Falling For My Playboy Boss
Chapter 71

Cora's POV

Ava gets a call and keeps looking at me. I know something has happened and I wait to hear what is going on. Ava told me we needed to go to her parent's house. That there was a problem and they needed us to go there right now. As we head there, I notice that Ava's mouth is pinched with her lips pressed together and she appears stressed. We pull up to the house, and now I am stressed, and I start to rub my belly for comfort. What am I doing here if Collin is here? I do not want to be here with him. Why would Marlowe do this to me? I am not getting out of this car. I saw Marlowe come out the door and she looked upset as well. I know that she isn't trying to cause me stress, but I am under a lot of it right now. She smiles at me, but I am not getting out of the car. Ava gets out and comes around to my door and tries the handle, but I had locked the door. It won't matter, because she has the keys. I know that I am being petty, but I need them to realize that I am seriously striking against getting out of the car. They both take a few steps back and I just sit there looking straight ahead and not going to look at either of them with my hand right above the door lock button.

A few minutes later, I heard a tap on the window and turned to look, and I saw Collin looking me in the eyes through my window. I turned away and faced forward again.

"Baby, please unlock the door, and come in, we need to talk. There are things that you need to know, and we need to figure out a way to stop Maddie. I will not allow her to get another shot at you or our babies. Please, if you don't trust me, trust my family, Nicolas, and Dalton. We need to keep you and the babies safe" Collin tells me in a pleading tone.

I look down in my lap and try to remain calm. I am getting more upset by the minute and feel betrayed. They were not supposed to tell Collin about the babies. Why did they? I feel tears loading up in my eyes and my throat start to close up on me and I know I am seconds away from crying my eyes out. Stupid hormones are all over the place and I can't take it. The tears start to leak out the corners of my eyes, even with them closed, and I am struggling not to sob right now.

"Ava, please unlock your car", Collin calls over to her, but that also lets me know that I need to be prepared to relock the car after she unlocks it. As requested, Ava unlocks the car, and I hit the lock button before Collin can open the door. I know it is petty, but I didn't ask to be brought here. Collin sighs in frustration and I know that he is mothing to her when to do it again, so all I can do is wait to hear her unlock the car again and pray my reflexes are faster than his. Ava unlocks the car and I go to lock it again, but Collin was already lifting the handle when she hit the button, so the doors lock again, but the now locked door is standing open already. So, I stubbornly sat facing forward and not looking at Collin. He kneels down again to get next to me and starts speaking again, "Cora, I love you, baby. I never stopped loving you. I want to marry you, and we can get married after we take care of this Maddie problem. She is blackmailing me into marrying her. She has a video of us, from months ago, and several pictures of me naked. It looks bad and it could ruin Lauder Financial. I have been doing what she wants to try to keep her satisfied while the FBI works on building their case against her. I do not want Maddie and I do not love Maddie. I only love you. I haven't been with anyone else since Paris. You are it for me, baby. Please don't cry, I am struggling so hard right now. I miss you so much. Being apart from you is killing me. Please don't stop loving me. You will kill me if you do. I love you so much Cora, please tell me that you still love me too baby." Collin tells me and I am now ugly crying with tears pouring down my face, and Collin reaches across me to unbuckle my seatbelt that I stubbornly left buckled and takes my hand to help me out of the car.

I stood up and Collin immediately took me in for a tight hug and put his nose in my hair and took a deep breath. I feel him shaking against me and I look up to see tears coming out of his eyes, and he hugs me tighter to him, whispering in my ear, "Baby I only love you. I have missed you so much, this is killing me. I cannot go back home to see her again. I need the FBI to get enough on her for her to be gone forever. They don't have enough on her, even though her phone is tapped for all incoming and outgoing calls and texts. They have the proof that she sent me, and a few other things, but I wanted her gone forever, not just 20 years. But today when I saw you say that you were moving on and you thought that I actually chose her, I NEVER chose her over you. It is always you baby; I will always choose you".

I looked up at him with tears shining in his eyes, looking me directly in mine, and I saw no deceit. I think back to what Livi said, that it looked like it was killing Collin to not come after me, and Eric saying that Collin was a man torn. I know how much he loves Lauder Financial and wanted it to excel under his leadership. He loves that company and wants it to continue being successful under his reign so he can pass it down to his children when he retired. I hugged him and tipped my head up for him to give me a kiss and he immediately gave me what I needed him to do. We kissed for a little while until I heard a cough from behind Collin and his dad said, "Maybe you should take that indoors. You never know if Maddie will follow you or not" and opened the door to go back into the house. Everyone trails in after him, and we all head into his office.

Collin sits down in a chair and pulls me over to sit in his lap. He doesn't want to let me go and I feel his hand come under my shirt and start to rub my baby bump, as he leans into my hair and takes a deep breath. This is quite soothing to me, and I close my eyes and relax in his lap. I have missed him so much, the scent of him, how he makes me feel safe. I opened my eyes and saw Marlowe, Alderidge, and Ava grinning at us like they had just won a jackpot, and I turned my head to look at Nicolas, Dalton, and Michael, who were also smiling at us, and I just turned back towards Collin and give him a light kiss on his jaw and lean back into his other arm to allow him to rub my whole tummy with his big hand. I could go to sleep like this, and I wish that things were different for us right now. I stiffen up a little bit and move like I want to get down, but Collin tightens his grip with his free hand on my back and then puts his other hand across my front to hold me in place.

"I want my own chair Collin, let me down," I told him.

"No, I have missed you and I need to hold you. Please let me hold you", Collin tells me.

"We need to discuss what is going on and make plans. You won't be able to think straight if I am in your lap", I told him.

"I already know what is going on, and I would give up the business and everything for us to be together again. That is where I am at right now. If I never saw Maddie again, that would be perfect. Please just let me hold you, it may be a while before I can again, and I need to hold you, Cora. You have no idea how much I have missed you, baby. Before you leave, would you let me kiss your stomach, Cora?" Collin told me.

I looked at him for a little while, before I nodded at him to let him know that I would let him kiss my stomach before Ava and I left.

Collin smiles widely at me and then cuddles me again before Nicolas fills me and Ava in on what has been happening. I am furious with what she did, and Ava is ready to kill Maddie.

"I am sorry, Collin, I didn't know. I just knew that you were supposed to announce that you were with Cora, and the next thing I knew you were back with Maddie. I hate Maddie and I didn't want you with her and I am sorry for what I said to you about it. I just wanted you to be with Cora, I wanted her to be my sister-in-law from the first day that I met her", Ava tells him, and he smiles at her and hugs me closer and she smiled watching us.

"So, while you were dating her, she filmed you and her together? Why would she have done that? She knew she would have at least 6 months to a year with you, as that is what Catherine told me you would do with your girlfriends. Date them until someone better comes around", I asked Collin. I noticed that everyone except me and Ava stiffened up at my question, and I knew he hadn't. I already knew the answer was it happened after he broke up with her and she poured coffee all over poor Catherine. I don't need his answer now, and I don't want his answer now. I remember his swearing that he wouldn't sleep with her in the office again, and he did, within 24 hours. I remember him saying that he had broken up with her and then showing up at the first fashion show with her. I then realized that he had lied to me quite frequently and I stiffened up in his arms. I can't keep allowing him to speak the words that my heart wants to hear towards me and letting him back into my heart because I am the only one getting hurt from it. He looks just fine. His same handsome self. No weight loss, no shadows under his eyes. He really doesn't have a lot of stress, just a really annoying b***h for a roommate. He may get a bonus for that too, as he has lied about getting with her before and I want to slap myself for falling for his charming words again. I am so smart generally. Why do I act so stupid and let Collin trample all over my heart when he has no repercussions at all from it? I have decided, I may be sitting in his lap still, but we are not on the same page, or together. I will play nice until it is time to leave and then I will make sure that Marlowe and Ava know I will NOT be getting around Collin again. I know Marlowe is looking at me and she sees it already. I know Collin noticed me stiffening up, but since I didn't demand to be let down, he thinks that he can worm his way out of it because I love him and I want to be with him, but I don't. I cannot live with lies, and I know I am tearing up. The room is dead quiet, but I will not sob. I may let a tear fall, but my heart is hardening right now and this time I will let it be locked and secure.