If You Were Mine (13 page)

in her eyes?

The thing was, he knew Heather didn’t want his shoulder to

cry on, that it would only wound her pride. Fortunately, he’d sat

through one of Summer’s “shows” only a few weeks earlier, and

al the bad seven-year-old jokes were stil firmly lodged in his

brain.

Although he’d never felt less like making a joke, he also

knew he’d never needed to make one more. “What do you cal

frozen dog poo?”

Heather’s eyebrow rose as she looked up from her

mutilated chicken chunk. “What did you just say?”

“A poopsicle.”

Her eyes widened as she realized he was teling her a joke.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just make that horrible

joke.”

“What happened when the dog went to the flea circus?”

“Please, don’t make me guess.”

“He stole the show!”

She groaned and put her hands over her ears. “Someone,

She groaned and put her hands over her ears. “Someone,

anyone, please make it stop.”

“What do you say to a dog before he eats?”

Relief swept through him when she played along by

scrunching her eyes shut and whispering, “Bone appetit.”

For the rest of their dinner they each worked to see who

could tel the worst joke while they polished off every last bit of

the Indian dishes. Zach was pretty sure he won by a landslide,

but even if he hadn’t, he’d memorize the contents of every bad

joke book in the world if it meant putting a smile on Heather’s

face.

He hadn’t just broken the rules tonight, he’d smashed them

to smithereens. But for a couple of hours, he decided he didn’t

care.

Besides, there was a big difference between laughing with

Heather and faling in love with her. He’d wanted to sleep with

her from the start. It was no hardship to add laughter
—
and

comfort
—
to the mix.

Love stil didn’t have to play into the equation.

Hel, after what he’d just found out about her father, it was

no wonder she wasn’t looking for forever. Yet again, the two of

them were wel matched.

When the dishes were cleared away and the waiter

mentioned dessert, she put her hands over her stomach and said,

“I wish I could.” She reached for her walet, but Zach had

already handed the waiter plenty of cash.

“Thanks for dinner,” she said, a soft smile on her beautiful

face. “I had fun.” She looked faintly surprised as she added, “A

face. “I had fun.” She looked faintly surprised as she added, “A

lot of fun.”

So had he. More fun than he could ever remember having

with a woman.

Whether she’d liked it or not, they’d just had their first

date.

And it had been a good one.

As if she’d just realized that, she tensed. “I’ve got to get a

realy early start tomorrow. David wil take good care of you and

Cuddles on Thursday and Friday. I’l check my schedule to see

if Monday evening wil work for me to check on your progress.”

Even though they’d just spent the past few hours together,

Zach wasn’t ready for her to go yet. Plus, with the way the spicy

food had made her lips a little redder, a little plumper than they

usualy were, al he could think about was kissing her. He stood

and reached for her hand to help her up from her seat. She

looked at it for a moment before putting her hand in his.

Before he could make his move, Heather made hers, her

mouth soft on his cheek, she whispered, “Good night, Zach,” a

warm breath against his ear before she patted Cuddles on the

head and walked away with Atlas folowing beside her.

With any other woman he would have assumed she was

teasing him, taunting him by coming close, but not nearly close

enough, purposefuly testing his patience as some sort of sensual

dance.

But from Heather, that kiss on the cheek had been

something completely different. Not a tease, but the beginning of

something completely different. Not a tease, but the beginning of

trust that he could pretty easily guess she rarely, if ever, gave a

man.

By the time he’d picked up Cuddles and headed up the

street to his car in Heather’s parking lot, she was long gone.

Which was just as wel, because he had an important phone cal

he needed to make. One he didn’t want her to hear.

Puling his cel phone out of his pocket, he dialed his

brother Ryan, who would be pitching for the Hawks on Saturday

during Bark in the Park.

“Hey, Ry, I need you to do something for me.”

Unlike Heather’s father, Zach had never cheated on a

woman. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t wiling to play a few

games if necessary. Because he sure as hel wasn’t wiling to wait

until the folowing Monday for the chance get on Heather’s

calendar again...or to have their first real kiss.

Friday evening, Heather walked up to the wil-cal window

at the basebal stadium with Atlas on his leash. He was sticking

extra close to her side because of the crowds of men.

“Hi, I got a cal from the office that they’ve upgraded my

ticket.”

She gave the man behind the glass her name and he

whistled when he puled out her ticket. “This is one of the best

seats in the stadium.”

seats in the stadium.”

She grinned at him as she thanked him for the ticket and

headed into the stadium. It had been a realy nice surprise when

she’d found out she was being upgraded to a better seat as a

thank you for her help with the fundraising event. She didn’t get

out to the balpark much, but she never missed the one day each

season when dogs and their owners were invited to enjoy the

afternoon together.

It was a perfect day out, ful of bright sunshine and blue

skies with soft clouds moving slowly overhead. Even better,

dogs were absolutely everywhere. How could she not have a

good time?

She sighed as she scanned the signs for the section her seat

was in. For the past couple of days she’d been dragging. Sleep

was hard won and even her favorite chocolate truffles had lost

their appeal. She’d been putting in double time between the

office and the finishing touches on the fundraisers, but her output

wasn’t even close to half as good as it had been the week

before.

Maybe she was coming down with a summer flu. Or maybe

her friends were right and she was working too hard.

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Another sigh folowed the first as the childish phrase played

on repeat in her head. She knew exactly why she was bumming

out.

She missed him.

Somehow, Zach Sulivan had wormed his way into her

head. She didn’t regret giving her time to the animal shelter, but

head. She didn’t regret giving her time to the animal shelter, but

on Thursday at 5 p.m. when she’d been down at their

headquarters working out the final details for tonight’s event and

Saturday night’s auction and party, there was somewhere else

she had wanted to be.

Joking with Zach. Laughing with Zach. Being impressed by

how wel he worked with his temporary puppy.

Finaly finding the right section, she and Atlas navigated

their way down the stairs past the other dogs. There were six

empty seats in her row, and as she took hers, she looked up and

realized she realy was in the best seat in the house, right behind

home plate.

Firmly reminding herself that this was her chance to relax

and enjoy herself for a few hours, she closed her eyes to lean

back in her seat and soak up some sun, when Atlas started

quaking and shivering. Not the bad kind where he was scared,

but with pure excitement.

It was the way he acted whenever Cuddles was—

“Great night for a basebal game, isn’t it?”

As the low voice she hadn’t been able to get out of her

dreams roled over her, through her, finaly settling deep down in

her fluttering bely, Cuddles and Atlas had an ecstatic reunion

before beginning to happily root around on the cement for

remnants of smashed hot dogs and popcorn.

In a milisecond she went from dragging and tired to

abundantly alive. At the same time, her unstoppable pleasure at

seeing Zach made her mad.

Mad at herself for not having any self-control, even though

Mad at herself for not having any self-control, even though

she knew better. And mad at him for outmaneuvering her time

and time again. Because al the things that hadn’t made sense

about her ticket upgrade, suddenly did.

“I can’t believe I forgot—your brother plays for the

Hawks, doesn’t he?”

Zach settled into the seat next to her. Too close. Close

enough that she could feel the heat of his thigh against hers. Why

had she worn shorts instead of jeans?

“I’l introduce you to Ryan after the game.”

She ignored the offer. “You switched my tickets, didn’t

you?”

He grinned at her, actualy had the nerve to look proud of

himself as he leaned closer and lowered his voice, his breath

warm and far too seductive by her ear as he said, “You’re

welcome.”

She roled her eyes. “Most people wait to hear the words

‘thank you’ first.”

Just then, a beautiful pregnant woman stopped at their row

and said, “Zach, what are you doing here?”

* * *

were planning on skipping this game because they had to deal

with one of Jake’s out-of-town pubs.

Sophie’s husband, Jake, quickly zeroed in on Heather

before looking back at Zach with a clearly amused expression on

his face. “Isn’t this one of the biggest NASCAR races of the

year? Never thought you’d miss one of those.”

It was, but Zach had barely given it a second thought when

he’d bailed after Wednesday night’s dinner with Heather.

Sulivan Autos sponsored one of the racers, but his staff could

handle the event.

“Heather, this is my sister Sophie. And Jake.”

His old friend puled Sophie closer and clarified in a

possessive voice, “I’m Sophie’s husband.”

Heather stood up to say, “It’s so nice to meet you,” but as

she reached out to shake their hands, Atlas decided to make his

move on a popcorn seler who was almost within reach.

Sophie gasped as Heather’s feet were yanked out from

under her by her oversized mutt. Al three of them reached for

her, but Zach got to her first, puling her down onto his lap

before she could hit the cement.

Pleasure shot through him as she instinctively wound her

arms around his neck and breathlessly gazed into his eyes. “You

keep saving me,” she said softly enough that he was the only one

who could hear.

Eighty thousand people and their dogs ceased to exist as

her warm curves shifted against him. He was stunned al over

again at how beautiful she was with her hair faling out of her

braid, in a long-sleeved T-shirt and shorts that shouldn’t have

done anything to showcase her figure, but managed to al the

same.

same.

“You’re welcome.”

This time, instead of forcing herself to remain irritated with

him, she let herself give in to a smile.

It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Thank you.” Another smal smile before she frowned. “I

don’t know what’s come over Atlas lately. Maybe it’s the puppy

energy rubbing off on him.”

Hel, thought Zach, forget her dog. What had come over

him?
It was one thing to enjoy the feel of her curves pressing

against him because she was a beautiful woman.

It was another entirely to want to hold her
just because.

Unfortunately, Heather obviously remembered that they

had an audience as she too quickly pushed out of his lap. He

was impressed with how wel she played off what could have

been an awkward moment by joking with Sophie and Jake

about the dangers of owning a dog who was twice as big as she

was.

Zach almost groaned at the fact that he and Heather were

going to be on display for the next two and a half hours. Sure, his

siblings were used to seeing him with women. Lots of women.

What they weren’t used to, however, was seeing him with a

woman like Heather.

As soon as they realized the two of them weren’t sleeping

together yet, there were going to be questions.

And if they realized that he actualy
liked
her, the questions

might never run out.

He’d never told his brothers or sisters about the way he felt

He’d never told his brothers or sisters about the way he felt