Happily Ever After in Bliss
Nights in Bliss, Colorado, Book 11
Lexi Blake
writing as
Sophie Oak
Happily Ever After in Bliss
Nights in Bliss, Colorado Book 11
Published by DLZ Entertainment LLC
Copyright 2020 DLZ Entertainment LLC
Edited by Chloe Vale
ISBN: 978-1-942297-44-4
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
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Acknowledgments
While I was writing this book, I had to stop sometimes and just sit and enjoy the moment because I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure I would get to write this book. I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to come back to this place again. I won’t go into all legalities of the corner I was in regarding the Sophie Oak books, but I found myself walking a tightrope and had to choose to move on from these worlds I loved so much. Flash forward to a book conference in Orlando a couple of years ago and I meet an attorney who happens to live in my city and who thinks she might be able to help me out. I was reluctant because I didn’t want to make waves. Waves can crash into a person and take them under. Or, she pointed out, you can ride one and it can take you all the way to shore. It was my choice. I could accept the situation or I could try to change it.
I am eternally grateful that I made the right choice.
We so often make choices in order to keep peace—oftentimes to our own disadvantage. We don’t advocate for ourselves because we’ve been taught that’s arrogant or unbecoming. It’s fitting then that my first trip back to Bliss is a book about Nell. Love her or hate her, she doesn’t back down.
To all the romance authors out there - your work is important. Fight for it. Believe in it. Do not let others tear you down. Someone somewhere needs to hear your voice, needs the particular story only you can tell. Ride the wave and if you fall off, get back up and try again.
This one is for Margarita.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Summer
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Fall
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Winter
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Spring
Epilogue
Author’s Note
An excerpt from Bayou Dreaming by Lexi Blake
About Lexi Blake
Other Books by Lexi Blake
Prologue
Bliss, CO
He’d done it. The wait was over and there was a ring on his finger that he would never take off again.
Something settled deep inside John Bishop’s soul. Something he’d never imagined he could have. Peace. Love. This feeling was beyond anything he’d felt before and it was all because he’d gotten one petite woman to say I do.
“It was such a beautiful ceremony.” Nell walked into their suite at the Elk Creek Lodge still wearing the cream-colored flowy dress she’d gotten married in. The dress was like the woman herself, ethereal and lovely. Her hair was down and pretty white flower petals still clung from the wreath she’d worn. “I wish Laura had come.”
Laura Niles was new in town, and there was something dark about the woman that made him curious. He didn’t think she was dangerous. Not to Nell’s health, but she was proving resistant to forming friendships. She’d holed up in a cabin and rarely came out unless she was working a shift at the Stop ’n’ Shop. He watched his wife, a delicious sense of anticipation starting to thrum through his veins. “I don’t think she’s interested in making friends, baby.”
Nell stopped and frowned. “Everyone needs friends.”
He could argue with that notion. He’d held himself apart for so long that he’d almost forgotten what it meant to need others. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been fond of some of the men and women he’d worked with over the years. He’d liked many of them, but he’d had to balance his affections against the reality that any of those people could be lost at any moment. The work he’d done for the CIA had been deeply important and very dangerous. He’d been responsible for protecting an entire country, and that meant he or anyone he worked with could be cut loose at any time.
But not now. Now his wife was the only one he needed to protect. Now he had one mission in life and that was to take care of Nell Flanders.
She twirled around, taking in the big room that served as the bridal suite. “I’ll get through to her eventually. Holly is going to help me. You’ll see. We’ll get the new girl involved in some fun activities and soon she’ll be our new best friend.”
Holly Lang and Callie Shepherd had served as Nell’s bridesmaids during the ceremony. He’d wanted to elope, but Nell had put her foot down. She’d been more than happy with a simple wedding, but it had to include her friends. Her family, as she’d put it.
Nell didn’t share an ounce of blood with the people of this town, but they’d all shown up for her. The owner of the diner had provided a vegan feast, though Stella and her cook had to figure out how to make a vegan cake. Holly and Callie and Teeny Green had helped sew Nell’s wedding dress. Mel had ensured the wedding was free of all alien influence, though he hadn’t been able to promise a Sasquatch-free ceremony. Apparently it was high mating season and Sasquatch males were attracted to the flowers Nell had chosen to carry.
And the Harper twins and
