If You Were Mine (The Sullivans #5)(65)

“That’s why you do so much for them,” he said in a low voice as he now realized what she’d been through. And how brave she’d been to come out on the other side so strong. Braver than he’d ever been. “Those dogs and cats in that shelter helped you the way you’ve always helped them, didn’t they?”

Finally, a tear fell. The first he’d ever seen her cry.

“I never trusted anyone with the truth about my scars before. I never thought I could.” Her mouth wobbled at the corners as she tried to smile. And failed. “Until you.” She shook her head, half laughing as she said, “I still can’t believe it ended up being you.”

“Thank you for telling me. For trusting me.”

“I don’t know why I’m still crying,” she said as her tears fell one after the other. “Especially when telling you has made me feel so much better, so much lighter than I’ve been in a long, long time.”

He wished he could come clean about his own demons, wished he had half the guts Heather did. But after twenty-three years of holding the darkness deep inside, he just didn’t see how sharing his fears would do anything but upset her. He also knew there was nothing he could say to take away her scars, or to change the man her father was.

Fortunately, he had a couple of backup reinforcements that came naturally equipped to comfort the woman he loved.

“Cuddles, Atlas, come!”

Three pounds of fur and bone and teeth flew into his arms. He handed the puppy to Heather while Atlas leaned his big head on her thighs. Zach put his arms around her and the two dogs to let her tears fall on all of them.

And like the family they’d become so quickly, the three of them loved her tears away with the kind of slobbery kisses that only a couple of dogs—and a man who’d been likened to one many, many times—could.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Heather had never been so busy with dogs and work...and Zach. She wasn’t even coming close to getting enough sleep, not with a sinfully gorgeous man in her bed, or her in his. But the rest she did get, when his body was wrapped around hers, or when she was using his rock-hard muscles as a pillow, was better than a full night of sleep without him had ever been.

And every day he surprised her. Not just with laughter. But with more love than she could have ever imagined would be hers.

On Wednesday night, he took her and the dogs to an outdoor concert on the green. The band members were friends of his and he’d scored amazing tickets. Together they’d laughed at the way the dogs’ tails wagged in time to the music. And when the sun set, he pulled her between his legs and kept her warmer than any blanket could have.

Thursday found them out on Smith’s sailboat, the dogs in their own fitted life vests, Cuddles under one of Zach’s arms, his free hand holding hers tightly as Atlas lay at their feet. She’d never realized before just how beautiful the Golden Gate Bridge looked in the setting sun...or how nice it was to be able to share that beauty with someone she loved.

By Friday, when she thought she was ready for whatever he had planned, he completely blew her mind by suggesting they hunker down at home on the couch and watch movies together. He made her watch Hoosiers and even though she could have sworn nothing would ever get her interested in basketball, she had to admit to being hooked by the end of the movie. As payback, she cued up The Sound of Music, and even though Zach wouldn’t admit how much he liked it, she caught him humming “My Favorite Things” as he was brushing his teeth.

Heather had to give credit where credit was due. Zach was amazingly good at everything he did, from loving her senseless, to getting her to talk a little more every day about her feelings about her parents. Safe in his arms, she’d started to realize that even though blood tied her to her father and mother, she’d succeeded at building up a real family for herself via her close bonds with friends, co-workers, and the animals she’d taken in over the years.

A part of her still couldn’t get over the fact that Zach Sullivan was the one who had helped her see things more clearly. He was so far from the self-absorbed, vain man she’d once assumed he was.

Was he charming?

God, yes, he was charming. With charisma to spare, enough that her eyeballs sometimes hurt from all the eye-rolling he—and the reactions of women who constantly drooled over him—inspired.

But was he a liar and a cheat?

No, he wasn’t.

On the contrary, he was one of the most honest people she’d ever met. Everything was right there on the surface with Zach. He didn’t make you guess, he just told it to you like it was.

Still, she was nervous come Saturday morning. Not only because he was going to be racing again, this time at the raceway in the wine country near Marcus’s winery, but also because this was the first time she was going to be spending an entire day with his family.

She’d started off insisting to Lori and Sophie that she wasn’t going to date Zach, had clearly blown that by doing the friends-with-benefits thing, and then had capped it all off by flipping out at Chase and Chloe’s house and yelling at Zach on the sidewalk that he couldn’t possibly love her because they had an agreement.

Ugh.

“Looks like you need a little help relaxing.” They were walking onto the racetrack, hand-in-hand, and he was giving her the grin that told her he had wicked plans.

Very wicked plans.