Change of Passion (Falling for the Billionaire #1) by Karolyn James

1.
    J ust
go with it.
    Those words were once the most
romantic thing Rebecca Smith had ever heard; a time when the six foot four
backup quarterback of the Wildcats held her in his bed as he managed to sweet
talk his way into Rebecca’s pants.  To be fair, by that point Rebecca hadn’t
been wearing any pants, or panties for that matter, and by the time the morning
light came, the phrase just go with it had taken a turn from romantic to
erotic.
    But that was college.
    While it ended a few years ago,
Rebecca was just now feeling the jitters of dealing with the real world, after
completing her graduate degree in finance and finally receiving a job offer. 
    The offer wasn’t what Rebecca
wanted, let alone hoped for, after all the years of studying and working so
many low paying, high stress office jobs.  Sadly, the offer that stood was a
desk job on the tenth floor of a high rise instead of the standard cubicle job
on the first floor. 
    She had expressed her personal
discontent with the job, and life in general, almost wishing she could do a
full spin and try something else.  However, in those precious moments of trying
to regain some of her innocence, it seemed too easy to just throw things in the
air and find something else.  But then, right on cue, her cell phone would ring
with someone who had a heavy accent that called himself Mike , looking to
collect on something.  Her student loan debt was staggering and without the
proper mix of vodka in her body, it was too much to think about, which all lead
her to opening the large gold plated doors to The HB-Ley Corporation, located
in the heart of the Winston, Washington.  From the outside, the city was
nothing more than your average attempt at matching something like Seattle, but with a building as large HB-Ley’s headquarters, it didn’t take long for more
buildings to take on the same prestigous look, thus turning it into it’s own
little world. 
    As Rebecca walked through the
second set of doors, she paused, noting the elevators to her left, the stairs
to her right, and a large rounded desk in front of her.  Attractive lighting
glistening upon a sign told her she was in the right building.
    Her desk job, to be quite honest,
was shit.  It was more filtering phone calls and sorting mail than actually
anything pertaining to the fancy title of Department Supervisor.  She had no
idea what department she was supervising, only that it had nothing to do with
financial formulas.  But the key – as many of her friends explained to her over
the past week – was that by being in the building, she would get there. 
HB-Ley’s was one of the largest investment companies in the world, with hands
tied to everything from real estate, insurance, technology, and well beyond
into the international business world. 
    Work hard, and you’ll rise.
    Rebecca believed it as she touched
her bag.  She had taken a picture of herself and her closest friends and placed
it in her purse.  It was their last hurrah together, in Cancun for a week of
sun, fun, and some experiences that Rebecca thought were going to be
regrettable but weren’t. 
    She planned on putting the picture
on her desk somewhere, as a reminder of the good times leading her to this
one. 
    As she stood a few feet from the
reception counter, the woman ignored her, looking at her with a set of mean
brown eyes.  She raised an eyebrow as if to say fresh meat is here and
then went back to her conversation. 
    Rebecca didn’t plan on being late
for her first day nor did she plan on dealing with anyone’s attitudes.  She
knew her job waited on the tenth floor and she intended to find it herself. 
    Worst case she would find someone
who could help her.

2.
    R ebecca
waited for the elevator to stop.  She watched the light moving along the top
five floors of the building.  Annoyed, she started to hit the button harder.
    “Come down,” she whispered.
    Finally, the elevator did.
    When it opened she hurried inside,
not