Chapter 1642

[ 688 words ]

“If you’re free, go ahead and join them. If not, don’t worry about it.”

Claire hesitated. Barry had brought her all the way out here to network; ditching him mid-evening felt incredibly rude.

Barry waved her off, entirely unbothered. “We’re basically done eating anyway. We’re just going to head straight back to the hotel to sleep. Go ahead and run along with Mr. Green, Claire.”

Barry and the older doctors had been up since dawn and had spent days prepping for the heavy panel discussions.

After a meal this heavy, the absolute last thing they wanted to do was wander the city. They just wanted a bed.

It was a completely reasonable excuse.

Claire didn’t push it. “Alright then. Let me grab you guys a designated driver.”

Everyone had partaken in the wine. Lawler had been driving her car, but he was grounded now.

One of Dr. Terrance’s students, who hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol, quickly raised his hand. “If you don’t mind, Claire, I can drive your car.”

The student who addressed her was a Cabinda University alum, so the casual familiarity felt right.

“Both of my cars are in the lot. You guys can take both if you need the space.”

Barry immediately declined. “That’s entirely unnecessary. We can just hail a cab for the overflow.”

With Dane standing right there, there was zero chance he was letting them hail a cab.

“My driver will take you back.”

And that was that. With one sober student behind the wheel and Dane’s professional driver taking the lead, they easily had enough room to transport everyone safely.

Claire finally relaxed.

“You always think of everything, Dane. We’ll let your driver handle it.”

Since both Claire and Dane insisted, Barry’s group happily accepted the VIP transport.

Once they were safely dispatched, Dane led Claire toward VIP Room 6.

“Well, look who finally showed up. It’s the boss.”

The moment Dane stepped through the door, Caleb Cole started heckling him.

“Couldn’t stand the thought of Claire eating dinner without you, huh?”

“So, who were the mystery guests eating with our girl?”

Dane shot Caleb an exasperated look. “They’re elite medical specialists. Top of their fields.”

“Did you want an introduction?”

Caleb choked on his drink. “I’m perfectly healthy, thanks! I have zero desire to meet them.”

“Ah, so they’re colleagues! I always knew Claire was an absolute prodigy!” “Did everyone enjoy the fish I sent over? Was the kitchen up to standard?”

Claire only just realized that Caleb Cole was the mysterious benefactor.

She offered a warm smile. “It was incredible. Thank you, Caleb. I heard the fish was completely wild-caught.”

“Don’t tell me you caught it yourself?”

Caleb laughed, waving his hand dismissively. “Please, I don’t have that kind of patience. The older men in the family caught them; I just requisitioned the haul.

“Content

Belongs

“Come on, sit down. Try some of the dishes from our table.”

There was quite a bit of overlap

between the menus of the two

rooms. Elaire didn’t eat much monet

Dane was genuinely hungry and settled in to grab a quick bite.

Dane was notoriously fastidious about sharing food.

He completely ignored any dish that looked heavily picked over, exclusively serving himself from plates that appeared largely untouched.

He ate just enough to take the edge off.

His housekeeper had dinner waiting for him at home anyway; showing up here was just an excuse to socialize and, more importantly, to pick up his fiancée.

With Claire’s chaotic schedule and the mountain of crises Dane was handling at the firm, neither of them had a spare second to breathe lately.

Their window for actual dates had vanished.

Neither of them was the complaining type, but stealing an hour together in the middle of the madness was exactly what they both needed.

Claire didn’t know the other men in the room well, and she was already stuffed so she dedicated her time to using the serving silverware to place select cuts of meat onto Dane’s plate.

Every now and then, Dane would find a particularly good bite and lean over to feed

it to her.

They existed in their own effortless, affectionate bubble, leaving the rest of the table practically sick with envy.

Almost everyone in the room was in a relationship, but none of them displayed this kind of hyper-natural, cinematic romance. It was like watching a movie.

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