Keep Holding On (Owen Grady X Reader)

Chapter One

You loved your job. You'd spent your whole life surrounded by animals, and you'd always known you'd end up working with them, but never in your wildest dreams had you imagined that you'd one day be working with actual dinosaurs. Every day was an adventure since you'd moved onto the island, three years ago, and you genuinely loved your job.

You could tell it was gonna be a rare cold day as you sat on your porch and sipped at your morning coffee, watching the sea rage a few feet past your house. You tilted your head to allow the breeze to caress your warm neck, trying to bring you back down to a normal temperature. You couldn't afford to be ill. Not on the one day Owen had asked you to cover his training session with the raptors. You really didn't want to let him down, so you chugged the rest of your coffee and got to your feet, heading over to his bungalow to see if he was ready.

"Hey Neighbour," a voice called as you rounded the corner and you smiled as you saw Owen sitting on his porch steps, waiting for you. He nodded at the darkening sky and smirked. "Looks like I can't be your eye candy today. Rain means I have to keep my shirt on," he teased, and you chuckled and flipped him off. The two of you were regularly flirting since you'd been working together, innocently so far, but you both knew there was something there. Just neither of you had acted on it yet. Everyone at work thought you were dating, and even one of the ride operators in the main park had once addressed you as "Owens missus". First and probably the last time, though you knew everyone pretty much thought the same, so you'd stopped fighting it a while ago. It probably didn't help that the two of you were always together, flirting and laughing about something. Even his raptors had noticed it, and they watched you whenever you were near. You had yet to go into the paddock with them as the look in their eyes didn't make you think they would take too kindly to you. From where you were standing, it looked like they were jealous of Owens divided attention, and you were not going to give them the opportunity to eliminate any threat to their pack.
Which was why you were somewhat anxious about going solo to cover Owen today, made only worse by the fact you weren't feeling 100%.

Owen picked up on that when you got on his bike behind him and wrapped your arms around him.

"Y/N, you're really hot, are you feeling OK?"

Brushing over how shit you felt, you just squeezed him and chuckled. "Now Owen, I understand that I am indeed very hot, but I ask that you keep your comments strictly professional during work hours."

He scoffed but said nothing more, which was good as you were starting to feel slightly lightheaded and had to focus on keeping your arms around Owen and not throwing up on him.

You were so focused on not passing out that you hadn't even realised you'd stopped until Owen was patting your hands on his stomach and you opened your eyes and realised you were outside the raptor paddock. Feeling your face glow red, you quickly let him go and got off the bike, taking a quick step backwards. "Sorry. You're just too irresistible. I find it hard to tear myself away," you smirked, earning a quick chuckle, but you knew Owen wasn't convinced.

He watched you for another second before turning his bike off and stepping off to stand in front of you, putting a hand on your cheek to feel your temperature. "You sure you feel ok? You don't look so great."

You might have taken offence usually, but you couldn't be bothered with the argument. Instead of saying anything, you moved forward and rested your head on his chest, closing your eyes for a moment. You felt him tense up a little, but then he put his arms around you and rubbed soothing circles into your back.

"Come on Y/N, I'll take you home."

You quickly pulled back and shook your head. "No. You've got that thing today. I'll take it easy and let you make it up to me," you offered with a cheeky smile. Owen took the bait with his usual flirtatious comment.