Playboy Surgeon, Top-Notch Dad

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.