Aloha

Written by: @gwendolyngreene

Claire needs someone to work a wedding booked last minute at the park and Owen is the only person who can do the job. He’ll help her on one condition – if she attends as his fake girlfriend to his friend’s wedding in Hawaii. She agrees only because she’s desperate and hopes like hell the weekend doesn’t turn into as much of a disaster as it seems. But surrounded by the lush landscape of the beautiful island and free booze, she discovers that there’s a lot more on the line for both of them than she ever could have thought.

Description:  Owen injures his hands, so Claire has to shave his face for him. Intimacy and fluff.

Chapter 11: Shaving

She was perched on the edge of the bathroom counter top, legs dangling over the edge. Her face was screwed up in concentration and she payed no attention to anything around her as she carefully ran the sharp blade over Owen’s skin. Owen, of course, preferred his barely-there beard, but agreed that for special occasions he would go clean shaven. There was a dinner and banquet later that night they were both expected to attend, and despite yesterday’s setbacks Owen was prepared to go forward as planned.

He stood as still as he could manage, watching every ounce of focus on Claire’s face as she followed the curve of his jaw. There was something in Claire’s eyes whenever she focused on something, but this was the first time Owen had the privilege of such an intense demonstration up-close. Unable to do much more than watch Claire’s eyes flit over his face, he took the time to take in that incredible shade of blue-green that always reminded him of water. Tropical shores with waves crashing on the sand. Lakes trimmed by lazy plants dancing in the breeze. His lagoon, back on the island, and afternoon swims to escape the midday heat. Adventure and travel on the high seas.

It’s been eight months since Owen last saw Claire. Eight months since she walked out of their shared apartment with little more than a goodbye. And now, purely on chance, they’re thrust into each other’s lives once again and have to figure out how to make it work. He’s determined to remind her of when she was happy, but there’s something she’s not telling Owen. In the time since they broke up, something’s happened. The question is, will he figure it out before it removes Claire from of the picture- forever?

Chapter 1

Owen spotted her from across the café. She was stunning. The sight of her made him forget entirely the coffee in his hand as he scanned the room for an empty table. There she was, on the edge of the crowd, drinking from a mug and reading a book. His feet floated him towards her before he even realized he’d started moving. She was sipping from her mug before she noticed Owen standing in front of her, desperately trying to wrap his head around seeing her so suddenly.

“Claire?”

Claire’s head whipped up from her book, wide eyes scanning the room for the source of her name. Then she saw Owen smiling down on her and her face changed.

“Owen?” She nearly whispered.

“It’s been a while.” Owen said, still mindlessly holding his cup of coffee.

“Yeah, that’s for sure.” Claire said. They were silent for a moment. Owen didn’t know what to say. Claire looked like she might not want to say anything at all.

Keep Reading

Mr. Grady was driving. It was a matter of security, because bringing him behind the fence was one thing but she wasn’t about to let him have uninhibited access to Jurassic World’s internal system by handing him her tablet. So instead she sat in the passenger’s seat giving directions towards the pinging little blue dot on the map that was Gyrosphere 07. She’d instructed him to drive straight through the Gyrosphere Valley, right towards where the boys must have crossed the fence. The attraction was completely shut down, save for this one last missing Gyrosphere, so there wasn’t anything in their way.

But wait a second, shouldn’t there be dinosaurs in their way? Claire looked around, trying to find the animals that provided the point to riding around in a Gyrosphere through this valley. She squinted into the horizon on every side, unable to locate a single one.

“Something wrong?” Mr. Grady asked, tossing brief glances towards her, looking over the back seat of the Ranger.

“Where are the animals?” The response was quiet, almost a question to herself instead of an answer to Mr. Grady’s. Her attention was brought back as he applied the brakes. Claire was going to ask him why he stopped, but the answer to both of her questions lay right in front of them.

The light leaking in from the window was warm. It had the orange glow of a just-rising sun and Claire watched as it slowly broke over every object in its path, from glistening rooftop to each strong branch on the trees across the way. It moved slowly, as if taking the time to introduce everything it graced to the new day. It filled the room, brightening the air within, and filled everything with a strong sense of calm.

Calm. That was something Claire knew would be hard to find in the next couple of weeks. But right now, with the warm light basking over the room, with the soft pillow underneath her head, and Owen’s strong arm draped over her side, everything in this moment felt perfect. She didn’t want to change a thing.