Playboy Surgeon, Top-Notch Dad

by Janice Lynn

  “The beach?”

  “Please.” Addy danced around, exhibiting so much barely contained energy Blair didn’t have the heart to say no. After all, Addy had been wonderful all morning.

  “I’ll stay with Ted. You three run along and have fun.” Stephanie motioned for Oz to go too.

  “Sounds good.” Standing, Oz stretched his arms above his head.

  Oz and Blair walked the block over to the beach. A well-sunscreened Addy skipped hand-in-hand between them. Once at the beach, they strolled along the edge of the water, picking up shells and checking out anything that happened to wash up along the surf. Mostly seaweed and unfortunate jellyfish.

  Addy wiggled her toes in the sand and let the waves wash up around her feet. But she stared at the gently swelling waves longing to plunge straight in—longing Blair wouldn’t give in to. Not today, with Oz with them. He saw things others failed to and might see how Addy being in the water turned Blair into a basket case.

  She did her best to hide her fear of the sea, to never let that fear bleed over onto her daughter. That didn’t mean Blair didn’t struggle any time Addy was more than toe deep in the water. Luckily, they hadn’t brought suits with them, limiting their excursion to the shallows and saving Blair from having to make explanations.

  “Look, Dr Oz.” Stooping for a closer look, Addy pointed to a blue jellyfish with short tentacles stretched out along the wet sand.

  “Remember not to touch,” Blair warned.

  “It’s breathing.” Addy excitedly motioned at the jellyfish.

  Sure enough, the sea creature moved.

  Eyes huge, Addy tugged on Oz’s hand. “We have to save him. We have to.”

  Oz looked to Blair for help.

  “Addy, honey.” She moved close to her daughter. “Once he’s washed up on the beach like this, there’s not a way to save him. He’d die even if we put him back into the water.”

  “But we have to try,” Addy pleaded. She gave Oz her most appealing expression. “We just have to.”

  Oz wrapped around Addy’s little finger right before Blair’s eyes.

  “Okay, Pipsqueak, let’s see what we can find to rescue this guy with because we aren’t touching him. You know why not, right?”

  Addy nodded. “Because he stings.”

  They searched the beach for something they could safely move the jellyfish into the water with. A boy about the same age as Addy was building a sand castle several meters away. Running to him, Addy worked her big green-eyed magic. Blair wasn’t surprised when he offered his bright orange plastic shovel and pail. Grinning, Addy turned to Oz, proudly showing him her wares, and introduced her new friend.

  “This is Pete. He’s going to help save the jelly.”

  Blair smiled at the boy.

  “Okay, Addy, Pete, let’s see what we have here.” Oz examined the plastic shovel and pail. The jellyfish’s body would easily fit in the pail, but the tentacles would be problematic if they weren’t careful.

  “What do you think? Should we shovel him up and carry him to the water, or do we put him in the pail?”

  Addy and Pete studied the situation. “The pail,” they said in unison, then giggled at their timing.

  “I get to save him since it was my idea,” Addy pointed out in a very grown-up voice to her new friend.

  Standing close, Oz handed Addy the shovel.

  Bottom lip tucked between her teeth, she concentrated on using the shovel to carefully scoop up the jellyfish. By going beneath the sand, she managed to maneuver it onto the shovel. But when it came to lifting her cargo, she looked perplexed, trying to figure out how she was going to transfer the jellyfish into the pail without burying the creature in sand.

  “Maybe I could carry the shovel directly into the water,” Oz suggested, looking relieved at the prospect of taking the shovel from Addy.

  Addy and Pete looked at each other in question, then nodded. Oz tossed his cell phone, wallet and keys to Blair. With care, he took the shovel from Addy.

  The keys held Oz’s warmth, as did the worn leather wallet and phone. Blair slid all three into her shoulder bag, only letting her fingers linger a moment on the items still warm from his body heat, knowing she was sad and pathetic that her fingers had lingered at all.

  When the two kids went to follow Oz into the water, Blair held out her hand, restraining them. “Sorry, guys, but Oz has to go into the water alone. The jelly won’t mean to, but if you’re in the water, he might accidentally sting you.”

  Addy and Pete sighed their disappointment at not being able to go farther into the water with Oz, but didn’t argue. Neither liked the prospect of being stung.

  Hands on hips, Addy murmured to her new friend, “He wouldn’t really sting us ’cause we saved him and he knows we’re his friends.”

  Pete agreed.

  Watching for the right moment to avoid an incoming wave, Oz walked as far into the water as he could without completely soaking his shorts.

  Blair could see him contemplating how he was going to put the jelly into the water without the creature washing back toward the shore, possibly stinging him in the process, but most definitely disappointing the two little rescuers. Finally, a larger incoming wave decided for him. Not having time to spare, Oz held the shovel as far away from him as possible and lowered the jellyfish into the water.

  The moment the jellyfish was free Oz leaped toward the shore, the wave crashing in around his legs, soaking the hem of his shorts and splattering him completely.

  “Dr Oz, you didn’t check to make sure he swam away.” Addy frowned, hands fisted on her slim little hips. “You need to swim and check on him.”

  “Oz can’t swim out to check on the jelly.” Just watching that wave come in around him had closed Blair’s throat. She’d known the water wouldn’t do more than crash around his legs, but in her mind she’d seen the water grabbing hold and dragging Oz out to sea, claiming him.

  “Dr Oz can’t swim?” Addy looked disappointed, her lower lip pouty. “Didn’t his mommy put him in lessons, too?”

  “I can swim, Pipsqueak.” Oz took his cell phone, keys and wallet back from Blair’s outstretched hands. “I just don’t have a suit.”

  “Addy, the jelly is long gone by now.” At least, Blair hoped so. The kids would be upset if their rescuee washed ashore.

  Shaking away loose water droplets, Oz grinned at the two expectant children staring up at him with their arms crossed. “Who wants to build a sand castle?”

  “I have a sand castle,” Pete reminded them. Addy’s gaze had shifted to the water, searching for a sign of the jellyfish. Fortunately, the creature hadn’t washed back up on shore. Likely he would, though.

  Building a sand castle sounded like the perfect distraction.

  “I do,” Blair said, reaching for Addy’s hand. “We love sand castles, don’t we, Addy?”

  With one last lingering look at the water, Addy turned to her new friend. “Do you want to make another castle with us? I’m a good sand castle maker.”

  For the next hour they worked on building the world’s greatest sand castle.

  “I wish I had my camera,” Blair mused, surveying their efforts. With the kids’ help Oz had dug a moat around the castle and connected it to the neighboring castle Pete’s parents had built that was also complete with an outlining moat.

  “Yeah,” Oz agreed. “Today is one of those memories you want to lock away to pull out on a rainy day.”

  That summed up her feelings perfectly.

  Because Blair knew she’d cherish this day long into her future. That she’d savor the memory long after Oz had gone back to his real life.

  Surprising her, Oz pulled out his fancy-looking cell phone and snapped a photo of where she sat next to Addy.

  Blair’s hands went to her face. “I meant that I wanted a picture of all of you. Not me.”

  “You should have said so. Too late now.” He looked totally unrepentant. His blue eyes met hers, glittered as brightly as the sea. “You
want to take my picture with Addy?”

  Addy jumped up, sending a spray of sand in every direction. “I want to take a picture, Dr Oz.”

  “You don’t want to be in the picture, Pipsqueak?”

  She shook her head, reaching for his phone. “I want to take the picture. Mommy lets me take pictures, don’t you, Mommy?”

  Before Blair could explain, Oz was showing Addy which button to push and how to focus his phone camera. “What do you want to take a picture of, Pipsqueak?”

  “You and Mommy.”

  Uh-oh. Blair’s gaze met Oz’s. He just shrugged, sat down in the sand next to her, wrapped his arm around her waist and grinned.

  Right then and there Blair decided she’d been in the sun too long. Had to be. Why else would she be having a heatstroke? Her insides had definitely caught fire.

  “Smile, Mommy.” Addy’s lips twisted with great concentration. “Say cheeseburger.”

  Blair started to force a smile, but Oz’s fingers trailed across her ribs, tickling her and eliciting a real laugh at the exact moment Addy snapped the button.

  “Oh, that’s a good one.” Addy stared at the photo she’d taken, then held the phone out for Oz and Blair to see.

  Oz looked handsome as ever with a mischievous grin on his face. The photo had captured a lightness in Blair’s expression she didn’t recall having seen in a long time. The photo made her look young, carefree, really happy. Her gaze had cut to Oz and laughter spilt from her mouth while she squirmed away from him.

  They looked like a couple.

  “Definitely a keeper,” Oz agreed with Addy’s assessment, saving the photo to his phone before allowing her to snap a photo of Pete and the sand castles.

  Oz’s conversation with Latham Duke popped into Blair’s head. A keeper. And Oz was a catch-and-release man.

  Their gazes met, held. Was he remembering too? Was that why his expression had turned serious?

  Looking away, he tweaked Addy’s nose. “I’ll have the pictures printed for you, Pipsqueak.”

  Somewhere down the beach someone was cooking out and the scent of hamburgers drifted on the breeze.

  Blair’s stomach growled.

  Oz looked at where she sat and grinned. “Hungry?”

  Had her belly really just growled that loud? Blair burst out laughing. “A little.”

  Standing, she brushed the sand from her shorts.

  “I am a lot.” He reached for Blair, letting her pull him to his feet. His hand lingered on hers, his thumb tracing over her flesh. His gaze danced mischievously, his lips twitched, but his hand fell away.

  Dozens of emotions roared to life inside her, growling in protest much louder than her stomach had. Unfortunately, the emotion she recognized most was loss at Oz’s hand no longer touching hers. Also, sadness that nothing could ever happen between them. They were too different. Not only that but, sooner or later, Oz would leave to go back to Rochester and his playboy life.

  And they were friends.

  “Come on, Pipsqueak.” He tugged on Addy’s pigtail. “It’s time for us to feed your mom.”

  Addy hated to say goodbye to her new friend, but she finally waved to Pete and his parents.

  When they arrived back at Dr Talbot’s, Oz popped turkey burgers onto the grill. Stephanie, Addy and Blair worked in the kitchen putting together whatever they could find to go with burgers.

  When the burgers finished cooking, Oz placed the platter on the picnic table.

  “Come and get ’em,” he called with a cowboy twang, despite the fact they all stood within a few feet of him.

  Addy giggled at the goofy way he’d said it. Blair just rolled her eyes.

  Stephanie filled a plate for Dr Talbot, but he picked at his food more than he ate. Stephanie coddled him, fussing over him with great ado, even offering to cut up his food and feed him. He gave her a dirty look. Otherwise, he smiled and seemed to enjoy the evening, although fatigue was written all over his face.

  Other than for doctor appointments, he rarely left his house these days. With the trip to the Heart Association this morning, spending the afternoon with Stephanie, and now their cookout, he’d had a long day.

  Oz stepped onto the back porch and sat down in the lawn swing with Blair. He’d been playing with Addy and Boo-boo, but the dog now rested at Dr Talbot’s feet.

  “What were you so serious about when I came over here?”

  “I was thinking about Dr Talbot.”

  Oz’s gaze settled where Dr Talbot sat with Addy curled in the crook of his arm, reading him a story more from memory than ability to interpret all the words. “He’s a grown man, Blair. Whatever he decides, we’ll support him. It’s his decision to make, not ours.”

  “But—”

  “I don’t want him to die any more than you do.”

  Blair flinched at the anger in his voice, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “There’s no guarantee the Xabartan would work. Don’t you think I’d have him in Rochester if there was? But there isn’t. There’s no way of knowing if he’d have complications and die sooner.” Seeming to realize he’d lost his cool, Oz inhaled deeply, sent her an apologetic look. “Whether or not we ever find out is his decision. Not ours. Let up on him, Blair.”

  “There’s no guarantee the Xabartan wouldn’t work. He should try.” He had so many reasons to want to live, so many people who wanted him as part of their lives. “He has to try, Oz. He has to.”

  His expression softening, Oz reached for her hand and gave a comforting squeeze. “You can’t put pressure on him to do what you want, rather than what he wants. We have to honor his wishes.”

  Blair’s gaze dropped to where Oz held her hand. Part of her wanted to pull away, to make sure no one noticed. She didn’t want to answer awkward questions. Did friends hold hands like this? But Dr Talbot and Stephanie didn’t have to see her and Oz holding hands to know something had changed between them.

  Something had changed.

  From the moment he’d kissed her in the hospital hallway, the moment they’d declared themselves friends, the way Blair looked at Oz had changed.

  Or maybe it hadn’t.

  Maybe she’d just quit fighting the inevitable.

  She was attracted to Oz.

  Not that she was crazy enough to act on it.

  She wasn’t. She’d worked too long and too hard putting together a good life for her family to risk it on a man like Oz.

  Only, since coming to Alabama this trip, Oz hadn’t seemed nearly as bad as she’d painted him and she kept forgetting he wasn’t a man to trust with her heart.

  Amidst a bevy of laughter, Addy chased a revived Boo-boo around the backyard. Blair caught her daughter in her arms, sweeping her little body off the ground and tickling her until Addy begged for mercy.

  His eyes never straying far from Blair, Oz moved a lawn chair near Dr T’s wheelchair. “Stephanie’s still inside,” he told his friend. “She had a few phone calls to make.”

  “Are you sleeping with Blair?” His friend’s gaze didn’t waver. Dr T had never beaten around the bush. Getting straight to the heart of a matter was one of the things Oz admired about his friend. Usually.

  “No.”

  Dr T eyed him for a minute, then rephrased his question. “Have you had sex with Blair?”

  Oz grinned. He couldn’t help himself. Dr T in the role of overbearing father seemed inappropriate when the man had once patted Oz’s back for his sexual prowess. Perhaps that had been for an outraged Selma’s benefit. Dr T had loved to tease his wife. Selma had threatened that someday Oz’s womanizing ways would catch up with him and he’d meet a nice girl and settle down.

  Oz’s gaze shifted to Blair. Selma had been right about one thing. He had met a “nice girl,” but he had no plans to settle down. Ever. Why would he do that to someone he liked?

  He liked Blair. A lot. Too much.

  “No. Nor do we have any plans to have sex. We’re friends.”

  That was all they would ever be.
Unfortunately.

  “Blair’s not like the women you date.”

  “She’s not,” Oz conceded. “Which explains why we’re not dating.”

  Blair was different. Better. Addictive. He wanted her more than any woman. Which scared him a little. Blair’s lack of experience made her no match for him. He could have her if he wanted her. He knew that. But she’d regret it afterwards. So would he.

  He couldn’t—wouldn’t—do that to her.

  “You’re the first man she’s let close since Chris.”

  Addy’s father. God, he was curious about the man who’d once held Blair’s heart. He was tempted to ask Dr T what he knew, but he held his tongue. Being Blair’s friend didn’t give him the right to pry into her past.

  “Women like Blair aren’t the type to play the field. Addy’s father hurt her deeply. Now, she’s put her whole heart into loving that little girl.” Dr Talbot’s gaze went to where Blair played with Addy.

  Blair knelt beside her daughter, petting the dog. As if sensing his gaze, she glanced up, smiled tentatively, vulnerability and something more shining in her eyes.

  Something more that was meant for him.

  Desire?

  A tightness Oz couldn’t label constricted his chest.

  “Hurting Blair is the last thing I’d want,” he choked out. “Which is why we’re just friends and why we’ll stay just friends.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE following Friday morning, Oz stopped by the waiting room to check on Georgia Donelson’s daughter prior to going in to the cardiac surgical suite to operate on her mother’s heart.

  The young woman sat in a chair, hunkered down as if she carried the weight of the world on her thin shoulders. She stared straight ahead, yet he doubted she saw anything.

  Memories of sitting in a waiting room, waiting on news of his father, news that hadn’t been good, washed over Oz. Only Dr T had been there for him during that difficult time. No one else had understood. No one else had cared to.

  “Lacey?”

  “Yes? Is my mother okay? Did something happen?” the tired-looking young woman gasped, knowing enough time hadn’t passed for the surgery to be complete.