Mr. Forrester: An Alpha Billionaire Romance by Lauren Landish Read Free Book Online Page A

received a registered letter from Dwayne's mother a week later. While not saying anything that could stand up in a court of law as a threat, she more or less told Erica that if she continued to try and pursue a relationship with her son, that Candace Forrester would use every society connection to make sure that her fashion design business would fail.
    Considering the money and influence that the Forrester name carried in New York and other major fashion centers, Erica knew it was no idle threat.
    Worst of all was her own personal research. After London, she had blissfully ignored finding out anything more about Dwayne other than directly researching his hotels. Now, her research took her into the society pages and into his past. She felt a creeping horror as page after page of his antics in his early twenties flashed before her, each time with a new beautiful woman on his arm, almost all of them tall, blonde, and curvy. He'd spent three particularly memorable months raising hell around on the Spanish Main with another society billionaire who was a few years younger than him. Still, there were rumors however that he dallied with "gutter snipes" as one particularly seedy gossip rag put it with sneering tones.
    Erica had spent an hour crying after reading that, and couldn't believe the fool she had been. Was that all she was to him, some "play sugar" to play with? And why the hell had she had sex without some sort of protection even? She had slept with a man whose little black book came in numbered volumes, for God's sake!
    After her research and Candace's letter, a sort of creeping paralysis when it came to anything related to Dwayne Forrester settled over Erica's thoughts. She turned all communication over to Tina, and retreated back into her designs, trying to bury herself in colors and patterns for the fall line. Her work was crap, she knew, far too bitter and angst ridden for her brand, but she couldn't seem to break herself from her mood.
    It was only after her second missed period that she forced herself to go to the pharmacy, buying three take home pregnancy kits just to be sure. Holding the little sticks in her urine stream while she squatted in her office toilet filled her with horror as each little indicator turned blue. She was pregnant, it couldn't be denied any more. She kept the little stick in her hand with her as she slumped behind her desk, pale shock written on her face. Tina stuck her head in cautiously before closing the door behind her.
    "Erica, we need to talk."
    "Not now, Tina."
    Her normally saucy assistant shook her head. "No Erica, now. This may cost me my job, but we've been friends almost since the time you opened this business, and our friendship comes first. You're all sorts of messed up, Erica, and you've been biting off heads left and right for the past two months. Now talk to me."
    Erica talked, a flood of words and tears mixing until she felt herself sobbing in Tina's arms, who held her gently while she stroked Erica's hair. She took the pregnancy kit out of Erica's hand and held it in hers, looking at the blue indicator herself while Erica's sobs petered out.
    "It's all right," she soothed, kissing her on the top of her head like a big sister, "we'll get through this together. Besides, who says Dwayne isn't going to want to be a part of his baby's life?"
    "But he hasn't written or called this entire time!" Erica wailed, a fresh round of sobs ripping from her chest.
    When she calmed down, Tina answered with a small smile. "I was going to tell you, I just got word from his office manager. It seems Dwayne has been in Chicago for the past month, something corporate, and he had shifted all of his e-mails to go to his assistants, which is why he didn't answer. Then when you turned the whole thing over to me, well...."
    "Well I've been a damn fool, haven't I?"
    "Kind of," Tina replied with her normal smile. "But I still love you anyway. Speaking of which, regardless of what happens, that baby is