If you’re like us, then you’ve been patiently waiting for The Young and the Restless’ Kyle (Michael Mealor) and Claire (Hayley Erin) to move past all of the flirtatious banter and finally kick off a hot and steamy romance.
The two had an instant chemistry when they met at Crimson Lights months ago, and their connection has only grown as she took a job working as Harrison’s (Redding Munsell) nanny. Not only does Kyle adore how caring Claire is with his son, but she’s become the one person he relies on in his life these days as he’s been at odds with Jack (Peter Bergman), Diane (Susan Walters) and Summer (Allison Lanier). For Claire’s part, while Mariah (Camryn Grimes) has gone out of her way to be nice to the newest Newman, Kyle has been Claire’s only real confidant beyond Victoria (Amelia Heinle).
We have to say, Kyle and Claire have professed only to be friends so far, relaying that message to one another, to the Newmans and to the Abbotts. However, the smiles and googly eyes the duo exchange say something different.
For example, in The Young and the Restless episode airing on September 12, Claire walks into Crimson Lights as Kyle is wrapping a Glissade discussion with Audra (Zuleyka Silver), and Kyle beams from ear to ear seeing Claire. Audra can't help but notice. Clare walks over to speak to Kyle and Audra, and Audra quickly excuses herself, claiming to have a meeting with Glissade’s investor.
Left alone, Kyle buys Claire a drink and asks if she wants to go for a walk, which they do. They have some cute moments at Chancellor Park before heading to grab a bite at Society.
With all of that being said, let’s turn our attention back to Audra. Kyle recently told Victor (Eric Braeden) that she’s not to be trusted and said she disobeyed Victor by telling Nate (Sean Dominic) that The Mustache is the owner of Glissade. So the meeting Audra heads into with Victor at Newman Enterprises is not a good one unbeknownst to her.
Almost immediately upon walking into his office, Victor blasts Audra for breaking his trust. He states he knows she spilled his secret to Nate and is furious. She claims Nate guessed Victor owned Glissade and she just confirmed the truth because she and Nate are romantically involved. The Newman patriarch could care less as he only feels betrayed. He notes he doesn’t trust her or Nate, then tells her to leave. At the moment it doesn’t appear she’s fired, but she’s definitely not in Victor’s good graces.
Now Audra knows without a shadow of a doubt that Kyle is the one who tattled on her to Victor, and she’s not likely to take this latest move by Kyle lightly. We think she’s about to exact revenge on two fronts.
First, since she has not wanted to work with Kyle from the very beginning, we can picture her doing what she can to make Kyle look incompetent as her co-CEO. That could include sabotaging deals he should be making, scheduling meetings without him or even setting him up for an unforgivable business offense.
However, beyond business, Kyle may regret messing with Audra if she decides to wreck a potential relationship with Claire. It’s not hard to imagine Audra bad-mouthing Kyle to Claire with information Audra has from their time romantically involved.
Audra may mention how fast Kyle left Summer when they hit a hiccup in their relationship, or how willing Kyle was to work with Tucker (Trevor St. John) to take down his father, which is indicative of a pattern Kyle has with "disloyalty" as he’s working for Jabot’s competitor even now. These words could make Claire feel insecure about engaging with Kyle romantically, especially since she’s never been in a relationship.
Audra could also tell Claire that whatever she and Kyle could potentially have together won’t last as Kyle always goes back to Summer. Perhaps Audra even goes so far as to whisper things into Summer’s ear about Kyle falling in love with Claire, hoping Summer will cause problems for the two. In this scenario, Audra would probably have the biggest grin of satisfaction as she’d be stirring up issues for Kyle, Summer and Claire, and she doesn’t like any of them.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.
