Falling For My Playboy Boss
Chapter 38

Ava's POV

Well, the day I have dreamed of has finally gotten here, and I can't celebrate it, because Cora is probably going to make her heartbroken over this. Cora and Michael were a great couple, their feelings were growing quickly, and my mom has never been happier. Then Collin finally gets his head out of his a*s and realizes that he wants Cora, for Cora. This was the best-case scenario anyway because Cora had it bad for him for months before she was heartbroken with him continuing to go back to Maddie and wanting "Shea" instead of her. As soon as Collin poured his heart out to Dalton and Nicolas, Dalton texted me, as this was really what we had been waiting for.

I told mom about Collin finally wanting to do right by Cora, but mom was worried about Michael getting hurt. I told her that there was something else going on with Michael, but until it was confirmed, we had to wait to tell her what it was. Dalton said that Collin had joked to Michael that on day two if mom knew that she had a grandchild, she would have that little boy a pony, and I agreed. Mom is going to lose her mind when she replaces out. But we are all keeping a lid on it until we can get some confirmation. It would be worse to jump the gun with this and then mom and dad would be disappointed and heartbroken if the child wasn't Michael's.

I need to make plans with Cora as I know that she is going to take this hard, and I hope that Collin will step in quickly, to let her know that he would like to take her out, as that would dull the pain of losing Michael. I am glad that he figured out that he wanted Cora and not Shea. He will win them both, and the best part was that he came to it on his own, so that makes me really happy. Collins POV

It is Saturday morning, the day of the fall fashion show. I am excited for Ava, as she is really excited for today. Cora was upset with me for making her type that report up and she will be even more upset when she replaces out that I need her to travel with me on the corporate jet to Paris right after the meeting with Ackerson on Wednesday at noon. We will be flying out at 2 pm on the corporate jet. We already have a three-bedroom apartment that the company owns, and it gets cleaned and the fridge restocked before we come on each trip. With the length of the flight and the time difference, we should land by 930 pm Eastern time, but it will be 330 am Paris time when we land. The meeting is set for 10 am, so we won't get much sleep, but we will be very close to the place we have the meeting at. I planned on catching Cora at the fashion show and telling her, so I tried to call her, but she didn't answer. She may already be there helping the models to dress. At least that is what I think she is doing there. She is always dressed down, so I assume that she is helping out in some kind of way backstage. I will fill in dad and Catherine when I see them at the show. The meeting is a normal thing for us, but they are also having an awards banquet the next night, and we are receiving an award based on the rise in revenue and business that we have had this fiscal year. Due to our new clients telling others about how innovative and cutting edge we are with their investments. I will write my acceptance speech on the way over to Paris, and then try to get some sleep on the jet. Catherine usually went to take notes from the meeting, and I will see if she could give Cora some tips on what to do there as well. The meeting on Thursday will be from 10 am to 6 pm, with lunch included. It will be a long day and then we can have dinner. Then Cora can see some of the sites on Friday in Paris and we can go to the party from 6 to 10, and then come back to the apartment to pack. We will be flying out at 7 am on Saturday morning. With the flight time of around 7 and a half hours but getting back the time difference of flying back here, we should land back at around 830 am Eastern, so she will really still have her whole weekend left to her. I hope she doesn't get mad at me for the short notice, but they had sent the invite to Catherine's email address and when we didn't respond to the invitation, they sent another one, to my attention. I corrected them to Cora's email, but they waited two weeks before reaching out to me, so this is super short notice.

Cora's POV

I got to the show early. I was upset and needed to think. I was upset with Collin waiting to tell me he needed me to type that report up when I literally had been doing nothing for the last two hours because I was caught up. He could have at any time let me know he needed the report early and I would have done it, it was like he was trying to sabotage mine and Michael's date. Because he did, when Michael arrived and saw me working, he asked me what was going on? I told him that Collin had given me a last-minute report to write and I would need another hour at least to get it done. He had gone into Collin's office, really angry and I was worried that something might happen, but I watched Michael go from angry, to surprised, to happy, and then worried. I don't know what was going on, because Michael just gave me a side hug and said that he would talk to me later after he figured out some things and then left. I still haven't heard from him today, but it is only noon, so I guess I will have to wait. Things were going so well with him and for things to fall apart now, I am upset and afraid. Upset because he could have told me what the problem was and let me try to help him solve it, instead of leaving me to worry. Afraid because things were going so well, and I was really scared that whatever happened, would be the end of us, as all four of them were closed-mouthed about whatever the problem was, making me think that it was a big one. I tried to ask Ava, but she wouldn't say what it was either. I will just focus on what I need to get done today. "Baby girl, are you OK? You seem tense", Eric asked me.

"I am tense. I was dating Michael for the last 3 weeks and everything was going great. Then something happened last night, and no one is telling me anything, and I don't know what happened, and I am really just so upset. I guess I am cursed to be single", I say, and get more and more upset with each word.

"Honey, you will not be single forever. Things are going to change for you soon. I just have a feeling. Now remember this, you are loved. Look around, there are at least 10 people here right now, at this minute, that love you to pieces, so don't sweat it, honey, it is going to be alright", Eric told me, giving me a quick hug.

I get done in Eric's chair and head to Franco. I gave him a small smile and he asked me quietly, "Are you OK?". I nod my head, but he can tell I am lying to him, so he smiles at me and says, "it is time for me to do your hair again baby girl. I just had an appointment canceled for next Saturday at noon. Do you want me to book it for you? I will make sure to give you an extra-long neck rub, to make things better for you", Franco tells me, and that makes me smile and then I start to tear up from him being so kind to me, so I have to look at the ceiling and fan my burning eyes. I felt someone blot the bottom of my eyes and see Eric next to me. He squeezes my hand and tells me, "I can't have you messing up my work now, right?"

"I love both of you," I tell them, and they hug me from either side and Eric gives me a kiss on my head.

"We love you too, baby girl, you keep your head up, because no one messes with my girl and gets away with it," Eric tells me before going back to his station.

"This week I am going to do it half up and half down for you. It is going to look beautiful, just sit back and relax and let me do my magic", Franco tells me. I lean back, but before I can relax, my cell phone goes off and I look at the caller ID and it is Collin. I just hit the button to silence it, because I needed to get my head in the game and not get psyched out. Franco worked on my hair for 15 minutes, doing an elaborate updo, with some strategic braids going up and into a ponytail that was curled and puffed up, the rest of my hair was curled and flowing down my back, so it actually looked like I had a lot more hair than I actually have with the ponytail on top of my head making it look longer. I go and check out my outfits for today with Olivia. I have some cute palazzo pants with a long- sleeved silk shirt in a deep violet color and it is stunning. My second outfit is a romper pants suit with a modest V, and long sleeves, in a burnt orange color. It was a lovely deep color and would be a good choice to wear in the fall. I could wear it to work with no problems. The third outfit was a mini skirt with a cute belt on it, and a chunky silver cable sweater with small silver cords running through it. It made the sweater shimmer as it turned due to the cords and the boat neck on it caused it to leave a shoulder bare. The fourth outfit was a gorgeous gold gown, it had a halter neckline and a mermaid-type bottom which flared out from just above my knees and moved very well with me. It had a dipping neckline, but I was more covered than my last two dresses were on me. The last one was my favorite one. It was a black dress but had strategic solid pieces to it, so my breasts were covered with two pieces of black fabric, and it had a miniskirt type for the skirt, but those three pieces were the only solid pieces to the dress. There was a black lace overlay on it that covered me from my neck to the floor. The back had a large open keyhole from where the front wrapped around my neck and covered the tops of my shoulders on the back of the dress and then there was the keyhole which then fell open to the top of my butt, where the mini-skirt started with the keyhole. The dress was very provocative with the solid pieces covering my breasts, but with the lace covering the dress, it was just simply gorgeous, with everything important technically covered. It had delicate cap sleeves with lace on them, and the sheer lace going from the neck as an overlay to the end of the dress moved and swayed with each step. I love it and it is my new favorite dress until Mateo makes his next set of clothes for me. This is going to be another great show.