Once Upon a Time in Bliss (Nights in Bliss, Colorado Book 8)

by Lexi Blake

  Oh, the fucker thought he knew everything? “Yeah, it’s awesome. I love being alone all the time. I love the places I get sent to. They expect me to die, you know. If I get taken in, I’m supposed to kill myself, if I can. It’s a great fucking life, buddy. You might not be able to talk about the ops you work, but you’re respected because you’re a soldier. I can never talk about what I do, so don’t start telling me what I should love about my life. I adore the fact that I will never see her face again.”

  He hadn’t meant to say that.

  Dawson turned. “So this is about a woman?”

  He should have kept his fucking mouth shut. They both should have. They were gossiping like two teenagers and that shit didn’t fly. Even though they seemed to be alone, there were always ears listening in. “Stay out of it, man.”

  “I would fucking love to, but then we come to the whole ‘I owe you’ thing. I don’t like to owe people.” He stared for a moment. “You’re in love with a woman and you think you can’t be with her because you can’t get away from all this shit.”

  “Lots of people want me dead.” If he walked, the Agency would likely want him dead, too. They didn’t tend to like for their operatives to go rogue.

  “So, maybe you give them what they want,” Dawson said.

  “What?”

  Dawson rolled his eyes. “For a top agent, you’re slow on the uptake, brother.”

  He pulled out a small device and pressed the button. A massive explosion shook the dingy bar.

  The elderly bartender didn’t even look up from his magazine.

  Bishop ran to the door. Sure enough, the jeep they had been using was now in pieces all up and down the street and blown into the jungle. It was completely destroyed. He turned back and walked to Dawson, who was now working on his second beer.

  “What the fuck was that?”

  “Your untimely demise.” Dawson gave him hearty thumbs-up. “I’ve been setting that shit up for days. Antonio here made sure no one was around to see anything.”

  “Antonio doesn’t care enough to see anything,” the elderly man said in perfect, heavily accented English.

  “Antonio likes cash and a lot of it,” Dawson assured him. “He’s going to disappear after assuring the local authorities that one man matching your description got into that car.”

  “A couple of men from the cartel came and hauled the body away,” Antonio said, never looking up. “That’s all I know. I need to get to La Paz.” He finally brought his head up, a light in his eyes. “My granddaughter is having her surgery. We thought she would die, but I came into a little cash.”

  Holy shit. He was dead. He could be dead. If he was dead, the world opened up to him.

  Bliss opened up to him.

  “Choose again, Bishop,” Sergeant Dawson said. “Bill is waiting for you. He said something about the kid keeping your cover up for you all these months.”

  Seth. Seth had kept his identity up. He could be Henry Flanders. All he had to do was choose.

  He would always choose Nell. Oh, god, he could choose again. He could choose for all the right reasons. He could choose who he wanted to be.

  He shook his head, the enormity sinking in. Dawson would tell his CO about the explosion. The Agency would investigate, but they wouldn’t find a body. According to sources, the cartel took it.

  He was free.

  “Thank you.” Henry Flanders shook Dawson’s hand and staggered out into the bright light of the day. He had two cell phones. One for the Agency, and a backup. He always had a backup that no one knew about.

  He clicked a button, and within seconds, a voice came on the line.

  “Henry? Holy shitballs. Is this really you?” Seth Stark asked.

  The little fucker had his private phone number. Oh, if he had a lick of sense, he would kill the kid, but Henry Flanders was nonviolent. He felt a brilliant smile cross his face as he walked down the dirt road. The jungle was lush and green overhead, but he could already smell the clean pine of Colorado. “Hey, Seth. I’m going to need a favor from you.”

  He was trusting a twentysomething kid. It was stupid. It was ridiculous. It was right. Seth was family now. “Anything, man.”

  “I want to come home.”

  “That’s awesome. I can totally make that happen. I can make it look like anything you need.” Because Seth was a wizard. Or a nerdy faery godmother.

  “I’m going to need a plane ticket, and you’re going to have to find me the best burger joint in La Paz because I get the feeling it’s going to be a while until I have another one.”

  Henry walked, his boots turning up dirt. It would be a long walk home, but he didn’t mind. He was following his bliss.

  * * * *

  Nell turned her head up to the sun. The fairgrounds were filled with sunshine and friends and family.

  “What a beautiful day,” her mother said.

  Nell reached for her hand. Six months and still going. Her mother was in decline, but these months had been a blessing. She felt closer to her mother, closer to everyone.

  The day after Henry had left, she’d gone home and found her cabin filled. Holly and Stella and Callie had baked and stuffed the freezer with vegan delights. Max and Rye had fixed her porch. Seth and Logan had installed a better router for her computer. There had been so many people who showed up to let the Finn women know that they were not alone.

  Bliss had ceased being a way station. Bliss had become her home.

  “It’s gorgeous.” She looked around. The whole town had turned out for the picnic. Even the Glens had shown up despite the fact that Noah had recently left town with his new wife. James was still bitter, but he’d brought his dad out.

  “Do you have room for a couple more?” Callie smiled at her. Bill and Pamela had come. They were clothed, in deference to the new sheriff’s ordinances. Nell was sure Rye Harper was simply trying to raise money for a new chair. Logan had recently been named deputy, and he was busy handing out tickets right and left.

  She fully planned to protest at the next town meeting. “Sure. There’s always room.”

  She got up and helped Callie spread her blanket out. Pam and Bill started talking to Moira, and Nell sat down with Callie. They had been leaning on each other, holding each other’s hands when the loneliness seemed too much.

  “I invited Holly to join us,” Callie said. “She’s bringing the new girl with her. I think her name is Laura. She started working at the Stop ’n’ Shop. It’s weird. She’s been in town for half a year and I think she’s been holed up in her cabin until now. Something’s up with her.”

  Maybe she just needed a friend. Nell vowed to be Laura’s friend. She’d seen the pretty blonde. She looked haunted and so very alone. Nell had tried talking to her, but she’d been rebuffed.

  Patience. Sometimes that was all it took. She wasn’t going to let the blonde’s obvious gruffness scare her away. Everyone needed a friend. Sometimes all it took was one person to not give up to turn someone’s whole life around.

  Nell never gave up.

  She let the sun warm her. It was the same sun that would shine down on Henry’s face. They were still connected. She could feel it. Distance didn’t mean a thing. She sent out a silent prayer for him.

  To be safe. To know he was loved.

  “Nell.” Callie grabbed her arm.

  “Give me a minute.” It was a dumb ritual, but it was hers. She reminded herself of all the ways she and Henry were still connected. The sun and the moon and the stars. They were the same. The land they stood on was connected. Oceans might lie between them, but the earth was the same. The very air she breathed would someday find its way to him.

  “Nell,” Callie insisted.

  “Nell, dear, you really should open your eyes,” her mother’s voice said.

  No one would let her dream, it seemed. She opened her eyes. “Fine. What do you need?”

  Callie was smiling, tears in her eyes as she pointed toward the parking lot. “Look. Oh, I’m so hap
py for you.”

  Nell turned, following Callie’s hand. Max was parking his Ford truck and another man was with him, his arm going to the bed of the truck and picking up a backpack and a suitcase.

  “Is that who I think it is?” her mother asked.

  “I always said he was a smart boy,” Bill replied with a grin on his face. “He makes good choices, that one.”

  Henry. He turned, and there was no question who it was. She would know that square jaw anywhere. She dreamed about him every night.

  Henry had come back.

  “Hey, Nell!” Max screamed across the yard. “I found something you lost. You might want to put a leash on him this time.”

  Tears pooled and a cry came out of her mouth. Henry had come back, and that could only mean one thing. He was here for keeps. He was here for her.

  She’d prayed for happy endings for her friends. She’d written two books in the time that Henry was gone, each a hopeful dream for the people she loved, a prayer that the universe would bless them.

  But the first real happy ending was hers.

  Nell got up, tears clouding her vision, but she didn’t need to see. She only needed him. She took off, not caring who saw.

  Henry was here.

  He dropped his bags and ran to her, catching her in his arms. “Hello, baby. Do you think there’s room for one more?”

  Always. “I can make that happen.”

  “I love you.” He squeezed her so tight she was sure she would break, but she just held on that much tighter.

  “I love you. I love you so much.”

  Henry looked down at her, a grim expression in his eyes. “Nell, I want to tell you…”

  She interrupted him, putting her hand over his mouth. She didn’t need explanations. She didn’t need anything at all now that he was here. “Don’t. You’re here. That’s all that matters.”

  Relief was plain on his face. He kissed her, pressing his mouth to hers. “I’m here and I’m all yours. I won’t ever leave you again.”

  All around her spontaneous applause cracked through the air. She looked and everyone was watching them, but it wasn’t awkward. This was her family, her home, and now it was complete.

  “Way to go, Nell,” Callie yelled, giving her a thumbs-up.

  Henry picked her up, cradling her to his chest. “Let’s take this reunion someplace private.”

  “You do that, Flanders,” Rye shouted out with a grin. “I’m the new sheriff around here, and we have laws about public sex. I need a new desk after all.”

  Nell put her head on his chest and let him carry her away.

  Epilogue

  Present Day

  New York City

  Seth Stark took a long gulp of his fifty-year-old Macallan and wondered how much longer he would have to wait.

  Georgia had kissed him. She’d put her arms around him and placed those big soft lips on his, and it had taken everything he had not to take her right there in the limo, to peel back those designer knockoffs she insisted on wearing and lay her out.

  She was making him crazy. Holding out on that blonde goddess was going to kill him.

  She was the fucking one. He’d waited his whole goddamn life for Georgia Dawson and he’d been forced to push her away.

  He groaned as he looked out at his spectacular view of Manhattan.

  Nothing was going the way he’d planned.

  He’d turned her down because despite the fact that he loved Georgia with all his heart, it wouldn’t work without Logan. He had no intention of getting married without his best friend by his side. He’d known the type of relationship he’d wanted since he was nine and he’d sat at Jamie and Noah’s kitchen table and listened to their mom and dads flirt and argue and live their lives.

  He’d known then and there that he wanted to share a wife with his best friend.

  If only his best friend hadn’t turned out to be such a fucking nut bag.

  Logan loved Georgia, too. He was being idiotic and stubborn and posttraumatically stressed. It was time for him to get over it, but Seth couldn’t figure out how. Nor could he find a decent reason to haul them all where they needed to be.

  They needed to go to Bliss.

  The hum of his computer changed and Seth turned. His computer was almost always on. He knew its every sound. He’d made a billion dollars off his software, and he’d programmed his personal system with a hundred distinct sounds that alerted him to what was going on.

  Sometimes it chimed because it was uploading new data or installing new versions of software. It pinged him when Georgia sent him an e-mail. He handled those first. He told her it was because she was his assistant, but he’d utterly ignored his previous assistant because he’d been a Harvard-trained douchebag. Georgia always came first.

  But there was one sound he hadn’t heard since he’d programmed it. A low thud that sounded like doom.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  Someone was searching for Henry Flanders.

  Someone was going deep. Someone knew something they shouldn’t.

  He stared at the computer screen for a moment, panic setting in. After all these years, Henry’s past was catching up to him.

  And Seth could use that to his advantage. He picked up his cell and dialed an all-too-familiar number. A gruff voice answered almost immediately, and Seth replied. “Hello, Momma Marie. It’s Seth. I’m going to need your help.”

  It was time to bring Logan back to Bliss.

  Logan, Georgia, Seth, and the whole Bliss family will return in Back in Bliss, coming September 10, 2019. Click here to purchase.

  Author’s Note

  I’m often asked by generous readers how they can help get the word out about a book they enjoyed. There are so many ways to help an author you like. Leave a review. If your e-reader allows you to lend a book to a friend, please share it. Go to Goodreads and connect with others. Recommend the books you love because stories are meant to be shared. Thank you so much for reading this book and for supporting all the authors you love!

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  Back in Bliss

  Nights in Bliss, Colorado 9

  By Lexi Blake writing as Sophie Oak

  Coming September 10, 2019

  Click here to purchase.

  Logan Green is back in Bliss, but only for a few weeks to help out at the sheriff’s office. Everything changes when Seth Stark strolls into town with Georgia Dawson on his arm.

  Seth’s arrival is anything but a happy accident. He always dreamed of a big house on the river and a wife he could share with his best friend, Logan. After building a software empire, his only goal has been to make that dream come true. He just needed the perfect woman.

  Georgia is still haunted by the dark, troubled man who saved her life. She can’t get Logan out of her head. Her boss brought her to Bliss to help him decorate his new summer home, but when Logan Green walks through the door she discovers Seth has something different in mind.

  Seth has a plan for their mutual happily ever after, but he never dreamed that coming home would put all their lives in danger.

  Lost in You

  Masters and Mercenaries: The Forgotten, Book 3

  By Lexi Blake

  Coming August 6, 2019

  Click here to purchase.

  Robert McClellan was forced to serve as a soldier in a war he didn’t understand. Liberated by McKay-Taggart, he struggles every day to reclaim the life he lost and do right by the men he calls his brothers, The Lost Boys. Only one thing is more important – Ariel Adisa. The gorgeous psychologist has plagued his dreams since the day they met. Even as their mission pushes him to his limits, he can’t stop thinking about taking his shot at finding
a life beyond all this with her.

  Ariel Adisa is a force to be reckoned with. Her performance in Toronto proved she’s more than just a brilliant mind, but Robert still acts as if she is a wilting flower who needs his protection. Joining him on the mission to Munich should be the perfect opportunity to test their skills and cement their relationship. She and Robert are an excellent match. But when a stunning secret from Robert’s past is revealed, their world is turned upside down and nothing will ever be the same again.

  While they chase dark secrets across Europe, Robert and Ariel realize that the only thing worse than not knowing who you are could be discovering who you used to be...

  * * * *

  There was a knock on her door. Ariel glanced to the clock. It was getting late. The pizza had likely arrived. She didn’t want pizza. She wanted to start the day again and not have any of this hanging over them. When she’d gotten on that plane, she’d been filled with anticipation, and all of it was gone now. She’d expected dinner to be a quiet affair with only her and Robert. Now she would have to referee between Owen and Dante. She needed to get the whole group together for a session to get at the underlying problem.

  “I’ve got to go, Damon.”

  “Be safe.”

  She hung up her mobile and slipped it into her pocket before answering the door. She’d expected Rebecca or Owen, but it was Robert who stood in her doorway.

  And he looked delicious. He’d changed out of his traveling clothes into a set of perfectly pressed black slacks, a snowy white dress shirt, and blue tie. It should have looked staid. It would have on most men, but on Robert it made her wonder what she would see when she peeled off all those clothes.