True Bliss (33 page)
Authors: BJ Harvey
“Superman,” I stutter as I feel tears welling up again. “I love you.”
He leans down and kisses me softly, gently, with just a little bit of superhero tongue. Well played, Mr. Winters.
Twenty minutes, and a lot of obscenities later, Jared Daniel Winters enters the world. Ten minutes later, Riley Mackenzie Winters decides to grace us with her presence.
And I've never seen anything more beautiful in my life.
Sneak Peek: Temporary Bliss (Bliss #1)
Mac and Daniel's Story
I'm on my way home after finishing a shift at the hospital. I'm just getting comfortable and texting Kate, when I drop my phone. Of course, it had to slide down the train away from me. Thankfully, being 8 p.m., the cab isn't too full. Just as I'm about to get up and search the floor in a desperate last attempt to regain my life, hey, my phone is my life, don't judge, I see him.
As luck would have it, my phone hit a strange man's black loafer clad foot, and when I look up, I see said man making his way towards me. This man is sex on legs delicious. I totally clocked him when he got on the train at the stop after me. I'm amazed that I'm even coherent enough to notice anyone, given that I'm at the end of an eight hour day shift where I was rushed off my feet. I'm dog tired, but my mind is restless, wired, and you guessed it, horny.
Noah has been on a training course for the week, so there has been no chance of any on-call room hook ups, Sean has been out of town for business for the past few days, and Zander has had back to back bookings all week. It's just been me, my trusty rabbit who, as luck would have it, has run out of juice, or option number three, this delectable man who is now walking towards me.
Ding, Ding, Ding! I pick door number three.
He just doesn't know it yet.
He's wearing a granite colored suit, the jacket hanging over his arm which is carrying a black leather briefcase. His white dress shirt has the sleeves rolled up, and he's obviously finished work for the day because his top two buttons are undone, giving a slight glimpse of a tanned and toned chest that you just want to lick. I'm in businessman fantasy heaven, and he is being delivered to me on a plate, or in this case, a rattily, somewhat dirty, Chicago train.
But beggars can't be choosers.
He's totally caught me staring at him, his pearly white smile growing on his gorgeous face as he gets closer. I give him a slightly embarrassed, yet cute smile back, knowing that I've been caught checking him out. He holds his hand out to me when he reaches my seat, and being the socially awkward idiot that I am, I put my hand out to shake his, feeling absolutely mortified when I realize that he was only trying to hand my phone back.
“Sorry, is this your phone? It slid down the floor from this direction, and you're one of the only people on the train without a phone or an e-reader in your hand, so I'm taking a lucky guess,” he says with a sly grin, thankfully not laughing at my social ineptitude.
“Yeah, that'll be mine. Sorry to make you come all the way down here,” I reply, an uncontrollable blush creeping up my cheeks.
“Hey, it's no problem. I don't mind being given an excuse to talk to a beautiful stranger, on the L, at night, alone…”
His words are calculated. He somehow has managed to compliment me at the same time as chastising me for traveling alone on the L at night. Now that is talent! I feel a chill run up my spine at the sheer presence of this man.
“Makenna Lewis, but everyone calls me Mac,” I say, this time actually holding my hand out to shake his.
He looks down at my outstretched hand and drags piercing caramel colored eyes down my scrub clad body, his jaw twitching as he returns his gaze back to my face.
“Daniel Winters,” he replies, taking my hand in his and shaking it once while very deliberately dragging his hand slowly from mine, running the length of my fingers as he pulls away. I bite my lip as warm tingles travel from my fingers and up my arms, then shoot right down to my girly bits.
Holy hell, he's got game, and it's a game I want to play!
This man leaves Zander in his wake, and Zander is a professional stripper who gets paid to flirt.
“Where are you headed tonight? Have you just finished work, or just starting?” he asks, reaching up to hold on to the cabin's overhead rail while he looks down at me with a raised eyebrow. That move brings my attention to his tailored shirt tightening over his toned biceps, and then I see it. It's like my eyes are homing beacons looking for the slightest hint of skin. A small part of his shirt has come loose at his waist and has ridden up, giving me a glimpse of a tight set of abs and the smallest smattering of hair leading a trail south below his waistband. Lord knows I'm a sucker for tight abs and a happy trail.
C'mon, Mac, get it together, you're drooling, and he's waiting for an answer.
“Ah work, yeah, I just finished my shift at Northwestern,” I mutter, shaking my head to get rid of thoughts of him shirtless, and in my bed.
“Ah, a doctor then?” he asks with a smile.
“I'm a nurse in the ICU,” I answer back, the now stupid grin on my face getting wider as we sit there, smiling at each other.
“And how about you? Let me guess...a lawyer? No, wait, maybe an accountant? Nope, not that either. My last answer is undertaker.” I tilt my head and give him a returning 'What'cha got for me now' look.
He laughs and I literally stop breathing.
All of Daniel's physical attributes are already measuring mighty high on the Makenna scale of hotness, but that laugh...the low baritone timbre that can stop wars, solve world hunger, and cure women of their need for underwear all at the same time...it is the work of the devil. I swear to God, all he'd have to do is lie there and laugh all day, and I swear I could sit on his chest and get off.
“I'm a stockbroker,” he finally tells me, leaning in and putting his spare arm on the back of my seat. “And I guess none of my sexy nurse jokes will win me any favors with you either, right?” I notice a slight upwards curl of his lips, and realize that he's not only sexy and has a laugh that could make a nun horny, but he's funny too.
Goddammit!
“Probably not, but you never know your luck in the big city,” I muse.
He nods in agreement. “Duly noted.”
“So, you like to play with money then.” I can't believe I'm being so blatant with this man. He smirks, and wouldn't you know it, out come the dimples. Freaking adorable, cute as all hell divots on either side of his cheeks, dimples!
They're going to be my downfall.
“I like playing with other people's money,” he murmurs. His eyes have gone dark now.
“Sounds like fun. What else do you like to do?” Holy shit, Mac! Why don't you just hump his leg already? Damn, I must need some sleep, or some rabbit relief, or something. I look down and blush again. I may talk a good game, but my blush always gives my self-conscious side away.
“Lots of things.” He pauses for a moment, long enough for me to look back up into those gorgeous eyes of his. My breath hitches when I see him looking back at me like I'm water and he's dying of thirst. “Candlelit dinners, long walks...sex on the beach…”
He smiles as he says that last thing, especially when my eyes go wide.
Confidence simply exudes from him; he's sure of himself, but not in an overly cocky way. But lord knows that I really want to know what he could do to me and vice versa.
“How about we start with my bed?” I say with a sexy smile and a wink.
And that is how I met Daniel Winters.
Hunter Hayes – I Want Crazy - Encore
The Veronicas – I Can't Stay Away
Jason Derulo – Talk Dirty - feat. 2 Chainz
Sophie B. Hawkins – Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover
Calvin Harris – Drinking From the Bottle
One Direction – They Don't Know About Us
James Blunt – I'll Be Your Man
James Arthur – You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You
Natasha Bedingfield – Soulmate - Radio Version
Natasha Bedingfield – Unwritten
Ingrid Michaelson – The Way I Am
Daniel Bedingfield – Girlfriend
Ellie Goulding – How Long Will I Love You
Demi Lovato – Give Your Heart A Break
3 Doors Down – Here Without You
DJ Aligator – Close To You - Classic Version
Taylor Swift – Everything Has Changed
Matt Nathanson – Romeo And Juliet
Passenger – The One You love (feat. Kate Miller Heidke)
So many people have helped me along this writing journey and this book is no different.
This book has stressed the hell out of me, but not for the reasons you might think. Dealing with a long term condition as well as enduring hospital stays (NOT conducive to writing erotic fiction) and surgeries (again, not sexy!) and then as luck would have it, injuring my hand in a car accident, have made this book a labor of love, pain, and sheer determination.
To my husband and two gorgeous girls
. Thank you for letting me follow my heart and write to my heart's content.
To my crit partner Kate
, thank you for keeping me on track and motivated, and apologizing while you're roasting me over a scene. Love your work and PTFD already.
To Jenn
. You're more than just an editor, you're a dear friend who I can't wait to meet one day and hug. I love that we can talk about anything and that you're always prepared to go 'Mama Bear' for me. Love that you're in my corner.
To Claire
, proof reader extraordinaire. Love you. Don't hate me for missing words and the constant need to google stuff. You make my books better.
To Jenny aka Sugarplum
. You're my music guru. The one person I can always talk music and songs to without feeling like a music geek. And thank you for the names, and talking me off the ledge a few times, and all of the support you and Gitte give to Indie authors like me. I appreciate your honesty, your candor, and the way you've always stayed true to yourselves and the blog.
To Julie Hartnett
. I'm so glad I met you. I feel like we're kindred souls and I love the way we 'get' each other. I wish we lived closer so we can be 'real life' friends as well, but I'll take you any way I can have you. Even thousands of miles away. Gold Coast 2014 is gonna go off my friend!
