Claire hurried into her office, a soft "Sorry" on her lips as she rushed by Zara. Her assistant was quick, rushing after Claire and shutting the office door behind her.
"Again?" Zara asked, eyes locked on Claire's wavy hair.
"I really don't have time for this, Zara, I have a meeting with a few investors that I need to finish preparing for." Claire motioned towards the door behind Zara, but the woman didn't budge, a small smirk playing at the corners of her lips.
"No." Claire said, scolding her assistant. She knew she was looking for information.
Zara's smirk only grew wider, a single eyebrow raising as she once again looked at Claire's hair.
With a heavy sigh, shoulders dropping, Claire slumped back against her desk, a dreamy smile playing at the corners of her lips.
"That good?" Zara asked, folding her arms against her chest. She had only just started dating someone from accounting, but Claire's love life seemed a lot more interesting at the moment. That and Owen was quickly becoming the most desirable man on the island, so naturally Zara was on that list of women who would love to be Owen's chosen one.
Claire let out an unsteady laugh as she bit her bottom lip, unable to meet Zara's gaze.
"Awe, man!" Zara clapped her hands, enjoying watching her boss and friend squirm. Claire Dearing never walked into her office flustered from the previous nights events. "Wish I had a chance to test him out!"
"Zara!" Claire gasped, eyes wide.
"What?" She shrugged. "When everyone else finds out they will be thinking the same thing!"
"But you're dating Tony!"
"And you nailed the most sought after hunk of meat on this damn island! Even the married women are swooning over him. I mean," Zara folded her arms against her chest, her smile growing wider. "do you blame them?"
Claire bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling.
That was the answer Zara was looking for. She shook her head in mock shame that Claire wouldn't open up to her. She knew it was almost impossible, but she was just beginning to try and get it out of Claire. "Fine." She huffed, glancing down at her watch before looking up at Claire. "You're late."
Claire's gaze shot down to her own watch. "Damn it!" She hissed, dropping her bags on her desk and hurrying out of her office to meet the investors.
It was almost strange to walk into the lab without Owen there. She missed the chance of getting small glimpses of him while he was occupied with the raptors.
Approaching the investors, Claire froze, noticing Andrew was speaking with them. Squaring her shoulders, she stood tall as she approached the small group.
"Good morning," Claire greeted the four investors, stepping beside Andrew to shake their hands.
She could physically feel the room get colder the moment she stepped beside him, but she kept her attention on the investors.
"Ms. Dearing, this lab is spectacular!" Mr. Benson said as he looked around, his eyes wide with wonder.
"Yes," She smiled warmly as she looked around. Her eyes drifted by Andrew. His own gaze was set on her.
Ignoring him, she kept herself professional as she moved about the lab, the investors following close behind her.
It was an hour later when she finally broke free from the investors, leaving them to make their routine phone calls before signing their sponsorship.
"What was that all about?" Andrew hissed, wrapping his fingers around Claire's arm and pulled her aside before she could walk out of the lab.
She yanked her arm free, narrowing her eyes at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Last night!"
Immediately, Claire turned to walk away. "Go back to work, Dr. Carter."
"No, Claire. I want to talk about this."
With a dry laugh, Claire shook her head. "Talk about what? My life no longer concerns you. I don't owe you an explanation for anything." She hissed, stepping closer to him so no one else could overhear them.
"Did he stay over?"
Rolling her eyes, Claire once again turned to walk away, but Andrew reached out to stop her.
"I love you Claire. I want to try and make this work."
"Well, give up because it's over." She snapped and hurried away before he could pull her back in.
XXX
"Hey," Barry said as he knocked on Owen's open door before stepping into his office. "How was the morning session?" He asked, sitting in one of the chairs in front of Owen's desk.
Owen sighed, leaning back in his chair and tossing his pen across the desk. "Sucked. None of them would listen to me. Delta is teething." He grumbled and looked down at the small puncture wound on his finger.
"Didn't you have a bet with your woman?" Barry asked with a chuckle. "Looks like that's an injury."
Owen shook his head. "Na, this is nothing and it's nothing Claire needs to know about." Owen smiled, leaning over his desk. "Besides, I already got her. I think the whole date bet is off."
Barry rolled his eyes. "Casual sex is not 'getting the girl', Owen. Even you should know that."
Owen leaned back in his chair, arms crossing against his chest. "Oh I know, but it's not just about the sex."
Shrugging, Barry scrubbed his finger across his chin. "If you haven't asked her out, or talked about what you want from… whatever you have going on, then I say you're fuck buddies."
"Not true." Owen shook his head and lifted his hip up to grab his wallet from his back pocket, pilling our the key card to Claire's room and dropping it to the desk between them. "What do you call that?"
Barry snorted. "An all access ticket to Claire's bed."
"Again," Owen shook his head, "not true."
"Ok." Barry smirked, his eyebrowitng raising. "Then what did she say when she gave it to you?"
Owen reached up to scratch the back of his head. "She knew I'd sneak my way up there…" he trailed off, jumping to his feet. "Oh come on, Barry! I know it all sounds bad, but we've got something. She's…" he trailed off with a dreamy look in his eyes as he stared at the wall behind Barry. "She's everything."
"So ask her out." Barry urged.
"Why." Owen raised his hands in question, still unsure why he would have to ask a woman out that he already slept with repeatedly. Someone he knew had some sort of attraction towards him just as he did her.
"Then be the puppet she only calls on to itch her scratch."
Owen narrowed his eyes at his friend. "I hate you."
"Na," Barry laughed as she stood up. "You just hate that I'm right."
"I'm telling you," Owen said with another shake of his head, getting to his feet to follow Barry out of his office. "She's not that type of person."
"How do you know?"
"We've talked. A lot. I've stayed over twice, so there ya go. She's different." He said with a sigh.
Barry laughed, clapping Owen on his back. "Man, you're falling for her and you haven't even properly asked her out yet! She must be something."
"I really hate you." Owen mumbled as they walked back into the nursery.
Owen stopped abruptly when he saw Andrew tossing a rubber ball into the pen where the raptors were. "What the hell are you doing here?" Owen asked, not even bothering to even try and remember they were working.
"Checking on the girls." Andrew said with a weak shrug, his eyes locked on Owen's.
"You're not due to check on them until later in the week." Owen pointed out.
Andrew's gaze fell on Barry, a silent glare in his eyes that said he wanted to be alone with Owen.
Barry understood, Owen had been filling him in, looking to his friend for advice. He raised his hand, clamping down on Owen's shoulder. "Good?" Barry asked, seeing the fire in his eyes.
Owen nodded, focus set solely on Andrew.
Without another word, Barry stepped out of the room, the only sound was the impatient raptors, squawking at Owen, reminding him it was snack time.
Andrew stood tall, doing his best to puff out his chest, trying to make himself look intimidating even though Owen was still much bigger than him. "Stay away from her." He demanded, voice low and cold.
Owen let out a loud laugh as he turned to grab a bucket of jerky and entered the pen. "Go back to your geek lab."
"I thought we were friends!" Andrew yelled, his hands balling into fists.
Owen shrugged. "We were."
"I confided in you about Claire. I didn't want you to take her from me!" Andrew reached out, grabbing Owen's elbow to make him turn back to face him. Owen spun around, yanking his arm free, a warning glare on his face. Andrew immediately let his hand drop back to his side. "Tell her it's over."
"I'm not telling her shit." Owen scoffed. "She's perfectly capable to speak up and say what she wants and she's made her choice perfectly clear." Owen shrugged as he threw Andrew a small smile. "Wasn't your name she's been calling."
"I want you to talk to her. I tried and she's—"
Owen's eyes widened, quickly cutting him off. "You talked to her? About what exactly? Didn't she tell you how she felt last night?"
"She needed to know I still love her."
"How'd that go?" Owen asked, his arms crossing against his chest.
"I'm here asking you to talk to her, aren't I?"
"So doesn't that tell you something?" Owen yelled, leaning over the pen to get closer to Andrew. "I have nothing to say to you regarding Claire. Unless for some unforeseeable reason you have to tell me something regarding Ms. Dearing, Operations manager, you and I are finished." Turning back to his raptors, Owen didn't bother to turn back to see how long Andrew stood silently behind him before he left.
XXX
The sun was setting by the time Claire left work. She was exhausted from the days events and the lack of sleep the night before.
Walking into her apartment, she couldn't help but feel sad. She knew she was coming home to an empty home, but part of her was hoping to see Owen sprawled out on her couch.
Claire reached for her phone to text Owen just as a quick knock on the door immediately followed by the lock clicking open. "Hey!" Owen called out before his head poked through the opening in the door.
Claire couldn't hold back the smile as she walked over to him, pulling the door open the rest of the way. "Hey," She repeated, her eyes immediately dropping to the bags behind him, sitting in the hallway.
Owen shrugged when her eyes finally met his again. "Had to check out, so I figured I come say hi and bye real quick before I headed back to my bungalow.
"Oh," Claire sighed as she slumped against the doorframe. "You have to go back? I liked having you in the same building."
"Looks like you'll just have to come out to my place."
"Or you could just come here."
"Uh uh," Owen shook his head, smirking at Claire's ill-faded attempt to keep him there with her. "Your turn to come to me. It's not that bad." He paused as the elevator dinged and someone turned down the hall to their apartment. "Much more private, too." He added, turning back to look at her.
Claire stood silent as the word private echoed through her head. But she liked being so close to work. She liked her organized home. She liked a solid structure around her.
"Come on," Owen urged, reaching for her hand. "Stay the night."
The elevator door opened again and another two more people emerged, smiling politely as they walked by to their apartment.
"Fine." Claire huffed, turning to walk towards her room to pack a bag.
Owen followed, leaving his bags just outside the door to wait for her.
It took Claire longer than Owen wanted for her to pack an overnight bag. He sat on the edge of her bed, watching as she walked back and forth from the bathroom to her closer. On her fifth or sixth pass he huffed impatiently. "It's only a night, Claire."
"I know, but I'm not going into work tomorrow with my hair like this again!" She called out from the bathroom, emerging a moment later with her straightener and some bottles of hair products in her hands. She added them to the bag beside Owen on the bed and moved back towards the bathroom, returning with a makeup bag.
"I like the wavy hair." Owen said, watching her as she continued to move about.
Claire chose to ignore him, tossing her blowdryer into the bag along with a pair of stilettos. "Ok, I'm ready." She said shifting uncomfortably, playing with her fingers nervously.
Owen watched her closely as she sighed heavily before reaching for her bag. "Wait," Owen said, reaching for her arm before she could walk away. "You've never stayed over anywhere before. Have you?"
Claire rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Of course I have! I've had many sleepovers when I was a kid."
Owen shook his head, his eyes baring into hers. "A guys place."
Claire nibbled on her bottom lip, her gaze dropping to the floor. "I'm more comfortable in my own surroundings." She admitted, refusing to meet his eyes.
Owen laughed lightly, but knew she was on the edge and didn't want to ruin the night. "It'll be fun." He said, reaching for her bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "Come on."
They switched bags in the hall, Claire reclaiming her own while Owen loaded his arms with his as they headed towards the elevator.
Claire watched him drop his bags at his feet while the elevator descended to the main floor. Her eyes narrowed as the thoughts in her head became clear. "Wait a minute…" she trailed off, focusing on the three duffle bags at Owen's feet. "How were you going to hold all that on your motorcycle?" She asked, her eyes shooting back up to his face.
"Knew you wouldn't be able to say no to coming over." He answered with a wink.
Claire shook her head. "You're an ass."
"We going to start the whole ass conversation again?"
The elevator doors opened and they stepped out while the few people waiting for the elevator stepped aside.
Andrew was standing behind the small group of lab workers waiting for the elevator. Both Claire and Owen walked by, arms loaded with bags while they made their way to the side door. His heart shattering when he watched Claire laugh at something Owen said and he leaned in to kiss her cheek.