The other day, Amanda Usen posted a blog about her taking back the kitchen, and included a picture of her husband. We had a running conversation on Twitter about how our husbands were inspiring to our own fictional heroes. Hers is a chef and she writes … chefs! Mine is a Marine and my first trilogy for Sourcebooks is about…librarians. Wait, no. Marines! And so now that Amanda played the “Show Me” game, it’s my turn to pay up.

This is Hubs and myself at a past Marine Corps Birthday Ball:

Oh man, we were so young… Anyway. Hubs and I have been married for 5 years. I was obviously attracted to his great…big…airplane.

Okay, so it was a small(ish) plane. And he’s not a pilot anymore. But don’t rain on my parade. Being in the Corps, Hubs has missed some big things. Like, unfortunately, the birth of our daughter. He was 4 days late. Or, she was 4 days early. Either way…here’s some proof of when Hubs met Tot for the first time:

I’ve learned something over the past two and a half years. There’s probably only one thing sexier than a hot Marine…a Marine that’s also a fantastic daddy.

He also takes his job very seriously…

What a goober. But at the end of the day, I can’t imagine being married to anyone else. He’s a real-life hero (in training…because aren’t all men always in training?). My actual Marines in my Semper Fi trilogy might not be based on him in looks or characteristics, but he was a massive help in research and other ideas. Priceless.

So there, Amanda. I paid up. Sure, he’s not shirtless in any of these. But still…