Page 15 of Rockstar Baby Daddy

“Funny.”

“Not a joke, a sincere question.” She closed the door and walked around the desk to take a look at my ankle. “It’s a little swollen and bruised, but not too bad.”

“Gavin had ice packs. And lasagna. And wine,” I admitted for some crazy reason. “Nothing to gossip about.”

Persy looked up with a smile playing on her red lips. “Dinner and an overnight stay with a rock star and there’snothingto gossip about? Nothing at all?” She stood and leaned on my desk right beside me. “I’m calling bullshit, Suzie. Spill the beans and do it fast, or I’ll march over to Ryan’s place and get him to ask Gavin.”

My eyes rounded in shock. “You wouldn’t.”

“I absolutely will. I love Ryan, but I would also love nothing more than to live vicariously through your love affair with Gavin.”

“Love affair?” I scoffed at that. “He is world famous and crazy rich, what would he want with a small-town hospital administrator?”

“First of all, youlivein a small town, but JRMC serves the whole damn county, so don’t downplay your accomplishments. Second, Gavin seems like a man with good taste, and I’ll bet you’re a freak down deep.”

“A freak?” I felt heat spread across my cheeks and put my hands to cover it. “Me?”

“Oh, yeah. Those glasses are a classic misdirect. And that blush? You can’t talk about it, but I’ll bet you get down when you have a man at your naked mercy.”

“Maybe, but that man is not Gavin Ross.”

Her violet eyes stared at me for so long I had to press my heels into the floor to avoid squirming. “I don’t believe you. I’ll get the truth out of you sooner or later.”

She probably would, but if given the choice, I picked later. “Did you come up just for gossip or is there something I can help you with?”

I realized my mistake a moment too late. My annoyed, super-professional tone was a dead giveaway that I was hiding something.

“Notjustgossip. Drew. I can’t find him, and I have a consult for a fourteen-year-old football player.”

Oh good, something else to focus on other than my night with Gavin. “I’ll find him and send him your way,” I told Persy, turning to my computer in hopes that she would get the hint.

Finding my brother gave me something to focus on other than my foolish infatuation with a rock star who made my toes curl, but who also made me smile. It was impossible not to want to see him, to do him, again and again. I knew I was being silly and reckless, and I knew I would fall for him before he picked up stakes and ran back to Hollywood.

If I was going to do this—and there was no way I wasn’t going to do this, do him—then I had to be okay with being nothing more than something to do to avoid boredom. I had to resign myself to being a rich rock star’s small-town distraction. Was I okay with it?

Yes.The answer came quickly and surely. I wouldn’t lie to myself about what this was, but I would enjoy every moment I got to spend with the handsome and charming man. I wouldn’t let myself believe it was more than a fling, because when he inevitably left, I wanted to look back on our time together fondly. I wanted to smile at the memories, not cry. I didn’t want to tuck the memories away because they were too painful to relive.

This could be a wonderful vacation for both of us.

No, notcouldbe. Itwouldbe.

I’d make sure of it.

Gavin

“Mr. Ross, glad to have you back with us.” Dr. Parnell’s face was the first thing I saw when I woke up from surgery, but I wasn’t sure if his expression suggested good news or bad. “Surgery went perfectly, in and out in thirty-seven minutes. As routine as we expected.”

I opened my mouth and felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to the right, to the hand. The feminine hand with nails coated in a shimmery light pink color. I followed the arm up until I found myself staring into the green eyes of Suzie.

“Don’t talk, Gavin. You need to let your cords relax.”

I smiled and nodded, happy as hell that she’d shown up for my surgery. I wasn’t sure if she would, since she was so adamant about keeping our relationship quiet, but here she was. I pressed a kiss to her hand, smiling wider when she gasped.

“They must have you on some good drugs,” she said on a laugh, trying to cover up the blush that crept up from the collar of her shirt to stain her face a delightful shade of pink.

“Nah, that’s not it. My boy knows a beautiful woman when he sees one, and he’s staking his claim,” an older, grizzled, familiar voice boomed in the room.

My eyes landed on the man who meant more to me than anyone in the world.Granddaddy.I sent him a nod and a smile, a question in my eyes.

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