On the surface, a man like Zach didn’t seem to need anyone else. Not when he looked so perfect, so untouchable, and certainly not when it was obvious that he’d spent his whole life with strangers falling all over themselves to please him just for the barest scrap of his attention.
Standing that close to him in the kitchen, with the heat of his palm across her lips, had her on the verge of begging him to kiss her. No doubt she would probably have done just that and more had it not been for Cuddles’s very well-timed barking.
But in the end, it was the kiss he’d given her on her cheek that had taken her aback the most.
She actually found herself wishing he would stick to his original game, and be the charmer with only one thing on his mind. Because more than anything, she needed to shut her emotions down before things went any further inside her.
She couldn’t feel anything for the charming man with the adorable puppy...not when she already knew how it would all end up after she’d watched the live show between her mother and father play out in her childhood home for seventeen years.
There was a good park that allowed dogs only a couple of blocks from Zach’s house, close enough to walk to. Of course, that was plenty of time for at least two dozen complete strangers to waylay them with exclamations over the amazingly cute puppy—or more specifically, the owner and his puppy.
If she heard the words so cute and adorable one more time she was going to make Cuddles and Zach wear masks the next time they went out in public together.
Not, of course, that she was planning on any future public outings. These were extenuating circumstances, after all, not the beginning of any kind of foursome around town.
Poor Atlas, she thought as he nudged Cuddles with his nose and the puppy let out a happy bark. He was going to be heartbroken when she found another trainer for his new friend.
Then again, if she could be tough enough and trust herself around Zach, then she could make some additional concessions to her daily schedule to continue working with them directly. Surely she had enough self-control to keep their relationship on a professional level for the next two weeks, didn’t she?
When they’d found an empty patch of grass, she put down her bag of training gear and said, “We’re going to work on positive reinforcement today.”
Zach raised his eyebrows. “You want me to reward the little punk after what she pulled this morning?”
She gave Atlas a subtle signal and he stopped panting after the squirrel climbing up the tree to train his full attention on her instead. “Good boy.” She smiled at him. “Down.”
She reached into the pouch she’d strapped onto her belt loop and squatted down to hand him a treat. She scratched between his ears and looked up at Zach. “Why do you think Atlas wants to please me?”
His eyes sizzled. “Who wouldn’t want to please you?”
She swallowed hard, not sure how their conversations—even about totally unsexy things like dog training—always managed to veer so quickly.
No, that wasn’t precisely the truth. She knew exactly how it happened.
Because Zach Sullivan was walking, living, breathing sex. And she was a sensual woman who couldn’t help but respond. At least on a physical level.
Continuing as if he hadn’t just set the blood to racing through her veins, she said, “It’s comforting for him to know that I’m in charge, and that I’ll always give him clear cues as to when I’m happy or upset with him.”
Zach frowned at the puppy in his arms. She didn’t think he was aware of it, but even though he still claimed to be angry with the dog, he held her gently against his chest, her little head leaning into his heartbeat. “Seems to me yelling is a pretty clear cue.”
She had to smile at what an adorably cute pair they were, even as she shook her head at the fact that she was acting just as pathetically as all the women they’d come across during their walk.
“Honestly, all the yelling does is make her more anxious. Which makes her act out more, especially when she doesn’t know the proper behaviors to replace the naughty ones with.”
“And here I used to think I liked my girls naughty.”
She groaned. “You’re incorrigible.”
She should be a whole lot more upset about it, but the truth was, she kind of liked his sense of humor.
“Incorrigible enough to tell you how hot it is when you use big words?”
She should have known better. If she gave him an inch, he’d take a mile. Suppressing a grin, she said, “Try irritating, instead.” She took Cuddles from him, then handed him the bag of dog treats. “Go over to that tree and let’s work on the come command a few times first.”
She held her breath, waiting for him to make some off-color play on the command they were working on, but he simply stuck to the program and headed over to the tree. Not, of course, that she was disappointed he hadn’t grabbed the opportunity for a double entendre, or that she was starting to enjoy the constant spark of being with such a magnetic man.
But, oh, as she watched his lean, muscled body move in the sunlight, she couldn’t hold in a sigh of pure female appreciation. Zach Sullivan might have been irritating and incorrigible on the inside, but on the outside he really was a work of art.
After a few minutes of Cuddles running into Zach’s arms at his command, the puppy’s tongue was hanging out.
“Bring her over here and you can give her some water.”
She put a small bowl on the grass and handed Zach a water bottle to fill it with. Cuddles immediately plopped her muzzle into the bowl. Before Heather told him what she wanted him to do, Zach started petting the puppy and telling her how smart she was. Her tail wagged all the while and Heather knew there was no point in trying to fight her smile as she watched them together.
Okay, so Zach had made a terrible first impression on her, but he just might turn out to be her best student yet.
When Cuddles had her fill of water, Heather turned to Atlas, who had been waiting patiently by her heels. She pulled a multi-colored rope out of her bag and tossed it a few feet away.
“Go ahead and play, Atlas.” Cuddles bounded through the bowl of water in her hurry to go play, too.
“That mutt of yours worships you.”
“He’s purebred Great Dane, not a mutt,” she informed Zach, and then said, “I think he’s pretty great, too.”
It was so tempting to relax with Zach, and to pretend they were sharing a morning in the park together with their dogs. Too tempting.