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.”
Claire immediately nodded. “Yes.”
Heath blinked at her enthusiasm before smiling to himself and the two of them walked out of the lobby and into the halls of Layton Gardens together. They weren’t the only ones who had wandered off as well. Some of the guests had left the main lobby to give themselves space to talk or just relax from the crowd.
Claire looked around at the structure of the building. Everything looked very different from Bishop Lodgings, but it had the same welcoming, homey feel to it. She preferred Bishop Lodgings though. Of course she was biased, but it was also because her friends and family were there.
“Do you miss England?” Claire asked as they continued to look around the halls of Layton Gardens. Heath looked surprised by her sudden question. “I know it’s only been a few days since you left, but I was just wondering.” Did he have friends over there that he missed?
To her surprise, Heath shrugged. “Not really. It’s like moving to a different company.”
She glanced at him to see that he really didn’t look affected by the sudden move. “But…I’m sure that’s difficult too.”
Again, he shrugged, as if it didn’t matter. “I’ve often changed companies to my liking. It feels like the same thing.”
“And how many companies have you moved from?”
Heath thought about it for a second. “A few.”
Claire raised a brow, wondering why he was so vague with it. “Didn’t you have friends who you had to say goodbye to?”
“Friends?” he slowly said the word before shaking his head. “No. I had acquaintances, not friends. And I wasn’t really close to them either, so I had no problem with moving overseas.”
She couldn’t help but be blunt. “Wow. So you’re pretty much a loner?”
He didn’t look offended. “Yes. I liked being by myself most of the time.”
It went silent as Claire thought over his words. She never expected Heath to be that kind of guy. She thought that he was social and had plenty of friends due to his friendly nature. But it seemed there was more to Heath than she thought. Or maybe it was more like there wasn’t much to Heath. He was an independent guy.
“Are you disappointed?” Heath asked, seeing the blank look on Claire’s face. Most people expected him to have plenty of friends to talk about, but he didn’t have many. He mostly kept to himself.
Claire looked up into his eyes and shook her head. “No. But it’s nice to have some friends.” Then she patted his arm casually. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you make some.”
He got distracted by her warm hand on his arm, but mentally shook himself back to normal. “I don’t need friends.”
She simply raised an eyebrow, as if daring him to challenge her. “C’mon Heath. There’s still plenty to see around Layton Gardens.”
As they continued to walk, Claire saw glass doors that led outside and she wondered if Layton Gardens was actually smaller than it looked on the outside. But then she realized that the doors simply led to center of the hotel, which was an outdoor garden. Heath followed her out as she looked around with awe on her face.
Everywhere, they were surrounded by colorful flowers and shrubs. There was even a tree in the courtyard. Usually, plants wouldn’t be able to grow so perfectly with buildings surrounding it, but because Layton Gardens was bigger in width than with height–unlike Bishop Lodgings, which was larger in the aspect of height–the sunlight would easily be able to touch the plants.
“This is amazing.” Claire breathed as she spotted a fountain in the middle of the garden. There were a few benches surrounding it and she decided to take a seat while she continued to look around.
Heath smiled at her excitement and took a seat beside her before he sipped out of his glass once more. He leaned back and watched the water spout from the marble fountain. The cool atmosphere was very relaxing and Heath took that moment to rest his eyes for a bit.
Claire saw him close his eyes at the corner of hers and look up at the sky. They were in the city, so unfortunately, she wasn’t able to see the stars as clearly as she wanted to. But the moon was visible and she could see it reflect in the fountain water.
Quietly, she stood up and walked over to the fountain before she sat on the edge. She looked down and her eyes widened when she saw that there were actually live fish in there, swimming around with comfort. There were also a few coins in there, even though there was an obvious sign that read to not throw any coins into the fountain.
She smiled to herself, knowing that the owners were definitely children who still believed in throwing coins into fountains to make wishes come true. Claire used to believe in that stuff too.
“I’ve been wondering.” Heath suddenly said and she looked back at him. He was staring straight at her and her stupid heart skipped a beat. “Ever since that incident with Aiden Johnson, I’ve been thinking about you.” Stupid, stupid heart. “And why you’re so…protective of Bishop Lodgings.” He tilted his head. “It’s your job, yes, but employees don’t usually care too much about their workplace’s reputation and just on their paycheck.”
He paused as Claire simply stared back at him. “You don’t have to answer if you’re uncomfortable.” He added cautiously, wondering if he was treading on thin ice.
She raised an eyebrow. “Why’re you asking this now?”
Heath’s shoulders lifted in another nonchalant shrug of his. “It’s quiet here. We’re alone.”
After another pause, he thought Claire wouldn’t answer, but she surprised him by saying, “Are you sure you want to hear the whole thing? It’s pretty long.”
He didn’t hesitate and nodded his head.
Claire took a deep breath and exhaled before she began. “I feel like…Bishop Lodgings is my home. And everyone in there is my family. I’m at the hotel every day before the sun rises to after it sets, late into the night. I know all the employees’ names and they all know mine and whenever something is wrong, whether it is work related or home related, they come to me for advice, as if I’m their older sister that they can talk to about anything and everything.”
She twisted her body to sit while facing him as she placed both her hands on either side of her hips. “Before I started working at Bishop Lodgings, there were a lot of family problems going on. Well, not with me, actually, just between my parents and older brother, Simon. Belle and Clay’s dad.” Claire explained and Heath nodded his head.
He knew the children and had seen their mother, but not their father. It made him wonder if he looked similar to Claire.
“Simon’s three years older than me, and he met Mai at twenty during college. My parents thought that she was just going to be another girlfriend of his, but after six months of dating, Simon told them that he wanted to marry her.” Claire licked her dry lips. “I still remember how much they yelled at each other.
“My parents disapproved because of the short amount of time Simon and Mai dated. And because Mai was…well, Asian.” She chuckled. “They expected Simon to marry a white girl. I swear, they’re not racist. But you know how older parents are and all, wanting their kids to marry the same color. Mai’s parents were pretty mad too since they were traditional, but the two of them got married anyway.”
Heath watched Claire as her eyes turned downward and she stared at her feet. “My parents didn’t want Mai in the house, and so Simon and Mai went off on their own. Simon and I were close siblings and we did a lot of things together. He said that if he could’ve, he would’ve brought me along, but at the time, I was still seventeen.” Her eyes got a faraway look. “But even when I was at home, my parents didn’t really care about me. They were mad at Simon for years and all their attention was on him while they barely paid any attention to me.
“I didn’t blame them. I was a kid who didn’t have a lot of big achievements. I’m not naturally smart. I’m not naturally pretty.” She patted the bridge of her nose with a sheepish smile on her lips as she looked at Heath. “Too many freckles.” She murmured before continuing. “And when I was younger, I talked really harsh and bluntly, which scared off a lot of my peers.”
She chuckled to herself again at her memories and Heath wished he knew what she was remembering. And she was wrong. Claire probably just didn’t want to sound boastful, but she was smart in her own way, if not exactly academically. Her blunt way of speaking got her conversations straight to the point too. He found it refreshing.
As for her looks, she was more than pretty. And her freckles weren’t flaws. They could be characterized as cute, or mesmerizing. Heath could envision himself brushing his fingers over and counting each and every little dot. Would he be the first to know the total number?
His thoughts were broken by Claire’s voice. “The only reason why I’m like this now is because I worked hard.” She turned her head to look into the fountain water. “I have a late birthday, so I turned eighteen early in my senior year of high school. At that point, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but I heard about Bishop Lodgings hiring, so I applied. Even though I didn’t have any experience with anything and my academic records weren’t perfect, for some reason, Logan hired me.
“He was there for the interview. And later, when I asked him why he hired me, he told me that he just saw something in me. He saw my potential and wanted me to prove that I could do amazing things. Sounds like something out of a movie, huh?” She grinned at Heath. “I considered Logan pretty cheesy from then on out.”
Looks like Heath’s father wasn’t as much of an idiot as he thought. However, he couldn’t completely forgive and forget about the Aiden incident.
“Sometimes, I wonder if he actually saw the conflict in my eyes or something. But it was because of those words that got me motivated. I did my best at Bishop Lodgings for myself. My older brother wasn’t in my life anymore and my parents barely paid attention to me, so I did all that hard work for myself. The employees at Bishop Lodgings treated me like a friend and like family. The atmosphere was always homey at the hotel, and so I found myself enjoying my time there than I did at home.”
“And your parents?” Heath asked. Were they still a part of her life now?
Claire smiled at him. “They sound like pretty bad parents huh? But they eventually snapped out of their rage when Simon sent them a text message with a picture of Belle when she was a newborn. That was when they realized that they were grandparents and they couldn’t stay mad at Simon forever. He was their son and just gave them a beautiful granddaughter. Seeing little Belle made them realize how stupid they were and accepted Simon back into their lives, along with Mai, and of course, Belle.
“They also apologized to me for only paying attention to Simon, even if their attention was negative. I forgave them, of course. They’re my parents. And before Simon ran off with Mai, they were the best parents I could’ve ever had. But Bishop Lodgings was there for me when they weren’t, so I couldn’t just abandon the memories I had with the hotel and its people.” She paused. “Does that make me sound crazy? Talking about a hotel as if it’s an actual person?”
“No.” Heath smiled. “It doesn’t.”
She gave him a disbelieving look, but smiled in humor before she went on. “And now I treat Bishop Lodgings as if it really is a human whose feelings I don’t want to hurt. So I protect it and its people because they’re all special to me.” She gave Heath a teasing smile. “That includes you now too, Heath Bishop.”
“Oh, really?” he raised a brow before downing the rest of the contents in his glass, not even realizing when the amount had gotten so small. He usually only took a small sip of wine, but now he had a whole glass of it.
“Of course.” Claire said, oblivious to Heath’s sudden fuzziness. She released a sigh and tilted her head up before smiling into the sky. “Huh, telling you all of that surprisingly feels like I lifted something off of my chest. I hadn’t even told Logan that story yet.”
Heath watched how free she looked and felt his body slowly stand up on its own before he walked towards her. She noticed his movement and looked back down to see him advancing, holding the slender neck of his wineglass with loose fingers.
“Heath?” she questioned, but he continued forward and leaned down before placing his hands on either side of her hips. She stared down at how close his hands were to her body. Then, the glass in his hand slowly slipped from his fingers and dunked into the fountain, splashing a few drops onto her arm. “Uh, you dropped that.”
“Claire.” He said and she looked up into his face. He was close. Really close. “Thank you for telling me. It must’ve been hard on you.”
“Not…really.” Her eyes kept trying to look down at his lips. His breath smelled like wine, and Claire was suddenly thirsty. She gulped. “Are you drunk?”
One of his hands slowly climbed up her arm and across her shoulder to gently wrap around the back of her back. “I don’t know. But I’m not very good with alcohol.”
Again, something new about him that was unexpected. “I didn’t expect that out of you, Heath.” She inhaled his cool breath. “But I think you’re drunk.”
“How do you know?” he whispered as he leaned closer, his face mere inches away from hers.
Heath was staring down at her lips, and Claire finally stopped resisting and looked at his lips as well, which were still damp from the wine. “A sober Heath Bishop would never suddenly be this close to me. Or stare at my lips with eyes like yours.”
“And what would a sober Heath Bishop be doing?” he stepped closer until his legs bumped against Claire’s knees. Because of that step, his face lifted up higher, and Claire automatically tilted her head up more to stay at the same proximity.
“He’d still be sitting at the bench over there.” She whispered, her breath leaving her quickly. “He wouldn’t be touching me like this. He wouldn’t be staring at me like this.”
Heath gripped the back of Claire’s neck and her breath faltered. “He’s been staring at you like this and doing much worse in his head.”
She chuckled throatily, making Heath’s body tighten in restricted places. “You’re definitely drunk. Heath Bishop would never say something as dirty as that.”
The spark in Claire’s eyes made him crumble. “Judge for yourself.” He muttered before he moved to take her lips.
She gasped from the first contact as his lips moved, firmly molding against hers. Her hands reached to grab onto the collar of his shirt, holding on as if she might fall back into the fountain. But Heath was firm and he wouldn’t allow her to get wet.
Shit. Heath must be more drunk than he thought if he allowed a thought like that to slip into his head during a time like this.
He pulled back and Claire stared up at him. His eyes were still dark and she couldn’t read them. But damn, that wasn’t even a decent kiss and she was already out of breath. Was she actually drunk? But she barely had any wine.
“Well?” he asked.
Claire shook her head. “You’re not drunk.”
Heath leaned down and brushed his lips against her jaw, right under her ear. “What makes you say that?”
She trembled and swallowed the lump in her throat. “If you were drunk, you wouldn’t have pulled away. And your tongue would’ve been shoved down my throat by now.”
Claire was getting more and more convinced that he wasn’t fully drunk, especially when he gave her a look with his brows raised in amusement from her words. “Maybe I’m being polite.”
“There’s no such thing as a polite drunk.” Claire couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “And I’m disappointed in you, Heath Bishop. I expected more than that on our first kiss.”
You’ve thought about our first kiss? But Heath didn’t dare break the mood of their conversation with that question. Instead, he took the chance to challenge her by asking, “And what sort of kiss did you expect?”
Heath began to wonder if maybe Claire was drunk when she swiftly wrapped both her hands around his neck and tugged him down before whispering, “This.”
Then she showed him how efficient she was not only as a general manager, but as a kisser. She swiped her tongue over his top lip, tasting the remnants of his wine before she took his bottom lip in between her teeth in a quick nip. That caused him to spread his lips wide for her and she didn’t hesitate to plunge into his mouth.
He tasted like wine and like…Heath. Minty, manly goodness. Even if they really did end up falling into the fountain, Claire wouldn’t have stopped. Instead, she’d probably sip the water droplets from his lips and wet his mouth with hers even more.
Unlike with other men Claire had been with, Heath didn’t try to overpower her. Maybe it was because he was drunk–though that explanation would just make him seem even stranger–but he met her. He leveled his pace with hers and molded his lips against hers right at the same time that she moved.
Just the fact that this man was letting her do as she pleased, and he was following her, made Claire moan in delight. He could’ve easily sped up, but he was going leisurely with her. She felt a tremble of excitement rack down her spine at the thought of what would happen if he snapped and decided to take over.
They pulled away from each other, not out of breath, but not unsatisfied.
Heath licked the corner of his lips. “Is that it?”
Claire bit her bottom lip and his eyes watched, enrapt by the sight of her white teeth peeking behind her kiss-swollen lips. It was just as she thought. He was letting her set the pace. For now.
“I don’t want to take advantage of a drunk.”
His eyes widened. “I thought you said I wasn’t drunk.”
She shrugged. “Maybe you’re one of those special drunks. The ones who’re even weirder than weird when drunk.” Claire teased him. “You’re already pretty weird when you’re sober.”
Heath smirked. “So I’m drunk now, huh? Maybe I should take advantage of this moment and show you what I envisioned our first kiss to be like.”
Claire’s eyes sparked and he was about to roughly grab her and completely dishevel her in the middle of Layton Gardens, but the glass door opened and someone marched towards them. Both Claire and Heath whipped their heads at the newcomer and saw that it was a she. And she was holding a baby carrier, which Claire assumed, held a baby under the blanket covering.
“You!” the woman shouted. Claire watched with wide eyes when she realized the woman was addressing Heath, but her eyes quickly flickered to Claire before resting on him again. “Of course you’d be with another woman!” she scoffed. “I’ve been looking all over for you! How dare you leave England so suddenly when I specifically told you to take your daughter first?”
Heath’s mouth gaped open before he stuttered out, “N-Nora.”