Disclaimer :As much as I wish otherwise, I do not own Randy Orton or any other entity associated with WWE. I can only claim property rights of OC.
Randy knew his little prank back at the mall had infuriated Claire. He would have been able to tell that even if she had spoken a word since they'd gotten into the car. As soon as they had arrived at the airport she had pulled out her iPod. She was sitting a few seats away, her knee bouncing in time to whatever it was she was listening to. She didn't look anywhere but straight ahead.
Randy's gaze slowly moved over her. He couldn't help himself. After she had gotten in his face at the mall, he was intrigued. Women had one of two reactions: instant attraction or instant fear. They either wanted to go to bed with him or they ran away like scared rabbits. Claire didn't respond to him they way most women did. She had gotten mad; very mad. She had actually raised her hand to him. No woman had EVER come close to doing that. Hell, he knew men that didn't have the balls to do that. But Claire had stood there, eyes sparking with anger. Randy had felt a flicker of heat along his spine when she had moved to do it the second time. Claire was definitely in a class by herself.
His eyes moved across the aisle to Cody, who was brooding. He kept hovering close to Claire like a nervous moth. He wanted to tell Cody to park his ass, to stop acting like a nervous old woman. Claire had proven she could take care of herself. She sure as hell didn't need Cody to defend her.
Randy's gaze moved back to Claire, taking in the high color staining her cheeks. She had pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail. He could see the muscles of her jaw working – she was grinding her teeth. For the first time Randy really looked at her. He had never noticed how dark her blue eyes were or the line of freckles across her cheeks. He'd never noticed that her mouth was a little wide but her lips were a full, soft pink. Claire had a softness to her features that was femininely attractive. There was something about her that made it hard to look away.
Claire's jaw hurting from grinding her teeth. She was trying so hard not to turn her head to return Randy's mocking stare. She wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. Instead she turned her iPod up loud enough to drown out everything. She blew out a deep breath and closed her eyes. She let the sounds of the music carry her away. If only she could find a way to make Randy less of an asshole. If only she knew how to get past all the bullshit and get to what really made Randy tick. Too bad that was never going to happen.
The feel of someone softly shaking her shoulder startled Claire from a restless dozing. She sat up in her chair and blinked the haze from her eyes. Cody reached down, took her hand and gently pulled her from her seat. "Plane's starting to board."
Claire pulled her earphones off and looked around. "How long was I out?"
Cody shrugged, "Not long."
Claire stretched, working her stiff muscles. She was dreading the idea of being stuck in a small, enclosed space for the next few hours. What she needed was a nice, long run. Running always helped relieve stress. Come to think of it, Claire couldn't remember the last time she had been able to hit a treadmill. Following behind Cody, she worked her jaw, still feeling the ache from all the grinding she'd been doing. Claire could only hope that the next few hours would pass quickly.
* * * * * * * *
The semi-darkness of the plane suited Randy. It made it harder for anyone to realize he was watching Claire so intently. He looked past Claire, over to Cody, making sure that he was still snoring away beside her. He sure as hell didn't want anyone to realize he couldn't pull his eyes away from Claire. Randy watched Claire as she slept. She was sitting across the aisle from him, her head resting against against the back of her seat. She hadn't moved in the last 45 minutes. He knew how long it had been because he had timed it. He'd watched everything since the second she had closed her eyes.
Randy kept looking at Claire, trying to figure her out. Why wasn't she afraid of him? Why wasn't she tempting him to join her on the first available flat surface? Everybody wanted something from him. Everybody except for Claire. She didn't want anything from him; which he wasn't used to at all. He sure as hell hadn't met a women who wasn't marking him for one reason or another. He'd never met a woman he couldn't read – until he had met Claire. She kept her emotions bottled so tightly inside. He wondered if she ever allowed herself to feel anything besides the anger. He would love to find out what it would take to entice her into something more seductive than anger. She was so enchanting with the heat of anger in her eyes. He could only imagine what she would look like with the flames of passion dancing in the depths of her blue eyes. It would draw him like a moth to a flame. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't figure her out. Randy knew Claire would rather sleep in a pit of vipers than find herself in a "situation" with him. If she only knew how fitting that was.
Ted glanced back at his copy of Newsweek before Randy caught him. He knew Randy had watched Claire from the moment she had snuggled into her seat and closed her eyes. He had the feeling that things were going to get critical. Nobody could have seen this coming, especially not poor Claire. She was stuck in the middle of this testosterone fest by no choice of her own. She had no clue that both Cody and Randy would find themselves attracted to her. He knew neither one of them would admit it. Cody would be too shy to admit he felt anything for pretty Claire. Randy would deny that she was even in his league. Too bad neither of them realized they were both trying to mark their territory with her. Ted could only hope that their friendship would be able to withstand this test.
Randy finally tore his gaze away from Claire when the Fasten Seatbelts sign came on. It would only be a matter of minutes before she woke up. He had only a few stolen moments to be with her when she wasn't totally pissed at him. Too bad she had been asleep the whole time.
***A/N – please read and review. What do you guys think? ***
