Authors: Bella Andre
but he just might turn out to be her best student yet.
When Cuddles had her fil of water, Heather turned to
Atlas, who had been waiting patiently by her heels. She puled a
multi-colored rope out of her bag and tossed it a few feet away.
“Go ahead and play, Atlas.” Cuddles bounded through the
bowl of water in her hurry to go play, too.
“That mutt of yours worships you.”
“He’s purebred Great Dane, not a mutt,” she informed
Zach, and then said, “I think he’s pretty great, too.”
It was so tempting to relax with Zach, and to pretend they
were sharing a morning in the park together with their dogs. Too
tempting.
Clearly, she needed to work harder to remember what they
Clearly, she needed to work harder to remember what they
were together: dog trainer and puppy owner. Nothing more.
“Now we’l work on positive reinforcement. What I’d like
you to do is cal out Cuddles’s name a few times while they’re
playing. You don’t need to tel her to come, but every time she
looks at you, give her a treat or pet her or tel her how great she
is.”
Zach nodded, then turned his focus to the puppy.
“Cuddles.”
The puppy looked up at him, stil holding the tattered rope
in her mouth, to see what her temporary owner wanted. He was
immediately there with a treat and a hug. What a lucky pup she
was to be the recipient of so much of Zach’s focused attention.
He stepped back. “How’d I do?”
“You’re a glutton for praise, aren’t you?”
He moved to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes, his
fingertips making the barest contact with her skin. “That good,
huh?”
Oh God, she thought, as thril bumps rose across the
surface of her body at his gentle touch,
good
didn’t even begin
to cover it.
“Do it again,” she said, her words coming out far too
breathy for anything outside of a bedroom.
His eyes darkened as he slid his fingers against her hair
again, this time brushing the pad of his thumb across her
cheekbone. “With pleasure.”
She got so lost in sweet sensation, in the sinful promise of
She got so lost in sweet sensation, in the sinful promise of
pleasure in his eyes, that it took her far longer than it should have
to step back from his heat.
“Not that. Say the puppy’s name again.”
For a moment, she thought he was going to ignore her
clarification and pul her against him instead. Her eyes dropped
to his mouth of their own volition. What, she couldn’t stop
wondering, would it be like to feel them press against hers? Not
one of those soft kisses he’d given her against her cheek in the
kitchen, but a raw, demanding kiss that left her no room to hide
exactly how he made her feel?
Abruptly, he turned and caled for the puppy. Again,
Cuddles responded immediately and he showered her with
praise and affection.
Heather could feel her cheeks flaming at the embarrassing
way she kept losing herself over him, especialy after the way
she’d mentaly derided so many other women for doing the exact
same thing. Tightening her resolve to keep her wits about her,
she turned her entire focus back to the training session.
When Cuddles had responded to Zach saying her name a
good dozen times, she said, “I think that’s good enough for her
to start to associate pleasure with you.”
“Pleasure?”
Oh no, what had she just said?
She forced herself to continue as if it were what she would
have said to any other client. “The more she associates treats
and affection with you, the less likely it is that she’l get her jolies
from shredding your couch apart. Especialy once she learns that
from shredding your couch apart. Especialy once she learns that
you don’t approve of that behavior.”
“I thought you said yeling was out.”
“You won’t need to yel at her anymore. Because if you
catch her puling feathers out of a pilow and don’t smile and pet
her and tel her how wonderful she is, she’l be disappointed.”
“I wonder if the same thing would work with my staff?”
She had to laugh at the idea of him dealing with the big men
she’d seen working in his garages the way he just had with the
puppy.
A young couple walked past, their hands linked, their
mouths fused to each other’s faces. It wouldn’t have been so
bad if they hadn’t stopped just then to paw at each other and
murmur adoring words against each other’s lips.
Zach caught Heather’s grimace. “You don’t approve of the
loving couple?”
“I could have lived without seeing them clean each other’s
tonsils, but other than that, I’m happy for them for as long as it
lasts.”
“As long as it lasts?” He looked confused. “I thought al
women believed in forever?”
Just the stupid ones.
“Nope, not al of us.”
He was helping her pack up her bag as he said, “Why
not?”
Their conversation had crossed the line again, from
professional to personal. Clearly, Zach wasn’t big on
boundaries. So instead of answering him, she just shrugged and
said, “What about you?” even though she could fairly easily
said, “What about you?” even though she could fairly easily
guess the answer.
“I’m not a forever kind of guy,” he said, as if that explained
everything. And then, “Some guy you were dating broke your
heart, didn’t he?”
Any warmth she might have been letting herself feel toward
him immediately cooled. “My heart is perfectly intact, thank
you.”
He snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it. Your parents split up
and you’ve never gotten over it.”
She had to unclench her teeth to say, “Wrong again. My
parents are stil together. Not,” she added pointedly, “that it’s
any of your business.”
And not that their intact marriage had given her one single
good thing to believe about love
—
or any hope whatsoever in a
beautiful forever. In fact, it was the just the opposite whenever
she thought about her parents’ relationship, about the way her
father had cheated on her mother probably from the first day
they’d met, and the fact that her mother stayed with him, like a
dog begging for scraps regardless of the way he treated her.
Heather picked up her bag and caled for Atlas so that they
could leave. She never should have come over to Zach’s house
this morning in the first place, or had breakfast with him, let alone
a second one-on-one training session. She couldn’t wait to get
back to her office. Back to her normal life. Back to the way
things had been before thoughts of Zach Sulivan
—
and what his
kisses might feel like
—
had started to crowd out al her good
kisses might feel like
—
had started to crowd out al her good
sense.
But instead of getting the message that she was done talking
about why she didn’t believe in love, as Cuddles came sprinting
up behind Atlas, Zach said, “There’s got to be a reason.”
Professional had gone out the window so long ago she
didn’t even try to get back there this time. Instead, she said
exactly what was on her mind. “Let me make sure I have this
straight. A guy can not be looking for love because it’l
complicate his easy life. But a woman has to have al sorts of
trauma to make her like that?”
Even the nauseating couple stopped licking each other’s
faces to take in their heated discussion. Wel, heated on her side
anyway, because Zach looked completely unrepentant. Worse,
he seemed amused with her reaction.
“That sounds about right.”
She threw the bag of doggy treats straight at his heart.
* * *
him. And they definitely never said they didn’t believe in forever.
Was Heather perfect, or what?
Hot damn, he couldn’t wait to get her into bed, and keep
her there. Especialy now that he knew she wasn’t secretly
looking for the big commitment.
The fun they were going to have once she finaly came
around...
around...
The dogs threw themselves on the doggy treats that had
spiled out of the bag when it bounced off his chest.
“Was that part of your lesson on positive reinforcement?”
he teased her.
He tried not to laugh when she growled at him as she bent
to pick up the bag and shoo the dogs away from the food. He
was bending down to help her when he looked up to see a
teenager on an out-of-control skateboard barreling down the hil
straight toward them.
The kid was yeling for them to get out of the way and Zach
quickly scooped Cuddles up in one hand and slid his arm around
Heather’s waist with the other. “Atlas, come!” he ordered as he
roled quickly to the side.
The edge of the skateboard clipped Zach’s calf hard
enough to make him grunt in pain, but al that mattered was that
he had Heather safe and sound beneath him, the puppy cradled
in the crook of one arm, and Atlas beside his beautiful owner.
They were out of the path of danger now, and he should
have let Heather go. But how could he when she was so soft, so
warm...and was looking up at him with those big eyes that had
turned his heart over in his chest from the first moment he’d seen
them.
He’d wanted her from that first moment, but strangely, he
wasn’t thinking about sex now. Not entirely, anyway.
“Did you realy have to do that?” she asked in a voice that
trembled slightly.
He brushed her hair away from her forehead, letting his
He brushed her hair away from her forehead, letting his
hand linger in the soft strands that had come loose from her
braid.
“Yes.”
He wanted to press his lips to her forehead, wanted to
reassure himself that no harm had
—
or would
—
come to her.
He leaned closer and brushed his mouth to her skin before
saying, “It would have realy pissed me off if you’d been
obliterated by a pimply fourteen-year-old and his skateboard.”
“I was al set to stay irritated with you,” she whispered,
sounding aroused and breathless and anything but irritated. “Say
something cocky, please.”
Strange, but for the first time that he could remember, he
didn’t want to.
This was the perfect chance to take that kiss he knew she
wanted to give him, more than just brushing lips against her
cheek.
He’d just saved her and she was grateful—he could feel
her heart beating against his as her breath came too quickly.
Lord knew she’d been driving him crazy with her curves, her
pretty smiles, her expressive eyes al morning long.
Damn it.
He couldn’t do it...al because he liked her.
Too much.
Zach roled onto his back on the grass and stared up at the
blue sky, biting back a string of curses at his stupidity in wilingly
giving up his chance to finaly seduce Heather.
Once the puppy was set free again, Cuddles immediately
scampered onto his chest and started licking first him, then
Heather, long enough that the puppy got them both laughing as
they tried to rol out of the way. And when Heather’s fingers
accidentaly slid against his, it was the most natural thing in the
world to fit his against hers so that he could lift her hand to his
lips and press a kiss to her palm.
His phone rang at the same moment hers did and he felt her
fingers stiffen in his. And even though it turned out that lying
there, fuly clothed beside each other, was better than any time
he’d ever spent naked with another woman, he made himself let
go of her hand as she moved to get back on her feet.
Neither of them said a word as they checked their
messages and then walked back to his house, and as she and
Atlas got in her car and drove away, Cuddles whined in his arms
as if her heart had just been split in two.
Heather didn’t believe in backing down from a chalenge. It
was how she’d been able to build Top Dog from a one-on-one
training business into a ful-service training center and doggy day
care. She wasn’t afraid of standing up for herself or facing down
difficult situations.
But she hadn’t gotten to where she was by being stupid,
either.
And that was what spending any more time with Zach
Sulivan would be.
Stupid.
To the
n
th degree.
It wasn’t even the two almost-kisses that worried her.
Kissing, even sex, was something she knew how to