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Seduced (The Billionaire’s Command #1)
    Seduced
    Victoria Villeneuve
    Copyright 2013 by
Victoria Villeneuve
    Smashwords Edition

    I stood in front of my
bed, frowning at the suitcase I’d hoisted onto it, trying to decide
which bathing suit I was going to take with me. I mean, I know,
it’s the ultimate first world problem. The red one piece with black
polka dots that covered up more of my body, but would ultimately
make me look like a bit of a prude who didn’t dare wear a bikini,
or the black and gold striped bikini that was undoubtedly sexier,
but definitely not me?
    I sighed, then tossed
the one piece into the suitcase. I wouldn’t be comfortable in the
bikini. I didn’t even know why I bought it. Sure, I’d look like a
prude, but let’s face it, I was the prude of the group. Everyone
else who worked in the branch of my office was either already
married, many with kids to prove that they had more sex than I did,
or still single and living it up in bars on Friday nights.
    God, cheer up
Caroline. You’re going to Hawaii, it’s not like this is a chore I scolded myself as I moved onto figuring out how many pairs of
socks this trip was going to require.
    In all honesty, I was
really looking forward to this trip. It had all started three
months earlier, when the company I worked for, Alistair
Investments, put forth a contest. The branch which brought in the
most new business in June would win an all expenses paid vacation
to Hawaii for a week in August at a luxury resort.
    I didn’t really have
all that much to do with winning the contest. I worked as a
financial analyst, which is a pretty fancy way of saying I’m a
glorified accountant. I look at numbers, and I decide if those
numbers are likely to go up or down. I have an office in the back
of the building, where I confer with my fellow analysts, but we’re
not the ones who go out and find new clients for the branch. We
don’t bring in the new money, we keep the money that the sales
staff bring us loyal.
    Luckily for me,
however, our sales staff was second to none, and we blew away the
rest of the competition for the duration of the contest. That’s how
I managed to get a free vacation to Hawaii without really needing
to do anything for it. Whatever. I worked really hard to get where
I was, and I was going to enjoy this little treat, even if I didn’t
really earn it per se.
    My best friend, one of
the salespeople in question, Lisa, always told me I should be
appreciative.
    “You never take any
breaks, Caroline. You work like a madwoman. You don’t have
boyfriends, you don’t really go out and party with people, you need
an outlet to let off some steam every once in a while.”
    “Yeah, well, I still
feel like a cheater going on this vacation I didn’t earn. I mean,
you did like, half the sales for our branch for the quarter.”
    “I did, but whatever.
We knew from the start that everyone in the branch would get to go.
It’s not like you’re cheating your way in or something. Come on,
Caroline. Have some fun, let loose. It’s Hawaii, all expenses paid!
I went there with Rob for our honeymoon and we spent a ridiculous
amount of cash, this is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip.”
    “I guess so,” I
replied, succumbing to Lisa’s positive energy. I wished I could be
like her. Lisa was so strong, so confident. She had grown up in the
suburbs here, her father was a former athlete who had almost gone
pro until a knee injury ended his career before it had even
started. He bought a coffee shop in town and ran that, while Lisa’s
mom taught kindergarten at the local elementary school. Lisa
basically had the perfect upbringing I had dreamed of having.
    She visited her parents
every Sunday. On the other hand, I had basically escaped from mine
and spent most of my time trying to make sure I couldn’t be
found.
    I never knew my father,
he left my mother before I was born. But I had the kind of
overbearing mother that never lived the kind of life they