Top Floor (Rendezvous #1)

Chapter 26

Heath had already tried calling Claire two times, but she didn’t answer. He tried not to let that get to him in case his brain began to think up of strange scenarios as to why she wasn’t answering his call. He told her that he would call her that night, but did something come up…or was she avoiding him?

He decided to try one more time and placed his cellphone up to his ear. He was standing in the living room of his hotel room. It was a decent place, but he preferred his suite back in Bishop Lodgings—mostly because it was his home and because that was where Claire was.

After the call rang for six times, Heath was just about to give up. But the call was picked up.

“Sorry.” Claire immediately said and before another insane idea could pop up into Heath’s mind, Claire continued. “I was in the shower, so I wasn’t able to pick up your call right away.”

And that just brought up other insane ideas…

“It’s fine.” He cleared his throat. “Um…are you clothed?”

The line was silent for a split second before she answered. “No.”

She was tempting him—not on purpose, he could tell. Claire was just genuinely answering his question. In that case, he shouldn’t have asked in the first place.

“Can you wait while I get dressed?”

“Yeah, I’ll wait.” He shut his eyes tightly and rubbed them with his fingers.

“Great. I’ll put it on speaker for now.”

Claire did exactly that because a few seconds later, he heard the rustling of clothes. His head was bringing up plenty of images without him having to do it himself. But ultimately, the one that won out was the one which Julia had sent him—the one with both Claire and Wyatt Simpson.

Heath internally swore before he spoke. “How did the meeting with Aiden go?”

“It was…calm.” She answered. “Actually, Jane had planned the whole thing without his consent, but in the end, he stayed and we talked. All three of us did.”

Thankfully, the conversation was distracting him. “Nothing happened, right?”

“No. Aiden was tame and…it really did seem like he changed. Even I was surprised.”

“Changed? Changed how?”

More rustling of clothes made Heath use more effort to get his mind out of the gutter. “Well, he’s gentler now at least. And he doesn’t wear that annoying fake mask anymore either. It’s refreshing to see his true face for once. He wasn’t calm at all and was completely taken aback from my arrival.” Claire chuckled, probably from the memory of his face.

“But Jane really has changed him for the better. Though the difference was only small, I’m sure with more time, Aiden will have changed into a better man.”