For all those who requested it...here it is. If you haven't read Before Jurassic World this won't make much sense so I'd suggest checking it out first. For all those who have, I really hope you enjoy this. I've got a couple of chapters already, but if you have a request let me know and I'll give it a shot.

Disclaimer: I own Jo and that's about it.

*Little update for those checking this out for the first time, the sequel to Before Jurassic World is up. It's called Sins of the Father, check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Chapter 1 – First Impressions

When I left the Navy I thought for sure I'd never work for another organization with as many asinine policies and procedures. I mean, come on, the Government is so ass backwards working at Jurassic World should be tame by comparison, right?

No.

Hell no.

I was so tired of attending ridiculous meetings or being harped on to file a report I was seriously considering bodily harm to the next person who brought it up.

If I thought the paperwork and the logistics associated with this job were tedious they were nothing compared to Claire Dearing. That woman was determined to remove the balls of every man on this island and store them in her office for safekeeping. I steadfastly avoided her at all cost because frankly she was too intense for me, and that's saying something.

I'd only made the extensive journey to headquarters today in order to stop the stalker style phone calls her assistant was making on a daily basis to the raptor paddock. I was afraid I'd have to tranquilize Barry if he was forced to run interference for me again.

The meeting with her had gone about as well as expected since I was dealing with a woman who was about as flexible as concrete. I'll be completely honest; I didn't get what she was so riled up about. So it has been a year and I have no email, is that really any reason to get your panties in a twist? I prefer face-to-face communication over technology or at least I normally did. Right now I'd take smoke signaling over having to endure another minute of hearing Claire reference corporate policy regarding e-mail. She'd even pulled out a 3 ring binder that was about 10 inches thick and was now digging through it to show me the rules in black and white. The fact that the rule book was bigger than War and Peace was painful.

As I continued to sit here, mute, Claire continued to bombard me with corporate policy accompanied by some pretty serious glowering. Claire was under the impression I'd made a conscious choice to deviate from every policy she had in place simply to spite her. I didn't have the heart to tell her it actually had nothing to do with her at all. I just didn't like paperwork or technology, that's why I had Barry. I took this job for one reason and one reason only, the raptors. Everything else was just white noise.

As it turns out the Operations Manager held a somewhat different opinion, and she held it pretty loudly. If Claire hadn't been so flustered by my all this I would have found the crack in her normally aloof personality amusing. She was so worked up at this point I was pretty sure her talking now equated to yelling, and it appeared as if she was having a hard time not hitting me. I wanted her to stop shrieking and I wanted out of this office, that's the only explanation I can come up with for what happened next.

"Go out with me," I blurted out.

Even in my own head I was asking myself 'what the fuck'. If ever there were two people more ill-suited for each other it was Claire and me. I mean, sure, she was gorgeous; if you liked your women as welcoming as an ice palace.

Maybe I just wanted to see what she'd say? Maybe I wanted her to stop yelling at me? Maybe I needed a lobotomy? Whatever I was thinking it was too late to turn back now, the gauntlet had just been thrown down.

"What?" Claire answered, bewildered. Her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head.

I cleared my throat awkwardly and tried to avoid shifting my weight, "Would you like to go out with me sometime? In the future. Together."

Jesus Christ I was an idiot. I should have just kept my mouth shut and let her yell.

"You want to go out with me?" She sounded so unsure of herself. It was such a departure from the normally put together and confident Claire I immediately felt like an asshole.

"Yeah. What do you say?" Who knows, maybe this wouldn't end with either of us dead on the side of the road. I'm nothing if not an optimist.

She bit her lip, clearly having a hard time wrapping her head around the idea of us on a date. Yeah, that made two of us. She seemed to come to some kind of decision as she demurely tucked her hair behind her ear, and turned her attention to her computer screen. She furiously typed away on the keyboard, and I was wondering if this was going to be the worst rejection in the history of mankind.

"I believe I have a few openings later this week or we could try to schedule something for early next week. I need to check with my assistant first, but I can have her put together a few options and give you call to finalize the details," she said, looking at me expectantly.

Yep, I knew I was screwed the minute I opened my mouth.

"I'm sorry, what?" I was confused. She was consulting her calendar and her personal assistant in order to plan a date?

"My assistant, Zara, will call you later today and you can let her know what time works for you. If you let her know the location as well she will make sure it gets on my schedule."

It took all the strength I possessed to plant a smile on my face as I stood up, slowly backing towards her door, "I can't wait."

I quickly exited her office, closing the door, and leaning up against the wall. How the hell did I get myself into these situations? I covered my face with my hands furiously trying to think of a way out of what was sure to be a less than enjoyable experience. I thought about just cancelling when her assistant called, but the hopeful look on her face when I'd asked her out kept flashing through my mind. If I didn't know any better I'd think Claire Dearing didn't get asked out a lot, if ever. She was a gorgeous, smart, talented woman, but her all work and no play demeanor probably had most guys giving her a wide birth. She looked like about as much fun as a hemorrhoid at times.

I pushed off the wall heading to the elevator making up my mind to keep the date no matter what I had to endure. It was only one night and I refused to hurt Claire simply because I had a problem thinking before I opened my mouth. She deserved better than that, and I would give it to her. Stepping on the elevator I hit the button for the lobby hoping like hell I could get out of here before I asked someone else out inadvertently.

I was so caught up in my own head I almost missed the blur that was Zara darting passed me to get on the elevator. I moved to the side looking back at her with a tight smile knowing a very uncomfortable conversation with her was in my future. I needed to get out of this building and back to the raptor paddock, now.

I quickly moved to get off the elevator, but before I could get out I slammed into someone. My head whipped around just in time to see a woman lurch backwards, her duffle bag and sunglasses crashing to the floor. My hands shot out grabbing her by her upper arms attempting to keep her upright.

"Shit," she muttered, trying to right her footing. I released her arms as she turned without acknowledging me to collect her discarded belongings.

"My bad. I didn't see you there. Are you OK?" I asked as she turned around to face me.

The first thing I noticed was that she was tall, probably around six feet if I had to guess. She was dressed casually in a pair of lose fit denim jeans, a black tank top covered by a short, gray hooded jacket rounded out by a pair of well-worn flip flops. It was such a drastic departure from the woman I had just left I couldn't help but smile.

Her long brown hair had streaks of gold running through it that seemed to shimmer when the sun filtering through the lobby windows hit them. Somehow I just knew the look was natural, and I immediately worried I'd need to revoke my Man Card for knowing something like that. I needed to go crush a beer can over my head or something to ensure I didn't spontaneously grow a vagina.

The long strands of hair were loose and running down her back in a style that wasn't quite straight, but wasn't curly either. I had seen woman on the island attempt to recreate this look to no avail, but something about this woman told me the look was entirely unintentional. It looked like she'd rolled out of bed, put on the first thing she saw, and forgot to brush her hair. It was quite endearing, and refreshing.

Her face was devoid of any makeup and I noticed dark circles under eyes, no doubt caused by the long journey to Costa Rica. When her eyes finally met mine it felt like taking a punch to the gut. A spectacular ring of gold unlike anything I'd ever seen circled her amber brown eyes, and I felt myself swallow hard at the sight. At first glance the woman standing in front of me looked unremarkable, but upon closer inspection she was breathtaking.

The most amusing part was the way she was unabashedly checking me out. I felt like a piece of meat hanging out for a hungry carnivore. If this is what women felt like when men checked them out I totally got why we ended up getting slapped 9 times out of 10. I was having a hard time being upset as her eyes raked over me from head to toe. As much fun as it was to stand here as she inspected me I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand still without evening the playing field, and something told me I might receive a black eye for my trouble.

I cleared my throat, attempting to gain her attention, and ascertain whether she was capable of actual speech.

"I'm sorry, what?" she stuttered, a slight blush creeping across her face.

"Are you OK?" I questioned, taking care to enunciate each word slowly. I saw irritation flare in her eyes and smothered a laugh.

"Yeah, fine. Thanks," she answered, slipping past me onto the elevator. I couldn't help, but smirk at her attempt to appear unfazed by our meeting.

"See ya around," I called out as the doors began to close slowly. She flashed me a sarcastic thumbs up and I couldn't help but laugh because I'm pretty sure she would have much rather flipped me the bird. This was just too much fun.

I spent the drive back to the raptor paddock racking my brain to identify the mystery woman from the lobby. Maybe Barry had a point about paying attention in meetings because for the life of me I had no idea who she was. Most new arrivals were well publicized, but somehow this woman had flown in completely under the radar.

Barry was waiting for me as I parked near the paddock stairs. "Well, I'm back and relatively unscathed," I told him.

"If you would just answer your emails you wouldn't have to go to the principal's office all the time."

"Yes, but in order to do that I'd have to have an email account. Let's not put the cart before the horse buddy," I said making my way to the office. I could practically feel Barry rolling his eyes.

"So, other than a minor tongue lashing, Ms. Dearing let you off easy?" he inquired, falling into step with me.

I paused, debating the merit of letting Barry in on my accidental date situation, but given the fact the entire island would probably know before nightfall I decided to come clean.

"Well, it there was a lot of huffing and yelling and I wasn't sure there was an end in sight so…"

"So?" Barry prompted me to finish as we walked in our shared office.

"So, I ended up asking her out."

Barry paused midway to his desk staring at me like I had a dick growing out of my forehead. I sat down at my desk waiting for him to regain cognitive brain function.

"You did what?" he shouted, sitting down heavily at his own desk.

"I asked her out. It was an accident."

"How do you accidentally ask someone out?"

I'd let him know when I figured it out. "It was a reflex. She was so worked up I said the first thing I could think of that would snap her out of it. On the plus side, it worked."

Barry leaned forward at his desk, massaging his temples. The way he was acting you'd think he had a date with the Ice Queen.

"Yes, but now you have a date with our boss's boss. This is bad Owen. Really bad," he sighed, eyeing me critically.

"I know that, I'm handling it. It's one date, we're not binding our souls for eternity so chill out."

"You two are about as compatible as oil and water, man, that's all I'm saying."

Thank you Captain Obvious.

"Jesus, are we still talking about this. Do you want to braid each others hair next?"

"I'm just stating facts. When you fuck this up, because you will fuck this up, it will come down on all of us," Barry stated plainly, leaning back in his chair with a smug look on his face.

"Thanks for the support buddy," I said sarcastically. Time for a not so subtle subject change. "Do you know anything about a new hire starting today?"

"Not that I know of, but I don't look that closely if it doesn't involved the girls."

Yeah, me either, but someone needed to keep their ear to the grindstone on this kind of thing. Especially when it involved the woman I'd just ran into. Who did we know that had their nose in everyone's business?

"What's that nerdy guy's name who works in control? Landry or something like that," I asked Barry.

"Lowery Cruthers, why?"

"That's it," I said snapping my fingers and picking up the phone. I dialed the control room impatiently tapping my foot.

"Control room, this is Lowery."

"Lowery, it's Owen. What do you know about a new hire starting today?" I probed, my voice full of authority. Technically, this was none of my business, but I wasn't one to let a little thing like a technicality stand in my way. I knew Lowery was intimidated by me, and I intended to take full advantage of that today. I'd apologize later, right now I needed to know more about the tall, brown eyed woman.

"Oh, um, hi Mr. Grady. I'm not sure about any new hires arriving today, but I could check the log?"

"You can call me Owen, Lowery. Can you take a look and see what you can find, I'll wait."

He mumbled an OK and began furiously typing on his keyboard. "Well, this is odd. I see an arrival log for a Josephine King. She's scheduled to meet with Mr. Masrani and Ms. Dearing right now, actually."

"What's so odd about that?"

"I don't see anything in her human resources file. No background check, no resume, nothing. There's no paper trail indicating she applied for a job at Jurassic World," Lowery mumbled, his voice trailing off in confusion.

Odd didn't even begin to cover it.

"What's her job title?"

"Hang on, let me see if I can track it down," Lowery told me. "OK, here it is. That's strange. She's listed as the Director of Security Protocols and Behavior Assessment."

"What the fuck is that?" That sounded completely made up. "So she works for InGen?"

"I don't know. I've never heard of it and there isn't anything else listed except her direct supervisor and place of residence," Lowery answered, continuing to type.

"And that would be?"

"Mr. Masrani," Lowery replied, stunned. I agreed with that assessment. If she was answering to Simon Masrani there was more to Josephine King than meets the eyes. "And it lists her new address as the bungalow next to yours."

"Thanks Landry, I'll talk to ya later."

"It's Lowery actually…"

I hung up the phone pondering the enigma that was the Director of Security Protocols and Behavior Assessment. I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous title. Simon was creative, I'd give him that. Simon wanted Josephine on the island so bad he'd made up a position just for her. The big question was, why?

The icing on the cake was her living next door. I enjoyed having the entire beach to myself, but sharing space with Josephine King would be anything but a hardship. It appeared as if things around Isla Nublar just got a lot more interesting.

"Are you going to sit there all day with that dreamy look in your eyes or are we going to get some work done?" Barry asked, snapping me out of my daze. "Daydreaming about your upcoming date with Ms. Dearing?"

If he only knew.

"Blow me. Come on let's get the girls in the paddock," I told him, moving towards the door. I shelved my inner musings for a later date and decided to get back to work.

Nothing cleared my head like taking the girls through their paces. We were on the verge of a major breakthrough, but something was holding the girls back. I'd imprinted on them at birth, but they weren't stupid. They knew I wasn't one of them, and it was proving difficult to assert my dominance as their Alpha. It would happen though. I could feel it in my bones and the anticipation was a motivating force.

Hours later I was sweaty, exhausted and pissed off. There were unsuccessful days at work and then there was what I had just experienced. Some days should come with a warning label: Today is going to suck, so bring alcohol.

"Shake it off man," Barry said as we made our way towards our vehicles, "We'll figure it out."

"No doubt. I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning. Get some rest," I told him as I climbed on my motorcycle, kick starting the engine.

I headed home trying to shake off the frustration from the day. I was so wrapped up in my singular failures I had forgotten about the new addition to the neighborhood. Josephine's trailer was lit up like a beacon in the night sky, and I drove to her house on autopilot. The need to see her overwhelming my common sense that told me showing up at a woman's house unannounced, when you didn't know her was incredible creepy.

I saw her sitting on her porch with her feet up drinking a beer. She had a small smile tugging at her lips and I instantly felt my heart expand at the sight.

"I heard I got a new neighbor," I called out, alerting her to my presence.

She froze, the sandwich in her hand half way to her mouth. She looked over her shoulder at me, and I felt her eyes travel over my body like a touch. She licked her lips and I groaned in response. Jesus, I needed a beer, and maybe a cold shower.

"Are you the welcome committee here to drop off my house warming gift?" she asked with a smile. I let loose a booming laugh in response. She was just what the doctor ordered.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I only found out about your arrival today so I'm a little behind on a gift."

"I guess I'll forgive you then."

I moved onto the porch, plopping down in the chair beside her and propping one leg up on the coffee table. She raised her eyebrows at me questioning my invasion of her personal space. I had no idea what I was doing, but I wanted to be near her. I internally rolled my eyes at the thought. What was up with me today?

"Besides, it would seem you already got a house warming gift," I said, gesturing to the beer bottle.

"Friends in high places," she offered, taking a slow pull from her beer. I felt my jeans tighten in response to her lips wrapping around the bottle. God, I needed to get laid. Fast. "Want one?"

"If the lady's offering," I smiled slowly.

She sucked in a quick breath, looking away. It was good to know I wasn't the only one affected by whatever this was between us. As she got up to retrieve a beer I got a good look at her attire, and had to cover my hand with my mouth to keep from laughing for the second time tonight. She was sporting a pair of pink and white polka dot PJ shorts that were too short to accomplish anything other than inducing cardiac arrest. Her black T-shirt was so tight it left little to the imagination, and I'll be honest, I can imagine quite a lot. I was suddenly questioning my impromptu decision to crash her dinner party.

Looking for a distraction from my wayward sexual thoughts I leaned forward to examine her sandwich. I internally cringed looking at ham, mustard and what appeared to potato chips all crushed together between two pieces of bread. This woman was definitely challenged in the culinary department.

I heard the door to her trailer slam closed and looked up at her, "Does this sandwich have potato chips in it?"

"Yes," she answered with a slight edge in her voice.

"With ham and mustard?" I wanted to make sure I understood the depths of her cooking handicap.

"Yes. I'm kind of a culinary pimp," she alleged, handing me my beer. I couldn't help but snort at her snarky reply. She had a smartass answer for everything, and god help me, I liked it.

"Oh yeah, what else can you make?"

"Well, I can order takeout really well, but something tells me my options are somewhat limited here."

That was the understatement of the century. Unless you conned Marco into delivering something from Margaritaville takeout was a nonstarter.

"That is very true," I told her laughing softly and she smiled in return. It made my inside do funny things and I had no idea why. "So, now that we're neighbors we should probably officially introduce ourselves. Owen Grady."

"Jo King," she responded with a finger wave. The opportunity to rib her about her full name was just too much to pass up.

"Don't you mean Josephine King?" I shot at her with a smirk. I had no idea why I was trying to get a rise out of her or why I felt comfortable enough to even go there. We hardly knew each other, but somehow I felt like I'd known her for years.

"Jo will suffice, and someone's been checking up on me."

She didn't rise to the bait, not even a little. I was equal parts impressed and disappointed. I rather liked snarky, annoyed Jo. I did not miss the way her cheeks flushed and she fidgeted in her seat as I stared at her, and I was profoundly happy by the development.

"I asked around, but no one seems to know a lot about our new Director of Security Protocols and Behavior Assessment," I said, my eyebrows raised in question.

"I can't believe our resident raptor trainer wasn't able to come up with more than my official name and title. I expected more."

Avoiding the issue, not surprising, I knew her job title sounded a little far-fetched. It appeared like I wasn't the only one intrigued by our brief meeting this morning. I pointedly ignored the instinct to puff out my chest like a cave man.

"Looks like I'm not the only one doing some digging," I stated, leaning forward and letting my beer bottle dangle between my fingers.

She seemed unfazed by my inquiry, popping the remains of her sandwich in her mouth. I narrowed my eyes trying to get a read on her. I could tell she kept her cards close to the vest, but there were subtle nuances that gave away the feelings she tried so hard to keep hidden. The slight shift of her weight as she sat, the way her breathing changed from an even flow to shorter rasps, how her spine straightened out as if she was prepared to fight for her life. She may be closed off to other people, but to me she was an open book.

"Please, I don't need to dig around to find out about you," she informed me, a clear challenge.

It was a nice night for a little verbal sparring. Game on.

"By all means enlighten me," I tossed at her flippantly. I had no doubt she had just as much trouble finding information on me as I did on her. I wasn't the type to hang my business out to air dry.

"Owen Grady, current employee of InGen. Apparently, you are crazy enough to get into a cage with raptors in an attempt to train them. No doubt that breed of crazy was fostered in the military. I'm thinking Navy, maybe even a SEAL. You're between the ages of 31 to 33 and weigh 210 pounds easy. There's a KA-BAR strapped to the middle of your belt at your back. You're left handed and know how to handle yourself in a fight, but you're more of a street brawler." She took a pull from her beer before continuing. "You have some prior knowledge of animal training, probably with the Navy, and you genuinely respect the animals here. However, you don't allow that to cloud the fact that while your raptors may appear tame under certain conditions they are, by their nature, wild animals and capable of incredible violence."

What. The. Fuck.

She sat back looking at me, a smug smile graced her beautiful face. My instincts screamed at me that she was a threat and I felt my guard immediately slam into place. There was no possible way she had found that information in the system because I had personally made sure it wasn't IN the system.

"How, how did you know all that?" I stuttered.

"Did you miss the Behavior Assessment part of my job title?"

Well, no, I hadn't exactly missed it; I just had no clue what it actually meant. Until now, that is.

"That's incredible. Disturbing, but incredible." That was putting it mildly.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah well, everyone has a talent."

"Are you going to tell me what you actually do here besides that creepy Ms. Cleo reading you just rattled off?" I probed, setting my beer on the table waiting patiently for her response.

"Near as I can tell I'm a stealth ninja who gets to run around the island and watch dinosaurs."

I tried, I really did, but I couldn't help but shake with uncontrollable laughter. The woman sitting in front of me was dressed like she was ready to leave for a slumber party, and here she was insisting she was a stealth ninja. Just the thought sent another wave of hysterical laughter rolling through me.

"No, seriously," I questioned, simply to piss her off.

"I am serious. I'm a security consultant." Her faces had lost all traces of humor and she was sitting ramrod straight in the chair.

Her answer helped sober me up a little. "So you work for InGen?"

She took a deep breath, measuring her words carefully.

"Not exactly. I work for Masrani Global."

I'm sorry what? I must have misheard her.

"I wasn't aware Masrani had a security force."

"Force is a bit of an overstatement. They don't so much have a force, as they have me."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. As far as I knew, InGen handled all security related matters at the park. Why would Masrani Global feel the need to hire one lone security consultant when they had an entire force at their disposal?

"Just you?"

"Did I stutter," she snapped. Every inch of her playful demeanor was now gone. A defensive fire flashed in her eyes.

"And what exactly are you consulting on?"

I knew she was getting more and more mad with each question, and I didn't blame her. She thought I was questioning her ability to fill the position when in reality I was trying to piece together the game Simon had decided to initiate. I wasn't use to being kept in the dark, and this was one hell of a blind side.

"What is this the Spanish Inquisition? Twenty questions? I'm a security consultant. I'm going to consult on security matters here at our lovely park," she practically yelled at me, standing up with her hands on her hips.

I smirked at her ire. She was just so damn cute. "And the behavior assessment part?"

"I would say that's pretty clear, I just assessed the shit out you didn't I?"

I stood up slowly, bringing myself to my full height. I knew she'd see it as an intimidation tactic, but really I just wanted to be closer to her. She smelled faintly of vanilla with just a hint of salty ocean air, and I struggled to keep my breathing level. I had the irrational urge to haul her against my body and taste her lips to see if they were as soft as they looked. I needed to go home before I did something both of us might regret.

"While assessing each other sounds like a lot of fun, I think maybe it's a little too soon for that. Don't ya think?" I said striving for casual, but my voice came out gravely with need. Shit, what was this woman doing to me?

She sucked in a ragged breath, and I grinned already moving past her towards my motorcycle.

"You're an asshole," she barked out. I laughed for what felt like the 100th time tonight. I couldn't remember feeling so carefree. It felt good.

I kick started my motorcycle glancing behind me, "Good night Josephine."

Without waiting for her reply I tore off towards my bungalow silently contemplating the enigma that was Jo King. The only thing I knew with absolute certainty was now that she was here nothing would ever be the same.