start on the list so we could discuss some things while you were still here."

"Oh." Her expression softened. "And you ended up scaring yourself."

"The visit to the hospital helped. But if you wouldn't mind looking over that reading list to see if there are any other books like that first one. I'd appreciate getting a heads-up before I dive into it."

"I'll do better than that. I'll trim the list to a reasonable size. I confess I though you'd get discouraged by the number of books and maybe not read any."

"I knew that, which was another reason to get started and show you I was serious."

"You don't have to prove that to me anymore, Lucas. I do think reading some of those books will be helpful, but even if you don't open another one, you'll be fine. More than fine. I can tell you care about her."

He let out a breath. "Thank you for that. It means a lot."

"I just needed to be sure, for her sake."

"Of course you did." He searched her gaze and found warmth and sincerity there. And maybe, deep in those green depths, a tiny spark of desire left over from their conversation before he'd screwed up the evening. "I had another reason for downloading that book to my phone last night."

"What was that?"

"I couldn't sleep and I needed a distraction."

"You have insomnia?"

"Not normally. Turns out I missed you."

"Oh, Lucas." She cupped his face in her soft hands. "How do you do that?"

''Do what?" He didn't dare touch her and ruin everything.

"I was so ready to leave a few minutes ago and now…"

"You're not?"

She shook her head.

He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss the living daylights out of her, but he didn't. "We have food in there. Do you want to go in and eat it, maybe dance some more?"

"Would you…could we come back tomorrow night?"

"Absolutely."

"Because what I'd really like, if it's okay with you, is to have them pack up our dinner so we can take it home. I mean to your place."

"Done. Why don't you just wait in the car? I'll be back as soon as I can."

Whew. By some miracle he'd pulled his ass out of the fire. A server promised to locate his waitress so she could bring the check and a few to-go boxes.

She insisted on doggie-bagging everything for him and he left her a big tip. Food in hand, he returned to the parking lot and discovered Brooke's car was gone. Damn it! She'd reconsidered and concluded he wasn't worth sticking around for.

He trudged over to his truck because what else was he going to do? A note anchored by his wipers fluttered against the windshield. Meet you there.

His heart leaped when he realized she wasn't on her way back to New York. On the other hand, he couldn't imagine what she was up to because he'd locked the house up tight.

When he arrived, her car was parked beside the house. Carrying the food, he walked around to the porch and paused. She reclined on the steps wrapped in a blanket and she had her phone's flashlight set to a strobe effect for some reason.

"Hey, Luke."

"Hi, Brooke."

"I thought maybe the house would be open but it wasn't"

"Nope." He shielded his eyes. "Could you turn that off?"

"Oh, sure." She switched off the app. "I didn't want you to stumble over me in the dark."

"Not likely." He put the bags of food on the steps and crouched in front of her. "But I'm curious as to why you didn't wait for me."

"I felt the need to offer an apology for jumping to conclusions and messing up our evening. I keep a blanket in my car for emergencies. I decided this qualified." She tossed it aside. The light from the stars was faint, but enough to reveal that she was gloriously naked.

He didn't need more invitation than that, he took what she offered, revealing in her sexuality as she tore at his clothes. He kissed and caressed every inch of her he could reach. It was clearly make-up sex and they both gave themselves to the age-old ritual.

As they lay panting and spent in the aftermath of frenzy and need, he gestured toward the bags of food.

"Dinner."

"I am so hungry."

He toyed with her breast and nibbled on her mouth.

"We could take this inside and warm it up."

"Why bother?"

"We don't have utensils."

"I don't care."

"Then let's eat." Their feast was blatantly sexual. They ate with their fingers, which required much licking and sucking. He chose to clean off her fingers, an erotic experience that ended in another round of mutually orgasmic lovemaking. Afterward they collapsed on the steps, sticky fingers entwined.

Lucas sighed in contentment. "All food should be eaten this way."

"Might be a problem in a restaurant."

"Then restrict it to the privacy of the home."

She chuckled. "Think of the kids."

He turned his head to look at her. "You're a spoil sport, you know that?"

"Hey, let's remember who suggested we consume this food with our fingers while naked."

"You're right." He sighed. "If it had been up to me, we would have driven home in tandem, warmed up our dinner and then had boring bedroom sex."

"Sex isn't boring in your bedroom."

"That's what I like to hear." He scrambled up. "But we need to be sure that statement is correct. Let's go test it out." He pulled her up and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders as they hurried to the front door.

Which was locked.

Laughing, he went back to the pile of clothes on the steps and found his keys. About that time it started to rain. "Be right there." He said. "I'd better get this stuff under cover."

"I'll help." Wearing the blanket like a shawl, she quickly stuffed the food cartons back in their plastic bags while he picked up their clothes.

They'd barely made it inside when the sky opened up.

"Just leave everything on the floor." He dumped their clothes by the front door and grabbed her hand.

"I want to make love while it's raining."

"Like that time in mine and Haley's apartment after you told me why you loved me?"

She remembered. "Yes. Just like that." He tugged her toward the hallway. "Only better."

With the window boarded up, the bedroom felt like a cave. They were giggling like kids by the time they groped their way to the bed and toppled onto it. As the rain pounded on the roof, Lucas made slow, sweet love to her. Maybe he could talk her into a couple of extra days, because this was good, so very good.

Afterward they lay side-by-side as their breathing gradually returned to normal. Lucas looked over at Brooke just able to make out her profile. "Good thing it wasn't raining earlier."

"Could have been interesting." Her voice had a lazy, contented tone. "Ever made love outside in the rain."

"No. Wouldn't mind trying it with you though." A bolt of thunder rattled the house. "Maybe not now."

"No." her soft laughter was nearly drowned out by the rain.

"We might have lost power again. Want me to turn on the light and see?"

"In a minute. I'm in that floaty stage and I want to stay there a little longer."

"Floaty stage?"

"You know, where you're so completely relaxed that you imagine you could rise up like a helium balloon."

"Can't say I ever felt that way. Only one part of me tends to rise up." He made the joke because he wanted to hear her low, sexy laugh again. But he envied her ability to achieve that kind of deep relaxation.

"The middle name I want for Henley is Hope." She said.

"Okay."

"I'm serious. Think about it that's what she is, Hope. Henley Hope Scoot."

He let it simmer. Did that mean she had hope for them?

"Oh!"

At her started cry he rolled onto his side and reached for her. 'What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just…. There it is again! Lucas I just felt the baby move!"