Clinging to Rapture (Rapture #2) Update & Excerpt!

Hey Y'all! Hope you're having a lovely Thursday night. I definitely am. I've been hard at work on Clinging to Rapture the second book in the Rapture Trilogy and I have some good and bad news about it. 

I'm not kidding, BUT it's not all bad, I promise! 
I had planned originally to finish the book by tomorrow and then send it to my editor and have it out by April 24th. I reached my intended novella length (same length as the first book), in fact I've passed the intended length…and the book isn't anywhere near being finished. 

Yup, Julia and Cole are really messing with my head. They're both screaming at me for more and I'm just the meek and humble author, so of course I'm going to oblige them! 
All of that was to say that the book won't be ready by April 24th. I hate it, really I do. I don't like to be late or to default on my promises to my readers. But the good news is that Clinging to Rapture is going to be full novel length! SO that means you all get more Cole! 

And you get to see how far down the rabbit hole the two of them can go. Believe when I say that things get even more twisted this time around. 

I'm not going to give a specific date right now, but I plan to release the book no later than May, hopefully early May if everything goes as planned. I will let you know when I have things nailed down a little bit better. 

Now that you've heard all of my news…are you ready for an excerpt??? (Keep in mind this is a unedited excerpt, so there are probably tons of typos and errors that my awesome editors haven't ripped me apart for yet ;))

Prologue

Cole

Two years ago

            I didn’t plan to come here. I didn’t want to. I’d laughed at the invitation when it came to my door. I wouldn’t go to a party, no matter how prestigious they claimed, to watch two people have sex. I’m a man. I’m not immune to sex. I find women attractive, but that didn’t mean I wanted to watch a whore fuck some disgusting dick for money. I could stay in New York in my expensive penthouse and watch porn for free if that was the case. But as it was, I came anyway.

            I stood in the middle of a room packed full of people like me. Men and women who had more money than ninety-seven percent of the United States population. People who sipped wine so expensive it could feed a homeless shelter for months. Women who wore dresses made from dying breeds of animals and old men who had the prettiest dates money could buy for a night.

            Their mind-numbing chatter filtered around me, buzzing in my ears. I shouldn’t have come.

            “Don’t you think so, honey,” a feminine voice rattled next to me. I glanced down and met Elaine’s dark brown gaze.

            “Hm?” I cleared my throat.

            “Mr. Roland here was saying that Obsidian Spirits is really on top of the game now. He doesn’t know how the others are going to compete with us.” The way she said us through her red lips made me clench my fist at my side. There was no us when it came to my multi-billion dollar business, but she didn’t seem to understand that.

            “Indeed. It looks like you’ve got a winning business and a winning lady,” the older man standing in front of me said. He snatched Elaine’s left hand up. “When are you going to put a ring on this finger, Mr. Maddox. You better do it soon or someone else is going to snatch her up.” He winked at Elaine and she giggled. The sound was so obnoxious, it grated on my nerves like grinding gears. She brushed a hand through her dark hair, pushing it over her dainty shoulder.

            “That’s a good question, we’re high school sweethearts, you know.” Elaine batted her long lashes and cut her eyes at me.

            “Is that so? A beautiful woman from before the money, eh? She’s definitely a keeper.” He leaned down and brushed his lips against the back of her hand.

            There was once upon a time where Elaine made me happy, back in the days when life was simple easy, before the money. Before my sister died. But money and murder changed people.

            “Would you care for a drink?” A waitress wearing a short, low-cut tuxedo dress held out a tray of sparkling glasses filled with dark red liquid.

            “God, yes!” Elaine snatched a glass off the tray and pressed it to her lips. I shook my head at the woman and turned back to find Mr. Roland, our companion, gone. Elaine stood before me gulping her wine, her brows set in a deep frown.

            I glanced away from her, knowing what was coming.

            “You should marry me, you know. Your mother has been waiting on it for ages.”

            I snorted and glanced around the room. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling making the room sparkle in a yellow light.

            “I don’t know why you’re laughing about it. She has!” Elaine pressed a gloved hand against her chest.

            “I’m certain my mother isn’t that concerned about us getting married.”

            “She is, Cole. You would know that if you went and saw her every now and then.”

            My hands fisted and I shoved them in my pockets so she wouldn’t notice. “I’m not going to discuss my family relationships here, with you.”

            “I just want you to know how she feels, Cole.” She took another sip from her wine glass. “You’re all she has left. She wants grandkids one day, a family, Cole. You’re the only person who can give her that now and yet you still won’t.”

            Vicious anger ripped through my body. I leaned in, placing my face only inches away from hers. Her olive skin sparkled under the lights, her full lips were so lush and red. I could remember the days when I looked forward to coming home to her. When I couldn’t want to have her lithe little body beneath mine while I pounded into her until she screamed my name over and over. But those feelings were gone. They’d been gone for a long time. Right now I wanted wipe that smirk off her face. With my fist.

            I wouldn’t though. I wasn’t my father…yet.

            “Don’t you dare bring this up,” I growled. Elaine knew better than this. She knew better than to bring up my mother and the implied loss of my sister.

            “Sometimes you need to be reminded.” She lifted her chin in that arrogant way I hated.

            I gripped it between my fingers and jerked it down ever so slightly. “Sometimes I think you need to be reminded too.” Her eyes flared wide, a look I knew so well. I knew if I were to delve my hand beneath her little black dress I would find her cunt wet and ready. She liked it when I punished her. When I fucked her so hard she couldn’t walk the next day.

            She did this on purpose. I released her immediately and took a step back. I bumped into someone behind me, but I didn’t bother to turn around and apologize. Elaine stared up at me with hungry eyes, a small smile spread across her face.   

            “You should remind me tonight, at the hotel. I need to be reminded.” She batted her eyelashes.

            I should. I should fuck the shit out of her, take out some of my aggression on her. It’s what she wants. But I knew I wouldn’t do it. Even standing here talking about it, her so blatantly offering her body up to me, I wasn’t even hard. My cock was lifeless in my custom-made Kiton pants.

            “Ladies and Gentlemen, please adjust your attention to the grand entrance.” The voice over the loud speaker cut into my thoughts and ended my conversation with Elaine. I turned with the rest of the filled-ballroom to the massive gold-encrusted entrance. The doors parted opening to reveal a man and woman standing on the threshold. It was half a football field away from where we stood. “I am pleased to present Poseidon and his Jewel of the sea. They will be your entertainment for the night!”

            The couple moved over the threshold gliding into the room as if they were the ethereal creatures they pretended to be. That’s when I noticed everyone making their way to the other side of the room.

            “We should just go,” I muttered to Elaine, while people bustled around us.

            “Leave? I’m not leaving! We haven’t even talked to other big companies yet, plus we can’t miss the show!” she exclaimed. I rolled my eyes and followed her through the crowd. The couple was making their way through the ballroom to a roped off area in the center of the room. A glass table covered in sparkling jewels lay in the center of the roped-off area. I raised my eyebrows. Is this for real? It seemed like a play-room for a Disney princess. Not a place where two people were going to fuck.

            “Come on!” Elaine snatched my hand and pulled forward right next to the rope, not caring that she was shoving people out of the way.

            People all around us were whispering about what was going to happen. “Are they really going to have sex?”

            “Do you think he’ll be rough?”

            “Will it be as hot as their on stage dances?”

            The couple finally came into view and I nearly laughed at the sight of them. They were as ridiculous—more so, even—as the bejeweled table they were going to fuck on. The guy held a gold trident in one hand. Blue shimmery pants covered his legs and he didn’t wear a shirt. His free hand clasped around the slender one of a woman with azure colored hair that hung to her waist. A dress with gems of all different shades of blue wrapped around her tight, curvy body, dipping low between two thick breasts and split high up one tanned thigh.

            I wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of her outfit, but I found my mouth gaping at the sight of her. I had never seen someone with a body quite like that. She seemed to be round in all the right places. Her tits threatening to burst through the top, her ass thick, pressing hard at the seams of her dress. Her skin was a perfect tan contrast to her light blue hair and sparkling gems that seemed to be painted on her form. My cock awoke in my pants. The fuck?

            The Poseidon guy leaned in and whispered something in her ear. She glanced up at him and flashed a quick, nervous smile. White teeth were revealed beneath bubblegum pink lips. A shiver ran down my body. The urge to climb over the rope and snatch her away from him bubbled beneath my skin. What’s going on with me? I shook my head, but I didn’t look away from her. I couldn’t. I was trapped.

            Poseidon led her to the glass surface and had her sit. Music came to life overhead. The sound was soft, simple. He reached down and slipped a clear glass heel off her foot. I frowned. A woman like that needed to be fucked with her shoes on. But I watched him remove them. After he tossed them aside, he trailed his fingers up the inside of her silky thigh. He was only inches away from spreading her legs and revealing her pussy to the room.

My fingers started aching and I realized I’d been squeezing them into a fist. I pushed it into my jacket pocket. I took a deep breath and eased it out slowly. Is her pussy shaved? As pink as her lips? My mind raced.

Poseidon stopped inches away from her center. He didn’t push up her dress, instead he trailed his fingers back down her thigh. I fought the urge groan right as there was a collective sound of grunting from around the circle. For the first time I pulled my gaze away and eyed the crowd around me. Men and women’s stares alike, were focused on the couple in the center of the room. Men with millions of dollars eyed them, hungry gazes spread across faces of all ages, young and old. Some of them even pressed at the front of their pants, no doubt trying the hide their boners.

Disgust rose in my gut and softened my partially hardened cock. This was ridiculous. Why the fuck am I here?

I glanced down at Elaine. She stood just in front of me, her body pressed against the velvet rope that separated us from them. I couldn’t see her face, but I imagined what it looked like. Her red lips were probably parted, her eyes wide with arousal. She always liked porn, more than I did sometimes. I leaned down to whisper in her ear—to tell her that I was leaving, with or without her, but a groan from the crowd killed the words in my throat.

I glanced back at the scene before me, my knees nearly buckled when I was greeted with the sight of the woman’s pert breasts. Bright pink nipples stood out against her tan skin. She ran her hands over them, squeezing them before letting them bounce free. My cock kicked in my pants, instantly coming back to life.

Poseidon, with his emo hair, leaned in and took one nipple into his mouth. She, Jewel, let her head fall back as if it was the best feeling in the world. I clenched my fists again. Sharp anger ripped though me. I don’t like this. But I couldn’t stop watching. It was as if I was transfixed by sight of her there on the table. I was trapped by her body, by something. I didn’t know what it was, but it held me completely.

I watched him take her dress off and spread her pretty thighs. I watched him reveal her shaved cunt, pinker, prettier than I thought it would be. I watched him suck her pussy into his mouth—her get on her knees and take his dick into her mouth. I watched all of it. My fists clenched inside my jacket pockets. Sweat beaded on my neck. The urge to jump the rope and jerk her away from him grew with each passing second. I couldn’t describe it. The feeling was like nothing I had ever experienced in my life. And it wasn’t just that I wanted her away from him. I want to punch that guy in his face over and over until he was bleeding all over the floor.

And then I would take her away. I would play with the little pink pussy, and after she came on my tongue over and over until her legs shook and her voice was hoarse that’s when I would fuck her.

“Please Poseiden. Fuck me!” She was on her knees in front him, her chest heaving, her chin slick with saliva from sucking his cock. She moaned the words, but she didn’t mean them. I could tell. She was nervous, she wasn’t a woman lost in passion, but resigned to her position.

A growl escaped my lips. Only one head glanced my way at the sound. Hers. I really saw her then, this goddess-like creature on her knees in front of a man, his hard cock pressed against her cheek. I expected to see sadness there, maybe some sort of vulnerability. But I didn’t. There was a fire burning inside those crystal blue irises. It engulfed me, sucking me in until I was lost in them. And then she looked away as if the last few seconds hadn’t happened at all. As if she didn’t feel the tenacious pull that I did. Impossible.

I stayed there on the sideline. I watched that Poseidon douche bag fuck her. Her perfect form bent over the glass table while he pounded into her from behind. She took his cock, spreading her legs for more, but she didn’t want it. Not really. I knew. I could tell. I’d fucked enough women to know what it sounded like when a woman was enjoying herself, and this one had too much fire in her eyes. She wouldn’t have been moaning in timed intervals like she was now. She needed more. She needed a guy to fuck her and really fuck her. Not just put his dick in her and move. The fire in her eyes demanded passion.

I can give her that.

My mind was made up before I watched Poseidon cum all over her chest. I would make her mine. It was that simple. She’s a hooker, a fucking stripper who just fucked another guy in front of a room full of people. The thought angered me, disgusted me with myself, but I wouldn’t change my mind. No. It was made up. I would have her. It was that simple.

Poseidon carried her out of the room, her naked body pressed against his as the crowd of rich patrons went wild around them. I pushed my way through the crowd heading toward the entrance. I have to talk to her.

“Cole, where are you going?” Elaine’s confused voice came from behind me. Fuck, I’d forgotten about her.

“Catch a taxi back to the hotel. I have something to do.”

She frowned at me. “What are you talking about?”

“Just do it.” I turned back around. I wasn’t worried about her. She could find her way back on her own or with someone’s help, which was certainly what she would do. Elaine thought she kept her secrets, but what she didn’t know, was no one kept secrets from me.

The whole walk out, all I could think about was getting to Jewel. The crowd slowed me down and they were through the doors before I could get to her. When I finally made it out into the lobby there was a swarm of patrons there as well. A group of men and women were swarmed around a hallway to the right. She’s in there and they’re all waiting for her, just like you are. I clasped my fists again. The seedy men, most of them older, cackled with one another, talking about their yachts in the Mediterranean and how they would bend Jewel over the deck and… I stopped listening. It was ridiculous really, the anger that boiled inside my veins, but I couldn’t stop it. It raged there just beneath the surface, for her. A woman I didn’t even know, but I was jealous. Acknowledging the feeling made me angrier. I was jealous that these men wanted her.

These thoughts brewed in my head until the door at the end of the hall opened. Jewel stepped out. A sheer blue dress clung to her tight form. Her nipples were hard through the fabric. She’s not wearing a bra. I pushed through the crowd of men, not caring that it was rude. Several voices shouted her name, each man desperate, vying for her attention, but I got to her first.

“Jewel.”

She glanced at me through the commotion a fake smile plastered on her plump lips.

Words froze in my throat. What would I say to her? I hadn’t planned it out or thought past anything, but getting close to her.

“Jewel!” Someone else called her name and she looked away from me.

“No,” I growled. Her head swiveled back to me, her lips drooping with confusion. Her eyes were so blue up close, like a clear azure gem, sparkling in a sea of dull rocks. “I mean, shit.” I ran a hand through my hair. She started to turn away when her name was called again, but I touched her elbow, halting her. “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

She turned around again, her fake smile back in place. I knew it was fake because it didn’t reach her eyes. “I—”

“London.” I interrupted her. “Paris. Rome. New Zealand. Japan. You name it. I’ll take you there. Tonight. Me and you.” My palm was sweating against her elbow, but her skin felt so right against mine. I wanted to jerk her to me, but I didn’t.

“No.” The word slipped between her teeth like it was nothing. Like she wasn’t shattering me. And that’s what she was doing. I wouldn’t have thought one word could wound me, that it could rip me apart, but it did.

“No?”

“Sorry,” she said.

“But—”

“Hey!” she smiled brightly and waved at someone behind me. That’s when he came up and looped arms with her, that fucking Poseidon douche bag.

“Everything okay?” The motherfucker glanced between us with uncertainty.

She giggled, barely glancing at me. “Of course. Let’s go.” And she left just like that. Left me standing there in the crowd of other male hopefuls. All of them clambering for her, desperate for a moment of her attention. She told me no. I stood there staring after her, watching her thick ass sway beneath her dress. She told me no. No one ever told me no. Ever. I got what I wanted. Always.

My skin was hot, my expensive suit suddenly felt too small. My body throbbed, but then I realized it wasn’t my body that was throbbing so much, it was my cock. It was raging hard in my pants, desperate to rip through the thousands of dollars worth of fabric that encased it.

She’s a stripper and she told you no. But I didn’t seem to care and my cock definitely didn’t.

“There you are. What do you have to do, honey? Why can’t you go home with me?” Elaine filled my vision.

I frowned at her. “Nothing.”

“Good, so you’ll come home? I’m feeling kind of hot after seeing that. In fact, I don’t even want to stay any longer.” She leaned in brushing her lips against my earlobe. “I just wanna go back to the hotel and fuck.”

I should have been excited. I should have taken my girlfriend of over ten years back to the expensive hotel and fucked her with every ounce of strength I had, but I didn’t.

“I don’t want to be with you anymore.”

“What?” she gasped.

It wasn’t until I saw the shocked expression on her face that I realized I had spoken my thoughts out loud. “I don’t want to be with you,” I repeated myself and it felt good.

“What the hell are you talking about, Cole?”

A smile spread across my face, the first time I’d smiled in years, I was certain of it. The muscles felt tight and awkward, but I reveled in the feeling.

“But—”

I walked away, tuning her out. Desire burned in my veins. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but this wasn’t going to be the last time I saw the Jewel of the sea. Of that I was fucking certain.

Hope you enjoyed that excerpt. Clinging to Rapture will be here soon! <3 Be sure to check back soon for more news on the sequel.