Seduced (The Billionaire's Command #1)

by Victoria Villeneuve

  * * *

  For the next three days Lisa, myself, and occasionally some of the other staff from our branch hung out and relaxed in Hawaii in style. Lisa, as promised, booked a snorkelling tour, where we went to a place called Turtle Bay in a wonderful, modern catamaran. Sure enough, I saw dozens of sea turtles, and even an octopus, to my complete and total amazement. It was absolutely awesome.

  On the fourth day, Lisa and I were going to leave the resort and go find somewhere nice to eat along the main strip. We were just leaving the hotel when I realized I’d left my sunglasses in my room.

  “Crap. Can you wait for me in the lobby? It’s so bright out I don’t think I’ll be able to see anything if I don’t take my sunglasses.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Lisa replied, and I made my way back to the elevator. I was racking my brain trying to remember where I had put the sunglasses, so much so that I didn’t notice the man coming out of the elevators when the doors opened, and I barrelled straight into him.

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed, embarrassed.

  “No, no, it was my fault. I apologize,” the man replied, grabbing my shoulders gently to steady me. His touch was strong, confident, and it sent a surge of electricity running through me. I looked up at the man, and my breath caught in my throat.

  Looking down at me was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen in my life. High cheekbones, a day’s worth of dark brown stubble, hair that seemed to practically flow from his head in a polo shirt and jeans that looked formal somehow, here in Hawaii. I grabbed his arm to steady myself, the hard muscles of his biceps bulging against my skin.

  For the first time in my life, I found myself completely speechless. I wanted to say something, anything, but no words were coming out of my mouth. I was completely captivated, taken in by the man’s glistening blue eyes, like the deep waters here on the Hawaiian coast.

  “Are you alright?” he asked me, his voice kind, but deep.

  “Yes. Yes, I’m fine. Thank you,” I stammered, feeling like an idiot. The man smiled at me and I melted into a pool on the elevator floor.

  “Perfect. Sorry about that once more,” he told me, leaving the elevator. I watched as the man walked away and the doors closed behind me. As the elevator slid smoothly up to the 12th floor I had completely forgotten what I even came up here for. I couldn’t think about anything except that guy.

  Oh my God, what is wrong with you? He’s just some guy. I scolded myself, trying to stop thinking about him. This wasn’t the sort of thing I did. I hadn’t had a boyfriend in ages, hell, I hadn’t slept with anyone in ages. After all, my last relationship had ended so badly I’d sworn off men forever. Maybe this is all this was. Maybe my libido was just in overdrive, desperate for something, anything.

  I could feel my sex pulsating underneath the light sundress I wore. I decided to change my panties quickly when I got to my room, the ones I was wearing were completely soaked. Look at you. You’re like a desperate old divorcee or something, collapsing at the mere sight of a man paying you the slightest bit of attention. He was just making sure you were fine, it’s not like he was trying to sleep with you.

  Still, no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get the thought of that stranger out of my head. He was so beautiful, so masculine, so perfect.

  “What took you so long?” Lisa asked when I finally met her back down in the lobby.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” I told her about the man in the elevator.

  “Wow, Caroline, you should totally have asked him out.”

  “Why? First of all, I looked like a huge idiot, plowing into him like that. Second, I don’t even know where he’s from. He’s definitely not from Minneapolis. So like, what’s the point? I wouldn’t ever see him after we went home? Third, I don’t want a boyfriend. I’m perfectly happy being single forever.”

  “Ugh, you’re so naive sometimes. This is what the one night stand from heaven is made of. Sexy guy, Hawaii, super expensive resort. Get him to buy you some nice dinners, sleep with him, have the time of your life, then go back home to your regular job.”

  I laughed at Lisa’s ideas of how the world worked. Maybe that was how her world worked, at least before she met Rob, anyway. But that wasn’t for me.

  “Not a chance, Lisa.”

  She shrugged. “Fine, your loss. Let’s get going, anyway. I want to get some good seats somewhere so we can hang out and drink until the sun sets.”

  As Lisa and I drank drinks with little umbrellas in them against the beach, relaxing, chatting about anything, I kept finding my thoughts drifting back to that stranger in the elevator. I couldn’t help myself, and I had no idea why. This wasn’t like me at all.

  “Did you say you were going to go surfing in a couple of days?” Lisa asked eventually.

  “Yeah. I think I’ll do it the day after tomorrow. Why, are you thinking of joining me?”

  “No, I don’t want a shark to mistake me for a turtle and try to eat me.”

  I laughed. “I don’t think we’re going to be going in deep enough waters for a shark to be able to sneak up on us, not in a beginner lesson.”

  “Still, I don’t trust it. I’m sure I’m just going to end up on my ass. I’m not really the athletic type.”

  No, that was true. Lisa had never shown any interest in any real sports. Her idea of athletics was sitting on the sidelines watching other people, mainly Rob, play soccer or touch football.

  “Fine, if you’re going to make me go learn how to surf by myself.”

  “I definitely am. I’ll sit on the beach and watch you make an idiot of yourself at the most. What company are you going with?”

  “I don’t know, I was just going to go with the recommendation from the concierge.”

  “Well, let me know, and I might just come and watch you.”

  “How about you, what are your plans for the last few days of this awesome vacation?”

  “I don’t have any yet. I’m just going to relax, go with the flow, you know, that sort of thing.”

  Lisa and I didn’t leave the restaurant until after the sun had well and truly set. We listened to the soft sound of the waves lapping against the shore, music wafting over to us from not only our restaurant but the others along the strip, the sounds of happy people celebrating their vacations here in Hawaii all around us.

  We went back to the resort, back to our rooms. I lay down in bed and flicked on the TV. I found that I enjoyed watching the local Hawaiian news at night, it made me feel like I was really here, like I was truly experiencing Hawaii.

  While Lisa had a shower, I watched the screen, but the words weren’t clicking through my brain. No matter what I did to try and forget him, that stranger kept coming back into my head.

  Those beautiful blue eyes, the hard muscles of his arms, that perfect amount of stubble... it was more than I could take. Every time I closed my eyes I could see him. I wanted to see him again. That smile... No. I couldn’t have these thoughts. Surely it was just because I was drunk. Maybe I’d had one or two mai tais too many while I was out with Lisa. The alcohol had obviously just gone to my head. In the morning, I’d be fine.

  Sure enough, the next day I was back to normal. I thought about the guy once or twice, but for the most part, I had moved on. After all, I was never going to see him again. What was the point of pining after a stranger, someone I didn’t even know?

  Lisa and I went out for breakfast then spent the day hanging out by the pool, lounging in the sun.

  “This is basically the perfect life,” she told me, and I nodded.

  “Sure is. When I found out we were going to Hawaii, this was exactly what I had been expecting.”

  The next morning I got up and got ready for my surfing lesson. It wasn’t with the hotel directly, but was with a company the resort partnered with. Based out of Ala Moana beach, the resort offered a shuttle, but seeing as it was only a 20 minute walk, I decided I’d take the fresh air route. Waikiki in the mornings was nice. The heat of the day ha
dn’t set in yet, and I loved the feeling of the fresh ocean air on my face. We didn’t get a lot of it in Minneapolis.

  I found the shack with the company name on it I was looking for, with the perfect stereotypical surfer waiting out the front for us: wearing a short wetsuit, his shoulder length blonde hair still damp with the odd drop of water dripping and disappearing into the black fabric of his suit. I went up to him, and introduced myself.

  “Hi. I’m Caroline, I think I’m signed up for a beginner’s lesson with you today,” I started shyly.

  “Aloha, Caroline. I’m Stevo,” the man replied in an obviously Australian accent, holding out his hand. “As I’m sure you’ll notice, I’m not exactly a born and bred local, but I came out here for a surfing vacation a few years back, and loved it enough to make it my home,” he told me as he grabbed some paperwork and a pen for me to fill it out. Age, date of birth, medical problems, height and weight, skill level. All things I knew how to fill out, thankfully. “When you’re finished, just leave the sheet there and we’ll get you set up with a board.” You’re wearing your bathing suit under your clothes? Good, you can take them off wherever and I’ll give you a box to keep them in. You’re the first one here from today’s group, I’m sure the others will show up pretty quickly.”

  Stevo was talkative and friendly, and about five minutes after he set me up with a huge Malibu board (“I know they’re huge, but they’re way easier to balance on, which is awesome if you’re just starting out.”) another couple showed up, having signed up online for the lesson. Ten minutes later, after another three people had showed up, Stevo was just about ready to take us out.

  “We’re just waiting on one more person, and if I’m not mistaken, here he comes now,” he told us, and I looked to where he was looking.

  As soon as I saw the man he was looking at, my heart froze in my chest. It was that same guy! I would have recognized that wavy brown hair anywhere. He was topless now, showing off a muscular chest with just the perfect amount of hair. I wanted to run my hands through it so badly, I wanted to lie on top of him and stroke that muscular body, slide my hands down to his abs, tracing the visible lines of his abs, the perfect six pack adorning him, before moving even further down, down towards his...

  Stop it, Caroline. What the hell is wrong with you? I forced my brain to stop thinking about it, but it was too late. I could feel my body reacting to the fantasy I’d just had. Great. Just great. I turned away from him and grabbed my board as Stevo got the guy checked in. I didn’t want to see if he recognized me.

  Obviously he isn’t going to recognize you. You were just some random chick he ran into in the hotel. I’m sure he forgot you existed like two seconds after it happened. A part of me wanted to believe I was more memorable than that, especially since I couldn’t get him out of my head, but I knew I wasn’t. I was just a kind-of-on-the-pretty-side girl from Oklahoma, he was a God in human form.

  “Awesome, everyone’s set, so let’s get going!” Stevo finally called out. I made sure not to turn around and look at the guy. I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t want to know if he recognized me. I didn’t want my body to react the way it did every time I looked at him. It felt so wrong, and yet at the same time, it felt so good. It felt naughty.

  As we walked along the beach towards the surf, I began to silently thank God that Lisa hadn’t decided to come with me today. I asked her before leaving, but she’d decided to sleep in. I could only imagine her reaction if she had. She would have instantly introduced me to the guy, told him how hot I thought he was, and suggested we go out for drinks after the lesson. Yes, it was definitely a lifesaver that Lisa hadn’t shown up.

  When we got down to the beach, Stevo got us all to put down our boards, so we could learn the positioning. I walked to the other side of the couple that had arrived after me, making sure I was on the far end.

  We spent the next twenty minutes practicing jumping up on the surfboard, while Stevo came around and gave us tips and advice. It was tougher than I thought it would be, even with the board just sitting on the sand. I had years of balance practice from figure skating under my belt, but it had been so long since I had done anything that required any sort of balance skills that it felt like I was starting again from square one. Then, we got a bit of a talk about paddling out, choosing a wave, tips on how to catch the waves, and eventually Stevo invited us into the water to practice.

  I quickly realized that there was no way I was going to be able to avoid the man completely in the water. We made eye contact after a couple of minutes, and he smiled at me. I thought I was going to melt. His smile was gorgeous, it felt like it sent rays of sunlight penetrating through my skin.

  Does that mean he recognized me, or is he just being polite?

  Before I got the chance to overanalyze the situation to death, Stevo called me over.

  “Caroline, you’re up!” he announced. I swam over to him on my board. We were in waist deep water, the waves we were catching had to be less than six inches high, but they looked enormous to me.

  “Alright. You remember everything we’ve done so far. Just don’t panic, and don’t worry if you fall, almost everyone falls their first time.”

  I nodded and looked out at the water. After a few seconds I saw a wave that looked promising. I turned and jumped up on my board, and the next thing I knew I was riding on the water! I must have been going about a mile an hour, but it felt like I was racing. I held my arms out, making sure to keep my balance, and the next thing I knew I had actually hit the beach. I had done it!

  Jumping off my board, I grabbed it and ran into the water, getting high fives and cheers from some of the others in the group. Then Stevo called out “Mark” and the man whose name I now knew went out with his board.

  I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Mark found a wave and caught it almost instantly. He looked so athletic, so strong, I had even wondered if he should be in the beginner’s group. At one point he just about lost his balance, coming only inches away from plunging into the surf, but saved himself at the very last second.

  We spent the next hour in the surf, practicing on the little waves. After everyone had done a couple of waves with Stevo watching, we were invited to separate and find waves of our own. I ventured off a little ways from everyone else, not wanting to accidentally run into anyone. Slowly but surely I was getting the hang of this. I was getting used to it! This was awesome!

  The time absolutely flew by. I guess it was probably only about ten minutes or so before the lesson was ending, but I was getting really confident. Maybe a little bit too confident. I decided I wanted to go a bit deeper, try and take on a wave that was a foot, maybe two feet high. It was going to be awesome!

  I swam out further than before. It’s not like I was in the deep or anything, the water wouldn’t have been higher than me. But still, considering this was my first time ever surfing, it was a big thing for me.

  Spotting a wave that looked pretty decent, I turned my board around, paddled with it and jumped up when I thought the time was right. Sure enough, I nailed it! It was awesome. I felt like I was flying, I felt like I was really surfing. Floating on the water, it was one of the best feelings I’d ever experienced in my life.

  Then as I came in towards the sand, almost reaching the shore, my left foot suddenly slipped along the board. I tried to compensate by moving my body to the right, but it was too late. My board flew out from under me, and the last thing I remember was hitting the water with a splash, and a horrendous pain in the back of my head.

  When I woke up, I was on the beach, blurry faces over me. My throat felt like it was on fire. I coughed, and seawater came spewing out of my mouth. As I began to focus, I realized it was Stevo and Mark that were leaning over me.

  “Are you alright there Caroline?” Stevo asked. I groaned, then nodded. My head was throbbing, so much so that I couldn’t even care that Mark had just seen me cough up seawater onto my bathing suit. Oh God, why did I choose the one piece?

/>   “What happened?” I finally managed to mumble, my throat feeling raspy and sore.

  “You were right by the sand, it looked like you lost your footing,” Mark replied. “You fell off the board, and hit your head. The water was less than a foot deep where you went in. I was the closest person to you, when you didn’t get up right away I came and got you, and Steve did first aid.”

  “Thank... thank you, both of you,” I replied, thoughts swirling in my head. Everything was slowly starting to make sense again, and the more I realized exactly what had happened, the more embarrassed I got.

  Here I was, lying on the beach because I fell off a surfboard and hit my head in a foot of water. I couldn’t believe it. I had made a complete and total idiot of myself. I had to get out of here. I had to go back to the hotel, forget this had happened at all, forget Mark existed, and go on with my life again.

  I tried to get up, Stevo and Mark giving me a hand. The world spun and I took a few tentative steps.

  “Are you alright, Caroline? I can call you an ambulance, if you want to go to the hospital. I suspect you’ve got a concussion,” Stevo told me, but I shook my head. The only thing that could possibly be more embarrassing than what had already happened was having to go to the hospital on top of it.

  Besides, with every passing second I was feeling better and better.

  “No, thanks, I think it was just a bit of a shock, I’m feeling fine now,” I replied, hoping my voice sounded confident.

  “Let me at least take you back to the hotel. You can’t say it’s not on my way,” Mark told me, flashing me that gorgeous smile that, even in the state I was in, couldn’t help but send a heat rushing through me. Shit, he does recognize me I thought. There was really no way to get around this. It wasn’t like I could say I didn’t want him to go out of his road.

  “Thank you. That sounds nice,” I told him. “If you’re busy though, I’ll be fine. I’m feeling better already,” I replied, flashing a smile of my own and hoping against all hope that he did have something else to do.

  “Oh no, I’m on vacation, I don’t have anything planned for the rest of the day.” Crap. There goes that. I guess I’m going to have to actually do this, I’m going to have to walk back to the resort with the sexiest guy I’ve ever spoken to.

  My heart was pounding as I handed back my stuff to Stevo, he wished me luck and told me not to worry if I had to go to the hospital, then Mark and I headed back to the resort.

  “So you’re here on holidays?” he asked as we headed slowly back down the street. My headache was pretty much gone, and the more normal I felt, the more my embarrassment meter went into overdrive.

  “Yeah. Our branch won a contest run by the company, everyone in the branch won a week’s vacation in Hawaii. Listen, thanks for getting me out of the water. It’s pretty embarrassing, I can’t believe I did that.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Everyone falls, some people just have worse luck when it comes to where they fell. It could have happened to anyone.”

  “I guess so. Didn’t happen to you though.”

  “That’s because I’m a sporting legend.”

  I looked up at him, surprised. “Seriously?”

  Mark laughed, not in a mean spirited way, just the way people do when they’re having a joke.

  “Nah. I wish. Well, I used to wish, anyway. I wanted to be a professional football player when I was little. Of course, the fact that I was incapable of catching a ball got in the way of that dream.”

  I thought it was going to be the most awkward thing, walking back with Mark. I mean, I had never been a conversationalist for conversation’s sake. I always thought of myself as awkward with strangers. On top of that, I didn’t know if I could hide the fact that every fibre, every cell in my body was on fire, electricity passing through me, desperate for Mark to touch me. I wanted his hands all over me. I wanted his tongue all over me. I wanted to give him free reign over my body, wanted him to bring me to new heights of pleasure I couldn’t have fathomed in my wildest dreams, but under no circumstances could I let him know that. Absolutely not a chance.

  It wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be though. Mark was one of those people who can have a conversation with literally anybody. The more we spoke, the more at ease I felt, even though I couldn’t help but feel the pulsating desires in my body every time he looked at me.

  “So where are you from?” he asked.

  “Minneapolis. I’m a financial analyst.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever met a financial analyst that surfs.”

  “I wouldn’t describe what I was doing out there as ‘surfing’,” I joked, and Mark threw his head back, laughing.

  “You were fine. Honestly, I was impressed. You stayed on the board a lot better than most people.”

  “I used to figure skate when I was younger, I guess all that balancing paid off.”

  “Oh yeah, that definitely would help. Hey, listen, can I buy you a drink or lunch or something before we go back to the Hibiscus? I just want to make sure you’re really fine before I leave you.”

  I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped open as soon as he asked me. Oh my God, close your mouth Caroline, you idiot! I scolded to myself as I forced my mouth closed and smiled at Mark in a way I hoped was charming.

  “Yeah, that sounds nice,” I replied. I refused to let myself say anything else. If I did, I knew I was going to put my foot in it. This crazy sexy guy that had just rescued me on a beach in Hawaii was now asking me out? What the hell was going on? This wasn’t the sort of thing that happened to me, this was the sort of thing that happened on cheesy TV shows. It just didn’t happen in real life. Especially not to me.

  Get a hold of yourself. He just wants to make sure you’re ok.

  “Awesome, there’s a bar I like over here, we’ll get a great view over the beach,” Mark replied, leading me towards a row of buildings. We passed through a number of small shops before ending up almost on the beach, at a bar that sure enough, had an absolutely incredible view.

  “Aloha, Mark,” a beautiful woman with curly brown hair greeted Mark only seconds after we’d arrived. “Your usual seat?”

  “Yes please, Alisa,” Mark replied, and she led us straight to the rail, with a perfect view overlooking Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head.

  “Wow, the view here’s incredible!” I told Mark as I sat down. “You come here often, by the sound of things.”

  “Not as often as I like. I’m lucky that I get to work in Hawaii from time to time though. It’s a beautiful place.”

  “So you’re not here on holiday?”

  Mark shook his head. “No, that was a little white lie. I work all around the west coast and Hawaii. Today’s a day off though, so I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t have anything to get back to. Usually I’m in San Diego.”

  “What is it that you do?”

  “I help my dad run a couple companies, mainly,” Mark replied.

  For the first time I sensed a shadow forming across his face. I could tell there was something he wasn’t telling me, something he wasn’t happy with. I decided to change the subject.

  “All these trips to Hawaii and you’ve never taken surfing lessons before?” I asked, and Mark grinned.

  “Yeah, I guess I deserved that. Seriously though, it had never really interested me before. I’m a licensed scuba diver and I was even out doing some dives yesterday, but I’d never really considered surfing. My sister called my yesterday, we got to talking about it, she wished she could come to Hawaii and then asked me about it. She eventually said it was because I was too chicken, so I actually just went out today to prove her wrong,” he finished, sheepishly. Oh God, he looked so adorable with that sheepish look on his face, I just wanted to grab him and kiss him everywhere.

  Instead, I burst out laughing.

  “Well, I guess you did show her!”

  “Yeah, Stevo said he’d send me some photos he took so I could prove to her I did it.”

  We had
a late lunch and a few drinks, sitting by the ocean, and the more time went on the more comfortable I was, and yet the more I needed Mark. It was like an all encompassing desire, taking over my body, inch by inch. My heart pounded when he looked at me. My sex throbbed with desire. I could feel my bathing suit under my clothes, soaking wet even though I’d dried myself off after getting out of the water.

  This wasn’t me at all. I was career focused. I chose what I wanted to get out of life. I’d had enough of the choices in my life being made for me, I decided years ago that I would make my own decisions. And ever since that moment, I had. I had decided to finish high school, I had decided to pay my way through college. I had decided I would work two jobs to pay for it while minimizing my student loan balance, and I had decided I would get a good job when I was finished. I had also decided I was finished with men. Whenever I decided to do something, I did it. I had a one track mind. And yet, right now, my body was telling me I wanted Mark without me deciding whether or not that was a good decision. What was going on?