Playboy Surgeon, Top-Notch Dad

by Janice Lynn

  “It’s because I did her hair when she got out of the shower after work.” Addy beamed at Blair’s short bob that she’d blow-dried into a fluffy style. Much fluffier than Blair’s usual cut that slanted in to frame her face. Addy had been so proud of her efforts Blair hadn’t had the heart to comb out the teased locks.

  “She even let me put in mousse.” Addy wiggled her fingers back and forth as if they still had sticky mousse on them. “I like mousse.”

  Rocking back on his bare feet, Oz arched an eyebrow. “Mousse? That explains why she looks so sexy.”

  Addy giggled at his use of the word sexy. Blair melted, wishing she could recapture some of her usual cynicism when it came to compliments from Oz.

  What was it about him that made her feel sexy?

  Six years and she hadn’t felt sexy, hadn’t even wanted to feel sexy. Now, in front of her impressionable five-year-old daughter, she wanted to throw herself at Oz. She wouldn’t, of course. But she couldn’t shut off the images in her head. Images of Oz.

  Blair bit the inside of her cheek.

  What had that massage done to her? Surely, one little massage couldn’t warp a woman’s brain so intensely? And that touch of her hand, it might have rattled her, but surely it hadn’t kidnapped her common sense?

  “Mommy, why are your eyes closed?”

  Because she might die of humiliation if Oz saw the truth in her eyes. She hadn’t experienced passion since Chris.

  Chris. Was that why she was attracted to Oz? He shared similar features with Addy’s father. Blond hair, blue eyes, tall, pin-up calendar body, playboy personality.

  Although a similarity to Chris should have a negative effect, it had to be why she felt so vulnerable around Oz. What else could explain her emotional weakness?

  Only no matter how she tried to categorize him as being like Chris, she couldn’t make the comparison work. Chris had been too self-centered to ever put his life on hold the way Oz had.

  “Mommy?” Addy tugged on her hand. “What’s wrong with you? Your face is squishy.”

  Blair opened her eyes, but she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t lie to her daughter. But she sure couldn’t tell her the truth.

  “I didn’t know you did hair, Pipsqueak.” Oz came to the rescue. He gave a look of being duly impressed by Addy’s styling efforts. “I’ll keep your skill with the mousse in mind the next time I’m in the mood for a new do.”

  Giving Blair one last confused look, Addy turned her intent gaze to Oz and studied him. “I like your hair, Dr Oz.”

  With a curious glance that said he wanted to know what Blair had been thinking while her eyes were closed, Oz tugged on one of Addy’s pigtails. “You like my hair, Pipsqueak?”

  Addy nodded. “Your hair is kind of spiky. In a good way.”

  Oz laughed. “Is there a bad way?”

  “Oh, yes.” Addy’s blond head bobbed, her curly pigtails bouncing back and forth. “Scott Richards in my class at school has bad spiky hair.” She made a thoroughly disgusted face. “He looks like an alien, doesn’t he, Mommy?”

  Blair gave her daughter a warning look. “Remember what I told you about saying things that aren’t nice, Addy.”

  Her daughter blinked. “But Scott’s not here, Mommy. How am I going to hurt his feelings if he’s not here?”

  How did a mother argue with a five-year-old’s logic?

  “Sometimes people overhear things we don’t intend for them to hear, and it hurts their feelings. Scott is your friend. You’d never want to hurt his feelings.”

  “No.” Addy considered her for a moment, then stage-whispered in all seriousness, “But he does look like an alien.”

  “Is that Addy I hear?” a gruff voice called from the living room before Blair could correct her daughter.

  “Dr Talbot!” Addy shrieked, looking up at her mother for permission to go find the man she treated as a beloved grandfather. He was the closest thing Addy had to a grandfather since Chris’s family had refused to acknowledge her existence when Blair had told them of her pregnancy. Their loss.

  Blair nodded permission, and Addy took off at a run toward where she knew she’d find her favorite person, leaving Blair alone with Oz.

  “She has a future in hairdressing.” Oz gave Blair’s hair another once-over. Her body, too. Hooking his thumbs through his belt loops, he slid his fingers into his front pockets. “You look great, like you just crawled out of bed.”

  What was she supposed to say to that?

  Oz looked great in his jeans and royal blue T-shirt, too. She loved his hands, loved knowing what they were capable of in the surgery suite. But my, oh, my, his bare feet twisted her mind with unwanted thoughts.

  Blair shook her head, unwilling to let that image go further. Ignoring his compliment, she focused on her daughter. “Addy still has a few lessons to learn in diplomacy and learning to censor what she says.”

  Must take after her mother, who certainly struggled with censoring her thoughts.

  “She’ll learn.” Unabashed desire shone in his eyes. “You really do look great.”

  Blair swallowed. She didn’t need this. Not while dealing with way too many things to consider becoming involved with a man notorious for flings and his commitment-phobia.

  Not that she was looking for commitment.

  She wasn’t looking at all.

  Not for a relationship. Not for a fling.

  So why couldn’t she drag her gaze away from Oz’s tempting smile?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  OZ ROCKED back on his heels, watching displeasure furrow Blair’s brow. What was she thinking? Feeling?

  She was digesting what he’d said. He was sure of it. Had he crossed the line yet again? Hell, he didn’t seem capable of not crossing it where she was concerned.

  “If she doesn’t learn diplomacy,” he ventured, drawing Blair’s gaze back to him, “she’s so cute no one will care.”

  Her expression hardened. “That’s a lesson my daughter has learned all too well. If she bats her lashes and looks cute, adults tend to do her bidding. I do my best not to give in since I don’t want to encourage behaviors that are so reminiscent of—”

  She stopped abruptly, but Oz could fill in the blanks. She’d been referring to Addy’s father, had implied that he’d used his looks to manipulate those around him to do his bidding. He’d never heard Blair mention him before.

  The reminder that there had once been a man in her life who she had cared for, a man who had fathered her child, did strange things to Oz’s insides.

  Like making him nauseated.

  “She looks just like you.”

  Her scowl deepened. “Yeah, right. She looks more like you than she does me.”

  Her eyes widened. Her face paled. Interesting. Did that mean he looked like Addy’s father? Why did that thought make him want to grab a few antacids?

  “Addy’s facial expressions are yours made over,” he insisted, wanting her to think about anything other than the other man. “The way she smiles, the way her eyebrow quirks when she thinks I’m trying to pull a fast one on her, the intelligence in her eyes. That’s pure you, Blair.”

  True, but perhaps he’d said so to wipe away the memory that Blair hadn’t conceived Addy all on her lonesome. The thought of her with another man left him feeling as if someone had chopped him in the throat.

  “Maybe.” She stared at him, as if trying to see inside his head.

  Good thing she couldn’t because Oz didn’t know what she might see. Lately, he didn’t know what had come over him.

  Just that he couldn’t stop thinking about the woman who was now frowning at him.

  Giggles filled the house. Pure in spirit giggles that lightened Oz’s insides and made him smile.

  “Come on. We’ll call a truce for now.” He held out his hand. “The old coot’s been waiting for you to get here since I got home.”

  She didn’t take his hand. Instead, she walked past him into the den. Oz sighed.

  The “old
coot” had Addy’s arms wrapped around his neck. Giggling, she placed sloppy kisses on his cheek while he told her something Oz couldn’t make out.

  “I missed you, Dr Talbot.”

  Anger sucker-punched Oz in the gut at the vision of the withered man Dr Talbot had become. A thin, frail skeleton had replaced the vibrant man Dr Ted Talbot had once been.

  Still, his eyes shone brightly at Addy’s enthusiastic affection. Blair, Addy and Stephanie’s constant attention kept the older man going. It was what made him want to get out of bed each morning, what he most looked forward to each day.

  “I missed you, too, darlin’.” Dr T gave Addy another hug. He glanced up, spotted Blair and smiled. “Addy was telling me she styled your hair with mousse.” He studied her for a moment. “Mousse becomes you.”

  “Dr Oz says Mommy looks sexy,” Addy volunteered helpfully.

  Leave it to Addy to repeat that particular compliment. After Stephanie’s news from the night before, no doubt Dr T would be asking more questions about Oz’s relationship with Blair.

  “Oh?” A frown furrowed Dr T’s pale face.

  Embarrassment brightened Blair’s cheeks to a pretty shade of pink.

  Damn, she did look sexy. Her feet were nestled in white sandals that revealed pink toenails. She wore a sunny yellow top and white capri pants that covered more than they revealed, but left Oz’s imagination running wild. Blair was the kind of sexy that reached out and caught a man unawares and left him panting to uncover every delectable morsel of her flesh.

  Oz panted.

  Not liking his thoughts, he shrugged. “I call things as I see them.”

  Oz thought she was sexy.

  Flustered by his admission, Blair walked to where Dr Talbot sat on the brown leather sofa with a white cotton blanket covering his lower half. The pillow at the end of the sofa had a fresh head imprint, suggesting he’d been resting when he’d heard their voices. She kissed his cheek, which was still wet from Addy’s kisses. Her daughter squirmed next to him.

  Bony fingers grasped Blair’s hand, held her until she looked at him. “Oz said you were sexy?”

  “Dr Manning thinks every woman is sexy,” she countered flippantly. Oz’s words hadn’t meant a thing. Just like that almost kiss hadn’t meant a thing. Hadn’t Dr Talbot been the one to tell her of Oz’s many escapades with women? How he changed women every few weeks, none able to hold his interest for long? Hadn’t she seen with her own eyes that he’d brought a different bombshell every visit he’d made to the Gulf?

  “Blair?” Dr Talbot’s body might be frail, but his pale blue gaze was strong, piercing.

  “Addy asked what he thought about my hair. That’s all.” Blair smiled brightly. “I’ll warn you, she’s already offered to do Dr Manning’s hair. Be careful what you say or she’ll be offering to style yours as well.”

  Her little ears not missing a thing, Addy’s eyes lit. She looked at Dr Talbot’s shiny head, covered by only a few stray strands of white now that his once thick hair had fallen victim to his chemotherapy. She frowned.

  “He doesn’t have hair, Mommy.” Apparently recalling their conversation in the hallway about hurting feelings, Addy’s mouth rounded with an uh-oh.

  “Did you tell Dr T about Scott Richards’s spiky hair?” Oz yet again came to a Pendergrass female’s rescue. Perhaps, instead of jeans, he should be wearing armor and riding a white horse. Nah, more like a black horse and dressed in some heinous villain garb.

  Oz was no white knight. Blair would do well to remember that.

  He sat down in a recliner where he’d apparently been watching a baseball game with Dr Talbot prior to their arrival. The television’s wide flat-screen picture still played, but the volume had been muted. Probably by Dr Talbot when they’d been in the foyer discussing Blair’s hair.

  Avoiding looking toward Oz, Blair sat on the sofa near Dr Talbot, her hand still ensconced in his bony one. She refused to look at him, too, knowing he knew her too well not to see how Oz affected her.

  Fortunately, Addy launched into a tale about her schoolmate’s hair, running through a gamut of subjects, including her lost tooth, which she proudly pointed out, openmouthed, before glancing around the den. “Where is Boo-boo?”

  Boo-boo, the inspiration for Addy’s virtual pet, was the stray puppy Dr Talbot had taken in when it had shown up on his doorstep half-starved and flea ridden. After several years of Dr Talbot’s care, Boo-boo flourished and adored visits from Addy almost as much as Addy loved playing with the rambunctious mutt that appeared part Labrador, part who knew what.

  “He’s in the backyard, Pipsqueak,” Oz assured, looking restless. “You wanna go out and see if he’ll play fetch with us? I’ll go with you so your mom and Dr T can visit. If that’s okay with your mom?”

  Blair cringed. She’d been wrong to try to throw Addy into their disagreement last night. She’d apologized, but Oz’s hesitation hit hard.

  Addy squealed her delight. “Can I, Mommy? I like playing Boo-boo ball with Dr Oz.”

  Playing Boo-boo ball was Addy and Oz’s thing and yet another reason Addy adored him. He never seemed to mind spending one-on-one time with her.

  “You’re sure you don’t mind?” Surely his duties as Dr Talbot’s house guest didn’t include resident babysitter? Yet, each time they visited, Oz took Addy out to play with Boo-boo or to walk the dog so Blair could visit with Dr Talbot in private for at least a few minutes.

  A man she’d judged as self-centered, his thoughtfulness never failed to surprise her. But she didn’t allow herself to consider it too closely. If she did, Oz might climb out of the neat box she’d stuffed him into. If she ever allowed him to, she was in trouble.

  After that massage, that touch at the hospital, the way he kept looking at her, she was in trouble enough.

  “She gets cuter every time I see her,” Dr Talbot praised.

  Addy took Oz’s hand and led him out of the den. She skipped with excitement and talked a mile a minute.

  “You know she’s going to be a total heartbreaker when she’s older.”

  It was a conversation they had each time Blair and Addy visited.

  “I know.” Blair gave his hand an emotional squeeze. “Good thing I’ll have you around to help me fight off the boys.”

  Dr Talbot’s pale blue eyes lowered. “Not so sure about that, girl.”

  “Has something changed?” Panic seized Blair. “What is the oncologist saying? Have you talked to the Mayo Clinic again? Are you a candidate for the experimental chemotherapy?”

  “My oncologist is saying the chemotherapy has done all it’s going to. The metastatic lesions on my liver and pancreas aren’t shrinking. My blood counts are too low.” Dr Talbot’s hand tightened around Blair’s, trembling slightly. “There’s nothing more that can be done.”

  Unacceptable. She wouldn’t let him die. Not if there was any possibility of treating his cancer.

  “But the Xabartan is still an option?” Although U.S. trials were limited, the experimental drug was showing great success in China. Side effects were horrendous, but when one had nothing to lose, bad side effects didn’t seem so daunting. “You’ll do the treatments if you’re approved as a candidate?”

  She’d talk to Oz again, beg him to use his connections in Rochester to get Dr Talbot approved for treatment.

  Dr Talbot gave a tired sigh. “I’ve done chemo, Blair. Radiation and surgery, too. The cancer is still growing. I’ve lost my hair, my dignity.” He hadn’t taken well to the colostomy bag after his descending colon had been resected. “Enough is enough.”

  She waved her hand in front of his face. “Hello. Where is the man who was going to fight this to the end? You can’t quit now.”

  “Do I really want my last days to be spent battling not only my cancer, but the ill effects of a medicine that’s going to make me sicker?” He gave a weary sigh. “I want to die at home, Blair. In the comfort of my own home.”

  This was not her Dr Talbot speaking. He was a fighte
r. To the end. He had to be. She needed him to be.

  Tears trickled down her cheeks. “I’m not ready to lose you from my and Addy’s lives.”

  At Blair’s anguished cry, he squeezed her hand again. “There’s no need for tears, Blair. I had a good life and have no regrets. Selma’s been gone a long time. Maybe it’s time for me to join her.”

  Blair refused to believe that. Dr Talbot had a lot of life left to live. Had a lot of lives left to save. Had a lot of love left to receive.

  Hers. Addy’s. Stephanie’s. Oz’s. They all loved him.

  “What does Dr Manning say about this new attitude of yours?” Blair sucked in a deep breath, steadied her frayed nerves and put on a brave face. She had to be strong. She was strong. She’d always had to be.

  “Oz will support whatever I decide,” Dr Talbot surprised Blair by saying. “I deserve to die in peace, in the comfort of my home rather than an out-of-state hospital if that’s what I choose. It’s what I gave Selma.” Dr Talbot had practically bankrupted himself providing expensive private medical care twenty-four hours a day for his wife so she could stay at home, could die at home as she’d wished. “It’s what I want, too.”

  “Oz is agreeable to you not pursuing every avenue?” She didn’t believe it. Why would Oz not want Dr Talbot to try everything? “Why is he helping put the benefit together to raise money to help cover the cost of your treatments?”

  “Because I won’t take money from him.” Dr Talbot sounded tired. “He’s making the choice mine.”

  “Oz offered to pay for your treatments?” She’d wondered. Dr Talbot had once said Oz’s family was old money, but she wasn’t sure if that equated into Oz having part of that wealth. Apparently so. Handsome, a skilled surgeon, compassionate toward his friend, great with kids and rich to boot. Did the man have any flaws?

  Oh, yeah, he did. He was a womanizing playboy. She needed to remember that. Just because there was a hiatus while he was taking care of Dr Talbot didn’t mean he’d really changed.