Torrid Exposure - Book 1 (Torrid Exposure New Adult Romance Series) Read online

  Other Books by Carla Coxwell:

  Devil's Advocate BBW MC New Adult Romance Series

  When Kristie comes home from college, the last thing she is expecting is her world to be turned upside down by the appearance of her step-brother, Gray. Gray is rash, impulsive and breaks the law. Kristie’s mom asks if she can try to befriend Gray, in hopes to get him on the straight and narrow. The plan backfires, however, as Kristie finds herself falling for Gray. Is it possible he feels the same way? The connection between them threatens to tear down everything Kristie has ever held dear.

  Fifty Recipes For Disaster New Adult Romance Series

  Trying to win a competition for best chef is cut-throat business. Kiara Sands has just won the opportunity of a lifetime. When she arrives at Fission, she has no idea just how much her life is going to change. She’s immediately introduced to Jenny Foster and Robbs Martin, her competitors in the cut throat competition. The only thing Kiara finds more distracting than Robbs’ hateful attitude is the handsome executive chef, Paul Weston. It doesn’t help matters that Paul is quite taken by Kiara, and showers her with more attention than he gives her competitors.

  Star Bright New Adult Romance Series (This series follows “Fifty Recipes For Disaster New Adult Romance Series”)

  Torn between her feelings for her agent, Jon, and Rich, a charming bad boy who has ties in the movie industry, Jenny finds herself working through her own past to try to get a grip on her present. As she struggles to learn the lesson that in Hollywood not everyone is what they appear to be, Jenny tries to become a person that she can be proud of. Will she be able to find love and success in Hollywood? Or will she be dragged down by her past forever?

  Obsessed Bounty Hunter Romance Series

  Jacqui Schneider couldn't help it. Every time the memories of her family's brutal murder haunted her, she had to escape. The only thing that could replace her sorrow was sex...and lots of it. Depressed and with no goal in sight, Jacqui continued on with her self-deprecating lifestyle until it all changed one day. Uncle Max, an old family friend, appeared unannounced. Jacqui was astonished when Uncle Max revealed a secret to her about her father. From those few words, Jacqui's world turned completely upside down. She really didn't know her own father. In fact, she didn't even know much about Uncle Max, except that he visited them for a few days at a time over the years.

  Get the latest update on new releases from the author at:

  http://www.carlacoxwell.com/newsletter

  This book is Part One of the “Torrid Exposure New Adult Romance Series”

  Book 1

  April is finished with school and ready to build a career. Coming from a well-to-do family, she has decided to reboot her life completely. With family scars too deep to mend, April craves a fresh start. But the past is harder to shake than April ever would have imagined. At the center of it all is Bennett, an old family friend who is the heir to a billionaire media mogul company. Bennett and April haven’t been able to stand each other since they were kids. But as the world shifts, the two of them discover the past might be the key to their future.

  Book 2

  April is shocked to find Bennett kissing another woman. What takes her even more by surprise are the sudden feelings that swell up in her at the sight. As April struggles to figure out where she stands with Bennett and resolves to stay away from him, her father falls ill. April toes the line between taking care of her father and not getting involved with the family’s company. Will April be able to stay on top of everything going on in her life and be able to keep her head on straight? Or will family ties drag her down past the point of no return?

  Book 3

  April has discovered her sister's darkest secret that has kept their relationship on the rocks since her near-fatal car accident. After learning of her father’s death, she suddenly feels as if she has lost her one ally in her family. All she has left is her promise to her father that she will make things right with her sister, Spencer. As April refuses to give up and dives head first into discovering the past, she also falls deeper in with Bennett, the billionaire heir to a far reaching media corporation.

  Book 4

  April’s world is rocked when she discovers the truth behind the night of her accident. Her sister, Spencer, has deep secrets of her own. Both involve a man they have known since they were kids – Kevin, Bennett’s father and the owner of a billionaire media corporation. April is determined to help her sister break free of Kevin’s clutches and repair their relationship. She wants to help Bennett see that he can stand on his own two feet without needing to bow down to the whims of his father. Can Bennett protect his father without losing April?

  Book 5

  With Spencer’s daughter, Aria, missing and Kevin hot on their trail, April feels as if things have flown completely off the rails. After Kevin lies and tells Bennett that April was kissing Anderson, she finds herself struggling to plan out her next move. Will Bennett help her work against his own father or will he be more concerned about the company? April must put the pieces of her life story together before it is too late to take down a mad billionaire and his lust for power but will the target on her back prove to be deadly?

  Torrid Exposure

  A New Adult Romance Series

  Book 1

  Copyright Revelry Publishing 2017

  By Carla Coxwell

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Other Books by Carla Coxwell

  About the Author - Carla Coxwell

  Connect with Carla Coxwell

  Sign up for the author’s New Releases mailing list and get a free copy of the next novella Torrid Exposure: A New Adult Romance Series - Book 2.

  Click here - http://www.carlacoxwell.com/te2-free-book/

  Chapter One

  “I THINK it looks nice.”

  “Are you crazy? It isn’t even at all.”

  “Well, you do it then, April.”

  I sigh and take a step forward, looking at the photo that Emily had hung up in the living room. It looks crooked to me. Okay, maybe just a little off center. I lean forward and nudge it slightly with my finger. It slides just over enough to look perfectly center to me and I look back at her.

  Emily is wearing an amused expression on her face. “Oh, yeah, massive difference.”

  I know she is teasing me. I roll my eyes and look back at the photo. I hear Emily leaving the room to go finish unpacking in her own bedroom. I look around the living room. The big things seemed to be unpacked. I sit down on the couch and sink into it, relaxing my feet for a moment.

  Moving felt as if it had taken ages. I am glad to see that the big things are all unpacked. Now I can try to relax for the night. Even though it is hot outside, part of me wants to bundle up underneath a pile of blankets and go to sleep.

  But I get up and make myself walk to my own bedroom. My own bedroom. It sounds foreign to me. Not that I haven’t ever had my own bedroom. Of course, I had my own bedroom when I lived at home. But I shared a dorm room in college so I wasn’t exactly dealing with the utmost of privacy.

  Now, however, I have a space all to myself. The only other person in this apartment is Emily, my best friend since I was little. Finally, it feels as if life is falling into place.

  I sit down on the floor and start going through one of the boxe
s. I have always been terrible at packing. I usually end up shoving everything in boxes without any sort of organization at all. I never learn, apparently, because this current box has everything from clothes to my laptop. At the bottom, I yank something out. It is a photo album. This is weird… I didn’t put this in here.

  I flip it open to a random photo and see myself at age six. My skinny arms are wrapped around my sister, who is beaming at the camera. Behind her is a water slide. We must have been at some water park.

  I scowl. My sister, Spencer, must have slipped this in the box. It was most likely a last ditch attempt at getting me to reach out to her.

  “It isn’t going to work,” I say out loud and shove the photo album back in the box.

  Emily sticks her head in inquiring, “Did you say something?”

  “Yeah. Not to you though. Just…” I bite my bottom lip, “… just that Spencer shoved this stupid photo album in one of the boxes. I didn’t notice it until now.”

  Emily is staring at me, clearly trying to figure out what to say next. She, of all people, knows the relationship I have with my family and that it isn’t the best. But I don’t want to ruin our day of getting our own place with mention of them so I quickly shake my head.

  “No, it’s cool, really. I’m just going to finish unpacking in here.”

  “Okay,” she replies and turns around to leave before hesitating. “Listen, April. You know if you need to talk about them, you can. You don’t have to lock it all up inside.”

  “I know. Thanks.”

  Emily nods at me and leaves me alone in my bedroom again. My earlier zest at having my own space is now slightly dulled. I sit on the floor and run my fingers over the cover of the photo album. I don’t know when Spencer would have snuck this in. Did she really think this would do anything? Knowing her, she probably thought I would see it and decide to move back home.

  Well, she is wrong. I stand up and decide to go through another box. If I find another surprise from her in any of these boxes, I am going to lose it on her. But I then think quickly, maybe that is what she wants me to do.

  I decide I’ll unpack something I like. The big box holding my photography equipment is stacked up against the wall. I yank it over and sit down on the floor again, opening it up and slowly pulling everything out.

  Once I am holding my camera, I feel myself calm down a bit. It is state of the art. All my equipment is expensive – and I had purchased it all by myself. No hand-outs from Mommy and Daddy, no matter what anyone may think. I go through the box and organize everything. I was itching to take photos of my room and I took some spontaneous shots. I want to start a photo album of my life beginning with moving out on my own and continue on as I get my career going.

  After I finish taking some photos of my room, I grab clean clothes and head into the bathroom for a quick shower. I can hear Emily talking to someone quietly on her phone in the kitchen. It is probably her boyfriend. Ever since Matt and I broke up, she is worried that if I hear her talking to her boyfriend, I might start crying over my failed relationship.

  Maybe I would have a couple of months ago. But I am working every day to get over Matt and everything we went through. I tell myself that what we had was just a college romance. Of course it was going to end after graduation. That was what I told everyone after we broke up. I downplayed how serious we were. I felt like a fool for not seeing it before it happened.

  Only Emily knew how hard the break-up hit me. Better not to think about Matt now. I have other things that I need to focus on. Whatever I went through with Matt is in the past now.

  I step into the shower to clear my mind. I have things to get arranged. No use in thinking about the past.

  Chapter Two

  I shouldn’t have gotten that large coffee with extra expresso. I feel jittery and all over the place. But I am low on sleep and for the first time since I finished college, a client contacted me about taking photos for them.

  Naturally, I couldn’t sleep the night before and the coffee had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I am trying to type in the address the client had given me and can already feel a headache forming.

  The fact that this is my first official client is making me nervous. I always loved photography. I had taken every photography course in college that was offered. Most people considered it a hobby but when I had made it clear that I was serious about pursuing it as a career, everyone had thought I was joking.

  My parents had basically said they would just hire me for whatever they wanted and let their friends hire me. But that isn’t what I wanted. I want to be taken seriously as a photographer. So I decided that striking out on my own would be my best bet.

  And now – finally – I have a client of my own! I can’t help but feel excited at finally getting some real work… they are for the client’s website. The address is on the other side of town, in the financial district. It pops up on my GPS on my phone and I pull out of the parking lot.

  I arrive there in about twenty minutes with my gear for the shoot. It is the middle of the summer and way too hot for my liking. I cross the parking lot and step inside the small office.

  It smells of new paint in here. There isn’t anything even labelled to let anyone know what the office is for. A receptionist looks up and smiles at me.

  “April?”

  “Yes, that’s me,” I say, walking over to the desk. “Here to meet Mr. Smith.”

  “He’s on the third floor. You can head right up. I’ll let him know you’re here.”

  “Thanks,” I reply, smiling at her and heading towards the elevator.

  Something about the office is odd. It’s so small, first off. Maybe I am just too used to large companies, like the ones my parents and their friends own. The man said this was for a small website so I guess it made sense. The receptionist looked vaguely familiar however, although I can’t pinpoint from where I would have seen her.

  I take the elevator up to the third floor and step out into an empty office. The windows overlook a small garden. There is a radio on the floor, playing a classic rock station. The scent of new paint is overwhelming. Mixed with the coffee, my headache takes flight.

  “Hello?” I say, peering around the office.

  A door opens to my left and a man steps out. As soon as I see him, I turn around and get ready to leave.

  “April, c’mon, wait.”

  “Fuck you, Bennett,” I retort angrily. “I can’t believe this. Did my parents put you up to this?”

  “No! They didn’t. Are you really going to leave?”

  I press the elevator button, waiting for the doors to open. I am seething. Of course, I should have known my parents would have been determined to shove their noses into my business.

  “April,” he says and puts his hand in front of the now open elevator doors, “Come on. Stay. I hired you because I want you to take photos for my website.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “No. I’m not.”

  “Move. I’m leaving,” I say to him.

  “If you leave, I’m going to make sure no one in town hires you. You’re acting pretty unprofessional right now.”

  I have a mental image of pushing Bennett out of the way but I stop. I’ve known him my whole life… his family, worth billions, are close family friends with my own family… and I’ve always hated him. He acts like he knows everything and as if his money makes him hot shit. The fact that he is the one who hired me pisses me off to no end. He is the type of person who would tell everyone in town not to hire me because I walked out.

  I clench my jaw. “Fine. I’ll stay.” No way am I going to let this jerk mess up my photography career.

  Bennett smiles at me. I have to ignore how handsome he is. He always looks good. But he knows he looks good. That’s one of the reasons I can’t stand him.

  “What business are you starting, anyway? Pretty sure your daddy is going to give you his media corporation when he finally kicks the bucket.”

  He only grin
s at my words. Everything always bounces off of him, even the things that are true. His father, Kevin, is in control of one of the largest media corporations in the world. It began at some little radio company Bennett’s grandfather started and now his company controls most of the media, with numerous channels, news sites and other social media websites across the globe. His family is so rich that they make my own rich family look poor.

  “Thought you could take the photos for my website.”

  “Why me?”

  “Why not you, April?” he says, finally moving his arm away from the elevator. “Family friends, after all.”

  “You know I’m not looking for any hand-outs,” I say to him. “I want to do this on my own.”

  “I know. Your mom won’t stop complaining about you,” he replies, turning around to look out one of the windows. “Pretty boring.”