Controlling Vulnerable

Chapter 13

Mason Williams hosted an annual charity dinner raising funds for the two main children's hospitals in Orlando. Joe turned the invitation over in his hand, having previously shoved it to the back of his mind. He checked his watch and made a decision. He shouted Linda, "Hey, it's that charity dinner tonight. The other investors will probably be there. If I got Lara to agree to go, could you and Mark watch the kids?" Linda nodded, "Yeah, sure." He grabbed his wallet and passed her his credit card. Go grab her now will you, take her to get a dress, whatever else she needs, and tell her I'll collect her at seven." Linda twirled the card, "Oh my god Joe. I have the best job in the world. I can be like a stylist for a couple of hours."

Lara wasn't sure what to say when Linda came in and repeated Joe's message, clearly excited. She found herself swept off and sitting in Linda's car speeding towards Mall at Millenia. "I'm not sure about this Linda. I wish he'd given me more notice." Linda waved a hand, "It'll be fine. He knows you made an impression at the last investor meeting, so they'll be pleased to get some more exposure to you." They drew up right by the entrance to one of the large upscale stores, and Linda rushed her in, requesting the personal shopper at the register. For the next hour, Lara tried on a stream of dresses and settled on a deep navy one, fitted and nipped in at the waist with a diamonte belt to make the most of her figure. They found her some silver sandals to give her enough height to avoid the dress dragging on the floor. The personal shopper rang down to the ground floor, and one of the counters did her make-up. Linda then dragged her to the hair salon where they just had time to add soft loose curls. They raced back to collect Lara's car from the parking garage, and she drove over to collect the children from the after-school programme.

Lara was self-conscious entering the school fully made up, and she ushered the children out as quickly as possible. Charlotte had gasped seeing her, and she said, "Mummy, you look so pretty." She explained as they walked back to the car, "I need to go to a work dinner thing with Joe tonight. Linda and Mark are going to come and sit with you. Would that be okay with you guys?" They both squealed with excitement, and Grace said, "Can we have pizza?" Lara laughed, "Of course. I'll order it when we get in." When they got home, she dialled for the pizza and ran upstairs to get ready. She put her mother's simple white gold bracelet on and heard the doorbell. She ran downstairs holding the dress up and opened the door to see Mark and Linda had met the delivery guy and were holding pizza boxes. Linda nodded in satisfaction seeing her and said, "You run up and finish getting ready honey. We'll sort things down here." Mark had stood frozen, and as soon as Lara had disappeared, his wife smiled, "You can close your mouth now." She laughed as her husband took the pizza to the island unit and ruffled Charlotte's hair, "Wow, she looks good doesn't she?" When Joe arrived, Mark let him in, and Grace ran to enthusiastically hug his legs. Linda shouted up the stairs to let Lara know he'd arrived and adjusted Joe's black tie, handing his credit card back. She stood back, keen to see his reaction, and Lara came down. Joe turned and did a double take. She literally took his breath away, and he gasped. Mark took her hand to navigate the last two steps in her heels and said, "You look incredible Lara." She blushed, "Thanks to your wife." Joe recovered his breath and said to the children, "Your Mommy looks beautiful. Let's get her to the ball hey." Lara blew the girls a kiss and turned to Linda and Mark to say, "Thanks for watching them." Joe opened the back door of the cab and went around the other side to sit next to her. Lara felt awkward, not only because of her own unusual attire but also because she couldn't help reacting to how good her boss looked in his dinner suit. When they arrived, she gratefully took a glass of champagne and drank it quickly to settle her nerves. Joe watched her with amusement and said, "You might want to slow down unless you want me to carry you home." Lara laughed, "I know, I just haven't done this sort of thing for years and years, and it's a bit nerve-wracking. I feel like people are looking, thinking I'm totally socially inept." One side of Joe's mouth turned up, "People are looking because you look absolutely heart stoppingly beautiful." She grabbed a new drink from a passing tray, "Thanks. You scrub up pretty well yourself. I'll be better after I've had this one." Joe laughed and took her hand to lead her through the crowd.