Albert Camus, BDSM and discipline in "The Breaking Point" by Cole Riley

How can I not love an erotica story that starts by talking about Albert Camus? Here's an excerpt from Serving Him: Sexy Stories of Submission story "The Breaking Point" by Cole Riley.



Previous excerpts: "I Always Do" by Kiki DeLovely, "The Golden Ruler" by Giselle Renarde, "Safe, Sane and Consensual" by Ariel Graham, "Run, Baby, Run" by Vida Bailey, "The Letter" by Tiffany Reisz part 1 and part 2, "Under Direction" by Teresa Noelle Roberts, "Chattel" by Errica Liekos, "The Coffee Break" by Kristina Wright, "What You Deserve" by Lori Selke and "Subbing" by me.

From "The Breaking Point" by Cole Riley

Submission is totally giving up control to another person. That was how the French writer Albert Camus described it. It didn’t matter that Camus was talking years ago about the Algerian people being very submissive to the colonist Frenchmen.

When I encountered submission in my life, it was of a different sort. Let me go back to a few weeks ago. After getting off work—as a reporter for a daily newspaper—I went to one of my favorite bars, Costello’s, where I saw the mysterious redheaded girl chatting with the bartender. Teddy, the mixologist, was always good for a laugh or two. I sat near the redhead and watched her down shots of bourbon. She was extraordinarily beautiful, with an exotic cocoa face and a body that could bewitch most men and many women.

“I do it because I like it,” the girl laughed. “It’s not about the money. There’s something in my makeup that draws me to it. I still haven’t figured it out.”

Which were the only words I overheard, but they stuck with me. She smelled delicious, incredibly enticing. Her aroma filled the space at the bar, a whiff of foreign cigarettes, face powder, rouge and an aura of expensive perfume. It made my heart beat fast.

Two days later, I was standing outside my building in Midtown. I had just been handed an infant by a total stranger who asked me to hold her baby while she tied the laces on a running shoe. I looked up and saw the mysterious girl smiling warmly at me as I readjusted the baby in my arms. The infant wet on me.

“Water sports, huh?” the girl smirked. “What a pretty picture.” I shook my head, replying. “She’s not mine. By the way, are you following me?”

The girl laughed gently. She seemed to be eternally happy. Her steps took her away from me to the curb, where she caught a cab. She waved to me from the backseat.

The next time I saw her, it was in the basement of a downtown sex club, and she was hoisted up on this medieval device surrounded by men in suits. Her naked body was trussed up, tied at her waist and at the feet. I was mesmerized by what the men were doing to her; her back was an ugly mess of welts, her buttocks bright red and glowing.

One man reached around her battered body, his fingers going between her legs, dipping inside then lifting them to his mouth to taste her. The other men looked envious.

“I love to discipline young girls,” the man said, turning to me. “Are you a member of the club? I don’t remember seeing you before.”

“A member brought me, I’m just a guest,” I answered, watching the others sniff her citrus female scent like randy bloodhounds.

“And who was that?”

“Hugh brought me down,” I said, seeing the girl trying to glance over her shoulder at me. She recognized the voice.

“Do you like to be disciplined, slave?” another man, with his tie off, asked her.

“Yes, Sir, I do.” The girl stared at her feet.

Without warning, the first man slashed her with a leather whip across the buttocks, not too hard. The girl clearly wanted to yell out, but did not. He leaned toward the girl, stroked her tenderly and put his thick thumb between her pouting, bruised lips. He smiled wickedly at her, reared back and brought the whip down in sharp, stinging strokes. I could tell she loved the pain, the burn and prick of each blow.

You can preorder Serving Him from Amazon and Bn.com. The Kindle ebook edition will be out on February 18th. THANK YOU!

Coming in January: Irresistible: Erotic Romance for Couples

This is going to be a very HOT Valentine's Day read! A heads up. Yes, postcards are coming; I determine whether to spring for postcards or not based on how hot the book cover is. I'll be in Milwaukee doing an event at The Tool Shed on February 9th (details coming soon) so will have postcards with me, and am looking forward to my first Milwaukee visit and signing this hot-off-the-press book. I'm excited about the entire book, of course, but especially getting to publish new-to-my-books authors Tiffany Reisz and Kris Adams and Alyssa Turner and Delilah Night and Karenna Colcroft and (I think) Kate Pearce. There's a lot of new territory for my books, both plot and location-wise, and I think this pushes the envelope a bit. And there's some familiar themes; it shouldn't surprise you that after my story "Our Own Private Champagne Room" in Kristina Wright's Best Erotic Romance, my story here, "Exposing Calvin," starts off: "'Let’s go to a strip club,' I say, my eyes lit up." If this book sounds good to you, I'd love it if you'd click "like" on Amazon to show your support - thank you!

Coming in January: Irresistible: Erotic Romance for Couples, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, published by Cleis Press. If you are interested in reviewing Irresistible for a publication or blog, email Brenda Knight at bknight at cleispress.com with your mailing address and publication's URL.

This Irresistible read features loving couples turning their deepest fantasies into reality, resulting in uninhibited, imaginative sex they can only enjoy together. You’ll delight in discovering all the exciting erotic possibilities, from serving tea naked to a very intimate massage to a reminder that sometimes best friends make the best lovers. Engage in a little sexting in A.M. Hartnett’s sizzling “Safe for Work” office tryst, and follow a kinky candidate for public office—and his lusty wife—in "Hypocrites." Cole Riley’s moving “Same As It Ever Was” shows that makeup sex can be worth fighting for. Dirty talk leads to lustful surprises and inspiration for the neighbors in “The Mitzvah” by Tiffany Reisz. As editor Rachel Kramer Bussel notes, the lovers in this daringly romantic anthology are “able to open up in the ways they do is precisely because they have another person to rely on, coax them, challenge them, tease them and seduce them into traveling down a new sexual path. Whether that means outdoor sex, kink, a trip to a strip club or a very sensual massage, we get to see how the layers of trust that have been built up get used to stoke the fire that burns between them.”



Pre-order Irresistible: Erotic Romance for Couples:

Amazon

Kindle (coming soon)

BN.com

Nook (coming soon)

Powell's

Books-a-Million

IndieBound (find your local independent bookstore

Cleis Press

Introduction (see below)

Twice Shy Heidi Champa

Safe for Work A. M. Hartnett

Repaint the Night Janine Ashbless

Same As It Ever Was Cole Riley

Out of Control Karenna Colcroft

Warrior Kate Pearce

Hypocrites Alyssa Turner

The Pact Elizabeth Coldwell

Exposing Calvin Rachel Kramer Bussel

Six Eyes, Two Ears Kris Adams

Renewal Delilah Night

The Netherlands Justine Elyot

Predatory Tree Craig J. Sorensen

The Mitzvah Tiffany Reisz

After The Massage Kay Jaybee

Pink Satin Purse Donna George Storey

Introduction

A lot of the erotica that comes across my desk focuses on the spark of attraction when strangers meet, the cataclysmic sensation of falling, hard, for someone new and exciting. That makes sense, because there’s built-in drama and erotic tension when two people discover there’s intense chemistry between them. With this anthology, though, I wanted to explore what happens after that, once those people have been together a while (even a short while). I wanted to see what sparks fictional couples could produce on the page, and the results are, well, scorching.

The couples in this book explore all sorts of exciting sexual possibilities, and one of the main reasons they’re able to open up in the ways they do is precisely because they have another person to rely on, coax them, challenge them, tease them and seduce them into traveling down a new sexual path. Whether that means outdoor sex, kink, a trip to a strip club or a very sensual massage, we get to see the ways the layers of trust that have been built up get used to stoke the fire that burns between them.

In addition to enjoying naughty, wild adventures, the couples here also work out differences between one another and handle issues like infidelity in ways that ultimately strengthen, rather than destroy, their relationships' longevity. In Cole Riley’s “Same As It Ever Was,” Joanne suspects her husband of cheating, but with a little help from her best friend, manages to recapture the sensual spirit and passion that’s been missing as both husband and wife make amends and move on, knowing what it was they almost lost. Rekindling a romance that’s threatened to go stale is also the theme of “Renewal” by Delilah Night, where she writes, “That touch sent a long-missing ripple through my body. I hesitated, hoping he’d remember what I love.”

In “The Pact” by Elizabeth Coldwell, a woman rediscovers a man she’d once passed over, only to find that the years they’ve spent apart have made him someone she’s sorry she overlooked. How a couple deals with a death in the family, as well as religious tradition, is the subject of “The Mitzvah” by Tiffany Reisz, as Grace and Zachary find that embracing desire can be healing. Kris Adams takes us into an African village and some complicated relationship dynamics, along with a lot of voyeurism, in “Six Eyes, Two Ears.” Kay Jaybee takes a common fantasy, that of a man watching two women make love, and breathes new life into it by showing both halves of a couple as they live out this dream.

Individual characters work through their own issues with the help of their partners, getting support, love and, of course, very hot sex. “Repaint the Night,” by Janine Ashbless, is about public sex, but, even more, a woman who is conquering a fear of the dark after being mugged ten years before. The erotic power of that story is heightened by Leah’s awe at being able to enjoy what she and Callum are sharing, as she recovers a part of herself she lost and deepens the level of trust between them.

For those who likes things a bit spicier, there’s "The Netherlands” by Justine Elyot, in which a nude Loveday serves guests tea and takes orders, while fulfilling a longtime fantasy of being “used,” with her true love there to watch.

Make no mistake: though these are stories about couples, they are not light or fluffy. They are full of joy, lust and kink, as well as realistic elements of mistrust, uncertainty and confusion, which the couples work through in ways that don’t gloss over or ignore their differences.

These couples, however long they’ve been a team, push the envelope by pushing themselves to try something new, even when they’re not sure where it will lead them. They go to those exotic, erotic places, to those recurring fantasies, because they know they have someone who will travel there with them. I hope this book will inspire nighttime reading--out loud--and erotic adventures, as well as conversations that have been bubbling under the surface, waiting to be exposed, just like the fantasies in the tales you’re about to read.

Rachel Kramer Bussel

New York City