Chapter 11

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After minutes later of constant conversing, Heath and Claire were finally left alone. The two decided to go to the side of the crowd to give themselves more space to breathe and relax. Claire’s skin was beginning to get damp from the heated air, but she quickly cooled down when she grabbed a drink from a passing server and took a sip.

The liquid ran down her throat and she released a sigh of bliss.

“Thanks for staying by my side the whole time, Claire.” Heath said.

She turned to look at him and smiled. “No problem. I couldn’t exactly run off when you were gripping my arm.”

He gave her a flat look. “I was not gripping your arm.”

Claire shrugged. “You wouldn’t let me go either.” She ignored the look he continued to give her until he finally looked away and down at his wineglass. It was still the same glass that Claire had gone off to give him. He only took a few sips as he wasn’t very tolerant with alcohol.

“By the way, was the woman you were talking to one of your friends you mentioned?” He asked, bringing up conversation. Though his throat was sore from talking with others, he could always spare time and breaths for Claire.

She blinked, thinking he hadn’t seen her talking with Tori. But she eventually nodded her head and told Heath about her friend. Of course she didn’t mention a word about her and Tori’s conversation about him.

“I thought she looked familiar.” Heath said after Claire finished. “She’s the daughter of Caleb Jones, the CEO of an oil industry.”

Claire stared at him. “You know her?”

He nodded before taking a reflexive sip of his wine. “Her parents are always forcing her to go on blind dates with men of their choosing even though she’s already old enough to make her own decisions.” Heath paused. “I was invited to be one of those men, but I declined their offer.”

“Why?”

Another sip. “I wasn’t interested in dating at the time. I was focused on my career.”

At the time? So that means you’re interested now? Claire kept her thoughts to herself before taking another drink of her wine. It wasn’t any of her business. She looked up and around the lobby of Layton Gardens to distract herself. It was her first time here. The hotel was just as popular as Bishop Lodgings, and the two were fairly close to each other city-wise.

But considering the fact that Logan and Frank were friends, the two hotels weren’t at a competitive war with each other. However, Claire was always curious about Layton Gardens and now was the chance for her to see for herself just what sort of place the hotel was compared to Bishop Lodgings.

At the same time though, she didn’t want to leave Heath to stand on his own.

And then, like he read her mind, he said, “Do you want to walk around? It’s a little stuffy here.”

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