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Owen had been wanting to ask his new girlfriend something for a while now.New Girlfriend.It had been a few weeks and He still wasn’t used to it.Being with someone, having a woman in his life again, having a girlfriend.Owen couldn’t help but think that maybe he was too old to have a “girlfriend” and that maybe he should say that he has a “partner” or an “other half” instead.Either way, he had been sat cuddled up on the sofa with the woman in question for two and a half hours now and he had something that he really wanted to ask her.
It wasn’t a big question or one that even required a complicated answer but still, he was a little reluctant to ask it all the same.They had been staying at her sister, Karen’s house for almost two weeks now and whilst Owen was grateful to have a place to rest his head, the lack of quality alone time with Claire was beginning to take its toll.Yes, they had their own room to stay in, one where they could shut the world out and get up to all sorts when they thought that everyone was asleep but during the day the house seemed to always be full.Claire’s nephews weren’t back at school yet and Karen had taken some more annual leave so that she and Claire could continue to reconnect.The daytime seemed to fly by and in an effort to spend some more quality time together, Claire and Owen had taken to staying up late in the living room so that they could snuggle up and watch tv or a movie.
This was an activity which Zach (Claire’s oldest nephew) had told them was called “Netflix and Chill” he said that couples only used it as an excuse to make out and do other dirty things to each other.At first Claire and Owen had told Zach that he was being ridiculous, that they genuinely wanted to spend some innocent time catching up with their favourite shows and watching movies but it didn’t take long for them to realise that Zach might have been right after all.Unable to keep their hands of each other for too long, a lot of their nights resulted in steamy sofa sessions that had them both gasping and desperate to scurry upstairs for more.
Tonight’s movie had been chosen by Claire and was called Practical Magic, an older film from her teenage years about witches and as the credits began to roll, Owen realised that even though the movie had literally just finished, there was no way that he could have explained to anyone what it was about.“Claire…” He called, looking down at the beautiful woman resting her head on his chest and smiling.“Yeah…” She answered lazily.
A yawn escaped her mouth before she sat up to face Owen. “Did you enjoy the movie?”“Yeah… it was um… alright.” He responded, with such little enthusiasm that it made Claire raise her eyebrows at him and say,“You hated it didn’t you?”“I wouldn’t say that… I just… well I don’t think I’d watch it ever again that’s all.”“That movie is a classic.” Claire declared, “I was totally obsessed with it when I was a teenager.”“Really, that movie?” Owen gave Claire a judgmental look and earned a gentle slap on the chest in return.“Yes, that movie. Anyways it’s miles better then that God awful western that you made me watch yesterday.”“Hey, you wanna talk about classics, that was a classic.” Owen argued, “Besides, you didn’t even watch it properly. If I recall you spent half that movie fast asleep with your head in my lap.”“You didn’t watch my movie properly either, you kept kissing my neck and you know what that does to me.”
Claire replied, “You better not have left another hickey cause after the last time, I will kill you.”“Uh oh.”“Owen!” She groaned, getting up rapidly off the sofa and running to turn on the living room light. She then quickly made her way over to a mirror that was on a bookshelf so that she could look at her reflection.As Claire peered into the mirror, her neck looked completely normal but then she heard the sound of a deep chuckle and realised that she was being messed with.
“You’re so annoying.” Claire cried, shaking her head at an amused Owen but also breathing a sigh of relief, that in the morning, she didn’t have to face her sister and nephews with the remnants of the night before on her pale skin.“I won’t lie I was tempted though...” Owen said as she went and turned off the light again, leaving them in a room that was only lit by the tv screen and candles that had been lit earlier on in the evening. “I know you love it really.”“Yeah, it feels amazing whilst you do it but it’s so embarrassing the next day, sat at the breakfast table like I’m some horny teenager. I’m in my thirties for God's sake.” Claire sat back down on the sofa and Owen couldn’t help but gaze affectionately at her before he decided to just bite the bullet and ask her.“Can I take you out… like out out, on a date?”There he had finally said it and now that he had said it, he suddenly felt foolish for waiting so long.The reason he had been so hesitant to bring up the subject of a date was because their first and also last date had not gone so well, in fact the evening was a downright disaster from start to finish and Owen cringed whenever he thought of it.He’d also avoided asking Claire to go out with him because he knew that after everything that had happened recently, she was still struggling with being out in public.After having her picture on the front of newspapers for weeks, Claire’s face was one that a lot of people recognised and some of those people would stare, some of those people would even point when they saw her and say stuff.As much as Claire tried to ignore it and pretend like all this new exposure didn’t bother her, Owen could tell that it did and whilst he wanted to protect her, he also wanted them to try and be a proper couple.“A date?” She replied, yawning due to being exhausted and not because the topic of a date bored her… if anything it intrigued her.“Yeah, a date, Y’know couples do that sometimes.” Owen teased, poking her playfully in her ribs. “They actually leave the house once n a while.”“I know what a date is, smart ass.” Claire smiled, “Also what are you talking about? We went out on Monday night.”“We went to the gym, Claire.” Owen pointed out as he pulled her towards him. “And unless you count what we did afterwards in the back of your sister's car, then that wasn’t a date.”“That was so bad of us.” Claire said, although she couldn’t help but grin wickedly when she thought about the antics that she and Owen had got up to in the empty parking lot after their late-night gym session.“Karen will kill us if she ever finds out.” Claire eagerly climbed onto Owen’s lap and kissed him before she added, “I’m still trying to figure out if it was you or the workout that left my legs so sore.”“Hmmm probably me.” Owen murmured but then he pulled away from Claire which was a difficult task for him to do as the sight of her straddling his lap was always one that left him slightly breathless and this time was no exception.Her button up pyjama shirt was undone just enough so that he could get a good view of her cleavage and he could smell the scent of her sweet vanilla shower gel coming from her soft skin as she sat on top of him.
“Anyways don’t change the subject. We were talking about going on a date weren’t we?”“Errr I think it was actually you that brought up the gym topic.” Claire bickered, draping her arms over Owen’s shoulders and sighing before she said, “We tried dating, remember? It didn’t go so well.”“We only tried once and things have changed a lot since then, I think we should try again. I want to take you out for dinner, do it properly this time.”Owen ran a hand through Claire’s hair, down her neck and skimmed his palm down her body as he spoke. He then rested his touch on her lower back, in a place that he had already learned was another sweet spot of hers.“Mmmmmm.” She moaned softly, closing her eyes for a moment before she heard Owen say,“Unless you still don’t want a second date?”“Now now Mr Grady…” She opened her green eyes and arched her back a little, moving ever so slightly against him in a way that made him suddenly exhale.She knew that calling Owen “Mr Grady” gave him a not-so-secret thrill and she relished the stirred look on his face as she continued to speak to him,“Don’t be so hasty, when did I say that I didn’t want a second date?”“That time you came to my bungalow.” He recalled although he didn’t blame Claire for not remembering, especially since that was the same day the “Jurassic World” incident happened.“Really? Well a girl can change her mind, can’t she?” She gazed at Owen who at first, just nodded slowly as he placed his hands on the sides of her thighs.“You really should change your mind…” he began as Claire leant forward and began to gently nibble on one of his ear lobes. “I know…” He pretty much groaned with pleasure, “I know that you…” She had moved on from his ear and was now placing soft kisses along his jawline whilst he struggled to talk, “I know you don’t really like being out but… Please let me take you on a date.”Claire didn’t take too much convincing on the matter. She eventually stopped tracing kisses over Owen’s stubbly cheek for enough time to whisper,“Okay.”
She then moved her mouth so that their lips could meet tenderly and it wasn’t very long before she felt Owen’s hands slide around to her behind. She then giggled into their kiss as he cheekily gave one of her butt cheeks a squeeze.“How does tomorrow sound?” He asked, barley even taking his lips away from hers, so that it came out all muffled.“Hmmm I’m not sure…” Claire pulled away from Owen before she rolled her eyes sarcastically and said, “I mean between listening to Zach & Gray argue all the time and my sister trying to get me to go out and run errands with her, I’m just swamped.” Owen smiled as his wondering hands had now roamed up and underneath the back of Claire’s pyjama top.The sudden feeling of his warm, large hands against her bare skin made her shudder with excitement.“Tomorrow sounds good.” She agreed but then her eyes went wide in a comical fashion, “Oh wait, what am I going to wear? I literally have no clothes, I need more time. Maybe we should make it Saturday night instead.” Claire’s voice had taken a bossier sort of tone and Owen could tell that she was already mentally going through outfits in her head as she sat on top of him.“Hmm am I gonna regret this?” He asked with a grin, his hands still resting underneath her shirt.“Absolutely not.” She breathed as Owen couldn’t help himself much longer and she felt his hips twitch beneath her legs.“Saturday is fine with me then.” He said, with a swift roll of his hips which caused a needy whimper to escape from Claire’s mouth.“Just…” She began, taking in some breath because not only was Owen clearly aroused but he was now gently grazing his fingers across her bare back and it was extremely hard for her to concentrate on anything else, “Just… promise me something, okay.”“What?” Owen asked, intrigued by Claire’s request as she gazed into his eyes and gave him a devilish smile.“No board shorts.”
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Saturday night had arrived much sooner than Claire had anticipated.After having been the one to choose the location for their last date, Claire told Owen that it was his job to find a place for them to go on their next one.Owen got to work straight away and had been kept busy trying to find the perfect place for them to go whilst Claire had spent way too much time contemplating on what she was going to wear.
Eventually she agreed to go to the mall with Karen to try and find a cute date night outfit and after visiting many, many shops, she had eventually bought a few different items to try on when they had got home.“Ugh I hate everything.” Claire groaned, shaking her head at the pile of clothes that were on the bed in front of her. She bit her bottom lip as Karen who was also sat on the bed, shook her head.“What are you talking about? This skirt is incredible.” Karen held up a short, black, patent skirt which she knew would look ridiculously good on her little sister, who was now pacing back and forth. “Claire, are you nervous about tonight?”“No…” Claire began, but she couldn’t hide her apprehension about the evening ahead.“Claire?”“Okay… Maybe I’m a little bit nervous. I just don’t wanna screw this up. The last time we went out, I got really dressed up and Owen? Well, Owen turned up in board shorts.”“Oh dear.” Karen practically snorted, the idea of Owen thinking that board shorts were good date attire a comical one and when she pictured the look on Claire's face, she laughed even more.“Not only that, but he also turned up late and the whole night just went downhill from there.” Claire said as she reached out and took the black skirt from Karen. She sighed at it before shaking her head dramatically. “Ugh Karen help me, what do I wear?”“Claire, honestly? I don’t think it matters what you wear, that man is totally obsessed with you.”“You think?” Claire smiled coyly and looked slightly thrilled at the prospect of being obsessed over.“He cannot keep his eyes or his hands off you.” Karen nodded, pleased to see that her little sister looked genuinely happy even if she was a little jealous of her. “Trust me."“Okay… well that still doesn’t help me. I mean I still have to find something to wear.” Claire moaned as she rummaged through some of the clothes that were piled on the bed.“Just go with the skirt, it’s kind of trashy, he’ll love it.”“Hey!” Claire gasped, giving Karen a playful push, “You said that you liked it when I bought it.”“I do like it, I’m messing with you.” Karen laughed as Claire held the skirt up against herself whilst she looked in the mirror. “Where are you two going tonight anyway?”“Just this Italian place in the city. Owen found it and said that he read loads of good reviews online. Apparently, it’s nice and cosy and everyone says it’s a great place for a date.” Claire said, with an air of excitement in her voice that Karen hadn’t heard her have in the longest time.“I’m glad you two are going out, you both deserve to have a nice time.”“Yeah… I think we do.” Claire agreed, staring at herself in the mirror again. She knew that time was ticking on and that she an Owen were due to leave the house in just over an hour. The last thing that she wanted to do was to keep him waiting, so eventually she decided that she would just wear the black leather skirt after all.She put it on after having a quick shower and couldn't help but liked the way it clung to her hips.
As much as she hated to admit it, Karen was right… Owen was going to love it.To try and dress the figure-hugging skirt down a little and make her outfit a little more casual, Claire chose a grey long-sleeved top which she tucked in and then added some black heels that she had bought in the new year's sale.She brushed her hair back into a short ponytail, put in some small silver hooped earrings and a dainty necklace before applying some light make up to her porcelain skin.Meanwhile Owen had opted for a soft white shirt and had tucked it in to some light grey chino trousers. He had unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt in his own attempt to dress down his outfit and of course he was ready a long time before Claire was.She had been getting ready upstairs with Karen for company whilst he was in the living room with Claire’s nephews Zach and Gray.They were all sat on the sofa watching the highlights of a football game when Zach had noticed that Owen kept glancing up at the large clock on the wall.“So, you nervous?” Zach asked.“Nope.” Owen replied, shaking his head but then he couldn't help but ask, "Why? Should I be nervous?"“I don’t know, Aunt Claire just seems like she would be a tough woman to impress that’s all.” Zach replied and his little brother couldn’t help but nod in agreement."Yeah... I bet you guys going somewhere really fancy.” Gray said as Owen looked up at the clock once more.“Not really.” He began, “It’s just a quiet little place and as for your aunt, She’s honestly not as tough as she makes out…” Owen stopped talking when he heard the sound of some footsteps coming down the stairs.He almost jumped off the sofa in excitement and had to force himself to slow down as he made his way into the hallway where he found that both Karen and Claire were stood together at the bottom of the staircase.“Damn.” he breathed, unashamedly giving Claire the once over with his eyes and immediatley liking what he saw.“Don’t mind me.” Karen smirked before she decided to leave the two of them alone and headed into the living room. Owen just continued to stare at Claire in awe for a moment.Over the past few weeks, he had pretty much only seen her wear loungewear, underwear, and pyjamas and whilst he thought that she looked absolutely stunning all the time, seeing her dressed up in a tight skirt and in heels suddenly had his heart racing.It reminded him of how he felt on the rare times that he would see her at work, she'd always have an amazing outfit on and his colleagues would always catch him staring at her.“Hey.” She blushed because the way that she was being looked at by her new boyfriend made her own heart feel like it had skipped a couple of beats.“Hey." He smiled, "Claire, you look… good enough to eat.” He had already approached her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before he looked her up and down once more in appreciation. “I’m serious, you look so sexy.”“Thank you… no shorts I see.” She grinned.“Do I look like I have a death wish?” Owen remarked as Claire nodded at his own outfit in approval.She could tell that he had made an effort but also that he hadn’t tried too hard to look like someone that he wasn’t. She leant in and gave Owen a slow and sultry kiss before she quietly said to him,“Mmm so handsome.”The pair of lovers gave each other some more adoring looks before it became clear that if they didn’t get a move on, they wouldn’t be able to fight the urge to head back up stairs.“So… no itinerary tonight then?” Owen smirked, remembering how on their last date, Claire had printed out a strict itinerary for their evening, something that he had mocked… a lot.“Oh I have one… but the only thing on it, is stuff like this…” Claire put her arms around around Owen’s neck and kissed him once again. This time, her kiss was a lot filthier than the first. Her tongue slid in his mouth, giving him a quick taste before she reached round and cheekily squeezed him on the behind, digging her nails in before she said, "I love your tight butt."“You’re in a frisky mood tonight… maybe we should just stay here and do this.” Owen breathed, unable to stop himself from holding Claire against to him, even when she tried to pull away.“Oh no you don’t Mr Grady, we are going on this date…” She gave him a light tap on his chest as she spoke, “And since I paid last time, you owe me a dinner.”“In my defence you didn’t even give me a chance to pay.” Said Owen, “You handed your credit card over so quickly that I almost got whiplash trying to stop you and I wanted to get a dessert.”“Well, I just wanted to get out of there. I was so furious with you, Owen. For many reasons.”“Hmmm probably something to do with the fact that I arrived so late… or maybe because I made fun of your to do list.”
Owen shuddered a little when he remembered how he had treated Claire on their date, after thinking about it, he felt as if he had been a little mean to her and he wished that he could go back in time and do things differently.“Or…” She raised her eyebrows, “Maybe it was the two shots of tequila that you downed before we’d even ordered our main courses?”“Yeah, well that’s not totally my fault, I ordered us one each and you refused it… Also, If I’m honest I needed something to calm my nerves.”“You were nervous?” Claire asked as Owen finally let go of her.“Hell yeah I was nervous, I was on a date with the Claire Dearing, not just anyone gets a date with the Claire Dearing.”“Hey, stop calling me, the Claire Dearing.” She laughed, looking down at her feet as if she was embarrassed.“Claire, you were famous for saying no to dates, everyone at work said so. I knew that I was stupidly lucky that you had said yes and not only that… well I was in board shorts for crying out loud” Owen couldn’t help but snigger as he pictured how he must have looked turning up to a five-star restaurant in his grey camouflage shorts.“The less said about those shorts the better…” Claire began, she reached forward and began to fiddle with the undone buttons on his shirt as she admitted, “But If it makes you feel any better, I was nervous too.”“You were?”“Yep, Really nervous. I didn’t admit it to myself at the time but I was really crushing on you.” Confessed Claire, who made Owen smile, “Somehow you had already got under my skin and we hadn’t even been out on a date yet. It kinda scared me a little, I think that’s why I had to have so much control of everything.”“So we were both nervous…” He nodded, “No wonder it went so wrong.”“Well tonight’s date isn’t going to be like that.” Claire assured with a confident nod.“So you’re not nervous then?”“I’d be lying if I said that earlier I wasn’t feeling a little… anxious about it all but that’s only because I like you so much and I really want things to go well.”“Awww so cute.” Owen teased, pulling Claire close to him once again and wrapping both arms around her waist.“Shut up.” She giggled.“Claire, there’s no reason to be nervous. We’re only going for dinner. We’re going to have a great time.”
“You’re right, we are and if you're very… very lucky, you can have some dessert this time.” Claire grinned, giving Owen a wink and before either of them knew it, they were both kissing again.This kiss was a passionate one.This was the kind of kiss that they could have easily got lost in had they not heard the rather loud sound of someone very familiar calling out,“Don’t you two have a dinner reservation to get to?”Claire and Owen sprang apart to find an amused Karen stood in her living room door frame with her arms crossed.
“We do.” Claire cleared her throat awkwardly whilst Owen nodded and said,“Yeah, we’re going, we’re going.”“Good. Get out of here and stop clogging up my hallway.” Karen smiled, waving them both towards the door and giving them no option but to head out of it. “Have a good time, Okay?”“Oh we will.” Owen nodded as Claire quickly grabbed a set of keys from a console table that was underneath a large mirror. She gave her reflection the once over before she smiled excitedly and said,“Bye Karen.”“Bye!” Karen called back, “I want you both back here by midnight.” She joked as Claire opened the door and Owen followed her out.They both laughed as the door closed behind them and when they were both finally out of the house, they both took a deep breath and were thinking the exact same thing.
Here we go.
This is it.
Our second date.
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“I’m looking forward to this, I’m so hungry.” Claire said, as she and Owen walked into the little Italian bistro together.He just smiled at her instead of replying, whilst a waiter accompanied them over to a cosy table for two in a quiet corner of the restaurant.The waiter placed two menus down on the table as Owen pulled out a chair and gestured for Claire to sit down on it.“Thank you.” She gushed, looking impressed because so far, Owen had also opened the door to the taxi for her and the door to the restaurant. “Who knew you were such a gentleman?”“You haven’t seen anything yet, I’m going to be so well behaved tonight, you’ll barely recognise me.” Owen smirked as he sat down opposite her.“Hmmm, I’ll believe that when I see it.” Claire grinned as she took the cloth napkin off the table and put it on her lap.Owen watched her for a moment with a caring expression on his face as he leant forward and asked,“You good?”He knew that being out in public was still something that Claire found difficult but as they began to look through the menus, there was was no staring, no pointing in their direction and it was clear that not one person in the room seemed to care who they were or what they were doing.“I’m good.” Claire nodded, smiling so broadly that Owen could tell that she was telling him the truth. “This place is really nice and romantic. You chose well.”“Hey, don’t thank me, thank trip advisor.”The restaurant was an intimate place and probably only had enough tables to serve thirty or so people. Even though it was small it still managed to be ornate and upscale.There was soft jazz music filling the air, loud enough so it could be heard but not so loud that people couldn’t have a conversation.They decided to share an arancini appetiser and a bottle of fancy white wine. Owen ordered a plate of seafood spaghetti whilst Claire had gone for a Truffle and Parmesan Tagliatelle.“So… tell me about yourself then.” She grinned with a glass of wine in her hand.“Really?”“Yeah, I mean I know we’ve been together for a couple of weeks now but I bet there’s a tonne of stuff we don’t know about each other yet, So go on, tell me something.”“Hmmmm” Owen began, “Well for starters… I can’t keep my damn eyes off you.”“Owen…” Claire rolled her eyes but she was unable to stop her lips from curving upwards into a flattered smile.“I mean it, I’m finding it ridiculously hard to control myself right now.”“And this is you behaving, is it?” Asked Claire as she put her glass down.“I’m trying.” Owen chuckled.“Come on, Owen.” Claire reached across the table and gently took hold of his hand which made his expression change from amused to affectionate. “Tell me something that I don’t know about you yet.”“Okay… let me think.” He mused for a moment, his fingers interlaced with Claire’s in a way that made her beam down at them. After a moment or so he eventually said, “Right, I got something… I play guitar.”“Guitar, really?” Claire responded, almost not believing Owen at first until he gave her a genuine nod.“Yes really and well, I don’t wanna blow my own trumpet but I’m pretty good at it too. My pops taught me back when I was a kid and he used to be in a band. It’s probably the only hobby that I’ve actually kept up with from my childhood.”“Wow…” Claire licked her lips slowly in a way that almost drove Owen wild.“I sing… sometimes too.” He added, looking slightly sheepish to admit that he sang but also utterly enjoying the rather enthralled look on Claire’s face.“Are you kidding?”The news of Owen’s secret talent gave Claire such a thrill that she found herself imagining being serenaded by him and just the thought of it alone made her quickly grab her wine glass to take another sip.
“Claire, what are you thinking about?”
“I wanna hear you play.” She replied, staring at Owen so intently that it he could hardly stand it. “First thing tomorrow we’re going out to get you a new guitar.”“Okay.” Owen laughed but something about the naughty look in Claire’s eyes told him that she was being one hundred percent serious. “Come on then, your turn. Any childhood hobbies that you still take part in?”“Not really…” Claire began, she thought about all the different clubs her parents had made her join and realised that she hadn’t even remotely kept up with anyone of them. “When I was a little kid, I used to dance. My parents put me in this class which I kinda hated so I stopped that as soon as I could… Yeah I don’t really have hobbies… unless you count yoga class.”“You do yoga?”“Yeah, well I used to anyway. Work was… kinda stressful at times so if I needed to unwind then I would go to the classes at the resort.”“Ahhh well, that explains how you’re so flexible then.” Owen smirked, earning a gentle kick underneath the table from Claire.They both continued to talk about their childhoods for a bit, talking about some of the parts of their lives that they hadn’t already discussed over the past few weeks.Owen talked about how he had ended up in the navy and Claire talked about how she ended up the manager of Jurassic World.“Anyways it ended up being between going into law school or the bright minds program. I chose the internship on the island and the rest is history.” Claire said as their appetiser course arrived at the table, the waiter placed it down in between the pair who both said thank you to him.“You would have been such a badass lawyer.” Owen smiled at Claire who sighed bitter sweetly at him and said,
“I’d like to think so… I wonder where I would be right now if I had never moved to Isla Nublar.”“I know one thing, you probably wouldn’t be sat here with me.” Owen said, “We probably would have never even met.”“Well, I’m glad we did meet.” Claire smiled, before she picked up her fork and took some of the steaming hot food in front of her. “Really glad.”“Me too.” Owen replied, before he began to eat too and as they tucked in to their meal, their conversation flowed wonderfully.The topic fleeted from Zach (who was currently and shamelessly using his Jurassic World trauma to date two girls at the same time) to Karen’s neighbours' dog who was called Chunky and who seemed to have a slight hatred for Owen.It wasn’t too long before the subject of Owen and Claire’s first date had come up again.“I actually have a confession to make about that night.” Owen smiled as a waiter collect their empty appetiser plates.“You do?” Claire asked curiously, “How intriguing, Go on.”“I errr fell asleep.”“What?”“Before our first date, I fell asleep because I’d been up working till the early hours catching up with some reports. When I woke up I only had a few minutes before I was supposed to meet you…” Owen looked slightly embarrassed and Claire had to hold in a laugh as he continued, “Anyways, I hadn’t done any laundry in days and I had no clean pants so I just decided that I’d roll with the shorts that I was already wearing.”“You could have just told me that.” Claire shook her head at him, thinking how different things might have been if he had been honest with her instead of pretending that he had chosen to wear shorts because it was hot.“Yeah, I could have done but I was scared that if I told you all that then you would think that I wasn’t taking our date seriously.” He sighed.“But somehow you thought that arriving so late with the outfit that you had on would make me think otherwise?” Claire asked, one of her eyebrows raised expertly as she grinned at the man before her.“In hindsight I wish that I had of just been honest.” Owen nodded, “But I let my stupid pride get in the way and it ruined our date. I tell ya, when I got home, I got so wasted, I was so pissed at myself for messing things up.”“Hey…” Claire interjected, “It wasn’t totally your fault, I mean I can definitely admit that maybe I was taking our date too seriously. I was taking myself too seriously too… It’s funny because when I got home from our date… Well I did some very different to you.”“Oh yeah? What’d you do?”“Well…” Claire began and as her cheeks flushed a little pink, Owen was fascinated to hear what she had to say next, “I got undressed, got into bed and…” She paused for a moment and watched Owen take a sip of his drink before she continued, “I fantasised that I’d invited you back with me.”“You serious?” Owen spluttered, almost chocking.“Dead serious. Don’t get me wrong, that date was awful but even in those ridiculous shorts you were still the hottest guy that I’d ever seen.” Claire grinned, enjoying the almost pained look on Owen’s face as he listened to what she was saying, “Also, it had been a while… y’know and you left me feeling very frustrated, I had to do something.”“I left you huh? Weren’t you the one who practically jumped into a taxi and left me on the sidewalk?”“Yeah but you didn’t try to stop me.”“I really really wish I had done.”“Me too.” Claire agreed, “As I said, I was pretty hard up by the end of the night. Honestly… had you tried hard enough, you could have had me bent over in your bungalow in a matter of seconds.”“Claire.” Owen exhaled, her bluntness almost taking his breath away, “Don’t, I have so many regrets about that night as it is.”“Look at the bright side…” smiled Claire, “We’re definitely going home together tonight so it’s all good.”Their main courses soon arrived and both Claire and Owen agreed that their food was divine.They both finished every last bit which was rare for Claire these days as her appetite was all over the place.For the first time, she wasn’t feeling self conscious of those around her which also made her feel at ease.Nobody in the restaurant seemed to care who she was or who she was with, although Claire had to admit that if she were to be seen out, she was glad it was when she was looking good and when she was with someone as gorgeous as Owen.Somehow having him on her arm didn’t make everything seem so bad.At one point in the evening, Claire had got up from the table to go the bathroom. Whilst she was there, she quickly checked on her hair and make up in the mirror, not that she needed to of course because whilst she sauntered back to her seat, Owen watched her adoringly and said,“You look so hot in that skirt.” Claire didn’t answer him, she just sat back down at the table with a slightly sheepish look that she always did when he gave her compliments about her appearance.She still wasn’t used to how Owen somehow had the knack of making her feel like she was the sexiest woman alive.“I mean it. I’ve always loved your legs… and your ass.”“Thank you.” Claire eventually replied, her cheeks were slightly pink as she sat opposite him and after he lustfully stared at her some more, she said, “Owen… stop looking at me like that.”“Like what?” He grinned.“Like you are mentally undressing me.” Claire said in a hushed tone as a waiter passed them by.“I can’t help it.” Owen smiled, his green eyes full of lust as he said, “I can’t stop wondering what underwear you have on.” He almost whispered.“Now that’s not very gentlemanly of you, Mr Grady.” Claire smirked, taking a large sip of wine as Owen leant closer to her and said a husky,“Number one, I’ve told you what it does to me when you call me Mr Grady and Number two, I couldn’t help but notice that you always seem to have matching underwear on. Is that for me or is that something that you always do cause you are super organised?”“You’ll never know.” Claire replied, her voice sultry as she fluttered her eye lashes and moved closer to him, “And as for tonight… who’s to say that I even have underwear on at all.”Owen’s eyes went wide at the thought of Claire sat before him with nothing on underneath her skirt and top, he took a sharp breath as he then felt something gently brush against one of his legs.“Claire.”“Whoops… this table is a little cramped isn’t it.” Claire gave Owen a playful smile as she grazed a foot against him once more, only this time a little higher.“Listen…” He exhaled, “I know I said I was going to behave tonight but I swear to god if you keep doing what you’re doing and looking at with me that kinky look in your eye then we’re gonna have to head to the bathroom or something.”“Hey, we’ve talked about this, I don’t do public bathroom sex.”“Yeah well there’s a first time for everything, I’ll wear you down one day.” Owen grinned which made Claire shake her head and say a firm but almost intoxicating.“I mean it. Mr Grady.”Owen didn’t have time for a smart or even a coherent response because their waiter had returned to their table to collect more empty plates.“Thank you.” Claire said, smiling sweetly at the waiter. “The food was lovely.”“Yeah thanks.” Owen practically spluttered because once again, he felt Claire’s foot press against him.The waiter was none the wiser and smiled at both of them before asking,“Would you both like to see the dessert menu?”“Yes please.” Claire nodded, her foot now practically in Owen’s lap as she said very direct, “You want some, right Owen?”“Absolutely.” Owen cleared his throat before the waiter nodded and walked away from them and leaving them alone. “So I get to have dessert this time huh?”“Oh you definitely get dessert…” Claire began, her foot sliding up and down his leg slowly and causing Owen to shift in his seat. “You just gotta decide if you want it here… or to go.”“Hmm what a dilemma?” Owen smiled, reading Claire’s seductive expression and tone of voice.As much as there were many exquisite things on the menu that would satisfy his sweet tooth, there was nothing that tempted him more right now then the woman sat opposite him.“To go it is.”