Falling For My Playboy Boss
Chapter 21

Cora's

POV

Iris shows me my outfits and that they are hung in the order that Mateo wants me to wear them. I take a picture of them on the hangers and start to look them over. I am so excited to see what I am going to wear on the catwalk and also get to keep in real life and I am glad that 4 of the 5 are indeed things that I can wear to work, and they are all beautiful pieces.

The first one is a bright red sleeveless romper pants suit with gathers at the waist and a cowl neckline. It is beautiful and I am excited to wear it. My second outfit is a black pencil skirt, with slits on the sides of it, but the button details at the waist give it a little more oomph and will emphasize the small size of my waist. It is paired with a beautiful sleeveless, boatneck, ivory tank that really looks like it will be showing off my other assets in their best light. My third outfit is a nice black pants suit with a creamy tan silk chemise that would be good for the office, or going out after work, which is what I believe Mateo was going for. The fourth piece is a stunning sleeveless black romper that only has one strap, leaving my other arm completely bare, and the strap curves down at a rounded angle to the other side of my breasts. I see Mateo has given me some built-in bra cups to both prevent my breasts from moving around too much, but also keep one of them from popping out and saying hello. It will be perfectly respectable in an office setting with a jacket over it, and you can take the jacket off to go to a nice dinner or the club. The fifth and last piece is absolutely stunning. It is a sapphire blue, floor-length gown. It has tiny spaghetti straps that fall over the shoulders and is the only piece of cloth on my back. They fall down my back and are secured in the waistband of the back of the dress. We will need some boob tape with this one, as I cannot wear my strapless bra with it. The waist is tight, and the bottom of the dress goes out into a shimmery, breezy, flowy masterpiece. I am so excited I get to wear such a beautiful piece, but I already see a problem. I have a bruise on my ribs from being hit by Lyra yesterday. How the dress is cut, it goes down diagonally from the bottom of my b****t and then to the waistband. The bruise will be totally visible when I wear the dress. I am going to have to go catch Mateo or Eric because I consider this to be an emergency. Thank God I got here early. My three pairs of shoes are under the clothes, with me wearing basic black for the pants suit, and the pencil skirt outfits, a nice pair of true red shoes for the red, and the black romper, and the most delicate pair of heels that I have ever seen for the blue dress. I put everything back in place and got to find Eric or Mateo, or even Iris, who is a problem solver. "Eric, do you have a minute to talk?" I asked him.

"Honey, I can talk and do this at the same time, what's up?" Eric asked me.

"Well, it is about the dress," I told him.

"Yes, it is going to be beautiful on you, hence me needed to bold you up for the last two outfits," Eric told me.

"Well, I will actually need you to put something on my rib as well," I told him.

Eric stops working and looks at me and asks, "Why?"

I didn't say anything, I just pulled the side of my shirt up and showed him the bruise.

"Who did that to you?" Eric asked me.

"A co-worker who didn't like me trying to stop her from getting in to see Collin yesterday," I told him.

"Are you freaking kidding me? Who hit you, Shea?" I heard Olivia call out loudly behind me, and she sounded pissed.

"It was one of Collin's groupies that was mad she didn't get the job that I have, so she hit me in the ribs and pushed me out of the way, and then had the nerve to tell her Director of H.R. boyfriend that I had hit her. He was suspending me for a week when Catherine and Collin showed up and vouched for me. Also, they are installing audio and cameras since Catherine won't be there soon to vouch for me. They are being installed today and no one knows that they are being installed at work yet, but Collin, Catherine, and I, and Livi, I am OK," I told her.

"Honey, I can cover it with a non-transferable foundation, and I will put some loose powder over it and then use a setting spray and no one will be the wiser. You are the end game for the show, so you will be getting photographed from all sides. I am so glad you came over here now so I can get my stuff together for you. When I darken up your eyes later, I will make sure that I am ready to go to cover your bruise as well. I will make it disappear. Don't you worry, you did the right thing coming over here. Thank you for letting me know early. If I have time sooner, I will get it done, but as long as you are ok with holding your boobs out of the way I can get it done quickly. Don't worry, I won't look, I am not interested in your attributes, sweet girl", Eric says to me and winks. I go back and notice that my red shoes are gone. I looked all around for them, but they were missing. I went to find Iris and get her to help me look. Olivia comes over to help as well, but they have just disappeared. Iris goes to tell Mateo and I see them having a discussion. I got the red romper pantsuit on, and I have to say, it was totally made for me. Mateo nailed it and I feel like a million dollars; I feel confident, professional, and a little sexy in the cowl neckline.

"I am asking around, but I bet I know what has happened as Brandi has done this type of thing before. If it is your turn before you find them, just wear your black shoes. I am so sick of dealing with her, I would be so glad to fire her. She was the one who pitched a fit when I gave you the clothes that I did when you came on Friday a week ago and we made our deal. I will see if anyone saw her by your stuff or saw where she put your red shoes. They matched perfectly and I don't need this right at showtime. I am assuming that she thought that I would be mad at you for misplacing them, but I already know who did this and this is going to be her last show, even if I don't have a size 12 to replace her" Mateo says and then walks off and starts speaking to others in the room.

I take the romper back off and head to use the restroom as the show starts in 20 minutes and at that point, I won't be able to go again for a while. I am back in my shorts and t-shirt as I didn't want the romper to get dirty. I came out of the stall to wash my hands and saw Brandi standing there glaring at me.

"I don't know who you are or where you came from, but I was the best Mateo had, and I will be the best again. I just had a difficult day at the last show, but don't get used to working here, because the red shoes missing are just the start. By the time I am done, Mateo won't want to see you ever again", Brandi says, and then spins on her heel and leaves the bathroom.

I washed my hands and exited the bathroom slowly, thinking. I was going to need to tell someone, as she could ruin the whole show, and Mateo's chance at getting the investor's backing, this is really serious, and I need to do something.

I texted Iris and Olivia, to come over to where my clothes are hung and help me make sure everything was OK. We went through every piece and the two pairs of shoes that were still there and didn't find any problems. I had told them what she said, and Olivia said that she was going to stay in my area and keep an eye out, as with the investors coming, nothing could go wrong. Iris went to talk to Mateo away from me, so Brandi wouldn't know that I had told her what she had said. I guess Mateo took it seriously too, as he called the police on Brandi, as the shoes were over $500, and the red shoes were returned to me quickly. Her plan was to break the heel almost all the way through and when the shoes were "found" right before I was to go on, they would break and I would potentially fall off the stage and get hurt, or fall on the catwalk, but I definitely would be embarrassed and so would have Mateo. Mateo asked if we knew anyone who would maybe be a size 12 and I went to the curtain to look out and I saw Nicolas and Dalton sitting with Dalton's mom and sister. I called Mateo over and pointed out Emily and asked him if he thought that Emily could be a size 12. He said, "she definitely looks like she is". I slipped out the back way and come up to the end of the dark row and knelt down in front of Emily.

"Emily, would you happen to be size 12, by any chance?" I asked her.

"Uh, yes, and you are?" Emily asked me, looking at me like I had grown another head. "Would you be interested in wearing three pieces in the show today?" I asked her.

"Are you serious? Like totally serious? Really?' Yes! Yes, I would!" Emily said. "Come with me," I told her, and we walked to the back.

"I am so excited. I love Mateo, and this is a dream come true", Emily told me.

I smiled and took her to where Brandi's clothes were hung and had her go behind the partition to try them on. Iris had come over to help walk Emily through what was going to happen, and she and I were surprised and excited to find that all three of the outfits fit Emily really well. I took her to Franco and, while Franco did her hair, Eric did her makeup and Iris stood next to her and spoke to her about what she was going to need to do. Ten minutes before the curtain went up, Emily was practicing her walk, and her poses, with me and Iris, and by showtime, she was ready to go.