Chapter 14

Jamie POV

I anxiously wait for Crystal to come down. Margie and Liz have been gone for at least thirty minutes. I hope she has not changed her mind. Maybe I should go up the stairs and retrieve her. No, I do not want to rush her. I do not care if we are late. I want her to be at ease with tonight. She already looks a little out of place. So I do not want her to feel rushes.

Oh my damn. Crystal stops at the top of the staircase. She begins to descend to me. She is the most beautiful creature I have ever seen in my life. She smiles at me the sweetest smile as she strolls down to me. I feel breathless and weightless looking at her in that blue evening gown.

She meets me at the bottom of the stairs. I am speechless from her beauty. “Do I look okay?” Crystal asks me.

“No, you do not look okay; you look beautiful,” I say to her. I take her hand and lead her to the front door. I open the door, and we go out to the limo waiting for us. The driver opens the door. She gets in, and I get in behind her. I cannot stop starring at her.

“Are you nervous about tonight?” I ask her.

“I am extremely nervous about tonight if I am honest. What if your client or colleagues don’t like me?” Crystal says.

“They will adore you,” I say.

“Who is the client?” Crystal asks.

“He is a singer for a rock band; maybe you heard of him, Blake Stars,” I say to her.

“We are going to a dinner for Blake Stars; oh my god, I love him,” Crystal says.

“Well, don’t run away with him, miss,” I say to her.

“I would never do that, but I cannot wait to meet him,” Crystal says.

“I am glad you are over your nervousness,” I say to her.

“Oh, I am still nervous, but Blake Stars. I cannot believe this,” Crystal says.

“He is a dick; I will go ahead and give you a heads up,” I say to her.

“Oh well, that is great; I can’t believe this. I cannot wait to tell Liam all about this,” Crystal says.

“Try to remember the rules tonight, please. No drinking, don’t call me daddy and try to have fun,” I say to her.

“No drinking at an event; that does not seem very fair to me, sir,” Crystal says.

“You are right; please do not drink too much. Is that better, miss?” I say to her.

“Deal, I will be responsible,” Crystal says.

“I know you will, miss,” I say to her.

I pull her into my arms. I hold her the entire ride to the private event. She is so sweet, cuddled in my arms. She is beautiful tonight. I am glad she decided to go with me.

We pull into the banquet hall. There are several limos ahead of us. “I thought you said this was a small event, sir,” Crystal says nervously.

“It is small; I think about maybe five hundred people will be here,” I say to her.

“Five hundred people is a small event. Remind me not to agree to a large event,” Crystal says.

I kiss her forehead. “I will be right by your side all night long, no need to freak out, and besides, you get to meet that dick head Blake Stars remember,” I say to her.

Crystal laughs. “I hope he is not a dick; I really love his music,” Crystal says.

“I hate to disappoint you, but he is,” I say.

Our limo finally reaches the front of the line. A man opens the door, and I get out of the limo. I reach back for Crystal’s hand. I help her out of the limo. She looks like a queen on my arm as we go up the stairs into the event hall.

She squeezes my arm and leans into me. “I am terrified,” Crystal says.

“Stop it, daddy is here for you,” I say to her. She smiles and seems to stop being so nervous.

We walk into the main hall of the event center. We go to the front of the room to sit with the other lawyers who work for me. They each took long and hard at this beautiful queen on my arm. I help her into her seat and take mine beside her.

“Why is everyone looking at me?” Crystal asks.

“Because I have never brought a date to one of these events before and because you are stunning,” I say.

The waiters come around and bring wine for everyone. TO my surprise, Crystal refuses the wine and asks for water with lime.

“You can have the wine, sweetie,” I say to her.

“No, I only want water, for now, I might want some wine later, but for now, I want to please you,” Crystal says.

“You are such a good little miss,” I whisper into her ear.

“For now I am; I might not be later,” she says with a laugh.

I introduce her to my colleagues at the table. They are all dying to find out who this beauty is with me. Crystal is still nervous but handling the stress well.

When dinner is served, she doesn’t eat much. I want to say something to her, but I let it go. I can imagine that dress is constricting, and she is trying to eat lightly. I cannot help but smile at her constantly. Crystal’s beauty shines as she carries on small talk with the wives at the table. The wives want the gossip and are dying to find out about her. She handles it well. She gives them short answers and avoids questions she does not want to answer.

Finally, after dinner, our guest of honor shows up late and drunk. Crystal is excited to meet him until he comes to the table to speak with me and nearly falls over onto her.

“Hey, Jamie, sorry am I late,” Blake says. He is so drunk he spills his whiskey all over Crystal.

“Oh, shit, my bad,” Blake says to her.

Crystal looks at me and then Blake. She begins to cry.

“I will take care of her,” Trey’s wife Andrea says.

Trey, my office manager, grabs Blake and removes him from the table immediately. This fucker needs to get his shit together. I leave the table to find Andrea and Crystal.