True Bliss

by BJ Harvey

  I don't want to do this anymore. I change my mind; they can both stay inside me. I don't care if I end up being the size of a house; Superman will just have more of me to love. He's spent the last five months telling me he loves my belly. Well he'll just have to get used to it permanently.

  It's about this time that I start crying again.

  “Mac, what's wrong, gorgeous? You're doing so well, sweetheart,” Daniel says, wiping my forehead with a wet towel.

  “I'm gonna give birth to a monster!” I sob.

  He chuckles at me. My fiancé has the balls to laugh at me.

  Hello, castration? We have another candidate.

  I scowl at him. “I wouldn't laugh. The spawn of Daniel is eating your fiance from the inside out. I swear to god, they're ripping my insides apart. Is this part of the male master plan to take over the world because if it is, it all makes perfect sense now!”

  I look at Kate for support, but she just smiles at me. “The babies are coming,” she whispers excitedly. It's pretty much all she's said since she arrived with Zander ten hours ago.

  I should probably insert a disclaimer here. I may be delirious because I've been awake for twenty-two hours, twelve of which I've had stabbing pains from my cervix right down to my ass hole.

  But since I'm between contractions, I'm now faced with the biggest concern for new mothers. The poop problem. I'm shit scared of pooping on my baby, or before the baby comes out, or even in front of Daniel-pun intended. Kate's here too, but I'm not worried about her. I've pooped in front of her before, but that's another long drunken story that we've promised never to share.

  What did make me laugh was when she got all light headed when the doctor came in and did an examination of me. In her words, he “fisted the shit” out of me. She spent a good hour sitting in the corner reading a magazine about breastfeeding to try and get the imagery out of her brain.

  I'm in the middle of telling her never to have sex with a man again, and that the possibility of being torn apart by not one, but two six pound babies is not worth all the mind blowing penis sex in the world, when the doctor walks in again. As much as I glare at him, hoping that my Mac death ray stare will penetrate his brain, he still smiles and nods, checks up my who-see-what's-it, and tells me I'm doing well. Well, that has been his procedure for the past eight hours anyway. This time, it's different.

  “How are you doing, Mac?” he asks.

  I bite my tongue, stopping from saying the first thing that comes to mind.

  “Okay. It's getting worse, though.”

  “I imagined it would be. I'm just going to check how far along you are and see how these babies of yours are doing. You've done so well to get to thirty five weeks, Mac.”

  “Thank you,” I whimper as another contraction strikes. I start crying again, I can't help it. Damn these pregnancy hormones. I've been crying at everything for the past nine months. The Glee kids won regionals, and I burst into tears. The Bachelor chooses the right woman for once, then gets down on bended knee to propose marriage, and I leak like a water fountain. A baby turtle clambering down the beach to reach the safety of the sea, and I'm a blubbering mess. Daniel rubbing my feet after a long day at work, and I turn into a leaky sprinkler. Don't even get me started on when I started leaking milk out of my boobs two weeks ago.

  “Okay, Mr. Winters,” he says, looking over at Daniel who is now lazing back in the chair beside the hospital bed like this is a Sunday joy ride. “If you could just hold Mac's hand and try to keep her calm, I'll be finished in no time.”

  “At least buy me a drink first before you fist me,” I mutter, Daniel's eyes go wide as he tries not to laugh. Kate doesn't have that luxury and is rolling around, laughing her tits off at me.

  Note to self: Must reconsider my choice for godmother.

  After sticking his hand inside me, and moving it around like I'm a talking puppet, he removes his hand and drapes the sheet back over my naked lower half.

  “You're fully dilated, Mac. It's show time. Can you feel any pressure down there?”

  “I can feel fucking everything down there. Your hand, the gloves, the demon spawns called my children that are trying to climb out of me as if there's a ladder in my crotch.”

  He has the audacity to chuckle. I mean, I'm a health professional. I know all there is to know about bedside manners, and laughing at a lunatic pregnant woman is NOT the thing to do. It's not cool, man. NOT. COOL.

  Daniel entwines our fingers and squeezes. “Gorgeous, you can do this. I'm with you all the way. We're going to meet out son and daughter. I know you can do this because you can do anything you put your mind to. I love you. Let's meet our babies.” The smile on his face is my undoing. I wouldn't give this moment up for all the craziness in the world.

  “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 complimen
t 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 Cab – Endlessly

  Bruno Mars – It Will Rain

  The Veronicas – I Can't Stay Away

  Maroon 5 – One More Night

  Bruno Mars – Gorilla

  Jason Derulo – Talk Dirty - feat. 2 Chainz

  Sophie B. Hawkins – Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover

  Blake Lewis – Your Touch

  Christina Aguilera – Dirrty

  Maroon 5 – Wake Up Call

  Calvin Harris – Drinking From the Bottle

  Icona Pop – Girlfriend

  One Direction – Little Things

  One Direction – Kiss You

  One Direction – They Don't Know About Us

  Demi Lovato – Made in the USA

  Demi Lovato – Fire Starter

  Alex Clare – Too Close

  The Cab – Lovesick Fool

  Demi Lovato – Made in the USA

  MKTO – Classic

  James Blunt – I'll Be Your Man

  James Arthur – You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You

  Natasha Bedingfield – Soulmate - Radio Version

  Parachute – The Mess I Made

  Natasha Bedingfield – Unwritten

  Ingrid Michaelson – The Way I Am

  The Supremes – Baby Love

  Daniel Bedingfield – Girlfriend

  John Mayer – Who You Love

  Train – Marry Me

  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

  Good Charlotte – Hold On

  Flo Rida – How I Feel

  Karmin – Hello

  Taylor Swift – Everything Has Changed

  Beyoncé – Love On Top

  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!

  To Chad and Christina. Thanks
for taking me to bed with you nightly while we talked Zander and Kate. Thanks for making me laugh at your one-upmanship when it came to who got to read the chapters first and Chad, thank you for your 'guy perspective' on everything Zander.

  To Cris Soriaga Hadarly. I wouldn't be where I am today without your help, love and support. Thank you for being so passionate about my books and being such an invaluable part of every release. Don't let the politics of the community get you down. You are much loved and your passion for books and reading is inspirational.

  To my beautiful friend Brenna, you rock my socks. I love your enthusiasm and your continued unwavering support. You're one of my go-to book girls that I can discuss anything with and you're an awesome sounding board for plot ideas!! Even if it does ruin the books for you. Never change, stay your adorable goofy self.

  To Nikki aka Bulldog. Thanks for always having my back, for swapping inappropriate stories with me and for being my rock whenever I doubt myself. You're always willing to fight for me and I love that most about you. Bring on 'our Dom' Sean ;)

  To Jen Oreto. Thank you for being an awesome beta reader and friend. I love that you say I speak great American now. Thank you for helping me Americanize my words. You're always willing to help me out, read whatever I send you and I appreciate it more than words can express.

  To Tabby Coots. Love your face! You're so enthusiastic, and persistent and I freaking love that about you. Thank you for your help with everything.

  To Nansi Khamis. Thank you for being such a rock for me and always being there to read and give me feedback. I value our friendship and our love of music and concerts. Bring on 2014!

  To S l Siwik. Thank you for being a sounding board and love scene critic. I appreciate your advice and support.

  To the ladies in the Lost & Jaded group - You rock. Thank you for all your support and suggestions and help.

  To the members of Harvey's Harlots - Keep the naughty Superman pics coming. I love you're excitement and enthusiasm and I can't wait to share this story with you since I'm such a big tease.