Falling For My Playboy Boss
Chapter 12

Cora's POV

I was actually stunned that he apologized this morning. I know he only did it because Catherine was so mad at him, but he did actually look at me and seemed like he was sorry that he had slept with Maddie, and Celeste, on his desk. At the bare minimum, he was sorry that he got caught. I was actually stunned by any apology that I got from Collin. The day went by smoothly, and I didn't have any problems. That could have also been due to Maddie being out of town for a job and not coming back to town until tomorrow. Yes, we also have to keep up with his girlfriend too. Don't ask me why, because I have no idea. I guess it's because I am just a lucky person.

"Honey, I meant to tell you how cute your outfit is today? Where did you get it? I love it. I would love to have something just like that for myself", Catherine tells me.

"Actually, Catherine, I made a trade with a friend of mine, and he is giving me clothes in exchange for me modeling them in his shows. His name is Mateo Torres, and he is a wonderful designer. This outfit is so soft, I love it, and I am totally comfortable in it. He was also nice enough to give me some clothes for this week to wear to work as my other clothes were not acceptable, and my first show is Saturday. Since I can't afford to buy clothes yet until I get my parents caught up, this is a good option. He was even nice enough to pay for me to get my hair cut by a guy named Franco Phoenix, and my makeup was done by his partner, Eric James. I honestly couldn't believe how nice I looked. Mateo believes in me, even when I had no faith I could do it. I am still scared but, I have reserved you a seat if you want to come to the show. My dad wasn't well enough to come, and I wanted to have a friendly face in the seats rooting for me. I am a little scared", I told her.

"Honey, your hair looks great, I am absolutely positive that you are going to rock this. I am so proud of you. I have heard of Mateo. I believe that he is the one who wants women of all sizes to look beautiful, and actually, I did want to check out some of his work. It would be my pleasure to come, and I am really excited about it. I will find somewhere to sit where you can see me", Catherine tells me.

"Nicolas and Dalton will be going to the show as well, along with Dalton's sister and mother, so you can sit with them. I will be telling them the address this Friday night. I had already mentioned it to them when I saw them Saturday night after I got my hair done. They were great with you sitting with them," I told Catherine.

"Always nice to sit with people you know. I am so excited about seeing you at a runway show," Catherine said.

The rest of the day goes quickly, with no problems and I hope that tomorrow goes the same way.

On Tuesday I decided to wear the dress that I was given. It is a sleeveless black silk dress with some bold red strokes on the front of it and all black on the back. It looks great on me, hugging my figure very well. I made a mental note to buy some new red shoes to go with this dress as soon as I can and I believe that bringing out the red in the dress would be the best way to go the next time I wear it. I just don't happen to own a pair. I will talk to Iris about it this Saturday before the show. My day goes by smoothly and Coleman, Catherine, and I head down to the cafeteria to grab lunch. It is only the start of my second week, and I don't have any friends other than Catherine and Coleman yet. Lunch was great in that another lady that works in finance for Gerald Siler came over to eat with us. She introduced herself as Victoria Hayes, and she has worked there for 8 years. She was a slim black female with beautiful caramel skin and deep brown eyes. She left her hair natural and cut short with the top bleached a lighter color, and she was a beautiful lady with high cheekbones and full lips. She wanted to catch me at lunch as she had spoken to Gerald about a set of clients that wanted to invest in something by an artist, but not exactly framable art. They had been to several art exhibits, but none of them had really made them excited to be a part of it. They had gone back and forth several times trying to find something for this couple, as they didn't know exactly what they wanted to invest in, just that, so far, all of the ideas that they had been given weren't the type of things that the couple wanted to invest in. They said that they would know it when they saw it. But with the investors not having an idea of really what it was that they actually wanted, it was making things extremely hard to come up with more ideas for them. Gerald had told her that I had an MBA too, and a good head on my shoulders, and that I had offered to help out, as needed, with some fresh ideas, if I had time to help them.

I had everything typed up today, so I did have some time today to try to think up ideas to try to help them out.

When we got back to the office, the blinds on Collin's window were drawn, but they had been open when we left for lunch. We had given Collin everything that he needed earlier today, so I am sure that either Collin is out at lunch with Maddie, or in his office right now with Maddie. As long as they are quiet, and the door is locked, I am good with it. I just never want to see them going at it again. Ever, it was terrible. When we were caught up, Catherine went down to speak with one of the receptionists about an e-mail that she had gotten this morning, so I staffed the desk alone. Thirty minutes later, an attractive lady and a younger version of herself got off the elevator and came to my desk. The lady had a slim build with blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked to be in her mid-fifties and was a stunning woman. The younger woman was about my age and was on the curvier side like I was. We were almost the exact same size, it is just my chest and rear were a little bigger than she had, but she had a beautiful figure. She was blonde just like the older lady, but she had green eyes, instead of blue like the older lady, and those green eyes looked like Collins. I stand up and greet them at the desk.

"Hello, my name is Cora, how can I help you?" I asked them.

"Cora, hello, I am Marlowe Lauder, and this is my daughter Ava Lauder, and we are here to see Collin. I texted him earlier that we were coming today to see him. Can you let him know that we are here please?" Marlowe said to me in a very polite tone.

I walked over to the door and knocked, but I received no answer from inside. I didn't know if he was there or not, but there was a zero chance of me opening that door to check, as I knew that Maddie would be back today. With his mother present, I just cannot take that chance. I spun around towards them and laughed a little, and said, "I don't know if he is here or not, as he didn't answer me when I knocked. Please give me a minute while I call Catherine, in case she knows. We were at lunch and when we came back the door was shut".

Catherine did not know if he was there or not, but told me that she was going to grab them some coffee too, as she was in line at Cool Beans on the first floor, she agreed with me not to enter the office. I asked his mother and sister to have a seat near my desk and was having a friendly conversation with Ava when the door to Collins's office suddenly opens and Maddie steps out, shuts the door loudly, and quickly heads to the elevator, without looking at or speaking to Marlowe or Ava as she stands waiting for the elevator. The elevator doors go to open and Maddie steps in quickly and walks right into Catherine, who cries out in pain as the tray she was holding with four coffees on it, pours down the front of her outfit.

"Catherine, are you okay?", I called out as I ran to her.

Catherine steps out of the elevator and tells me to call security to have the elevator locked on the first floor, for one of the janitorial staff to clean the spill in the executive elevator and takes her jacket off so she can pull the hot coffee-covered shirt away from her skin as I know it is burning her.

I pick up the phone to call and ask Security to stop the elevator and shut it off to be cleaned and then go back to check on Catherine.

"Why in the world would she do that to you? How hateful, and she has no excuse at all to have done that. Do you need to go home early? Is your skin burned? Do you need me to take you to a doctor?" I asked Catherine. I am upset for her, as that totally looked deliberate. Why would Maddie have pushed her like that when she saw the coffee on the tray?

"Catherine, are you OK? Did she hurt you? Do you have a change of clothes here at work? When it cools down, it will just be a mess. That girl, I swear it was probably my fault. I do not like her, and I told Collin to break up with her. He needs a good woman in his life, but that girl just cares about herself, she doesn't care for my son, she is just using him as a stepping stone to get where she wants to be. They probably thought that we were going to leave. I know he heard us talking out here. She probably tried to wait it out, but since we didn't leave, she ran. I will be having another talk with Collin. This was a terrible thing that she did to Catherine.

"Um, mom, can I skip the talk with Collin and stay out here with Catherine and Cora, please? I don't want to be in there with you two for this conversation", Ava asked her mom.

"That is fine Ava, I won't be long, he knew I was coming. He probably thought that we were going to be here more towards the end of the day. He thought wrong", Marlowe said as she walked to his door.

I go to walk to the door to knock, and Marlowe smiles at me and says, "Dear, he already knows that I am here. I am going right in. She had already left, so he should be back dressed again. I heard through the grapevine what happened to you last week, and after today, maybe he needs a little fire lit under him, to make sure it never happens again at work. I am disgusted by his behavior and wish he could find a good girl to be with. These trampy girls are just using him, and I guess he uses them too, but it is our family name getting dragged through the mud in this, and I will not let her make our family look bad if I have anything at all to say about it". Marlowe then steps up to the door, raps on it twice and enters without waiting for his "come in" to sound out.