And then, just like that, I’m crying.
“But I am sorry. Oh God, Daniel, I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
He sinks down on the bench. His shoulders are slumped. I sit down beside him, wiping the tears from my face with the back of my hand.
“I don’t want you to feel sorry for me.”
“I don’t.”
“You just said you do.”
“No. I said I’m sorry that happened to you. But I don’t feel sorry for you. I don’t pity you. You’re my hero, Daniel.”
The sun’s down and it’s almost nighttime. We’re sitting in the gray shadows of dusk. But the lights are on in the library and the windows are right above us, and that’s enough light for me to see that Daniel is shaken.
“You shouldn’t say that.”
“What?”
“You shouldn’t call me your hero. Not after what I put you through at my house.”
“You fixed it,” I say. “That’s what heroes do.”
“But—”
“Daniel,” I interrupt him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
He turns to face me, covering my hand with his, and a wave of heat and sweetness goes through me. And now, finally, I know what to say.
“I love you.”
I feel a tremor run through him.
“I love you, too.”
For a long moment we just stare at each other, and I could sit here like this for the rest of my life.
Then Daniel lifts my hand to his mouth and kisses it.
“Tamsin?”
“Yes?”
“Will you be my girlfriend?”
My heart soars.
“Yes.”
“We’re still really different people.”
“I know.”
“I believe in God and you don’t.”
“I know.”
“I’m pro-life and you’re not.”
“I know.”
He takes a breath.
“That one’s a big deal. I mean, we’ll do everything we can not to get pregnant. But there’s a chance it could happen.”
“I know. Women are used to thinking about that possibility, on account of us having uteruses.”
He smiles a little. “So what would we do if that happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t?”
I shake my head. “I have no idea. No clue. And I don’t think there’s any way for us to know in advance.” An echo of an old discussion comes back to me. “It’s kind of a Schrödinger’s Cat scenario. Right now, all the possible outcomes exist at the same time. We can’t know what’s in the box until we get there.”
Daniel is staring at me like I’ve grown a second head.
“What?” I ask after a moment.
“You said Schrödinger’s Cat.”
I nod. “It’s a quantum mechanics thing.”
“I know that, Tamsin. I read science books for fun.” He’s still holding my hand, and now his thumb strokes the back of my wrist. “Name dropping Schrödinger’s Cat is like handing me a brandy on a snowy night and saying ‘Baby, it’s cold outside.’”
I start to smile. “It is, huh?”
“Yeah.”
I lean a little closer. “Hey, Daniel?”
“What?”
“Kiss me.”
His lips touch mine like butterfly wings. But before long his hands are under my shirt and his palms are on my breasts and his tongue is doing wicked, wonderful things.
I don’t know how long the kiss goes on, but it’s not long enough. I feel deliciously mussed afterward, and as we sit there with our arms around each other, I realize I’m smiling like a fool.
A fool in love.
“Hey, Daniel?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I tell you something sweet?”
“Yeah.”
“You make me want to believe in God.”
His arm tightens around my shoulders.
“Hey, Tamsin?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to change you. On the other hand—”
“Yes?”
“I could spend my life arguing with you and die a happy man.”
The melting feeling behind my breastbone is back.
“Deal.”
* * *
Daniel and I aren’t like Rikki and Sam. You meet the two of them and think, man, these two people belong together.
It’s the same with Will and Claire. Everyone had them tagged as a couple before they finally figured things out.
Daniel and I don’t fit like that. We’re not a perfect match.
People said that about my grandparents. My grandfather passed away ten years ago, but my grandmother still talks about how they met and what their married life was like. He was this super-smart, hyper-intellectual English professor, and she was a seamstress who didn’t even finish high school. No one thought they should get married, but they did—and they had forty happy years together.
What I said to Daniel is true. There’s no way to predict the future. But as I’m sitting here with my head on his shoulder, a picture comes into my mind.
It’s me, talking to my grandchildren.
They told us it would never last, I say. And yet here we are, celebrating our fiftieth wedding anniversary.
And this moment, I’ll tell them, is when our happily-ever-after began.
The Hart University series:
Rikki
Claire
Tamsin
Julia (coming 2018)
The Love series:
Almost Like Love
Nothing Like Love
Anything But Love
The Landry series:
The Millionaire’s Wish
Cross My Heart
Waiting for You
Into Your Arms
The Tell Me series:
Tell Me
Show Me
You can learn more at abigailstrom.com.
If you’re a fan of steamy paranormal romance, you might enjoy the Blood and Absinthe series I write as Chloe Hart:
Taming the Vampire (free!)
Bound by the Vampire
Claiming the Vampire
Drawn to the Vampire
Caught by the Wolf
You can learn more at authorchloehart.com.
Acknowledgements
Thanks as always to Mikel Strom and Tara Gorvine for their help, encouragement, and endless patience, and to my mother for her general awesomeness. Thanks to Sarah Hansen (Okay Creations) for her gorgeous cover. And finally, an epic thank-you to my readers, who are the reason I write.
About the Author
Abigail Strom started writing stories at the age of seven and has never been able to stop. On her way to becoming a full-time writer, she earned a BA in English from Cornell University as well as an MFA in dance from the University of Hawaii, and held a wide variety of jobs from dance teacher and choreographer to human resource manager. Now she works in her pajamas and lives in New England with her family, who are incredibly supportive of the hours she spends hunched over her computer.
If you don’t want to miss a new release, you can sign up for my newsletter, follow me on twitter, or like my Facebook page. You can also check out my website for more information. I love to hear from readers, so drop me an email at abigail@abigailstrom.com if you’re so inclined!
Copyright
Tamsin: Hart University, Book 3
Copyright © 2017 by Abigail Strom
EBook ISBN 978-1-943296057
Cover Art copyright © by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of th
e author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Other Titles by Abigail Strom
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Copyright