If You Were Mine (The Sullivans #5)(14)

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 belly as he made sure the puppy was okay.

Taking pity on him, she said, “I’ll help you clean up. Go ahead and finish your shower.”

He looked pathetically 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 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 pull her thoughts away from Cuddles’s equally cute and naughty temporary owner.

Chapter Six

Zach still 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 hall in surprise. “You’re done already ?”

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 willing to break a few rules for her. Not the big one, of course. He wasn’t going to fall in love with her or anything.

But breakfast, and wanting to spend more time with her than he usually 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 still standing in the same place. “I can’t find your whisk.”

He finally 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 tell 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 pull 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 all he could think ab—