Game Saver (30 page)

She cried like a baby, which of course set all of the girls off—even those of us peering out of the living room window watching it all go down.

So coming along for the trip are Thomas, Mac and Daniel, Noah and Zoe, Kate and Zander, and Matt and Mia. Zander, Zoe, and Mia’s mom along with Zach’s mom, Daniel’s parents, Sean and Sam, and my family are all arriving tomorrow.

My best friend, Amy, was unfortunately not able to join us on the trip and be my bridesmaid because eight months ago, she had a secret little one-night stand and ended up a lot pregnant. Now she’s too far along to travel, which totally sucks, but the one bright side is that there’s going to be a little baby for me to spoil very soon, which will hopefully help me get over the baby-crazy thoughts I’ve been entertaining of late.

I’m totally not ready for kids yet, but there’s something about being in love and knowing you’re going to spend the rest of your life with someone that makes you think about merging your DNA with theirs and creating a new human being. Or maybe that’s just me.

Cade knows all about it and he’s happy to start now or wait—in fact, he said there’s nothing sexier than a pregnant belly on a woman he’s not related to—of course, ‘cause if he found his preggo family members sexy that would be super weird, like
Deliverance
weird, and we totally don’t want to think about that—so with Haven, and Amy’s new baby, I think I’ll be able to satisfy my yearnings to procreate for at least a year.

“Assholes,” Cade says to the group. With so many of us, we’ve pretty much commandeered this end of the plane. Remember the bad, noisy kids on the school bus? Yeah, that’s been us most of the trip. That’s why Cade and I figured we’d at least have a small chance of disappearing undetected for a quickie in the bus of the skies, but no such luck.

Mac leans forward from her seat behind me, her mouth in the gap between the seats. “Just so you know, Superman says thanks. While Thomas was giving you guys grief, it gave us the chance to sneak to the back restroom.”

My head snaps back around like a woman possessed, glaring at her grinning face. “You totally owe me the next time I want to cross something off my bucket list.”

“Believe me, for the double orgasm Superman just bestowed on me, I’ll take your back any day.”

“I’m not a woman who forgets shit like this, Winters,” I warn, pointing a finger her way.

“You’re so like Cade, it’s not funny. No wonder you’re marrying the guy.”

“She’s marrying me for my big dick. It’s a fact. I just proved it a few minutes ago,” my soon-to-be
ex
-fiancé announces smugly.

“I’ve still got two days to back out, Carsen.” I just have time to get that out before I’m out of my seat and bent over his lap. Yes—
bent
—over his lap, his hand resting menacingly on my ass over my skirt.

“You were saying?” he warns in that low, commanding voice of his, the one that destroys panties with a single syllable. Maybe that’s a trick he picked up from Superman.

“I love you, Doctor Hottie,” I breathe, totally giving away how raring to go I am again.

I’m spun upright and around until my butt is in his lap and my legs are draped over the seat arm, his hand pressing on the back of my head and his lips crashing down on mine. Freaking bliss!

Two days later, side by side with Dani and Zach, and in front of all of our friends and most of our families, I become Mrs. Cade Carmichael Carsen III, although I’m thinking we’ll just stick with Carsen.

And if there’s one life lesson I can take away from the past year of our lives, it’s this. Sometimes you don’t know that you need something until it sneaks up on you.

Cade and I started with something that was hot, fun and far from long-term with just one look across a crowded bar. That was fine for us—at the time anyway. Now, we’ve ended up with so much more than either of us bargained for but couldn’t imagine living without, and I, for one, can’t wait to explore our
real
for the rest of our lives.

The Game series continues in Game Ender (Game #4)—Thomas and Amy.

Continue reading for Game Ender’s Blurb

(Game #4)—Coming Soon

“You have chlamydia.”

Three words no man wants to hear.

I’ve always been liberal with my appreciation of the female form, a firm believer in the ‘try before you buy’ principle, but living life to the fullest obviously didn’t end well for me considering the unexpected—and very unwelcome—consequence of my free and easy past.

After living through the horrendous experience that was informing my recent sexual partners of my acquired ‘condition,’ I made a vow to myself—and a bet with my best friend—that the next woman I sleep with will be the ‘one.’

What I will learn is that even when something happens and the games come to an end, there’s always the chance of something—or someone—crashing in and changing everything.

So this is my story. It may start with a venereal disease, but I promise you, I’m determined to get my happy ending.

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Want to see where the Bliss series began?

Continue reading for a preview of
Temporary Bliss
–

Book 1 of the USA Today Bestselling Bliss Series.

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 rattly, 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.