Page 100 of Rescuing Dr. Marian
I squinted at it again. “Those are very precise holes, Foster.”
“I was imagining them as acupuncture points.” He grinned. “Trying to cure myself of wanting you.”
“I was just as obsessed,” I admitted softly. “I’ve never jacked off quite that much before. You weren’t the only one who found a photo online. Only, I used yours for good, not evil.”
He hooted. “Meaning you jerked off to it?”
I shrugged and tried to look unaffected. “So I have a thing for men in uniform, sue me.”
His eyes darkened. “And you’re taking a job where you’ll be surrounded by cops, EMTs, firefighters, pilots…”
“I might have joined SERA for you, but I didn’t say there weren’t other perks,” I teased.
He growled and kissed me again, rough and wild, just the way I liked it.
“I love you,” I breathed.
Foster cradled my face in his hands. “I meant what I said. I fell for you, head over heels, that first night. I’m sorry it took meso long to admit it, but I will love you until the end of time. You’re it for me, Tommy. I’m yours.”
I couldn’t believe this was my life, that I was on the cusp of stepping into a new chapter, one in which I would get to live authentically, pursuing my dream job next to the man of my dreams.
“And I’m yours. Always.”
Foster’s shoulders dropped, as if he’d somehow been worried about my response. “Damned right you are.”
“Now what?” I asked with a watery laugh.
I looked around his office—at the neat desk with his resignation letter, at the dartboard, at this man who’d just turned his entire life upside down for me.
“Now I introduce you to my friends and family,” he said. “Because it’s time you learned the Marians aren’t the only…colorfulfamily around.”
I let out a laugh. “Shall we place bets? On whose family gives us the most trouble in the years to come?”
Foster’s own laugh rang out in the nearly empty office. “Nah. I’ll still give that to your side. I don’t have a Tilly.”
As we walked out of the sheriff’s office together, Foster’s hand warm in mine, I caught a glimpse of our reflection in the glass door. We looked like what we were—two men who’d found their way to each other despite every obstacle, every misunderstanding, every dart thrown in frustration.
We looked nothing like the future of ticked boxes and empty accomplishments I’d planned for myself—the future Foster Blake had rescued me from.
We looked like everything I’d never known I wanted.
And more than I ever imagined.
EPILOGUE ONE
FOSTER – AN HOUR LATER
I walkedinto Way and Silas’s house that afternoon like I was ten feet tall and walking on fairy bubbles. After the last few years of watching one friend after another find their soulmate, it was finally my turn.
And I’d found the most amazing man on the planet.
When my mom caught sight of the beautiful doctor on my arm, she screamed and burst into tears. “I knew it! I knew you weren’t throwing darts at a stranger.”
Tommy snorted inelegantly beside me and shot me an accusatory glance. “You know the dart thing will never be over, right?”
I shrugged. “You have your coping skills, I have mine.” I met my mom’s eyes and nodded my head in Tommy’s direction. “Mom, this is Dr. Tommy Marian. Tommy, this is my mother, Jolene Blake.”
Mom’s cheeks were wet with tears. If it had been withanyone other than Tommy, I would have been embarrassed by what this display of emotion meant—namely, that I was such a lost cause that even bringing a guy around was huge progress—but I wasn’t. I was too happy for any other emotion right now.
