If You Were Mine (11 page)

for her love.

She stopped at the threshold of her office when she saw the

big red rectangular box sitting on her desk. Atlas immediately ran

to it and started sniffing it, his tail wagging fast.

No one ever sent her gifts.

No one ever sent her gifts.

She had her hand over her pounding heart as she moved

close enough to pick it up. Even though her assistant was clearly

dying to know what it was, thankfuly, Tina respected Heather’s

privacy enough to give her some space.

She looked for a card, but there wasn’t anything but a huge

red bow on the outside of the box. Slowly lifting the cover, she

had to blink a couple of times to make sure she was seeing things

right.

She couldn’t contain her smile as she lifted the huge dog

bone from the soft velvet fabric it had been sitting in.

“Looks like you have a secret admirer,” she told Atlas as

he sat like the very good dog he was and looked longingly at the

bone. She held it out to him and he gently took it from her before

trotting to his pilow bed in the corner.

That was when she saw the smal card almost buried

beneath the thick red velvet.

Atlas,

I missed you yesterday. Training wasn’t the same without

you to play with afterward. I hope I’ll see you tonight.

Your friend,

Cuddles

Heather’s heart turned over in her chest as she carefuly put

the note back inside the box. She felt funny, right in the region of

the note back inside the box. She felt funny, right in the region of

her chest. Her eyes felt strange too, like they had something in

them.

“You just got your first love note, Atlas,” she said in a voice

made raw with unwanted emotion.

Her dog’s ears perked up at his name, but he was too

focused on his bone to pay much attention to his owner.

Which was a very good thing, because right then Heather

didn’t want anyone to look too carefuly at her reaction to the

gift.

Not even her dog.

* * *

throughout the day. Everyone on the goddamned planet had

caled him.

Except for the one person he’d wanted to hear from.

He’d been so sure the dog bone would thaw Heather’s

resistance to him, that she’d cal him laughing at the note, picking

up where they’d left off in the park when they were laughing

together on the grass.

But nothing.

Not a goddamned thing.

Rather than keep her distance due to his foul mood,

Cuddles had truly lived up to her name al day long. Every time

he turned around, she was rubbing up against his leg or begging

to be picked up. The guys at the garage had gotten so used to

seeing him haul her around with him that they’d pretty much

stopped making sarcastic comments.

The puppy burrowed onto his lap as he drove over to Top

Dog and he was surprised to realize he didn’t hate having a

warm bundle of fur attached to him as much as he thought he

would. For a couple of weeks, he supposed it wouldn’t be so

bad having the furbal around.

When they turned the corner and Cuddles saw Heather’s

building, she stood up and pawed excitedly at the window.

“Don’t worry,” he told her in a grim voice filed with purpose,

“we won’t leave until you’ve had some quality time with your

friend tonight.”

If Heather tried to hide from his 5 p.m. training session with

a meeting or some other lame excuse, he was going to wait her

out and force her to face the attraction simmering between them,

no matter how long it took or what she was in the middle of.

Damn it, he wanted her. And he knew she wanted him, too.

Not acting on their mutual desire was just plain stupid.

He headed straight for Heather’s office and when she

looked up and saw him, he could have sworn her eyes flashed

with a mixture of happiness and attraction.

Of course, she didn’t act on either of those. Instead, she

pointedly looked at Cuddles in his arms and said, “She has legs,

you know.”

He held the puppy closer to his chest as he walked into

Heather’s office. “She likes it up here.”

Heather’s office. “She likes it up here.”

Heather muttered something he couldn’t quite make out,

but he didn’t need to hear it to know it wasn’t flattering. Atlas

nearly tackled him to get to the puppy. Cuddles leapt out of his

arms and practicaly landed on the Great Dane’s back.

Heather watched the two dogs tangle with one another in

horror. “Please don’t tel anyone you just saw my dog do that.”

“What wil you trade me for my silence?”

Because he’d sure like that kiss sooner rather than later. It

was making him cranky, al this waiting. Especialy when he

wasn’t used to waiting for a woman.

Hel, he’d never waited for anything in his life before

Heather.

She pinned him with a look that told him he wasn’t going to

corner her into a kiss that easily. “I’m here tonight to work with

you and Cuddles, aren’t I?”

“What changed your mind?”

She looked surprised by his question. Frankly, he was a

little surprised himself.

Zach wasn’t one to spend a lot of time trying to figure

women out. Apart from his sisters, who he could barely make

heads or tails of, and his mother, he hadn’t had any long-running

relationships with women. He hadn’t wanted one.

And even though he stil never planned on making vows, or

sticking a ring on someone, he wanted to know her answer

anyway.

In lieu of answering, she looked over at the dogs. When he

folowed her gaze, he saw that Atlas and Cuddles were playing a

folowed her gaze, he saw that Atlas and Cuddles were playing a

hilariously off-balance game of tug-of-war with a rope. Atlas

was patiently holding the wet, frayed rope in his mouth and

Cuddles was losing her furry mind trying to shred it. Suddenly,

the big dog tugged on the rope and the puppy went sprawling in

a slobbery heap on the floor.

Heather’s laughter warmed him in places he hadn’t realized

had been cold.

“How could I resist the
Huge & Tiny
show?”

She ran her fingers over the red dog bone box he’d sent

and he wished she were touching him like that. Soon, damn it,

she would be. He wouldn’t rest until he figured out how to get

her to come around.

“Besides, no one has ever sent Atlas a gift before.”

“So it was the bone that threw you over the edge?” he said,

letting himself savor the victory of a great idea perfectly

executed.

She shrugged. “Plus the fact that al of my other trainers

were busy tonight.”

Her timing with the slam was so perfect that he had to

laugh, even though it was at his expense.

She motioned for Atlas to folow them out back to the

training area. Of course, Cuddles folowed right beside her big

friend. She was al business as they began with the
come

command again then began to work on
sit
.

As if he knew he had to make up for his earlier outburst of

excitement, Atlas was the perfect example of a wel-trained dog.

No matter how Cuddles tried to distract him, he kept his eyes on

No matter how Cuddles tried to distract him, he kept his eyes on

Heather.

Zach couldn’t pul his eyes from her, either. She was

shockingly beautiful, even in a sweatshirt and faded jeans, her

braid trailing down her back with wisps of hair framing her face.

He wished he had an excuse to touch her, to feel the

warmth of her skin beneath his fingertips, her softness against his

lips.

She directed him to begin using the
sit
command, but for

the first time, Cuddles didn’t immediately pick up on what they

were trying to learn.

After a few failed attempts, Heather said, “You’ve got to

focus on your dog to let her know how important it is to you that

she does what you’re asking her to do. She can tel if you’re

distracted by something else.”

“You’re right,” he admitted. “I am distracted.” In al

seriousness, if he didn’t get that kiss from her soon, he was going

to lose his mind.

“Al she needs is fifteen minutes of your focused attention.

Surely,” she chalenged him, “you can pul that off.”

“Do you know what Cuddles did al day long?” Without

waiting for her to reply, he told her, “She pined for your mutt,

hoping he’d be here tonight. I’m pretty sure a training session is

the last thing on her mind when al she wants to do is play with

her friend.”

“I told you, Atlas is not a mutt,” she said automaticaly, and

then, “And you’re exaggerating about the pining.”

then, “And you’re exaggerating about the pining.”

“Swear to God,” he said, “I showed her a picture of a

Great Dane on my phone and she went wild.”

He could see her fighting a grin as she worked to keep to

just business. “Our time is almost up and I’d hate for you to

leave tonight making negative headway with Cuddles.”

“How about this,” he negotiated, “I’l get both of us on

track for the rest of the session if you’l agree to let them play

while we eat dinner afterward?”

Her mouth tightened. “After breakfast at your house and

what happened at the park—” Another flush told him she hadn’t

forgotten how perfectly their bodies had fit together when he’d

saved her from the skateboarder. “—I know it seems like the

lines have gotten blurred, but I haven’t changed my mind about

things. About us. I’m happy to support your training with

Cuddles to make things better for the both of you while you’re

taking care of her, but I’m not interested in anything else.”

“Are you seeing anyone?”

She blinked at him. “Did you hear what I just said?”

He grinned. “So that’s a no.”

Her lips lifted from her teeth in that snarl he found so sexy.

“I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

“Thank you.” He couldn’t stop grinning.

“It isn’t a compliment,” she snapped.

“One date.”

She began to pack up her training bag. “No dates. I think

we’re officialy done here. And I can’t work with you on

Thursday or Friday.”

Thursday or Friday.”

“We don’t want to work with another trainer.”

“It’s nothing personal,” she said. “I just can’t do it.”

Zach hated the fact that it actualy didn’t sound personal.

But why? Women loved him. Why didn’t this one? And, more to

the point, why couldn’t he just let it go and move on to the next

easy
—boring—
conquest?

“What could possibly be more important than Cuddles?”

And me?

“Bark in the Park.”

It took his brain a beat too long to figure out what she was

talking about. Finaly, it hit him. “The dog day at the balpark?”

“I chaired the committee and I have a lot of loose ends to

tie up before the game starts Friday night.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“It is,” she agreed, and he finaly noticed how tired she

looked.

“I can help.”

“No!” She flushed again. “What I mean is that I’ve got a

great team of people who have been working with me and we’re

in the home stretch now. But thanks for the offer.” She looked at

her watch. “We should cal it a night.”

Like hel he was giving up that easily.

“If Cuddles sits, have dinner with me.”

She looked like she was going to refuse, but then she

glanced over at Cuddles, who was on her back, working on a

good deep back scratch in the grass.

“Okay, but when she doesn’t, you have to agree not to ask

“Okay, but when she doesn’t, you have to agree not to ask

me out again.”

He couldn’t believe the whole thing was up to the puppy.

“Deal.”

“Cuddles!” The puppy looked at him from where she was

sprawled out on the grass and he gave the hand command a split

second before saying, “Come!”

She immediately hopped up and sped over to him.

“That one doesn’t count,” Heather told him.

He shot her a look that said he already knew that. He

paused, sent up a silent prayer, then said, “Cuddles, sit!”

The puppy blinked up at him for several seconds and he

thought it was al over...until her little ears went back and she

plopped her rear down on the grass as if she’d been waiting her

whole short life for him to tel her to sit.

He reached into the treat bag on Heather’s belt
—
taking any

excuse to touch her
—
and handed one to the puppy while teling

her what a good girl she was.

“How was that?” he asked Heather.