The summer heat pressed against her skin as she adjusted her lab coat, a stark reminder of why she rarely left the lab’s cool sanctuary. Around her, Isla Nublar thrummed with life, the distant calls of dinosaurs weaving through the dense greenery. Her brother, clutching his ticket with white-knuckled excitement, tugged her forward toward the Velociraptor paddock.

She braced herself before the corner.

Owen Grady stood near the railing, his shirt damp with sweat, the glint of his sunglasses hiding the eyes she already knew carried their infuriating smugness. His younger brother stood beside him, a smaller mirror of Owen’s confident stance.

Owen’s gaze snapped to her, and a slow smirk crept across his face.

“Well, if it isn’t Dr. Perfect,” he drawled, his tone low and deliberate.

“I’m here for him,” she said flatly, nodding toward her brother, who pressed eagerly against the glass. She could feel the heat of Owen’s scrutiny as her brother called out excitedly at the Raptors pacing with predatory grace beyond the reinforced barrier.

Owen leaned closer, his voice a rumble just over her shoulder. “Didn’t think you’d venture out of your sterile little world.”

She glanced at him, spine rigid. “And I didn’t think you’d venture into hygiene.”

He chuckled—a sound that grated against her nerves and lingered too long in the humid air. She dropped to her brother’s level, pointing out the Raptors and naming each one as if Owen’s presence didn’t exist. Yet his voice layered over hers, adding unnecessary details, their words tangling like barbed wire.

When she finally stood, her eyes met his through the glass’s reflection. For a moment, the tension of the park faded, leaving only the electric storm they carried between them.