Mr. Forrester: An Alpha Billionaire Romance Page 6

  Erica smiled, and kissed his chest, directly over his heart. "I love you, too."

  Dwayne held her in silence for a moment before speaking again. "How would you like to move with me to the island?"

  Erica thought for a moment, her mind exploring the possibility. The island was a paradise, that was true. But she was still making her own way in the world, and there was no way she could run a design house from an island in the Virgin Islands. "It would be lovely, Dwayne, but it would also be a prison. I can't run my business while living on the island. There's too many other people I work with who couldn't come with me."

  She thought Dwayne would be angry, or possibly hurt by her rejection. Instead, he held her tighter, and thought quietly for a moment. She turned her head to look at him worriedly. "I hope you aren't angry."

  Dwayne turned to look at her with loving eyes, and kissed her forehead. "I'm not angry, it's just another reason to love you. I was just thinking. You're the first woman who's ever refused to give up herself for the money I have. You're smarter and stronger than that."

  "So what are we going to do? Even if you are a billionaire, I don't think flying from Miami to the BVI's on a daily basis is a reasonable commute," Erica said with a sigh.

  "How about I move to Miami then?" Dwayne replied, earning a disbelieving look from Erica. "I'm serious. I pull my headquarters up, relocate to Miami, and we can handle the rest later. I'm sure your assistant wouldn't mind that, would she? She seemed very protective of you the few times we talked."

  Erica looked him in his crystal blue eyes, and kissed him softly. She had no words, and settled back into the crook of his arm, content just to ponder the future.

  CHAPTER 7

  MONTHS LATER

  "P ush!"

  Erica strained against the pain, pushing down with all her might. She could feel Dwayne next to her, but the steely hot pain through her body left her unable to see more than a narrow slit of light. It had been ten hours, and she was exhausted. She sagged back against the bed, her body dripping with sweat as the contraction passed.

  "That's it, just one or two more," the doctor said from down between her legs.

  "You said that ten contractions ago," Erica gasped, as her body tensed for another push. "I... I can't...."

  "Yes you can," Dwayne said next to her, his eyes filled with love and strength. "Yes, you can. We'll do it together."

  In the moment before her contraction hit, Erica's mind thought about how true Dwayne's words were. He had been there the entire time. True to his word, he had moved his corporate headquarters to Miami, selling his Chicago apartment in the process. He had been with her at every doctor's appointment, every Lamaze class, everything. Even Tina, often the most protective of friends she had ever developed in her life, was impressed with his devotion to her.

  "I think I may have been replaced," she had joked about six months into Erica's pregnancy, as her belly started to swell more. "You've got someone else to take care of you now."

  "Nobody will ever replace you," Erica had joked. "First of all, there is no one who keeps my head right like you do. Secondly, Dwayne is terrible at fashion, even though he has great taste in designers," she said with a chuckle. "But that man has no sense of line or shadow when it comes to clothing."

  "No, he just naturally looks like Apollo himself," Tina cracked. "Are you sure he doesn't have a brother or a buddy that could use a redheaded love slave?"

  "Speaking of love slaves, tell me about this Enrico who called while you were at lunch the other day," Erica teased, causing her assistant to both blush and look down.

  "It's not important," Tina finally said. "We were FWB's, and I wanted more. He didn't, and so we walked away. Guess I'm totally single now."

  "You're still family to me, so you're not really single."

  Erica's memories were cut off as another massive wave of contraction swept through her, and she bore down with all her might, her teeth gritted in the effort as she pushed with everything she had. She could feel the baby slide out, and suddenly the delivery room was filled with the sound she had dreamed about for months, the sound of her baby daughter crying for the first time.

  When the nurse brought her over, Erica felt her heart swell as she held her daughter for the first time. She was perfect, in Erica's opinion. She looked at Dwayne, whose face was slack in amazement at the small bundle in front of her. "Say hello to Elizabeth, Daddy," she said, holding the baby up to him. The name came to her naturally, and as soon as she said it, she knew it was the right one.

  He took baby Elizabeth in his arms carefully, almost as if he was afraid he'd break her with his strength, before tears slipped from his eyes. He kissed the wrinkled little forehead for a moment, before turning his eyes back to Erica.

  "My sister is going to be proud to know we named our daughter Elizabeth," he said, before reaching out to stroke her cheek. He swallowed a lump in his throat, and she watched as he wiped away a tear from his eye. "I know this is bad timing, but... will you marry me?" he asked, handing the baby back to her.

  Erica looked from her daughter to Dwayne and smiled, and no other reply was needed.

  CHAPTER 8

  T he American Airlines Boeing 757 made a wide arcing turn as it came around to align itself with the runway at Miami International Airport. Coming in from the west, it glided over the Everglades for a few miles before the swamp gave way to the built up concrete of Miami itself. An old gator, whose life had stretched back farther than most of the humans in Southern Florida, looked up at the silvery behemoth before bellowing a warning, then slipping into the black waters to look for its next meal. With a slight thump, it landed normally, taxiing to the gateway and letting off passengers.

  Inside, Elizabeth Forrester shouldered her carry-on bag, a small backpack. It was all she needed really, as the rest of her goods would be arriving by ground delivery within a few days. Coming off the plane, she made her way towards the baggage area, a bit confused. It had been years since she’d flown by anything but private aircraft, but that was a thing of the past now. A new reality had set in, one of her own choosing.

  Finding the baggage claim area was easy; her bag, not so much. Who knew so many people used plain black ballistic nylon luggage? It took her almost fifteen minutes, and three false checks before she found her single bag, and she wheeled it towards the exit. Once clear of the security area, she found what she was looking for, the sight of her younger brother Dwayne, and his fiancée, Erica. Around Erica's shoulders in a sling was what had motivated her to come to Miami in the first place, the tell tale bulge of a baby, her niece, newborn baby Elizabeth.

  Wrapping her brother up in a hug, Elizabeth kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for having me, Dwayne," she said, emotion unexpectedly choking her voice. She blinked away the sudden tears before turning and carefully hugging Erica. "And you too, Erica. How's motherhood going for you?"

  “Better than I could’ve imagined,” Erica said, peeling back the opening in the sling to reveal the sleeping form of one month old baby Elizabeth. "Liz is taking a nap, sorry she couldn't stay awake to see you arrive."

  Elizabeth had never seen a more beautiful child. With her mother's cute button nose and wavy hair, and her father's cheekbones, she was a beauty by anyone's standard, with a soft fresh softness to her skin. "She's very much a daddy's girl," Erica said with a chuckle, "Except when she's hungry or sleepy. There's nothing better for her than sleeping against my chest when she's tired."

  "She's beautiful," Elizabeth replied, enamored with the baby already. "I know she's sleeping now, but when she wakes up, can I take a turn holding her?"

  Erica smiled and kissed Elizabeth on the cheek. "Of course you can. She's your niece."

  Dwayne interrupted the tender moment, picking up Elizabeth's bag. "You'll get your chance later tonight," he said, wrapping his free arm around his sister's shoulder. "You’re staying for dinner, right?"

  "Of course," Elizabeth replied, as the trio headed towards airport parking. "Whil
e I have the keys to my apartment, my stuff doesn't arrive for at least two days, and the movers will probably need at least another day to arrange stuff. If you don't mind, I'd like to stay with you guys until then."

  Dwayne nodded. "If you don't mind the occasional waking up in the night to a baby crying, of course,” he said. "Our place has lots of space. We've got two spare bedrooms, so you don't even need to crash on the couch if you don't want to."

  "And besides, you're family," Erica added.

  Once in the car, conversation continued on Elizabeth's future. "Elizabeth, I don't mean to pry, but why did you leave your husband anyway? Not that I'm complaining," Erica said, thinking of the chilly relationship between her and the rest of the Forrester clan besides Dwayne and Elizabeth. Since Dwayne had sent out the engagement announcements, she'd gotten one nasty letter from Candace Forrester, and that was it.

  "It was kind of because of you guys, honestly," Elizabeth said. "After you went off on mom, I spent the next few weeks really thinking for the first time. Curtis wasn't talking to me much, although he never directly criticized me, he was too worried I'd kick him out if he did that. As I thought, I recognized that I always went along with what Daddy wanted, and was trapped in a loveless marriage. When I caught Curtis cheating on me with his secretary, again, it was the last straw. I filed the papers the next day. The divorce was finalized a week after Liz was born, actually."

  Erica let the subject drop, knowing how painful it must have been for her. "So what are you going to do now?"

  "I've been thinking, I have my law degree, and my standing with the Federal bar association is still valid. I was thinking of going back into what I know best, international contract law. Miami handles a lot of surface tonnage, and Admiralty law is a big area. I have enough money left from the divorce and selling my stock to Dwayne to keep me comfortable for quite a few years."

  "Speaking of which," Dwayne said, as he guided the car onto I-385, "I was talking with my company's law firm, and I told them I was going to be hiring a new firm for international contracts. If, that is, you have the hours available."

  "Of course. But why? You've been generous enough as it is Dwayne."

  Dwayne laughed. "Because nobody I know is going the defend me in court harder than my own sister. Besides, it's not all just for me. Erica had a request too."

  "Oh? Erica?"

  "Well," Erica began, as she fussed with the baby seat strapped next to her in the back, "I have an old friend, she actually grew up here in Miami too, we met when I was trying to go to school and model at the same time. Anyway, she's stuck in her job at the public defender's office as a paralegal, and she's making crap money. Problem is, most of the well paying firms around here don't go for girls of her... type. I was kind of hoping you might be willing to bring her on as your assistant."

  "And what is her type?" Elizabeth asked, afraid Erica was trying to get her to take some sort of loud mouthed militant feminist type who moonlighted as a dominatrix.

  "Let's just say she's not the corporate…um, how does she put it? Color,” Erica said with a chuckle. "Her name's Kelly. She's a little opinionated, but she's intelligent and a hard worker. She helped me out a lot getting through some of my classes when I was in school."

  Elizabeth let the silently held breath out, shaking her head in self admonition. "Is that all?" she asked, laughing. "Here I was thinking you were going to be foisting some sort of troublemaker off on me. Of course I'll be willing to talk to her. Can she come by the house tomorrow?"

  "The house," as Elizabeth put it, was on Fisher Island, the richest neighborhood in all of Miami. Dwayne took the ferry across, driving slowly past the houses as he circled the small island. "And there is where Oprah lives," Dwayne pointed out, "and that's Mel Brooks' place, and oh, there's where Julia Roberts lives when she's in town."

  "I see you picked a quiet, middle class neighborhood to live in," Elizabeth said, tongue firmly in cheek.

  "Hey, take advantage of it," Erica said with a chuckle. "It's already paying dividends for both of us. Dwayne's got his foot in the door at two other hotel-resorts because of living here, and I've already had three requests for red carpet gowns from some of the ladies. Susana Gimenez wore one of my designs on her show last month. It's been a bit of a stretch, I mean I'm supposed to be famous for my men's designs, but I'm getting all these requests from women to do dresses."

  "I'm sure that Andre and Robert would be interested in talking to you," Dwayne added. "I'll introduce you to them tomorrow. Their business has lots of stuff that you could assist with."

  "Fine, fine. Jeez, didn't know you were becoming such a high-roller."

  Dwayne laughed, as he circled around and pulled into the driveway of their house. The smallest on Fisher Island, it still qualified as a mansion by most approximations, although the land area itself was small. "Just don't say anything about hockey," Dwayne warned. "At least four NHL guys live around here, and I don't think any of them are Blackhawks fans."

  * * *

  "M s. Forrester? Hi, my name is Kelly Simmons."

  Elizabeth looked up from the small oak breakfast table where she had set up her laptop, seeing the pretty features of the girl at the door. She was striking, a light brown that looked smooth and flawless on her, truly stunning. She was shorter than Erica, maybe only five foot six, with a more voluptuous figure demurely highlighted by the flared hips and waist of her suit. The suit itself was off the rack and a plain beige, but Elizabeth could understand. If Kelly was on a public servant's salary, she was surprised the girl could afford a good suit at all. Even in the suit and bargain basement shoes, the woman was arresting, and Elizabeth understood why she couldn't get in the door at a lot of law firms. Even just standing there professionally, the woman exuded sensuality that would have a lot of the old coots she had worked with in Chicago getting slapped with sexual harassment lawsuits within a week. Any man who worked with her in a legal setting would have to have the morals of a saint or be gay not to be distracted by her.

  "Please, come in and have a seat, Miss Simmons. And don't worry about standing on ceremony, seeing as we are meeting in my brother's breakfast nook."

  Kelly smiled and sat down, looking around. "Erica's had me out to visit twice since she moved in, and I still can't get used to the size of this place," she said. "This and the kitchen are bigger than my apartment."

  "I know what you mean. Coming from Chicago, my place was also quite a bit smaller. So, how long have you been a paralegal, Miss Simmons?"

  "Since having to drop out of law school. I was in my second year when my parents died. I had to get work to help support my grandmother, and that meant law school had to go. I had enough at least to get a job with the PD's office as a legal secretary, and then work up to paralegal after passing the exam."

  “I don’t mean to pry too much, but when was that? I know Erica is twenty seven, but she didn't say how old you are."

  "I'm thirty," Kelly replied. "I took an extra year to complete my undergrad work, and then two years of law school, so I've been working for the PD for just under six and a half years now."

  "Have you thought of going back?" Elizabeth asked, letting herself be drawn into the conversation. She had known within ten seconds she wanted to hire this woman, she was always a quick judge of character. Now she needed to know if she was hiring an assistant, or possibly a future partner in her own firm.

  "Yes and no," Kelly said. "My grandmother passed away last year, so the financial situation is a lot better, but to be honest I kind of like being a paralegal. You get to do a lot of the fun stuff I like, without a lot of the things I don't like."

  "Such as?"

  "Well, I really like researching case law," Kelly said, "and composing arguments and such. But, well, let's just say some of the clients my attorneys have had to represent in court are not the sort of people I would want to hang out with on a day off. About the only thing I wish I could do would be a good old fashioned Perry Mason moment where I deliver a closin
g argument in front of a jury. But let's face it, even trial lawyers don't get that but once or twice a year."

  Elizabeth nodded. "The public defender’s office does some good work, but rarely do you get clients that you’d actually want to know outside of work. As for the Perry Mason moment, I've been a member of the Federal Bar for nearly a decade and haven't had one yet. How about Admiralty law? International business? What have you done in those fields?"

  "I've not had a lot of experience in either one of them, but it sounds interesting. Is that what you are focusing on?"

  "At least until I get my Florida bar membership," Elizabeth replied. "I'm only a member of the Federal bar and the Illinois bar right now. Has Erica explained the circumstances of my being in Miami?"

  "A bit. Said you had a break up, but no details."

  Elizabeth was touched at Erica's tact, but wasn't ashamed of what had happened. "Divorce, actually. Moved down here to make a new start close to family that I care for."

  "I can understand that. Well, I guess the real question for me Ms. Forrester, is what sort of work would you expect of me?"

  Elizabeth smiled. "Right to the point, aren't you?"

  "I know it's cost me a few jobs, but that's my personality. I'm not going to be a quiet little secretary, although I do know when to shut my mouth most times," Kelly said quietly. She was strong, and Elizabeth could understand how a profession filled with white men would find her intimidating.

  Elizabeth nodded in agreement. "I can respect that. Well, to be honest, I'm going to be funding this out of my own money for quite a while. My brother and Erica have graciously offered me their business contracts, but until we get more, we're going to be running in the red. You'll be the entire staff, so you might be called to be really flexible. But, I have faith in my skills, and I think we can get some work lined up quickly. How about you bring me your paystub from the PD's office, and we'll start with a fifteen percent raise, and once we're in the black, we'll go up from there?"