If You Were Mine (The Sullivans #5)(71)

Not when he’d been gripped with the need to save them both before they went too far, too deep, into a forever that could—or couldn’t, depending on the same bad luck and shitty fate that had befallen his father—be out there for them.

Exactly one week after Heather had left him, Zach pulled over in front of his mother’s house. His tire jammed into the curb with a sharp pop.

A flat.

Figured, the way his luck was going.

Just as he’d thought at the racetrack, he’d finally used up his share of good fortune.

His charmed life had officially ended the moment Heather walked out of his house.

He grabbed the brightly wrapped baby gift from the passenger seat and shoved the pink and yellow balloons tied to his mother’s mailbox out of his way as he headed for the front door. The last thing he was in the mood for today was a baby shower, regardless of how cute Chase and Chloe’s kid was.

If only he could see Emma without the rest of his family around, poking at him.

If only he could forget the way Heather had looked with Emma in her arms. So beautiful, so natural, so amazed by the perfect little life.

When he closed his eyes at night just to lie there until the sun came up, that was what he saw. Heather and the baby. The wonder on her face. The joy.

The longing.

How could he have done anything but fall in love with her?

And how could he do anything now but let her go?

The front door was half-open and he plopped his gift on the pile in the living room. Planning to see Emma, give her a kiss, and then get the hell out of there, he had just stepped out into his mother’s backyard when Gabe intercepted him.

“Here.” His brother shoved an overjoyed ball of fur at him.

Zach grabbed Cuddles before she fell out of his arms. “What the hell?”

“She’s yours. We’re not taking her back.” Gabe scowled. “You couldn’t pay us to take her back.”

The puppy was losing its mind licking Zach all over his neck and chin. It didn’t matter how he shifted her, she just kept showering him with her slobbery love.

“What kind of trouble could she have caused? I gave her back to you trained.”

Megan appeared at Gabe’s side. “She wouldn’t stop crying, Zach. No matter what we did, she wouldn’t stop.” She watched Cuddles turn herself inside out to show Zach just how pleased she was to see him. “Now I see why. You two are obviously a match made in heaven.”

Zach wanted to argue, wanted to tell them either they kept the dog or he was taking it to the pound. But, damn it, he’d missed the little fur ball all week. He’d look down at his lap, expecting to see her there, and had hated how empty, how sterile his living room was without her chew toys, the dog bed empty in the corner.

And yet, even as excited as the puppy was to see him, she kept looking around and whimpering between licks.

He knew why. She was looking for her friend, Atlas.

And for Heather.

The four of them had been such a tight unit that the puppy couldn’t possibly understand where everyone had gone.

Or why only he had returned.

“Fine,” he growled, “I’ll keep her. Where’s the baby?”

Gabe and Megan shot each other a look before gesturing over their shoulders. Chloe was sitting with the baby on her lap. She looked exhausted and radiant all at the same time.

Zach put Cuddles down and the puppy immediately, frantically started jumping up on his leg. “Down!” The puppy put her front feet down and waited for his next command. “I’m just going to wash your slobber off my face and hands. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. You’ll be coming back home with me later.”

He could have sworn the little Yorkie nodded at him as if she understood precisely what he’d said. Just the way, he found himself thinking, Atlas had always been so perfectly in tune with Heather.

In the kitchen, he shoved the faucet up so hard that water sprayed all over him. He pumped half a bottle of soap into his hands, then stuck his hands and face under the water, before yanking a clean kitchen towel out of a drawer and drying off with it.

Cuddles trailed after him as he headed toward the baby. Chloe smiled up at him. Chase’s wife was the only one who didn’t seem disgusted with him.

He sat beside her and took the baby into his arms. Big blue eyes blinked up at him and chubby little legs kicked. Zach dropped his mouth to the super-soft skin on her forehead. “Pretty girl. Your Uncle Zach is going to spoil you rotten.”

He heard Chloe laugh. “Look at her, she already knows it, doesn’t she? I think she’s even giving you her first smile.”

And it was true—baby Emma’s lips were curved up at she gazed at him and gave a little gurgle of happiness.

“Either that,” he heard Chase say, “or she’s going to give Uncle Zach his first lesson in changing a diaper.”

To reinforce her father’s prophetic words, Emma’s face scrunched up and she grunted a couple of times while squirming in his hands.

Chase laughed and said, “Here’s the diaper bag.”

But Chloe was already standing up and taking the baby out of his arms. Zach watched the two of them walk away as Chase said, “Sounds like you’ve been screwing up big time lately. Crashing cars. Losing women.”

“You guys have been waiting long enough for me to blow something. Figured I’d finally come through for you.”