she said when she caught the way
he was looking at her, but her chastisement was milder this time.
He resisted the urge to do a fist pump in the air at finaly
making some headway. “Already told you, I can’t help myself.
You’re too pretty.”
She reached for another piece of pizza. “That’s one big
reason, right there. You’re way too quick with the lines.”
“It’s not a line, it’s true.”
“See?” She picked a piece of egg off the pizza and popped
it into her mouth. “Way too quick.”
“Okay, you’ve got it. I won’t talk when we’re in bed.”
“I should be surprised that you just said that,” she said
almost more to herself than to him, “but already I’m not.”
She ran her finger over the rim of her drink and sucked the
sugar off it, which made him ache beneath the table.
“I’m also not interested in being your flavor of the week.
Or night, as the case probably is.”
“Forget about a night or a week,” he told her. “A month
wil work just fine.” Although right now, even thirty days with
Heather tied to his bedposts, her long, silky hair spread al
around her, didn’t seem like it would be long enough.
She let out a long, irritated sigh as she turned to watch the
dogs drinking from the big water bowl across the room. “You
should have been a politician instead of a mechanic.”
He didn’t correct her by teling her he was more than a
mechanic, that he owned forty Sulivan Auto franchises up and
down the West Coast.
“And just to be clear,” she added, “you’re not my type.”
“And just to be clear,” she added, “you’re not my type.”
Now it was his turn to say, “Good thing you’re a dog
trainer and not a politician. You’re a terrible liar, Heather.”
She scooted her chair back and he could tel she was angry
as she chucked the rest of her pizza into the trash. “What, you
think you’re so irresistible that you believe there isn’t a woman
alive who doesn’t want to be with you?”
“I’m sure there is,” he said in an easy voice as he stood up,
“but you’re not her.” Before she could throw something at his
head, he said, “Cuddles, come!”
His smart little puppy raced over into his open arms and the
two of them got the hel out of there.
Chapter Five
“Help! I’m having another puppy emergency.”
Heather held the phone to her ear as she roled over in bed
and blearily looked at the clock. “It’s five thirty in the morning.”
It wouldn’t be so bad if she’d gotten more sleep, but al night
long she’d watched the clock tick over from 11 p.m. to midnight
to 1 a.m. and then 2 a.m. before her brain finaly gave up and
shut down.
Damn Zach Sulivan for not only waking her up...but for
being the reason she hadn’t been able to sleep in the first place.
“Cuddles doesn’t care what time it is,” he growled into her
ear.
Yesterday, she would have been in a panic over the tone of
Yesterday, she would have been in a panic over the tone of
his voice, would have assumed he was going to do something
horrible to the puppy. But after spending part of the evening with
him, while she’d confirmed that he was ful of himself, she also
felt confident that he was good with animals.
Even naughty little puppies.
“That’s life with a puppy,” she informed him around a yawn
as she leaned back against her pilow and watched the sun start
to rise outside her bedroom window.
Strange that it should seem so easy and natural to be talking
on the phone with Zach when she’d just met him. And yet, it
was.
“Just clean up whatever mess she made, tel her you love
her anyway, and be sure to show up for your training session this
evening.”
“Cuddles!” he roared.
She heard something crash to the floor, and then a muffled
string of curses, before they were disconnected.
She closed her eyes, but already she knew it was pointless.
She shouldn’t go running whenever he caled, especialy not to a
man