Falling For My Playboy Boss
Chapter 81

Cora's POV

"You shouldn't eavesdrop on people; you could hear things you don't want to hear," Camille said to me with a smirk.

"You shouldn't gossip in the workplace. It really does make you look bad. Now, are you ready to learn? Because I want to teach those that want to learn and will utilize what I have taught them. I can go back to New York right now, because I have my own clients to take care of and I would rather take care of them, than waste my time here", I told her.

"You don't have to worry about it anymore, Cora. Camille, go ahead and go back to your office. Camille, we will speak later, but you are no longer a part of this training. If your boss wants to know why, tell him to please see me, but I will be speaking to him in the next few days regardless", Gabriel said from the doorway and was glaring directly at Camille.

"I would like to stay, Sir, and learn if that is OK with you?" Camille said.

"No, it isn't. You were rude this morning and I gave you a warning, and I have already warned you all to be respectful to the trainer in a memo that you all received yesterday. You were not respectful at all, Camille. In fact, you were incredibly rude to her, and I almost wished Cora had kicked you out of training this morning. She may not have been aware that she could. Now she knows, but I went out of my way to go and get her, and she is incredibly knowledgeable on this subject. Go back and have your boss send his next best person to the meeting now. We will wait 10 minutes for them to get here. So go ahead and get going. We will discuss this later with your supervisor present, as I now want to look at your books. I suspect Cora is correct in her assumptions about how you are doing business, Camille", Gabriel said to Camille. She grabbed her purse and stormed out of the room, glaring at me. I didn't kick her out, she kicked herself out. I got my laptop out to check to see if I had any messages from my clients, with one message in my inbox. It was just a question and I had it taken care of in 3 minutes. I want my clients to know that they are valuable to me, and I am glad to represent each and every one of them. I put my laptop away and saw Gabriel staring at me. "Handling work?" Gabriel asked me.

"Yes, I checked it this morning and I was going to check it on break, but since we had a few minutes, I figured I would check. Just in case", I told him.

"Cora, I was going to ask you, are you free for dinner this Friday?" Gabriel asked me and I saw Thomas' mouth twitch.

"I will check, you know I didn't come alone, and Marlowe has been making plans. If I am free, I would be glad to go to dinner with you", I told him.

A knock sounded at the door and a man about my age was standing there nervous and said, "I was told to come to a meeting".

"Please come in, we are doing account management training and you did miss a few things, but I will go back over them very quickly for you so you will be up to speed too. My name is Cora. What is your name?" I asked him.

"Louis Girard," he tells me and goes to take a seat. He asked to borrow some paper and a pen from Morgan and looked back at me.

"OK, gentlemen, let's start again," I said and smiled at them while we got started.

There were no more problems with the training, as Gabriel stayed in the class about 70% percent of the time, and they knew Gabriel would boot them in an instant.

Four of the five men did an excellent job. They took notes, asked great questions, and got on the same page very quickly, but Andre only paid attention to me when he decided to check me out, or when Gabriel was present. The rest of the time he was on his phone, doing his own thing. He never took notes, and I don't know if he was getting anything out of this at all. Today was now Friday and we were at the end of the first week. I had told Louis about me meeting him and his most difficult client, or the one he needed the most help with next week. I went ahead and asked if they had any preferred day that worked best with their clients, with Morgan, Louis, Claude, and Paul having already discussed it during our break and had already contacted their client, as they had gone Monday thru Thursday to schedule their clients, so we had one day left, which was Friday for Andre. I am assuming that Andre will be taking that day, and he still hasn't mentioned that he was going to set a lunch date with his client. The four men told me to have a good weekend and left the room.

"Andre, so you will need to schedule whomever you are bringing to lunch on Friday quickly. I usually make a reservation at a restaurant that they like. I can usually replace something on the menu. I like for them to be happy and comfortable, and pick the restaurant, as you never know about dietary restrictions or personal preferences. I would suggest you go ahead and get with them as soon as possible so they can confirm, and we can get this done before they make other plans", I told him. Andre just gave me a small smirk and said that he would take care of it and that there would be no problems getting what he needed to get done, before leaving the room.

"Cora, are you still available for dinner tonight?" Gabriel asked me from the doorway.

What time do I need to meet you? And where are we going?" I asked him.

"I can pick you up and take you there, it is no problem," Gabriel said to me.

"I will be bringing her there, Gabriel. I won't be at the table with you, but I will be present there", Thomas told Gabriel. Gabriel looked surprised at me and then Thomas, and then said, "OK", I will text you the address of the restaurant, within the hour. "I don't think lover boy there likes that I will be coming as well," Thomas told me and then started to laugh in a low tone.

"It really doesn't look like it, does it?" I said to Thomas, and then we left for the day.

While we were heading down to the garage, I mentioned to Thomas, "Did it seem like Andre meant something else by his comment? It seemed almost like a threat what he said to me. It just made me a little uncomfortable".

"He is hard to read. I don't like or trust him, but I will be there at the table with you, so I will make sure you are OK, Cora. Don't worry. I would be more worried over Gabriel, as he acted like I shot his dog when I said that I would be bringing you to the restaurant", Thomas told me, and that got me laughing.

"I trust Gabriel much more than Andre actually," I told him as we got into our vehicle. I googled the address that Gabriel gave me, and it was a very upscale restaurant. I was going to have to stop and get a dress to wear, as I hadn't brought any dressy dresses, as I was just supposed to come and train, I didn't think I needed a nice gown. Thomas googled and found a local maternity shop where I was able to purchase a black evening dress and I was going to wear some kitten heels with it. I went to the apartment and grabbed a quick shower. I dried my hair and put it up in a high ponytail and put on some mascara and lipstick and was ready to go. Thomas gave me a thumbs up at my appearance and drove me to the restaurant. I could already see Gabriel sitting next to the window in the restaurant, so since Thomas could see us from where he was, he stayed in the car. It would only be an hour at most. I don't know what all we could be talking about tonight, as for me it should be all business. I enter the restaurant and Gabriel stands when he sees me and comes to get me at the hostess' stand.

"Cora, you look absolutely stunning tonight," Gabriel tells me and kisses the back of my hand.

"Thank you so much, Gabriel, you look very handsome yourself," I told him.

He guides me to our table and brings out my chair for me, and then slides me under the table and goes over to his chair.

"Thank you for agreeing to come out with me. I am glad to be able to have your undivided attention for the first time", Gabriel tells me and smiles at me. I smiled back at him and then reminded him that he had it when we danced at the banquet in September. "Yes, I should have moved faster. I had no idea that Collin had his eye on you. I was going to ask you out and he told me not to bother because you and he were an item when I called his phone the next day to get your number. I am assuming that your babies are his?" Gabriel asked me.

"They are, but it is not public knowledge. I prefer to keep that private if you don't mind. We are no longer together, and I will be raising the babies on my own. I will not let either of them be around his fiancé, as she is a dangerous person and cannot be trusted", I told him.

"I am sorry to hear that. I don't understand why Collin would change his mind about you. He was very upset that I even asked him, and of course, he refused to give me your number", Gabriel said, and smiled at me.

"I bet he did, he wants me more when other men are interested in me. It is a nasty habit of his", I told him.

"Well, I am still very much interested in you, even with you pregnant, Cora. I replace you very attractive and very smart. I appreciate your training my team and my offer still stands. If you ever need to leave Lauder Financial, I will hire you immediately to work for me at Eurazeo", Gabriel told me and smiled at me over his wine glass. He put his glass down and reached across the table and gently stroked his thumb across the back of my hand in a circular motion. I found Gabriel very attractive, but I was still hung up on Collin. I allowed him to touch the back of my hand for a short while, and then pulled it gently from his grasp.

"I am still in love with Collin. I know it is crazy. He is engaged to Maddie, but I still love and want him. We have children together and if we can be a happy family together, I want that for both myself and my children. So, I will be giving him another chance as I do know that he loves me. If he continues to mess up, I will be forced to let it go and get over him. I would be glad to fly back out here for a two-week vacation to try to get to know you better. But I don't know when I can do it as I will have two babies to contend with. I don't want to give you false hope as you could meet a special woman next week, and I don't want you to pass up your chance at happiness waiting for me. I like you a lot, Gabriel, and I want you to be happy too. Please don't just focus on me, when the love of your life could be just around the corner. I would truly feel terrible. You are a good man and I want you to be happy.