Playboy Surgeon, Top-Notch Dad

by Janice Lynn

  “Fine,” he bit out, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Not if I see you first,” she muttered under her breath.

  She moved to Addy and checked to make sure the seat’s safety catches were properly latched.

  “Bye, Dr Oz.” Addy waved, fighting back a yawn.

  Oz’s diseased and condemned heart squeezed. “Bye, Pipsqueak.”

  Blair closed the door, climbed into her car and drove away.

  He raked his fingers through his hair, watching the taillights disappear into the night.

  If he lived to a hundred, he wouldn’t forget the feel of Blair’s warm skin beneath his fingers, wouldn’t forget the softness, the fullness, the way she’d stared into his eyes while he’d cupped her face.

  Deep down he’d always wondered what touching Blair would feel like.

  Now he knew and wished like hell he didn’t.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “TELL me again that I’m imagining something between you and Dr Manning,” Kanesha insisted the next morning. “Because I was at lunch yesterday and saw how you two looked at each other. The way you two always look at each other.”

  “You’re imagining that there’s something between Dr Manning and me.” Blair didn’t glance up at the cardiac unit’s nursing director. Why should she when Kanesha might see guilt in her eyes?

  “Yes, I am.” Kanesha fanned her face. “And my thoughts are hot, hot, hot. You go, girl.”

  “There’s nothing between us except a mutual love for Dr Talbot.” Her friend was going to think what she wanted, regardless of anything Blair said. There wasn’t anything between her and Oz. An almost kiss from the night before most certainly didn’t count.

  Kenesha glanced down the hallway. “Speaking of hot.”

  Don’t look up. Don’t look up.

  Blair looked up.

  And clashed gazes with Oz.

  Her heart pounded against her rib cage. Why was he looking at her like that? That almost kiss hadn’t meant anything.

  “Uh-huh. It’s all in my imagination,” Kanesha snorted. “Nothing at all going on between the two of you. That’s why he’s looking at you like you’re the sweetest lollipop he’s ever seen and he wants to see how many licks it takes to get to the center of Blair Pendergrass.”

  “Shh.” Cheeks blazing at the images Kanesha’s words elicited, Blair frowned at the nursing director. It wasn’t as if she needed her friend putting ideas in her head. Hadn’t her own dreams betrayed her the night before? Filling her sleep with images of Oz? Of his magical fingers? Of that almost kiss? Thank God Stephanie had interrupted. Too bad her alarm clock hadn’t followed suit. “He’ll hear you.”

  “Hear what?” Oz asked, stepping up to the nurses’ station, his gaze still locked onto Blair.

  Kanesha’s dark eyes glittered. “That Blair is hoping you’ll change your mind about being in the auction so she can bid on you.”

  Along with her stomach, Blair’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t say that.”

  “Didn’t have to.” Snickering, Kanesha walked off while mumbling something about checking the patient schedule and leaving them alone.

  Why was everyone purposely leaving them alone? She didn’t want to be alone with Oz.

  “I didn’t say that,” she repeated, fighting to catch her breath. Did she sound like a broken record? No matter. “I did not say I wanted to bid on you.”

  “I didn’t think you did.” Oz gave her a thoughtful look. “You’re still short on bachelors?”

  “Nothing’s changed since last night,” she snapped, then realized she was being rude. Regardless of what had happened, regardless of the personal distance she wanted between them, they worked together.

  Forcing herself to relax, she started over. “Latham Duke’s son agreed to the auction. We need one more to even out the numbers between bachelors and bachelorettes,” she said in an even tone, glad to focus on something other than the man standing so close to her.

  “I’m the prime candidate?” Oz stepped closer to her, so close she could feel his body heat, was swamped with the fresh scent of his soap and spicy aftershave.

  She gulped. “I didn’t say that.”

  His gaze bored into her. “But initially, you signed me up to do the auction. If I had been agreeable you wouldn’t be short a bachelor?”

  “True, but…” She took a step back, surprised to realize she didn’t want him in the auction, didn’t want to watch women haggling over him. When had that happened? She’d been the one to initially put his name on the list and hadn’t thought twice about doing so.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “You will?” Blair blinked in surprise. He’d been so adamant about not being auctioned off, had seemed upset that she’d added him onto the list. What had changed his mind? Surely he hadn’t believed Kanesha? Even if he had, so what? It wasn’t as if Oz wanted her to bid on his date.

  Did he?

  “Why not?” He shrugged. “It’s for Dr T. Like I said, I’ll think about it.”

  Relief filled her. His reconsidering had nothing to do with the night before, had only to do with his love for Dr Talbot. “How is he this morning? I called, but Stephanie said the physical therapist came early to work with him.”

  “Grouchy—the therapist came early.”

  Blair smiled. That was her Dr T. “Did he sleep okay?”

  “Like a baby.” Oz leaned against the nurses’ station desk. “He only woke once during the night.”

  “Thank goodness.”

  Silence loomed between them for several torturous seconds.

  “Mr Duke has an appointment this morning, doesn’t he?”

  Grateful for the subject change, Blair nodded. “I put him in room one. He plans to proceed with the mitral valve repair.”

  “Good,” Oz said. “We’ll get him on the schedule. What else do we have this morning?”

  “Several consults and follow-up appointments. The lady Dr Majors spoke with you about yesterday is also here. He asked if you’d call him to let him know how you plan to proceed with Georgia Donelson’s care. He had a few questions about his being auctioned off, too.” Blair drew her brows into a vee. “He did really say yes, right?”

  Oz laughed. “Why? Did you think I coerced him into volunteering?”

  “He just sounded a little flustered when he asked me about the auction. I wondered why he’d agreed.” Blair picked up her stethoscope from the nurses’ desk and followed Oz toward the patient rooms. “It’s no secret that he’s involved with the nurse practitioner from his office.”

  “When I mentioned you needed more bachelors for the auction, Will volunteered. Maybe he just wants to help Dr T. Or maybe he’s hoping Leslie will bid on him.” Oz turned, gave Blair an intense look. “Maybe that’s why I’m thinking about agreeing, too.”

  Blair’s heart skipped a beat. “So Will’s girlfriend can bid on you?”

  “So you can bid on me.” Oz’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “You would bid on me if I volunteered, right?”

  “I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”

  Oz watched Blair review what Mr Duke would need for his pre-surgical workup. She moved in precise, skilled movements, just as she always did. But she was distracted, aware of him watching her.

  Why had he said he’d think about agreeing to the auction? That he wanted Blair to bid on him?

  Hadn’t he decided the night before that the best thing to do was to forget about that massage?

  If only he could.

  Except for following Kanesha’s joke, Blair had purposely kept her gaze averted from Oz’s, sending a strong message. She really planned to pretend nothing had happened between them. Damn it. Why wasn’t he grateful that she wasn’t demanding more of him? That she wasn’t asking what right he’d had to touch her?

  In his dreams last night he’d done much more. He’d made love to Blair, over and over, until their bodies had been slick with sweat and he could no longer tell where he ended and she began.
>
  He bit back a groan.

  After Blair finished going over needed pre-surgical tests, Mr Duke turned to her. “My son is a little nervous about the auction. He asked me to find out if his date plans were okay or if he needed to come up with something more elaborate.”

  “His date package sounds fine to me.” Blair stepped back so Oz could examine him. “Just so long as he’s a skilled pilot.”

  “He is,” Mr Duke assured in the proud tone he used when discussing his son. “He’s been flying since he was a small boy. The Cessna is mine, but he takes her up more than I do these days.”

  “You should make time in the future.” Oz placed the stethoscope diaphragm against Mr Duke’s hairy chest. “Enjoy life more rather than spending all your time at the bank.”

  “From your mouth to God’s ears.” The man gave a self-derisive smile. “Actually, my wife is pushing me to retire so I can do just that.”

  “Good for her,” Oz praised and meant it. Life was short. Each moment should be lived to the fullest. Something else he’d figured out since Dr T had gotten so ill.

  His gaze went to Blair. She bit her lower lip, staring at him with a confused look.

  Life was short. Too short.

  More than anything, in that moment Oz wanted to touch her face, to feel her heartbeat next to his. He very quickly denied the unfamiliar emotion and buried it deep.

  When he saw his next patient for the morning, he was the one ignoring Blair.

  Oz listened to Georgia Donelson’s heart. He didn’t like what he heard any better than he’d liked her test results.

  “I reviewed your echocardiogram, the ultrasound of your heart that Dr Majors ordered. Like he explained, two of your heart’s valves aren’t properly closing.”

  “Can you fix them?” The gray-haired woman laced her hands in her lap, possibly in a silent prayer.

  “Yes, but not easily. I can repair the pulmonic valve by cutting away the portion that isn’t sealing and suturing a new flap. But the mitral valve will have to be replaced. I need to schedule you for surgery as soon as possible. Preferably within a week or two at most.”

  Looking stunned, she shook her head. “I’m not sure I can put this on my daughter right now.”

  “Caden is doing better. Lacey is stronger than you think. She’ll want what’s best for you.” Blair reached out, placed her hand over the woman’s and gave a reassuring squeeze.

  Oz hadn’t initially made the connection, but everyone in the hospital knew of Georgia’s grandson, who had been seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident.

  “If we don’t repair your heart, and soon, it’ll likely kill you.” He’d learned long ago there was a time for sugar coating and a time to lay it all out there. Georgia needed to make the right choice. The choice that would save her life.

  She looked to Blair for confirmation. Blair nodded, her eyes a bit glassy from unshed tears.

  Oz couldn’t pull his gaze away. How did she do that? Be so connected to her patients? Blair treated each and every person she came into contact with as if they were a cherished family member.

  Georgia’s head hung low. “I need to talk to Lacey first. Then I’ll schedule for whenever you think.”

  Oz explained what she should expect, then leaving Blair to make arrangements, he checked on another patient. On his way to lunch, he bumped into Blair.

  “Going to lunch?”

  She shook her head. “I’m skipping lunch. I need to make the calls on Stephanie’s list,” she reminded him. “I won’t have time to do both.”

  Oz couldn’t stand the thought of her going hungry.

  “Sure you have time. We’ll eat in the hospital cafeteria. When we’re finished, I’ll help you make the calls.”

  “That’s not a good idea.” She ran her fingers along her stethoscope, fiddling with the diaphragm. “People will think…” Her voice trailed off.

  “That we’re discussing the auction? Trying to make the fund-raiser as successful as possible for the man we both care about?” he filled in.

  His gaze skimmed over her solid maroon scrubs. She shouldn’t be skipping lunch. She was perfect just as she was. Generous breasts, nipped-in waist, curvy hips, but his gaze always came back to her wide eyes. Her gorgeous green eyes that sucked him right in.

  Too bad Blair would want commitment. Too bad that was something he could never give her. Something he’d never want to give any woman.

  “That is what we’ll be doing, Blair. Nothing more, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

  “No, I…” She wavered, looking uncertain. “You’re right. We need to do this. For Dr Talbot. And I am hungry.” Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, then forced a smile, one that said she’d rather have a bikini wax than lunch with him. “I do need to hear about your arrangements for the catering.”

  “And to talk me into filling your last bachelor spot?” He wasn’t sure why he’d said it. No, that wasn’t true. He did know. He’d mentioned the auction because he knew Blair wanted him to agree to the auction, and like some schoolboy, he wanted to please her. Even if he couldn’t have her.

  Oz blinked. What the hell was he doing? Apparently his sanity had snapped.

  “True, I do need to fill the last spot,” she admitted, eyeing him suspiciously. No wonder with his odd behavior. “I still can’t believe you don’t want to be auctioned.”

  “You shouldn’t be so quick to assume things about me.” Hadn’t that been how he and Dr T had gotten close? Because others assumed false things about Oz, but Dr T had taken a closer look, had seen someone worthy of taking under his wing.

  When it came down to it, Blair was just like everyone else.

  Her eyes darkened to a deep green. “I owe you an apology about last night.”

  Oz quirked a brow in surprise.

  “I shouldn’t have said what I did. About you staying away from Addy. She wouldn’t understand and would be quite heartbroken if you avoided her. I’m sorry.”

  He hadn’t expected her apology. Before he could respond, his cell phone rang.

  He glanced at the number, silently cursed as he answered the call. A myocardial infarction had come into the emergency room and the E.R. physician had asked for him to be paged. He took the specifics, gave orders and promised to be there in less than two minutes.

  When he snapped his phone shut, he met Blair’s gaze. He started to apologize at running out on her after promising to help make the calls.

  “No need to say anything. I heard.” She waved him away. “Go. Save a life.”

  Wishing he had time to say more, that he had time for lunch, Oz reached for her hand. “I’ll see you in the cardiac unit later.”

  Their fingers briefly touched.

  Hurrying toward the E.R., Oz’s mind raced. Why had he grabbed Blair’s hand? Why had he felt the need to touch her?

  Because of the night before? Because of the sweet softness of her skin? Because in his dreams he’d touched every inch of her?

  Worse, how had the simple skin-to-skin contact made him feel better, yet more confused than ever?

  That evening, hand in hand with Addy, Blair climbed the steps to Dr Talbot’s beach-style home’s front stoop.

  Could she do this? How could she not?

  Visiting her friend hadn’t been so stressful prior to Oz moving in with him. The living arrangement made sense. Dr Talbot didn’t need to be alone. Oz needed a place to live while he filled in for the heart surgeon.

  But visiting with her beloved friend meant routinely seeing Oz outside of work.

  Seeing him at work was bad enough.

  Seeing Oz laugh and joke with the man she loved, seeing their close relationship, how Oz took care of Dr Talbot—well, it tugged at places inside her she’d rather not have tugged on, thank you very much.

  Especially after last night. This afternoon.

  She wouldn’t even go into what watching him play with Addy did to her.

  She preferred thinking of Oz as a playboy
womanizer. It was much easier to compartmentalize him as totally undateable.

  He was undateable. Under normal circumstances he’d have a different woman every weekend. It was only Dr Talbot’s illness curbing his sexual appetite, making him act out of character in ways that made Blair think she might have been wrong about him.

  She knew all this.

  But why had he touched her hand this afternoon?

  “Can I push the bell, Mommy?” Addy asked, bouncing up and down at Blair’s side on the small front porch. “Can I, please?”

  Nodding, Blair braced herself. Would Oz be in jeans? Shorts? Please, not shorts. The sight of his hairy, muscular legs about did her in the last time she’d visited Dr Talbot. He’d been out running on the beach and—jeans.

  He was wearing jeans.

  “Hi, Dr Oz,” Addy greeted him with a toothy smile. She’d lost her first tooth while at school that day and wanted the world to know she’d entered the world of being grown-up. At least that was how her five-year-old mind viewed getting a “grown-up” tooth. Blair preferred not to think about her baby growing up anytime soon. It seemed as if Addy had only been getting her first tooth not so long ago.

  Dear Lord, was she prattling to distract herself from the man standing in the doorway?

  “Hey, Pipsqueak.” Oz flashed a killer smile Addy’s way, did their usual high-five hand greeting. Her daughter ate up the male attention, batting her lashes and smiling pretty as you please. Oz motioned for Blair and Addy to step inside the house. “You’re looking beautiful today.”

  Standing in the hardwood foyer with its white spindled staircase, Addy giggled, eyelashes still fluttering. “What about Mommy? Is she looking beautiful?”

  Blair grimaced. Out of the mouth of babes.

  Oz’s gaze shifted, ran over her from head to toe.

  Oh, my. How did he reduce her to mush with one look? One scorching look, but still, just one look.

  “Your mommy looks beautiful, too.” His voice was low. “She always does.”

  Blair swallowed, refusing to look at him although she knew he still looked at her, sensed that he wanted her to look at him, that he wanted a response to his heated look, to his words. How could she respond when she didn’t understand what was happening? When she was sure, whatever it was, she didn’t like or want it?