Authors: Bella Andre
kit.
“I’ve got to clear my schedule for puppy training.”
“Seriously?” Heather blinked at him like he was driving on
“Seriously?” Heather blinked at him like he was driving on
three wheels. “That’s why you’re sending everyone home? Isn’t
your boss going to be mad?”
“Agnes didn’t mention my last name, did she?”
Her eyes widened with disbelief as she looked from him to
the sign on the wal, then back again. “You’re the Sulivan in
Sulivan Autos? This is your garage?”
“Don’t worry, I know cars a lot better than I know dogs.”
But he knew women best of al. And, he thought as he slid
a Band-Aid strip over her left knee, he couldn’t wait to get his
hands on more than Heather’s knees. Because even as he
cleaned and bandaged her cuts, her skin was so warm, so soft,
so responsive to his touch.
After he slid another Band-Aid strip over her silky smooth
skin, he held out his arms. “Now that the shoot’s off, I’m al
yours to train.”
Most women would have been pleased by the sensual
undertones in his words, or would at least have blushed, but she
simply glared at him with icy cool eyes.
Cuddles yawned and curled closer into her chest. What
Zach wouldn’t do to be where the puppy was.
She shifted her legs out of his reach. “You can’t cancel
your photo shoot. You’l lose too much money.” She stood up
and grabbed her dog’s leash again. “Atlas, it’s time to go.”
Damn it, she was going to leave. Panic gripped him, even
though he’d only just met her, even though he could easily find
another woman to have sex with. “Heather
—
”
another woman to have sex with. “Heather
—
”
She frowned as she looked down at where he was stil
kneeling on the cement floor. “Since you can’t keep Cuddles
here while you’re
—
” She paused to look at the models chain
smoking and talking on their cel phones in the parking lot. “
—
working
, I’l take her to my office. When she wakes up, she can
play with Atlas until you get there for our first session.”
She told him the address, then made a clicking sound that
had her huge dog folowing her out of the garage with an adoring
look on his furry face.
Zach understood exactly how the dog felt. One sign from
her and he’d happily do the same thing.
His brother moved beside him and, together, they watched
Heather leave, her long braid swinging behind her, her legs
strong and tanned in her shorts.
“Who’s that?”
Zach grinned. “My new dog trainer.”
And, hopefuly, a hel of a lot more than that real soon.
The afternoon sun was streaming in through Heather’s
office window as she finaly hung up her phone. Rubbing the
back of her neck with both hands, she stretched the tight
muscles. If she’d known it was going to be this much work to
head up the fundraising committee for the San Francisco animal
shelter or just how hard it would be to convince potential donors
shelter or just how hard it would be to convince potential donors
to give to their worthy cause...
Wel, she would have signed up for the job anyway. But at
least she might have been better prepared for it. Fortunately, the
big fundraising events were both this weekend, and then she
could lie in a bath with her eyes closed and a very big glass of
wine as long as she wanted to.
But for right now, coffee would make everything better.
And maybe a couple of those chocolate truffles she had told her
assistant Tina to throw away.
She got up from behind her computer and Atlas and
Cuddles both yawned as she walked past. “Don’t let me
interrupt your naps,” she told them.
They’d played together al day and she was impressed that
Zach’s dog had only had a couple of accidents, more from the
excitement of playing with a big dog than anything else.
Atlas immediately plopped his big head back on his huge
dog pilow and she shot him a mock scowl as she opened the
door. “Keep rubbing it in how awesome your relaxed schedule is
and next time I’l send you out to deal with every one of those
companies I just caled.”
Her final words landed in a thud against a hard, male wal.
“Talking to the dogs, huh?”
Heat seared her hands as she pressed them against the
chest of the ridiculously gorgeous man whose low voice had just
rumbled through her.
“Zach.”
“Heather.”
“Heather.”
He smiled down at her, his dark eyes ful of so much
sensuality that she almost felt singed by nothing more than his
gaze. One that seemed to promise more pleasure than she’d ever
imagined.
Seriously, what was wrong with her? She took a much
needed step back. And why was it so difficult to pul her mind
back from the gutter’s edge around this man?
She’d never had a problem keeping her guard up around
men before. For al his good looks, Zach Sulivan shouldn’t be
any different. Especialy when he was as charming as they came.
Charming
had never
been a point in any man’s favor
where Heather was concerned. Not when her father had given
the trait such a bad rap.
“How’s the puppy doing?”
She moved to the side so that he could see Cuddles licking
Atlas’s muzzle with the kind of great enthusiasm that only a
puppy could exhibit.
“She seems to have him under her spel.”
“She sure does.”
She realized Zach was staring at her, or more specificaly,
her hair. She’d had it back in a braid earlier, but had tugged it
free as the afternoon wore on.
“You have beautiful hair.” His mouth moved up into a
ridiculously sexy smile. “Makes a guy want to run his hand
through it to see if it’s as silky as it looks.”
Since she foolishly found herself wanting the same thing, she
reached into her pocket for a hair band, then puled it back into a
reached into her pocket for a hair band, then puled it back into a
ponytail. She’d put on a new shirt upon her return to the office,
but she stil had on her muddy shorts.
Pointedly ignoring the compliment about her hair, while
teling herself she didn’t care if she stil looked like a grubby
mess, she said. “Are you ready to get started with training?”
Her voice was brisk and professional, but Zach only
seemed to relax more against her door jamb.
“You didn’t tel me you owned this place. Very
impressive.”
“Heather, I’m back from the bank dropoff and they wanted
to know if—” Tina’s mouth fel open, then snapped shut. “Hi.”
“Helo,” Zach said to her attractive blonde employee. “I’m
Zach Sulivan.”
Her assistant’s eyes widened and al she said again was a
breathy, “Hi.”
Tina was briliant with not only dogs, but also their owners.
She was an organizational whiz. And she had a very serious
boyfriend.
Stil, one look at Zach was clearly al it took for her brain
cels to wash down the drain. It was smal comfort to Heather
that she wasn’t the only one that had happened to today.
Good thing she was over it.
Completely, one hundred percent over his square jaw, and
his broad shoulders, the way his mouth—
Yikes.
Realy, her brain needed to stop doing that.
“Tina,” she said in a scrupulously professional manner,
“Zach is the new client I mentioned would be by later for some
one-on-one training with Cuddles.”
“She’s such a cute puppy,” Tina gushed. “And I just love
her name. Most guys wouldn’t be confident enough to name their
dog Cuddles.” She beamed at Zach.
Ugh.
Heather didn’t think she could stomach either coffee
or chocolate anymore. The sooner she got Zach out of her office
and out into training, the sooner he’d leave.
And then everything would go back to normal.
Like her heart rate, for one.
“Atlas, heel.” Her dog carefuly extracted himself from
beneath the tiny puppy and moved to her side.
Five p.m. was precisely when the bulk of her day care
clients came in to pick up their dogs and, unfortunately, just the
walk across the large room out to the fenced-off grass behind
the building was enough for Zach to attract a shocking amount of
female attention. Women she’d known for years, whether single
or happily married
—
even the grandmothers
—
couldn’t keep their
eyes off him. The last thing a guy like Zach Sulivan needed was
a puppy to make him a magnet for even more female attention.
When they finaly managed to get outside, he put the dog
down on the grass. Cuddles immediately started running in
circles, chasing her tail. She could tel from the way Atlas was
vibrating beside her that he wanted to play, too, but he was too
wel trained to break protocol on a whim.
“How long did your brother have Cuddles before he asked
you to watch her?”
you to watch her?”
“A couple of days.”
She was glad to hear the slate was fairly clean, at least.
“The first few days with a puppy are realy important. They can
be so cute that even when you want to keep to the rules, you
end up breaking them. But that would be a big mistake with her.”
“She weighs three pounds,” he said as Cuddles began to
rol on the grass. “How much trouble can she realy get into given
a little freedom?”
Heather knew far too wel the price of freedom. Not just
for dogs who felt lost and afraid in a boundaryless world, but for
women who fel for charming men like Zach Sulivan. Men who
wanted what they wanted, when they wanted it, without any
regard for anyone else
—
and got it.
“Freedom is overrated,” she told him in a hard voice. When
he raised an eyebrow at her tone, she moderated it before
saying, “Don’t forget,
she’s recently been taken away from her
mother and littermates and she has no clue whatsoever how to
navigate our world. Just like this morning at your garage,
anything could happen to her. It’s your job to watch over her,
and to teach her how to stay safe.”
“This isn’t just a business for you,” he noted. “You realy
care about dogs, don’t you?”
Surprised that he had any insight whatsoever into her, she
put her hand on Atlas’s back and said, “Someone has to.”
Zach looked down at her big dog. “What happened to
him?”
Atlas’s ears perked up when he realized they were talking
Atlas’s ears perked up when he realized they were talking
about him.
Once more, she was stunned by how closely Zach was
paying attention to her subtle cues, rather than being too busy
admiring his reflection in her window to notice the world around
him.
“I found Atlas at a puppy mil.”
“A puppy mil?”
“It’s where unscrupulous breeders crank out as many
pedigreed dogs as they can sel for big bucks. His left ear
flopped to the side just enough that no one wanted to buy him.
Once they realized that, they stopped feeding him or letting him
out of his crate.”
Zach got down on the grass. “Rough start, huh?” Atlas not
only let the big man rub his ears, but he practicaly started
purring. “Lucky you, getting to go home with Heather.”
She roled her eyes, positively thriled that Zach had capped
off his too-sweet reaction to Atlas’s story with a blatantly sexual
quip. She could tel that he genuinely liked her dog, and she
would have been more afraid of it getting to her if he hadn’t been
so busy troling out the overused
—
and underwhelming
—
pickup
lines.
“Okay, let’s get started. I’l show both you and Cuddles
the end goal with Atlas, and then we’l begin the process of
teaching her how to obey your commands. Sound good?”
He stood back up and nodded. “Sure. I’m great at giving
commands.”
Intent on ignoring the sensual undertones he seemed to slide
Intent on ignoring the sensual undertones he seemed to slide
beneath practicaly every word out of his mouth, she said, “There
are five basic commands we’l want Cuddles to understand.
Come, sit, stay, down,
and
heel
. But for the first day, the most
important is
come
.”
Thankfuly he didn’t jump on any double entendres with
that command as she picked up a dog toy and threw it across
the lawn. “Atlas, fetch.”
Her dog loped off with the puppy hot on its heels, almost as
if they didn’t want to be separated for even a second. When he
was halfway to the toy, she caled out, “Atlas, come!”
He skidded on his huge paws and did a quick about-face,