Jurassic Romance (Owen Grady Fanfiction)

Owen Grady

"You're late, Ms Hecox!" I grin as Lottie steps out of her car.
"What you going to do, feed me to the Raptors?" Lottie smiles.
She walks up the stairs, tucking her short black hair behind her ears and stands next to me, gazing into the Raptor enclosure.
"Nice outfit."
She turns and glares at me, biting the inside of her cheek and raising her eyebrows. She takes off her black glasses and wipes the glass.
"Are you being sarcastic, Mr Grady?" She says in a posh English accent.
"No, Ms Hecox, I think the camo leggings and the black camisole bring out your eyes." I copy her accent.
"And I think the red in your cheeks agrees." She laughs as she puts her glasses back on and stares at her boots.
"How was your vacation?"
She shrugs. "Alright, I guess. Kids were happy to see me and Ian can talk quite a bit now. At first, it was hard getting him to talk, now it's hard getting him to shut up." She laughs. "And the funny thing is he's so polite. I'll ask him to go to bed, or something, and he'll go 'no thanks mum, I've thought about it and I don't want to go yet' and then I can't resist letting him stay up. How's hide and seek?"
"Getting better. Echo and Delta follow orders fine but Blue is still stubborn. Charlie ... she's really good. Listens to me and I think she respects me."
"The first girl to respect you." She giggles.
"Hey! Where are they?" I mutter, my eyes swerving back into the enclosure.
"How is Charlie?"
Charlie is the newest addition to the raptor family and she's still tiny. Blue, Echo and Delta have welcomed her nicely.
"Still a little nervous around Blue, but as their alpha, I sorted that out." I say, hooking my thumbs in my belt loops and rocking on my heels.
I notice some rustling in the bushes and I point to it. Lottie's blue eyes focus intensely on it. Suddenly, out pops three Raptors chasing each other, making Lottie jump, soon followed by a nervous-looking Charlie.
"Still not focused after your vacation." I grin.
"Hey, I have kids who need me."
"Yeh and their names are Blue, Echo, Delta, Charlie and Owen."
"Missed your mummy did you?" She leans over and pinches my cheek.
"Actually, I did. It was very ... quiet without you."
She stares at me with a cute grin plastered on her face. Shaking her head, she makes her way down the steps and I have to jog to catch up with her.

She stops suddenly and her eyes narrow. I look in her direction and notice Claire Dearing walking towards us.
"Morning, Owen." She says biting her lip. "Lottie." She nods.
"What do you want?" Lottie asks folding her arms.
"I came to speak to Mr Grady."
"Please, call me Owen."
She focusses her attention on me. "We have a new dinosaur, we want you to check its cage..."
Lottie cuts her off. "Paddock! Goddammit. These animals aren't in prison. Have more respect, Dearing, or you'll be living with the Raptor's." Lottie shouts. "I'll be in the car." She lowers her voice, looking over at me.
She walks off and slams the car door, causing Blue to make a warning call.
"What's her problem?" Claire rolls her eyes.
"Maybe it's the fact you treat these animals wrong. This park used to be about the dinosaurs, not money. It's all about mutual respect. That's why you and I never had a second date." I laugh.
She gasps. "Excuse me, I never wanted a second date!"
"Who prints out an itinerary for a night out?" I ask, smirking.
"I'm an organised person." Claire exclaims throwing her hands in the air and tucking a strand of red hair, which escaped from behind her ear, back.
"What kind of diet doesn't allow tequila?" I raise my eyebrow.
"All of them." She rolls her eyes. "And what kind of man shows up to a date in board shorts?"
"It's Central America, it's hot!" I grin.
Claire huffs, clearly annoyed. "Ok, ok. Can we just focus on the asset, please?"
I stare at her shaking my head. "The asset? Look I get it. When you are in charge out here you gotta make a lot of tough decisions, and it's probably easier just to pretend these animals are numbers on a spreadsheet. But they're not. They're alive."
"I'm fully aware that they are alive." She mumbles looking at her nails.
I continue with my speech. "You might have made them in a test tube, but they don't know that. They're thinking, I've gotta eat, I've gotta hunt, I've gotta..." I punch my fist into the air three times. "You can at least relate to one of those things, right?" I smile.
"Anyway, can you?" She becomes serious again, but there is a hint of amusement in her voice.
"Sure, what dinosaur is it?"
"You'll find out." She turns on her heel and gets into her car.
I sigh and join Lottie in the car.
"I'm going to drop you off at the control room-"
"No, I'm coming to the new paddock." She states as I start up the car.
"Why? Claire will just keep on winding you up."
"You need someone to stop her from sticking her tongue down your throat." She looks at me with her dreamy blue eyes and grins. "I heard STD's are nasty."
"Okay, bodyguard/doctor number one!"