Authors: Bella Andre
shirt back through the branch that had taken hold of her. Did he
mean for his fingertips to skim her spine? she wondered as she
held her breath until he was done.
But whether he did or not had nothing to do with her
reaction.
She shouldn’t have felt like a lover had just caressed her.
Heather waited for Atlas to growl at the man for daring to
touch her, but instead, he just kept wagging his tail.
She couldn’t believe it. After a lifetime of distrusting al men
everywhere, Atlas hadn’t decided to take an instant liking to this
one, had he?
“Al clear,” the man finaly said. “Here, reach back for my
hand and I’l help you up.”
He didn’t give her time to agree or evade, he simply slid his
caloused palm against her softer one, and puled her to her feet.
Her legs had been cramped into the tight position for long
enough that blood rushed too fast to her calves and feet.
enough that blood rushed too fast to her calves and feet.
Unsteady, she swayed against him, her shoulder pressing against
his chest.
Her hand stil in his, he said, “I’ve got you,” as he brought
his other arm around her waist to keep her from tumbling with
the dog in her arms.
She was shocked by how good it felt to have his arms
around her. So stunned, in fact, that when he said, “I’l take her
off your hands now,” she almost let him take the puppy from her.
But despite how topsy-turvy her body was behaving, she
hadn’t forgotten the way he’d yeled for the puppy, or how angry
he’d seemed.
Heather took a step back out of his arms, finaly puling her
hand free to hold the dog closer to her chest to protect it. “No,”
she said as she finaly looked up at his face, “I don’t think that’s
a good id
—
”
Oh my God.
She took another step back, but this time it had nothing to
do with the dog in her arms. Heather had never understood her
friends who drooled over pictures of good-looking men, had
always figured she wasn’t particularly visualy oriented.
Now she realized it was simply that her gaze hadn’t landed
on the right man.
Within five seconds of taking in his dark hair, his perfectly
chiseled face, his blue eyes and broad shoulders, her heart
started to pound too fast, her mouth dried out, her palms grew
damp, and her breath quickened. Not to mention the fact that al
of her girly parts were actualy growing hot and tingly.
of her girly parts were actualy growing hot and tingly.
Not once in twenty-seven years had she ever been struck
with such a visceral, physical reaction to a man.
What was wrong with her?
Forcing her synapses to refire, she said, “Is this your
puppy?”
He lowered his gaze to the puppy’s cute face.
“Unfortunately.”
Jerk.
“I know you’re interested in my dog training services,” she
told him, “but I’m afraid
—
”
“You’re a dog trainer?” he asked, cutting her off before she
could tel him that not only was she not going to work with him,
but she also thought it best that she find the puppy a new home
right away. One that would appreciate the little dog in al her
mischievous glory. “You’re not one of the girls for the ad?”
He gestured over his shoulder and she looked to see a half-
dozen women in bikinis standing around waiting for a
photographer to finish setting up lights.
She blinked at him, unable to believe he could possibly
have thought that.
“God, no,”
she said, and then, “You asked
Agnes Mackelroy to cal me about some special training
sessions.” She paused before asking, “Didn’t you?”
He shook his head. “I always knew I loved that woman for
more than just her kiler Aston Martin colection.” The smile he
gave her was clearly intended to melt her into a puddle of lust at
his feet. “Trust Agnes to also send the prettiest dog trainer on the
planet my way.”
Absolutely, positively refusing to melt for him, she arched
her eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
Atlas reacted to the icy tone of her voice by letting out a
low whine. She couldn’t believe this man was talking to her like
this, trying to flirt with her by saying she could be one of the
models. Especialy when she knew exactly what she looked like
in her ripped, sweaty shirt, muddy shorts, and skinned knees.
If only she’d trained Atlas to be an attack dog...
A man holding a large camera caled out to them. “Hey
Zach, the models need to know how you want them on the
cars?”
“Don’t let us stop you from your important work. Atlas,
let’s go.” She picked up his leash as her big dog rose to his feet
beside her.
She was heading to her car when Zach said, “Hey, I
thought you were going to stay to train me?”
How, she wondered, did he manage to make her job sound
quite so
filthy?
Deciding not to dignify his obnoxious comment
with a reply, she didn’t even break stride.
At least until he said, “Forget something?”
Darn it. She’d been hoping to make a quick getaway while
he was distracted by tiny bikinis and spray-on tans.
Steeling herself for the confrontation
—
and for looking at
him again without reacting like a teenage girl hit with her first
burst of hormones
—
Heather turned around slowly. “I heard you
yeling earlier. We both know you’re not interested in having a
yeling earlier. We both know you’re not interested in having a
puppy.” She looked down at the fluff in her arms, deceptively
innocent as it snored softly. “Especialy one that can be so
playful.”
He crossed the distance between them and she had to fight
the urge to take a step back. “I’l get one of those crates for it
for the next couple of weeks.”
Heather didn’t stop the snarl from erupting from her lips.
“You use a crate for specific training purposes, not to imprison a
dog al day.” She should have just turned and walked away from
him, but she had to know. “Why would you get a puppy if you
don’t even want one?”
“My seven-year-old niece-to-be dumped her on me this
morning, to take care of while she’s on vacation. She’l crucify
me if anything happens to it.” She was surprised to see a hint of
fear hit his eyes. “I remember just how vicious my little sisters
could be when I made them mad.”
Even as she tried to steel herself against liking anything
about this man, she couldn’t miss the deep affection in his voice
as he spoke about the women in his life. She shouldn’t care how
good-looking he was, or how electric it had felt when he’d taken
her hand or held her to keep her from faling.
And she certainly shouldn’t care if he had a soft spot for
seven-year-old girls and little sisters.
Stil, it explained why he wasn’t the least bit equipped to
deal with a puppy. Heather sighed as she realized that perhaps
walking away from him with his puppy in tow wasn’t going to be
quite as easy as she’d thought.
quite as easy as she’d thought.
“Damn it,” he said, his eyes darkening as he suddenly
squatted down and ran one hand over her thigh.
She jumped back. “What are you doing?”
“You’re bleeding.” He looked incredibly pissed off by this
fact. “What the hel were you doing crawling in there in shorts?”
“Saving the dog you lost,” she shot back at him, even as a
part way down deep inside warmed at the fact that he even
cared about her skinned knees...not to mention the shockingly
seductive feel of his hands on her skin.
She’d been taking care of herself for so long that she
couldn’t remember the last time someone had worried about her.
“Come inside the shop and I’l clean you up.”
The thought of him touching her again had her swalowing
hard. She’d always thought there was something so sexy about a
mechanic’s hands. The fact that they were so skiled at building
and fixing things made it difficult not to wonder what else those
hands were good at.
No!
She knew better than to wonder something like that about
t h i s
mechanic. Talented hands did not make the man,
unfortunately.
“You should get back to the models. I can take care of it
myself.”
But judging by the look on his face, for a moment she
thought he was going to pick her up and carry her over to the
garage against her wil. Instead, he said, “You hurt yourself
saving my dog. It’s my fault you’re bleeding. Let me take care of
saving my dog. It’s my fault you’re bleeding. Let me take care of
you—” He stopped, cursing softly. “You saved my dog and I
don’t even know your name.”
“Heather.”
“Heather.” He held the seven letters on his tongue as if he
was savoring them, and she was held spelbound despite herself.
“That’s a pretty name. I’m Zach.”
It shouldn’t have felt so intimate just to tel him her name.
But when he’d repeated it in a low, husky tone, just hearing it fal
from his gorgeous lips had been practicaly better than ful-blown
sex with any other man. And she definitely shouldn’t want to
savor his name on her tongue, too.
“What’s the puppy’s name?”
He winced, giving her another flash of normal that was so
unexpected given the perfect package it was in. “Do you realy
need to know?”
“Trust me, I’ve heard a lot of crazy dog names over the
years.” But something told her this one was going to take the
cake. At least she hoped it would. “And you know, she might
have actualy come back to you if you’d caled for her by name
instead of ‘Dog.’”
A muscle jumped in his jaw right before he muttered,
“Cuddles.”
Heather pressed her lips together to try to keep her giggles
from erupting, but she couldn’t stop the laughter from shaking
her shoulders.
* * *
There were half a dozen girls in bikinis waiting in Zach’s
garage, but the woman laughing with his dog in her arms, wearing
a sweaty, long-sleeved T-shirt and muddy shorts, with a messy
braid trailing down her back, put them al to shame.
He couldn’t think of a time he’d ever seen eyes that color,
brown with so many flecks of gold that he couldn’t look away.
And, Jesus, that mouth of hers, rosy and ful, made a man want
to do crazy things...like grab the puppy and kiss it al over its
drooly, disgusting little face for bringing Heather here today.
He’d been pissed off at Gabe and Summer for dumping the
dog on him for two weeks. Now he realized he should thank
them, instead.
Unlike most women, however, he could tel Heather
wanted nothing to do with him. Fortunately, her dog didn’t seem
to have any of the same qualms, especialy when he sniffed the
glazed sugar on Zach’s fingers from the donut he’d been eating
for breakfast.
“Hey, mutt,” Zach said, thinking fast, “I left the rest of my
donut on the counter inside. You want it?”
The huge dog’s ears twitched as if he understood, but he
didn’t move. Instead, he looked up at Heather for approval.
Clearly, she was gearing up to refuse. But, man, that huge
dog could play up the puppy dog eyes when he wanted to. Zach
was impressed. He’d have to remember how to do that in the
future.
future.
Her dog let out a low whine and Heather finaly sighed and
said, “Okay, fine. Go.” As she let go of his leash and the
enormous dog loped off toward the garage, she folowed him,
stil carrying Cuddles.
“I get that you weren’t prepared for a puppy, but I can’t
leave her with you if you’re going to put her in a crate al day.
She needs to understand how to stay with you so she doesn’t get
hurt by something in the garage. You’re going to need to work
on training her to understand your commands. And you’re going
to have to do it without yeling at her.” She shot him a hard look.
“Ever again.”
He would agree with whatever Heather said just as long as
she stayed long enough for him to convince her to give him a
chance. He couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman this bad,
this fast.
“Hey Chase,” he told his brother, “I’ve got to cal off the
shoot.”
The models looked at his brother in confusion and Chase
told them to take five before saying, “Chloe is going to have the
baby any day now, and then I’m out of commission for a while.
You sure you want to reschedule?”
Despite her ongoing protests that she was fine, Zach was
already kneeling in front of Heather and gently wiping at the open
skin on her knee with an antiseptic wipe from a nearby First Aid