If You Were Mine (6 page)

him checking out on her way too early, the way his father had his

mother.

Like father, like son.
It was why Zach had always gone

for speed. Cars. Women.
Life.
He wanted to experience as

much of it as he could before it ended early. Because he knew

he was too much like his father for it to go any other way.

Damn it, he needed to stop wasting time analyzing this thing

with Heather. She was hot. Smart. And sex with her was going

to be great.

to be great.

That is, if he could convince her to give him a go.

Finaly, he smiled. Because if there was one thing Zach

knew how to do better than any guy on earth, it was convincing

women to give him a go.

A half hour later, when her employees had al gone home,

he dialed her cel phone. “Pizza delivery out front.”

“I didn’t order any pizza.”

He hung up on her and waited by the locked front door.

When she saw him through the long window at the side of the

door, he thought he caught a flash of a smal smile before she

replaced it with a scowl.

“Why are you here again? And how did you get my cel

number?”

“Cuddles couldn’t stop worrying about you missing meals

because of us.” He leaned against the door jamb. “And Agnes

checked in a little while ago to make sure we were doing al

right. I told her we were, but only because of you. She thought it

best if I had your direct line just in case I have another puppy

emergency.”

Again, it looked like her lips wanted to curve upward, but

from the way she always worked to keep her beautiful face so

serious, he knew she was bound and determined to resist him.

Lord knew he’d like to have her bound and begging,

instead...

Knowing there was a good chance she’d simply take the

pizza from him, then lock him out on the sidewalk, he held

Cuddles out so that Atlas could see his new friend from the

Cuddles out so that Atlas could see his new friend from the

office. The Great Dane immediately started whining.

“Realy, Atlas?” Heather asked in an exasperated voice.

“You’re going to pul this
now?
”

Her dog happily wagged his enormous tail and Zach used

the opportunity to put the puppy inside, knowing she wouldn’t

leave him out there if she had his dog.

Yup, he now officialy loved the annoying little bal of fur,

even if she had tried to use his T-shirt to sharpen her tug-of-war

skils on the way back from the pizza place.

“I’m guessing you want to share the pizza.” She looked

impossibly grumpy at the thought of his joining her for the dinner

he’d brought over.

“I’m one of eight. We learned to eat fast as kids or go

hungry. If
you
want some, you’d better start now.”

Her eyes grew big. “Eight? Please tel me you’re the worst

of the bunch.”

He grinned. “Easily.”

She was shaking her head at the news of his big family as

she headed for a table and chairs off in the corner. As she

washed her hands at a nearby sink, she gave him ample time to

appreciate the view of her gorgeous legs in her shorts and the

way her long hair nearly brushed her hips, even in the ponytail.

He couldn’t wait to find out how soft it was when his hands were

tangled in it and
—

The loud screech of a chair over linoleum yanked him from

his hot daydream. Heather’s face looked like thunder as she sat

down. “Stop looking at me like that.”

down. “Stop looking at me like that.”

He washed his hands, then sat down across from her.

“How am I looking at you?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t ask me a stupid

question when you know exactly what you’re doing.”

This wasn’t usualy the way it played out, with both sides

flirting while no one said what they realy meant. But Zach was

perfectly happy to give up the game. Realy happy about it, in

fact, given that the game had been getting pretty old lately.

He shrugged. “Sorry, but it’s going to be pretty much

impossible for me to stop looking at you like that.” He let his

eyes move over her face. “You’re gorgeous, you know.”

She looked shocked by his completely honest compliment,

and he knew he’d gotten one up on her. Finaly. Feeling good

about things, he flipped open the large cardboard box, grabbed

a piece of pizza, and put it on one of the paper plates he’d

picked up at the restaurant. She looked down at the slice, then

back up at him.

“You like egg on your pizza?”

“Never order one without it,” he lied.

He put her piece in front of her, then picked one up for

himself, taking a large bite of it, egg and al. After her assistant

had spiled to him what her favorite toppings were, he had been

prepared to suck it up regardless of how bad it tasted, but it was

actualy pretty good.

“No one likes egg on their pizza but me and people from

France. You’re the first.”

France. You’re the first.”

“Your first, huh?”

She shook her head and sighed. “I can’t believe I have to

spel this out to you, but I obviously do.” She looked around the

building as if to make absolutely certain they were the only two

people in it before saying, “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

Wel, then. Now they were
way
off the normal track.

“Why not?”

“You realy want me to tel you why I find the thought of

sleeping with you completely abhorrent?”

Sexy as hel
and
a good vocabulary. He was going to give

Agnes a freebie on her tune-up next time he saw her as thanks

for this introduction.

“Sure, lay it on me.” It would help a great deal, actualy, if

he knew why she was resisting him. Because then he could

break down each of her reasons, one by one. He nodded at her

pizza. “But eat first. It’s getting cold and I know you’re starved.”

When her stomach grumbled again in agreement, she finaly

took a bite. He handed her a cold soda to wash it down and as

he watched her take a large gulp of the sweet, fizzy drink, Zach

wanted her more with every passing second. Gorgeous, smart,

and as a bonus, she ate and drank like a woman who enjoyed

food, versus the kind of women he normaly had sex with, who

barely picked at it.

Lord, what he wouldn’t give to feed her pizza in bed, to

have her naked and using his stomach as a plate, her tongue

licking up the oil from between his abs, and then lower down...

“You’re doing it again,” she said when she caught the way

“You’re doing it again,” 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.

“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 like Zach Sulivan, who would only see it as confirmation

that he was king of the world. But at the same time, she knew

she’d only be distracted al day wondering if he and Cuddles

were going to make it to five p.m. in one piece.

She dragged herself into the shower and ran it a bit colder

than usual to try to wake herself up
—
and cool herself down from

the very sexy dream she’d been having about the exact person

the very sexy dream she’d been having about the exact person

she shouldn’t have been. After she dried off, she puled up his

number on her cel phone from when he’d caled her the night

before and left him a message teling him that she would be

coming to help, after al.

It was far more tempting than it should have been to blow

dry her hair and throw on some makeup, but it was bad enough

she was heading to his house this morning with nothing but a

phone cal. If she actualy dressed up for him, al chance of

retaining her self-respect would disappear.

By the time she’d slid on a pair of jeans, one of a dozen

long-sleeved T-shirts in her closet, and braided her hair to keep

it out of the way while she was dealing with whatever puppy

mayhem had descended at Zach’s house, he’d texted her with

his address.

She let Atlas out into the backyard and fed him before they

set out. “Guess what? We’re going to see your new best friend

Cuddles.”

At the sound of the puppy’s name, her dog happily

thumped his tail.

“I’m glad at least one of us is happy about this,” she

muttered as she drove toward Potrero Hil, one of the most

exclusive districts in San Francisco, with views to forever. Who

knew auto mechanics did this wel?

The thought hit her again as she puled up to the enormous

house, along with the question of how Zach could possibly afford

it. But when everything inside sounded ominously quiet as she

stood on the front step and knocked on the door, worry about