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Her pulse tapped against her throat. Yes, yes, yes, it shouted.
“Addy,” she whispered, not quite sure what else to say, but knowing she needed a reminder of why she should go, of why she and Oz could only be friends, because her body had completely forgotten.
“Right.” He let go of her chin and rammed his hands into his pockets. “Good night, Blair. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Oz balanced the bag of donuts, the tray of coffee cups and juice, and opened the door to the Heart Association with his shoulder.
He’d already pushed
Dr Talbot in his wheelchair into the building. Stephanie and Blair had made a fuss, taking over the moment the older man was inside the building. Oz had gone back for their breakfast and to park his SUV.
Stepping inside the building, he took in the scene before him. Addy leaned in, whispering something to Dr T, eliciting a smile from him as only the little girl could. Stephanie watched with longing in her eyes—longing that bespoke of feelings much deeper than friendship. Blair was looking at Oz, but quickly glanced away when their gazes met, pretending she hadn’t been watching him.
He’d wanted to kiss her last night. Badly.
But he’d been serious when he told Blair they should only be friends.
If he got involved with Blair, he’d hurt her and then where would that leave them?
No matter how much he wanted Blair Pendergrass—and he did want her—he couldn’t have her. Blair was a white picket fences and PTA meetings kind of woman, a mother. He might not be the playboy he had once been, but he was no saint. He didn’t plan to commit to a woman. Ever. Manning men shouldn’t commit.
They couldn’t commit even when they’d vowed to do so.
As long as Oz lived, he’d never do to a woman what his father had done to his mother. Oh, yeah, if he and Blair became involved he’d hurt her, hurt Addy. He suspected he wouldn’t forgive himself easily for those transgressions.
“Here, let me take some of that.” Stephanie reached for the tray of drinks. “Oz, this coffee smells heavenly. I swear you’re an angel.”
An angel? He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it. He was no angel. Far from it.
His gaze met Blair’s. Fire burned low in his gut.
Hellfire.
No, he wasn’t a saint or an angel.
Far, far from it.
“Please, Mommy, can we go to the beach?”
They’d finished hammering out the fine details of the fund-raiser. Dr T had grown tired. Oz had loaded him into his SUV. The girls had followed them to Dr T’s house.
After having been indoors all morning, they sat outside on the back patio. The sun shone. A soft breeze blew in from the sea. It was a gorgeous day.
“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.
