Happily Ever After in Bliss (Nights in Bliss, Colorado #11) - 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 Stef Talbot had given him a long talking to about what they would do to him if they ever found out he’d hurt Nell. He’d sat at the bar at the base of the mountain and nodded gamely, promising to never cheat on her and hopefully looking properly intimidated. His history professor persona was good cover for the fact that he could take out the three of them and not have his heart rate tick up.

The good news was he never intended to cheat on his Nell, and they’d made it through the whole ceremony without a single attempted kidnapping by a Sasquatch.

“I have no doubt.” He sat back and watched her, patient because he knew how this evening would end. It was good to be patient, to revel in the idea that he knew exactly what tomorrow would bring. It would bring a tofu scramble and a nature hike, and at some point in the nature hike, he would fuck his lovely bride with the blue sky above them and nature all around.

He liked Bliss. It was odd because if he’d been asked where he would retire he would have said a city. Well, he would have said a casket because he’d never thought he would live long enough to retire, but if pressed he would have said New York or London. Certainly