Young and Restless’s Claire and Nathan Hooking Up Was ‘Inevitable,’ Says Nathan Owens (Exclusive)

Holden has clearly been drawn to Claire (Hayley Erin) on Young and Restless for quite some time now, and his portrayer, Nathan Owens, notes to Soap Opera Digest, “She clearly is attracted, as well.” Holden may have been staying in the friend zone while she was dating Kyle (Michael Mealor), but once she gave her former beau his walking papers, everything changed, and Claire became the one pursuing Holden. Now that the duo is in Los Angeles, separated from all the drama in Genoa City, they have taken their friendship to the next level by hitting the sheets!

The Beauty Inside

Although Kyle — and others — assumed that Holden was a player who was trying to take advantage of Claire, Owens insists that his alter ego’s feelings for her are completely genuine. “I always felt that there was something special that he saw in her,” the actor explains. “Regardless of the history that she told him, she has this innocence about her and this way about her that kind of speaks to him, because I feel like he’s dealt with a lot of people that tend to have ulterior motives, and they’re shady. And she’s, like, refreshing, in his eyes.”

Despite Claire being raised by her evil Aunt Jordan to be a dangerous schemer, it turned out that behind that facade was a genuinely sweet woman who simply wanted to be loved. “There’s a transparency about her in the scenes that Holden and Claire have been involved in,” Owens notes. With him, “She’s always been an honest person, a real person.”

At First Sight

Owens believes that the connection between Holden and Claire began immediately, when he met her at the bar and introduced himself to her — and also acquainted her with his favorite drink, a vesper. “Obviously, at the time, she was going through what she was going through with Kyle,” the actor says, “and Holden, being the man about town that he is, he was bellying up to the bar ready to chat with anybody in order to kind of gain information and just get the lay of the land. I think they hit it off right off the bat, and the chemistry was always there.”

The actor feels that a major turning point in their relationship occurred when Holden found Claire in the park and talked her through a severe panic attack. “I think seeing her in a very vulnerable state kind of let down a lot of those barriers and defense mechanisms a lot of people hold up, and it allowed him to be vulnerable as well,” Owens shares. “And I think that spoke to him, because I don’t think he’s been able to be like that with many people in his life. So I think there’s a mixture of feeling safe with her, and also her feeling safe with him. And her being vulnerable, honest, and transparent… and quirky and cute!”

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A Matter of Time

Like Claire, Holden arrived in Genoa City pretending to be someone he wasn’t — in his case, Damian Kane — so the pair actually have quite a bit in common, and he obviously thought that they would make a great couple. And all he had to do was bide his time and wait for Claire to be on the same page that he has been on for quite some time. And clearly, it was more than worth the wait. Teases Owens, “He knows it’s inevitable.”

Of course, now that Holden and Claire have slept together, the big question is, will they be able to maintain their relationship when they return to Genoa City? And Kyle is certainly going to have a very serious reaction to this particular turn of events, so the drama has only just begun!