Ten months earlier.

Owen had never believed in love at first sight. Never believed in the stupid fairytale nonsense his sister had. But he believed in beauty, and Claire Dearing most definitely had it. He tried to keep his eyes off her, their relationship was to be professional only, but he couldn't. Her hair was short and straightened completely into a neat ginger concaved bob.

Owen was more adventurous with his looks, and mainly lazy, but even he stood silent at the beauty before him. Her lips were moistened with a rouged lipstick and her head was held tall with pride. Her eyes, however, captivated him. The sea green that was flooding his senses like the strongest of tsunamis. Owen smiled softly as their eyes met.

Operations manager; Claire Grace Dearing.

Animal behaviourist; Owen Christopher Michael Grady. They were a match destined to a disaster of a relationship, Dare they try. Claire was totally and completely out of Owen's league. His mind knew that, but his body and more specifically, his heart, did not.

"Aren't you going to leave also, Mr Grady." The smile she was offering him was downright malicious and, if we was being honest with himself, sexy. He stood and within a few strides, he was beside her. He hadn't noticed the others leave but didn't want to seem that he was staring either.

"I would leave... but you're prettier than Hoskins." He offered and at that her confidence was gone. She blushed and turned away, flustered.

He grinned. As he got closer to her, he realised how young she looked. He was only thirty two but Claire looked so flawless she could have been college age. He took a step back, in case her age proved the proxemics to be inappropriate.

"You seem to be pretty good at your job, Miss Dearing. Or is it Mrs?" She looked him in the eye and allowed a single giggle to escape her lips as she blushed deeper. She bit her bottom lip and turned away. "I'm only twenty-nine. No need to get married just yet and I'm single." Owen froze for a moment. Could this woman read minds?

"And you, Mr Grady. Or is it Mrs?" He broke away from his trace and laughed loudly at her comment. That, he decided, he hadn't expected her to say, least as operations manager. "I'm both unmarried and single. It's quite lonely actually." She smiled at him and started to walk away. "Nice to meet you Mr Grady."

"Owen. Please, call me Owen." She smiled, walked the few steps back toward him and allowed a small smile to grace her lips. "Owen."

Owen made it a task to run into her as much as possible for the next two weeks but with no avail. 'She works at home' was all he'd get from anyone he'd try to casually ask, always with the follow up of calling him a 'creep' or 'stalker'. He wasn't stalking her. He'd just have liked to see her again.

He sighed as he leant against the trolley, tiredly strolling down the isle. He looked to his left and saw a redhead, about 5'5, reaching for the top of a 7'0 shelf, standing on a 1'0 stool. He grinned at her uncanny resemblance to Claire. Her body shape was identical, not that he'd stared, and her hair was just the right length, but curled loosely.

Then she fell backwards.

Owen was thrown into panic mode as he rushed to her rescue. He caught her instantly in a bridal style as an almost silent scream caught in her throat. She giggled lightly and glanced up at him. "Thank you Mr Gr-" She stopped at the look on his face. "Owen."

"You need help there, Miss Dearing." She nodded slightly and Owen smiled. She insisted that he call her Claire and, in all honesty, it had been harder to not do so. She let out a shocked gasp as he lifted her onto his shoulders.

"Owen!" She held tightly into his head, pulling at his hair. He didn't mind the pain so much, more that he was physically touching Claire. He could imagine another situation in which her thighs were tightly trapping his shoulders in place.

"It's okay, Claire. Just reach for the... what are you trying to get?" She wobbled slightly on his shoulders and grabbed the dinosaur figurine set. He grabbed her by the waist and slowly lowered her back to the ground, enjoying the feeling of her thin waist in his large calloused hands.

"Thank you." He could see how flustered she was and enjoyed it to the full extent. He brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I-I'm getting my nephew a present. It's his birthday next week. He loves these things." Owen nodded. Allowing her to talk about anything and everything as they strolled through the isles.

Then they hit the Alcohol isle. "You know, I absolutely love tequila." Claire tilted her head at him and looked at the bottle in his hands. "Isn't this stuff, really strong?" Owen's mouth dropped.

"You don't drink?" It was a stupid question. Anyone could tell that a woman as work devoted as Claire was, even on first impression, would avoid any type of drug, especially alcohol. "I'm on a diet and it's not that I don't drink. I prefer to stick to wine, red in particular." He smiled lightly at her.

"Shit. That rain's not lookin' good." But you are. He forced the thought to the back of his mind. I will not be corny or weird in front of Claire. She winced beside him at the dark outdoors, rain splashing against the window pane. Who would have thought that the both of them would be late night shoppers and be in the same store.

"Yeah. And I walked here." She wrinkled her nose in disgust of the weather and placed a bottle of strawberry and kiwi flavoured water in her trolley, next to the dinosaur figurines and in a separate area to her groceries. He noticed she didn't have much food in her trolley but had been too nervous to ask her about it. It couldn't be money. It could be the diet. Maybe she had more at home. Why did he care? What difference did it make?

"I could give you a ride." He hadn't even thought to say it. It was as natural as breathing. She smiled at him gratefully. "You... uh... don't have to. I like to swim." She joked lightly, blushing again. He started to sense her innocence and smiled reassuringly.

"I insist. And don't worry, I'm pretty sure the last person who will kidnap you would work in the Police Department." She immediately looked ashamed. He wasn't sure who of but suspected, herself. "Hey, Claire. I'm kidding. You okay?" She nodded and Owen frowned. Why'd he have to go and screw it up.

"Hey. How about that ride?" He once again imagined himself saying that phrase but in a very different situation, including a naked Claire straddling him while he kissed her... he shook his head slightly and she stopped in the isle. He looked to her with a sigh.

"Thank you, Owen." He, once again, released a sigh. She picked up a bar of chocolate with a 'G' on the front with pictures of dinosaurs behind it. "My nephew loves dinosaurs, and white chocolate." Owen smiled in relief, they were talking again.

"Holy Crap. How the hell is it raining so much. We'll be lucky if we don't get a flood. Shit, man." Claire gulped beside him. He mentally face palmed himself. What the hell was wrong with him? He was scaring her. "Where do you live?" He tried to avoid sounding privy, and she stared intensely at the the rain against the windows at the front of the store.

"The roundabout is flooded. Unless we take the two hour long way, I'm waking and I'd prefer to get home soon. I'm fine with walking, honestly, Owen." He looked down at her attire. Jeans, a white linen shirt and a waterproof jacket. She had not been prepared for the downpour, Owen knew that instantly. Not that he'd been wearing any better.

A pair of blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt that was slightly tight against his biceps and hugged closely to his toned chest. He wasn't one to deny that his body was... above average. He took a moment to think.

"I know this sounds crazy, it's better than you catching pneumonia, come stay at my place. Just for the night. I have a spare room." Claire looked deep in thought. He was a service man, he seemed nice and he'd already offered to drive her home. Was he trying too hard? She stopped suddenly and he took only a second to react and stop also.

She looked up to him and smiled nervously. "I... I can trust you, right?" He nodded without making a single mental note. "We work together, Claire. If you feel nervous about coming to my place, text your sister or a friend that you're staying at my place or at least that you're with me due to the storm." She once again, looked ashamed.

"I don't think you'll kidnap me Owen. I've just... you know... never... uh..." Owen's face broke into one of realisation. She blushed again and he tried to think of something, anything to say to make her feel better.

"I've never spent the night... with a guy and I guess it makes me a little... uh... well... uhm..." Owen chuckled slightly.

"Claire. Everything is fine. You can stay at my place until tomorrow morning, given that the rain has cleared up by then. If you feel in any way uncomfortable, I'll sleep in the attic." She giggled and her anxiousness dissipated. "We wouldn't want that would we?" Owen shook his head and followed her to the checkout."

A.N.

This all will make sense very soon. Btw, I hope you like this added feature. I have really enjoyed creating the background for these two and I will continue in every two other chapters, meaning the next one and then two more after two of the present time updates on the story. I hope that makes sense. I'm sorry if the spelling is messing up at some points, I won't lie, I have fat fingers and a small keyboard on my phone. XD I hope you enjoyed.

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Au revoir Dinos!!!

~Kat Rei Anderson