If You Were Mine (7 page)

stood on the front step and knocked on the door, worry about

what had happened between him and the puppy had the question

moving into the background.

Because even though she had a sense that Zach probably

lived to do things like wake people up out of a sound sleep at

5:30 in the morning, she now had a feeling the real reason he’d

caled her was out of actual desperation.

Hoping she wasn’t too late, she knocked on the door

again, more loudly. Zach opened the door, saying, “Shhh.”

He looked like hel. Stil far too gorgeous for a mere mortal,

but definitely not his best.

No doubt, even she’d managed more sleep than he had last

night. And from the looks of his half-shaven face, and the jeans

puled up over his hips, the real damage had started to go down

when he was in the shower.

Okay, she firmly told herself as the muscles on his shirtless

chest rippled in front of her, she could handle a nice set of abs.

Heck, she’d spent time with a professional athlete for a while, so

it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen a good body before.

Fortunately, Zach was so distraught by whatever Cuddles

had done that he didn’t seem to notice her drooling over his bare

chest. The last thing she needed was for him to know just how

hard a time she was having resisting him.

He pointed down to her dog and ordered, “Don’t wake the

puppy up.”

Atlas’s ears flattened and Heather roled her eyes. Men

were such babies. Zach was acting like waking up Cuddles

would break him as he slowly opened the door, wincing at every

would break him as he slowly opened the door, wincing at every

creak in the frame.

Heather’s mouth fel open. “Oh my God.” She looked at

Zach in shock, then back at his house. “I can’t believe Cuddles

could possibly have done al this by herself.”

A muscle jumped in his clenched jaw. “Believe it. She’s the

devil in a puppy disguise.”

Normaly Heather would have taken offense at anyone

saying that about a helpless, sweet puppy, but she was stunned

by the destruction to Zach’s living room.

The puppy had not only ripped open every pilow on his

couch, she had also gone to town on what Heather guessed was

a realy expensive rug. There were scratch marks up and down

one side of the kitchen island and a half-dozen dark stain spots

on the exposed parts of the hardwood floor.

Even Atlas looked alarmed by the state of the apartment,

as he stood beside her at the front door like a statue of a Great

Dane.

“Where is she?” Heather asked in the hushed voice Zach

had wanted her to use earlier.

He pointed to a pile of feathers beside the couch. Heather

had to look closely to see Cuddles curled up in the center of it,

sleeping the sleep of the truly exhausted.

“I’m going to kil my brother,” he said in a low voice that

told her he meant every single word.

She didn’t blame him for feeling that way. He was a

bachelor who’d had a rambunctious puppy dumped on him. In

truth, none of this was Zach’s fault. He was just doing the best

he could. Unfortunately, it seemed he was way out of his element

with this particular puppy.

Heather had worked with hundreds of dogs over the years,

and she’d been able to tel right away that this one was a handful.

The smart, playful ones always were.

“What happened?”

“She wouldn’t stop crying last night when I put her to bed

behind her gate.”

Heather roled her eyes. “What did I tel you yesterday

about sticking to the rules?”

“Neither one of us was going to get any sleep unless I let

her come into the bed.” He gave her a rueful look. “She fel right

to sleep as soon as I put her on one of my pilows and I figured

we were good to go until morning.” He ran his hand over his

face. “I know, I’m an idiot, but I didn’t think three pounds of

fluff could do this kind of damage. I can’t believe I forgot about

the teeth. And the bladder. And the nails.”

“How long do you think she was up by herself?”

“I don’t know. I thought she had burrowed under a pilow

and assumed she was stil in the bed when I got up to shave and

get in the shower.” He grimaced. “That was when I heard the

crash. A lamp shattered, fortunately not on her. She knocked

over another one right after I caled you. Swear to God, I look

away for three seconds and she’s like the freaking Tasmanian

Devil.”

Heather gave Atlas the signal to stay by the door before

Heather gave Atlas the signal to stay by the door before

she moved toward the pile of feathers and puppy. “Is she hurt?”

“She’s fine. I checked her over before I let her sack out.”

The truth was that by this point, most people would have

been angry enough to at least give the puppy a smack on its

rump. Funny, wasn’t it, that she could so easily imagine Zach’s

large hands moving gently over Cuddles’s legs and soft bely as

he made sure the puppy was okay.

Taking pity on him, she said, “I’l help you clean up. Go

ahead and finish your shower.”

He looked patheticaly grateful as he showed her where the

garbage bags were.

“Thank you, Heather.”

Oh boy.
She hadn’t prepared for a smile like that, one

completely devoid of seduction or wicked intent. It was one

thing to guard her heart against a Lothario with no moral fiber...it

was another entirely to remain cold and distant with a flesh-and-

blood man whom she was afraid might be just as human as the

rest of them.

He was halfway across the living room when he turned and

said, “If it weren’t for the puppy of mass destruction over there,

I’d invite you to join me.”

Ah, there was the man she could so much more easily fight

her attraction to.

“If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be here.”

She turned her back on him as she stuffed feathers and

ceramic shards into the trash. When she heard Zach turn the

shower on, she let out the breath she’d been holding. Rocking

shower on, she let out the breath she’d been holding. Rocking

back on her heels, she looked over at Atlas, who was watching

over Cuddles from his spot by the door.

“What have we gotten ourselves into, Atlas?”

He raised his dark eyebrows at her question, but he didn’t

look away from the puppy. She didn’t blame him for being

completely wrapped up in the cute, but very naughty, little dog.

Lord knew she couldn’t seem to pul her thoughts away

from Cuddles’s equaly cute and naughty temporary owner.

Zach stil couldn’t believe the way the puppy had gone to

town on every piece of furniture in his house, but it was worth it.

Because Heather was here.

After the way she’d tried to blow him off last night, he

doubted anything else could have gotten her to agree to come

over as quickly.

His sisters, Lori and Sophie, had been itching to redecorate

his place for a while, anyway. Lord knew they’d probably never

stop laughing when they heard what had happened. His siblings

were going to
love
this. Chase had probably already spread the

news about Heather to everyone after yesterday’s photo shoot.

Zach put on jeans and a T-shirt to head into the living room

to help Heather clean up. He stopped at the end of the hal in

surprise. “You’re done already ?”

She smiled at him from the open kitchen at the other side of

She smiled at him from the open kitchen at the other side of

the living room. “I’ve participated in more than my fair share of

puppy cleanups. It looked worse than it was. Although your

couch is definitely a goner.”

He sniffed the air. “Are you cooking something?”

She flushed slightly. “I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast

and I figured you must be hungry, too. I hope you don’t mind

that I helped myself to your fridge.”

With a kitchen towel tucked into the waistband of her jeans

and her hair starting to come out of her braid as the sun rose in

the kitchen window behind her, she was hands down the most

beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life. His chest clenched as

he watched her stirring eggs and buttering toast.

Apart from his mother, no woman had ever made him

breakfast before. Many had wanted to, but he’d never let them,

had never wanted to share anything so intimate just in case they

got the wrong idea. If someone had told him he’d welcome a

woman in his kitchen, and that he’d be trying to find even more

reasons to get her to stay with him a while longer, he’d have told

them they needed psychiatric help.

The thing was, he wanted Heather bad enough that he was

wiling to break a few rules for her. Not the big one, of course.

He wasn’t going to fal in love with her or anything.

But breakfast, and wanting to spend more time with her

than he usualy did with a woman, wasn’t that big a deal.

She looked over at him from around an open cupboard

door, clearly surprised to see that he was stil standing in the

same place. “I can’t find your whisk.”

same place. “I can’t find your whisk.”

He finaly got his feet moving, but when he got to the

kitchen, he stood there and stared at the cabinets.

“You don’t have a clue where it is, do you?” He could tel

she was laughing at him, which he’d take any day over her

shutting him down the way she had last night.

“I don’t even know what a whisk looks like.”

When she started to laugh out loud, he leapt to cover her

mouth with his hand. At her alarmed expression at his

manhandling, he whispered, “Cuddles might wake up!”

Heather nodded her understanding, then covered his hand

with hers to pul it off, but not before he felt how soft her lips

were against his palm.

And not before he noted the way her eyes darkened as her

hand covered his to slide it away from her mouth and cheeks.

He’d wanted her from the second he’d seen her stuck in

the bush at his garage. And there was no stopping the kiss from

happening anymore. Not when she was in his kitchen, and she

was so close and warm and soft against him.

Her eyes went soft as he lowered his head to hers and he

could already taste her. One kiss wouldn’t be nearly enough to

take the edge off his desire, not when she was al he could think

ab
—

A high-pitched series of barks had her jumping out of his

arms.

Cuddles had picked one hel of a time to wake up.

Zach and Heather turned to watch the puppy dash across

Zach and Heather turned to watch the puppy dash across

the room to make a flying leap onto Atlas. The big dog remained

stil as the puppy rubbed and wriggled against him, but Zach

could see how happy he was about the affection.

Quickly turning to action, rather than letting them get close

again, Heather grabbed two plates and ladled on scrambled

eggs.

“I can’t believe how fast those two bonded. It’s like they

were always meant to be together and were just waiting until

they could finaly meet.”

Zach tried to ignore the way his chest clenched again at her

words. It was just that she was so damn sexy as she sat down at

his dining table, kicked off her flip-flops, and tucked one leg

under her.

“It’s realy amazing how good she always is around Atlas,”

Heather commented. “It’s almost like she wants to impress him.”

“In that case, you guys should move in for the next two

weeks.” Purposefuly ignoring her
as if
look, he sat down and

took a bite of the eggs. “These are so good, you could cook for

me every morning, too.”

“Realy? Could I?” Sarcasm dripped from every word.

“Sure thing,” he responded with a grin.

She shook her head, but he could see her fighting the urge

to grin back at him. If only he’d been able to sneak in that kiss in

the kitchen, he wouldn’t have to work so hard for her now, or

keep moving so slowly.

He thought about how long it took him to rebuild a classic

car from the engine out, and how satisfying it was not just to get

car from the engine out, and how satisfying it was not just to get

the final product, but every minute he spent wrenching on the

intake manifold or working under the rear end.

Could it be that rushing things with Heather wasn’t the way

to go, either?

“Oh, I almost forgot,” she said getting up from the table to

hand him a photo, “I found this under a pilow. The frame is

broken, but I don’t think Cuddles did any damage to the

picture.”

It was an old black and white photo, one of the only ones

he had with his father in it. His mom and dad had their arms