If You Were Mine

Table of Contents

If You Were Mine

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

Chapter Thirty-two

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

If You Were Mine

Zach & Heather ~ The Sulivans # 5

© 2012 Bela Andre

[email protected]

http://www.BellaAndre.com

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Can two people who have both sworn off love find forever

in each other's arms?

The last thing Zach Sullivan wants is to take care of his

brother's new puppy for two weeks. Until he meets the dog

trainer, that is. Heather is bright, beautiful, and he can't

stop thinking about her. Unfortunately, she just might be the

only woman on earth who wants nothing to do with him.

Heather Linsey can't believe she's stuck working with one of

the city's top dogs, auto-shop tycoon Zach Sullivan.

Especially when his focus is clear from the start—not only to

learn how to deal with his temporary puppy...but also to

make Heather his. Having sworn off love at seventeen when

she realized it was nothing more than a pack of lies, she has

stuck to her vow never to fall for a charming man.

But as Heather's determination to push Zach away only fuels

his determination to get closer—and the sensual and

emotional connection between them grows more and more

undeniable—will the biggest Sullivan bad boy of all tempt

her into believing in love again?

Zach Sulivan stared with disgust at the bundle of fur

chewing on his shoelace.

“No way.” He shifted his foot to try and get the little bugger

off, but for such a tiny thing, it was tenacious. It growled a little

off, but for such a tiny thing, it was tenacious. It growled a little

and shook its tail as it renewed focus on his shoe. His new shoe.

“Sophie loves dogs. Ask her.”

He looked up to see Gabe smirking at him. Clearly, it had

been way too long since he’d wiped a grin off his little brother’s

face.

“Sophie’s got enough to deal with lately, between her

pregnancy and marrying Jake,” Gabe told him. “Chloe and

Chase are going to have their kid any second now. Marcus and

Nicola are always on the road. Ryan is practicaly living at the

stadium for basebal season. And I wouldn’t trust Lori with a

dog if she was the last person on earth. Trust me, you were at

the end of my list for someone to watch the puppy while we’re

away on vacation, but Summer insisted you
needed
to have

Cuddles.”

Zach almost hurled. “Cuddles?”

“Summer named her.” They both looked down at the

puppy. “I think the name fits pretty wel.”

Gabe was incredibly protective of Summer, his fiancee

Megan’s daughter. Zach knew better than to insult the dog’s

name, even if it was, hands down, the worst one ever.

“Look,” Gabe said, “Summer is convinced you’re the

perfect person to keep the puppy. For some reason none of us

can figure out, she thinks you can do no wrong. Don’t disappoint

her, Zach.”

Zach had thought Summer was pretty great for a seven-

year-old. Until now, when she was trying to stick him with a dog

he didn’t want for two weeks. Especialy since there was no way

he didn’t want for two weeks. Especialy since there was no way

a puppy was going to fit into his life for even two days.

His daily
—
and nightly
—
schedule was al about fast cars

and pretty women. What the hel was he going to do with a

puppy?

Shaking his head, Zach said, “You’ve realy lost your

touch, Gabe, letting two girls lead you around.”

Zach was stil surprised by how smitten his brother

was
—
not only with Megan, but with her daughter, too. And it

wasn’t just Gabe who had falen way down deep in the

bottomless pit of “true love.”
Chase, Marcus, and Sophie had

tripped into it, too.

Their mother was beyond thriled knowing there were

babies and more Sulivan weddings on the way. Zach was happy

she was happy. Just as long as she had no false expectations

about him faling in love.

Because it was
never
going to happen.

But Gabe clearly didn’t care if he’d lost his touch, or that

he’d never be able to pick up a stranger at a bar for hot sex

again. If anything, his brother looked disgustingly happy about it.

“I’m not asking you to dress the puppy up in frily doggy

clothes or to spend al day roling around in the grass with her. I

just need you to keep her fed and watered and walked while

we’re on our trip. So, wil you do it or do I have to break

Summer’s heart by teling her she’s wrong about you being a

good guy?”

As if to punctuate his brother’s request, Cuddles finaly let

As if to punctuate his brother’s request, Cuddles finaly let

go of her grip on Zach’s shoelace and looked up at him with

oversized brown eyes, her little pink tongue licking at her

whiskers as if she’d just finished a truly tasty meal.

Damn it, he’d always been a sucker for puppy-dog eyes.

He wasn’t happy about it, but he supposed he could suck it

up for a couple of weeks while Gabe, Megan, and Summer took

a European vacation to see castles and princesses and whatever

else it was Summer had been going on and on to him about at

the last Sunday lunch.

His reputation as a player with women was wel deserved,

and it was exactly how he liked things: no deep connections to

have to deal with down the road, no woman to disappoint or

leave behind one day. But his family was different. His brothers

and sisters meant everything to him.

“Fine.” He scowled down at the dog. “I’l do it. What is

she, anyway?”

His brother grinned, not bothering to hide his evil pleasure

at Zach’s capitulation. “A Yorkshire Terrier. Evidently, she’s a

big one.”

“Big?” He bent and picked her up by the ruff with two

fingers before putting her back down by his shoe. “She can’t

weight more than a couple of pounds.”

“Closer to three,” Gabe said as he headed for Zach’s front

door and came back a few seconds later with a huge cardboard

box. “Here are her things.”

Zach knew what the food and bowls were for, but

everything else looked like it belonged in the toy box at a

everything else looked like it belonged in the toy box at a

preschool. “Why does a three-pound puppy need al of this for

just two weeks?”

He had a bad feeling about this whole thing, sensing how

easily fourteen days could turn into way longer than that if he

wasn’t careful.

Gabe shrugged. “We’ve only had her a couple of days and

Summer has mostly been taking care of her so far. Timing kind

of sucks on having to leave her so soon, but I know Megan

realy appreciates you stepping up to the plate like this.”

It grated that they al thought he was such a done deal with

the puppy before ever talking to him about it, but not nearly as

much as it did when Cuddles chose that exact moment to squat

down over the toe of his shoe and empty her bladder.

Her surprisingly large bladder.

“You’d better be back for her in two weeks,” Zach warned

in a low voice, “or she’s going straight to the pound.”

Gabe’s laughter rang out as he wisely hightailed it to his car.

* * *

preliminary-level dog trainer certification class when her cel

phone buzzed. She puled it out, but when she saw the name on

her screen, she quickly shoved it back into her pocket.

“I can handle giving everyone the information for the next

set of classes if you need to get that,” her assistant, Tina, said.

Heather forced a smile. “I’ve got it.”

Heather forced a smile. “I’ve got it.”

But her brain was only half on her students as she

congratulated them on a job wel done and let them know she

was available to help them if they had any problems setting up

their businesses. After finishing up with a quick reminder about

the big Bark in the Park fundraiser at the basebal stadium that

coming Friday, and the auction the folowing Saturday night, she

headed back to her office with Atlas, her Great Dane, close

beside her.

Heather closed the door before puling the phone back out

and putting it on her desk. She wished she could just delete the

message, but she knew from past experience that it would be

smarter to find out what her father wanted.

“Sweetheart, I was hoping I’d get you rather than your

voice mail,”
he began, and she was amazed at just how strong

his denial was. Didn’t he realize she hadn’t picked up a cal from

him in years? She rubbed her hands over her arms as he

continued,
“I have a business trip to San Francisco next

week and I’m thinking of bringing your mother with me. It’s

been too long since we’ve seen our girl and we both miss

you.”

The skin on Heather’s arms started to tingle, and then burn,

across the pattern of criss-crossed scars that went from her

wrists up past her elbows, al around her arms. Nearly ten years

later, the scars were faint enough that she probably didn’t need

to wear long sleeves al the time to cover them up. But even

though the cuts were long since healed, every time she had to

deal with her father, she felt this phantom pain. Almost as if she

was seventeen years old again and locking herself into her room

to try to deal with her out-of-control emotions by making smal

cuts across the surface of her skin with a razor and watching

them bleed.

At the sound of her father’s voice, Atlas hadn’t gone to his