RAPTURE (Book One): Cherrywood Series, #1

By Maria Jackson

Rapture; Book One, a moving contemporary romance novelette full of action, excitement and love!

Paige is looking for another job.  She must get one soon as she is responsible for taking her twin brothers, Brad and Nate, through college, as well as looking after her father.  She needs the money.  Then she meets a gorgeous man who wants to have a relationship with her, but she can't afford to spend time with him until she gets a good paying job and gets her life sorted out...

Easy to read, easy to enjoy, hard to put down.  You'll want to share Rapture with others who like a good contemporary romance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackson Publishing
• Release date: Jan 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781507062869

Book preview

Author’s Note

Thank you for purchasing my book. I am excited you chose to read it. I enjoyed writing this series. I chose the location of San Francisco and Napa Valley because of the special memories they hold for me. Cherrywood is a fictional town in this location.

This book is dedicated to my late father, Michael Jackson.

Chapter 1

––––––––

Paige was on her way to the Winston Art Gallery to work. She had just attended the funeral of her elderly employer, Anne Davis. She’d been working for Anne Davis, a well-known author, for three years. Paige was her assistant and ran her house, as well as doing the secretarial work for her books. Paige had lived in at Anne’s house.

Now that Anne had died, she had no job and nowhere to live. Paige needed good employment to allow her to get her twin siblings through college. She had raised them since their mother died when Paige was fifteen and the twins were nine.

She was late for her shift at the Winston Art Gallery tonight. Tara, her best friend, had gotten her some casual work with her as a waitress for casual functions. It paid some of her bills.

It was the beginning of rush hour, and the trains were running behind schedule. She just couldn’t afford to be late. This was the only bit of income she'd had in two weeks, and she really needed the money. Paige was working that night and a few other nights from time to time for Tara's boss, Mr. Stanton, a caterer.

Paige's first train was late, and she missed another connecting train due to this. Tears welled up in her eyes. She tried not to cry and told herself to take some deep breaths.

––––––––

As Paige rushed in the back door of the gallery, Tara, her best friend, was waiting for her. Paige had worn her short black skirt with a matching black top under her coat. She quickly took off her coat and put on her waitresses apron. Tara gave Paige a tray of champagne glasses and sent her out into the gallery. Paige was very stressed thinking of her predicament. The twins had their own part-time jobs seeing them through college, but Paige paid for their tuition and their room and board. On top of that, she also paid for her father to live in a room in an old boarding house outside of San Francisco. He was an alcoholic and not very good at anything, but family is family. Paige was really feeling desperate and quite emotional tonight.

Breathing deeply