Clawen ♡ Second Time's the Charm

Chapter 13: Being a Thing

Sweat beaded on her forehead as she stepped over a large mound of dirt and almost tripped. Claire sighed. She had been hoping that the intense sunlight would dry off her clothes quickly, but while her clothes did dry effectively, they were now soaked in her sweat due to the hot weather.

She wished, not for the first time, that she had chosen a more suitable outfit. Her blouse clung to her skin and her heels tottered unsteadily on the uneven ground. Ahead of her, Owen was having no trouble walking in his boots and trousers.

"Claire!" he called, beckoning her over to him. She hurried toward his side and immediately wrinkled her nose. There was a horrid stench that floated around this area.

"What is that smell? It's not you, is it?" she asked, her voice muffled as she covered her face with her hands.

"Hopefully not." Owen shrugged nonchalantly. Claire gave him an irritated look and bent down to adjust her pumps. She let out a hiss of pain when her fingers brushed the blisters that had already formed on her feet.

By the time this is all said and done, I'll probably set the world record for the most blisters obtained in a single day. She rubbed the heels of her feet before reluctantly slipping her shoes back on.

"I told you those heels wouldn't be suitable for today." Owen's voice rang out behind her, and she fought to keep her temper in check. We're out here in the jungle and it's two hundred degrees. We had to leave our Jeep behind. My heels are killing me. And now he has to rub it in. Can this day get any worse?

"What other choice did I have? Going barefoot would have been a much worse decision," Claire snapped. The butterflies he had given her were long gone. She desperately wished that they could find her nephews, go home, and finally be able to sort everything out. 

This was the reason why she had chosen to distance herself from her family, why she had chosen to remain single all these years, why she had chosen not to cultivate any relationships with anyone. Relationships were complicated; they messed with her mind and distracted her from what she was trying to get done. And this one was no different.

"God, what the hell are we anyway?" Claire accidentally asked aloud. Her face flamed and she bit her lip, hoping that Owen hadn't heard her. But he did. Of course he did.

"Whatever we want to be," he answered seriously, though he was on the verge of snickering. Claire fought off the blush on her face. Her heart fluttered nervously at his words and she could feel her annoyance slowly melting away.

"What do you think we are?" Owen asked impishly. Claire swallowed.

"I don't know! That's why I asked you. Ugh, just forget that--" she began as she turned around. The sight that greeted her stopped her in her tracks.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked incredulously with her eyes wide open in pure repugnance. Owen had crouched down beside a large clump of dinosaur dung and was calmly rubbing the waste on his arms as if it were lotion.

He sighed-- he should have expected this kind of reaction from Ms. Germaphobe. As Senior Assets Manager, he assumed that Claire would have known something about covering up her scent out in the jungle. She didn't.

"I know that you're used to observing your 'assets' behind a thick wall of glass. But out here, we're on their turf. You need to cover the smell of that vanilla-scented lotion you put on before we got in the Jeep," he explained patiently. Claire stared in disgust as he finished coating his arms lightly.

"I am not putting that on my skin!" she insisted, her voice getting high. Owen rolled his eyes, though he felt the ends of his lips twitch at her high-pitched voice.