Playboy Surgeon, Top-Notch Dad

“You know that I want to marry you?”

Her mouth dropped open.

“Say yes, Mommy,” Addy encouraged from beside them. “Yes, Dr Oz, we will marry you.”

Oz glanced toward Reesee, and she immediately retrieved her niece, who was unhappy about leaving.

“Because of Dr Talbot?” Blair’s green gaze bored into him. “Is that why you want to get married? Because you know it’ll make him happy?”

Oz digested what she’d said and put his heart on the line. “How about marrying me to make me happy?”

Blair blinked. “Why would you want to marry me?”

“For the same reason most men want to marry a woman.”

“Which is?”

“I love you, Blair. I think I have from the moment I first met you, but I was too blind to see it.” He took her hand in his. “My parents weren’t happily married. Not at any point during any of their many marriages. I decided long ago that I wasn’t going to venture into love or marriage. I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be given a choice.”

“There’s always a choice, Oz.”

“Then I choose to love you, Blair, and want you to choose to love me.”

Sincerity shone in his eyes. He was serious. He loved her.

Blair closed her eyes. “I’m afraid I’ll lose you. I couldn’t bear it.”

“You won’t lose me, Blair.”

She shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

“I do.” He cupped her face, stared into her eyes. “What happened with Chris was an accident.”

Blair bit her lower lip. “What if another accident happens?”

“It won’t.”

“How can you be sure?”

“No one can ever be sure of something like that. I’ll sell the boat, if that’s what you want, Blair, but this isn’t really about the boat, is it? It’s about taking a chance on loving someone, on possibly getting hurt. It’s about trust, so I have to ask again—do you trust me?”

He was right. It wasn’t about the boat.

“Trust me, Blair.”

“You’ll catch me?”

He nodded. “Always.”

“I trust you, Oz. With my heart, with Addy, with my future.”

“I want you, Blair. Forever. I want you to be my wife, my partner, the mother of my children.”

“I am yours. Probably from that first day Dr Talbot introduced us, but you scared me.” She pressed her palm to his heart, stared into his eyes and smiled. “I’m not scared anymore, Oz. Not as long as I have you by my side. I’ll marry you if that’s what you want.”

Tugging on his bow tie and pulling it free from his neck, Oz grinned, feeling as if he could take on the world and win. He took his bow tie, tied it around her wrist. “I don’t have a ring, so for tonight, this shows the world that I belong to you.”

“That you belong to me? Or vice versa?” Blair laughed.