If You Were Mine (14 page)

about his father’s death, or the impact it had made on his life and

his beliefs about his future.

He didn’t want to start having to explain now.

Fortunately, his sister and her new husband were pretty

wrapped up in each other. Just as long as only one of the twins

came today, he’d live through—

“Yay, it’s a party! Scoot over.”

Damn it.
Lori had come, too.

It was turning into a Sulivan family reunion at the basebal

stadium.

He scowled at the new arrival. “Aren’t you supposed to be

on tour with Nicola right now?”

His other little sister gave him an evil smile, the one she’d

patented by the time she could speak her first word. Clearly,

she’d not only seen Heather sprawled across his lap as she

walked into the stadium...but she’d likely seen the way he’d

been looking at her, too.

“We’re on break for a few days and I haven’t caught one

of Ryan’s games yet this season.” She leaned over him and held

out her hand to Heather. “Hi, I’m Zach’s other sister. It is
so

nice
to meet you.”

“Great to meet you too,” Heather said as she shook his

sister’s hand. “I’m Heather. And this is Atlas.”

Lori’s eyes lit up as she cooed over Heather’s huge dog.

“Oh my God, he’s
gorgeous!
”

Atlas shoved past Zach to get to his sister, with Cuddles

only a beat behind.

only a beat behind.

“I think the feeling is mutual,” Heather said, laughing as Lori

encouraged both dogs to jump up on her lap at the same time.

His hopes that the dogs would save him from his sister’s

prying were dashed when she simultaneously patted them and

asked, “So, how do you two know each other?”

“I’m working with your brother to train Cuddles.”

“Boy, that must be a pain in the butt, huh?”

Heather frowned. “No. Of course not. Cuddles is

incredibly smart and receptive to positive reinforcement.”

Lori laughed. “I’m not talking about Summer’s puppy. I’m

talking about Zach.”

Heather’s eyes widened for a moment before she threw her

head back and laughed. “You have no idea. No idea at al.”

Heather couldn’t help spending more time watching Zach

interact with his sisters than she did the game. And she loved

seeing him on the wrong foot for once, even if was just from his

momentary surprise at seeing them there.

At the same time, however, he was as enamored of them as

he was annoyed by the way they poked and prodded at him as

al good little sisters must. Through it al, she could feel his

protectiveness toward them simmering just beneath the surface.

Just as he’d said, he would take a bulet for them without

blinking an eye. He kept asking Sophie, who was pregnant with

blinking an eye. He kept asking Sophie, who was pregnant with

twins, how she was feeling. Finaly, his sister had snapped, “Next

time I see the doctor, I’m going to send you her report so you’l

believe I’m fine.”

Zach had actualy looked serious as he’d said, “That’d be

great, Soph.”

Sophie’s husband muttered, “That’s never going to

happen.”

No wonder Zach was so confident. It wasn’t just his looks,

it was al that unconditional love from his family.

A family who actually understood what love was.

Envy stole through her as she imagined what it must have

been like to grow up in a family like his. She hoped he knew

how lucky he was.

After the fourth inning, Lori caled out for popcorn for

everyone. Zach grumbled and reached for his walet when Lori

said, “This one’s on me.”

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Feeling generous today,

Naughty?”

Heather had to grin at the nickname. It definitely seemed to

fit the sister sitting beside him.

“I just figured I should get some celebrating done early,”

Lori said.

“What are we celebrating, Ryan’s impending shut-out?”

Sophie asked as she took a bag of hot popcorn.

Lori pinned Zach with a knowing glance and a wicked grin.

“Zach knows what we’re celebrating, don’t you, big brother?

“Zach knows what we’re celebrating, don’t you, big brother?

See, when you guys got married, we made this bet about who

would be the first to fal—”

Zach abruptly stood up and grabbed the dogs’ leashes.

“The dogs need to take care of business. You coming?” he

asked Heather.

“I think you’ve got this one,” she told him. “Oh, and don’t

forget these.” She handed him a couple of blue plastic bags.

He looked at them with disgust before taking them with a

scowl, scooping up Cuddles and dragging Atlas up the stairs.

After Jake got up to join Zach and the dogs, Lori scooted over

onto Zach’s seat beside her.

“How long have you and Zach been dating?”

Heather choked on the piece of popcorn she’d just

swalowed and had to quickly take a sip of lukewarm lemonade

to wash it down. “We’re not dating. I’m just helping him train

Cuddles.”

Lori looked terribly disappointed. So, Heather noticed, did

her twin.

“Seriously? You’re not together?”

Why hadn’t she gone with Zach to take the dogs outside?

And what was with these Sulivans who always said the first

thing that popped into their heads?

“No, we’re not,” she told Zach’s sister, but she flushed as

she thought about al of his double entendres, the way he’d

kissed her cheek, her hand. And how much fun she had with

him, the way he made her laugh even when she should have been

scowling.

scowling.

“Darn it. You’re beyond perfect for him, isn’t she, Soph?”

“Lori, stop embarrassing her.” Sophie shot her a

sympathetic look. “Sorry about my sister. I wish I could say this

is an aberration, but the truth is, she’s always like this.”

Heather hoped they could move onto another subject, like

Sophie’s pregnancy, but those hopes were quickly dashed as

Sophie added, “Although it would be realy fantastic if you two

did start dating.”

Heather felt like she was back in high school, getting griled

on her secret crush as Lori said, “I’ve never seen him look at

anyone the way he looks at you.”

Heather barely restrained herself from asking,
How does

he look at me?

“He’s just happy I agreed to work with him and Cuddles.”

She shook her head, remembering the way she’d found the two

of them that first day at his garage. “I’m afraid the puppy was

way too much for him to handle at first. But he’s done realy wel

with her.”

Sophie smiled. “He’s always been great with animals and

kids. Even when he tries to act like he can’t be bothered with

them, they al adore him the instant they meet him.”

“Funny you should say that,” Heather found herself teling

Zach’s sisters, “Atlas doesn’t trust men very often, especialy big

ones, but he was never afraid of Zach. Not for one instant.”

Lori clapped her hands together with glee. “You
do
think

he’s great! I can’t wait for you to meet everyone,” she said as if

it were now a done deal.

it were now a done deal.

“I can’t date Zach!” Heather’s words came out too loud,

too fast, too impassioned.

God, she was making such a fool of herself. As soon as

Zach had shown up with Cuddles, she and Atlas should have

hightailed it out of the balpark. But she’d been so happy to see

him. Had felt so incredibly, wonderfuly alive just at the sound of

his voice.

She’d thought she was strong enough not to be tempted by

him. But not only had he succeeded in tempting her...he’d done it

so fast it made her head spin. He was slipping in under her wals,

and the armor she wore around her heart, too fast. Too

frequently. It seemed that no matter how much energy she

expended to try to push him away—when she remembered to

push him away and wasn’t laughing with him or wanting him—

she wasn’t even close to succeeding.

The problem was that while Zach was fun and blatantly

sexual, he also came with a core of something
real
beneath the

devil-may-care sarcasm. And that was precisely what scared

her: the real man beneath the jokes and the sexual innuendo.

She could fight her reaction to the charming Zach, but the

sweet, loving, genuine Zach was a whole other story.

Stil, she knew she needed to keep fighting. Because if she

made the mistake of letting him in, and then he ended up hurting

her, she’d never forgive herself.

Of course, she hadn’t meant to insult the older brother

Sophie and Lori clearly worshipped, so she said, “Zach is a nice

Sophie and Lori clearly worshipped, so she said, “Zach is a nice

guy. I’m sure he’l find someone great one day.”

“I hope so,” Lori said with a sigh. “I know he acts like he

doesn’t need anyone, but I’ve never bought his act. Then again,

maybe it’s because he’s my brother and I love him and I don’t

want him to be alone forever.”

“He loves you, too. Al of you.” She’d known that ever

since the first time he’d spoken of his family, before she’d ever

met them. “He has pictures of you al over his house.”

Lori shot Sophie a look before saying, “You’ve been to his

house?”

Heather clarified, “He had a bit of an emergency with

Cuddles the first night they spent together. We had an

emergency training session.”

One that ended with her hand in his and his lips on her

cheek.

Strangely, Lori picked that moment to stop torturing

Heather. Instead, she leaned back in her seat, popped a handful

of popcorn into her mouth, and said around it, “Sophie’s right. I

shouldn’t have said al that stuff to you. I was just so caught up in

a fantasy of having someone like you as a sister-in-law instead of

one of the awful girls he usualy hooks up with.” She sighed. “It

figures you’d be too smart to want anything to do with him.”

Jealousy hit Heather at the same moment as the urge to

defend Zach did. Clearly, he could have—and regularly did have

—any woman he wanted. Heck, as they’d been watching the

game hadn’t every woman in their section been drooling over

Zach, with Sophie’s good-looking husband coming in a close

Zach, with Sophie’s good-looking husband coming in a close

second?

“Trust me,” Lori continued, “I totaly get why you don’t

want to date Zach, but I have a couple of other great brothers

who are single. Smith and Ryan are total catches, if you ask me.”

Heather was flattered, but couldn’t imagine being with a

movie star or a professional athlete. “Thanks, but I’m not looking

for a relationship right now.” Or ever.

Before Lori could get in one more word about her brothers

and what great catches they al were, Heather turned to Sophie

and asked her about her pregnancy. Heather loved kids as much

as she loved dogs and as she edged closer to thirty, she was

thinking more and more about when she was going to try to have

them. She was beyond glad that there were so many options for

a single woman, between in-vitro and adoption.

“Are you excited about having twins?”

Sophie lit up. “Yes. When I’m not terrified about having

them.” Her face went al dreamy. “Jake is going to be a great

father.”

Lori made a puking sound. “It’s bad enough that you’re al

over each other like Saran Wrap. Save us from the
love is

perfect
soundtrack, would you?”

Even though she silently agreed with Lori on the whole love

thing, Heather was amazed that Sophie didn’t look the least bit

insulted. Instead, she started singing, “Love is perfect, oh so

perfect,” to the tune of
I Feel Pretty.

Lori covered her ears and started singing
Love Bites
in a

perfect imitation of Def Leppard’s singer until the three of them

perfect imitation of Def Leppard’s singer until the three of them

colapsed into giggles.

Suddenly, Heather actualy wished she
could
date Zach.

Not just because her hormones wouldn’t leave her alone, but

because there was no doubt in her mind about how fun it would

be to be a part of the Sulivan family.

But, even as she let herself envision that for a brief moment,

she knew the reality was nothing like the fantasy. Regardless of

how wel things might start for her and Zach, no matter how

much he seemed to like her and want her in the present, she

knew with utter certainty that he wasn’t the kind of man who

would ever commit to one woman forever.

So if a part of her was at al envious at the way Jake had