She felt herself flush and knew the only chance she had of covering her reaction to him was to focus on the puppy in his arms, instead. Atlas and the puppy were already sniffing and licking each other with pure happiness. Clearly, she wasn’t the only one who’d been waiting for 5 p.m. to roll around.
Only one of them had been dreading it, though.
But, oh, what a liar she was. Because the truth was that she had been anticipating seeing Zach again even more than Atlas had dreamed of seeing the puppy.
“How did Cuddles do today at your garage?” she asked Zach.
Jerry laughed out loud at the name. “You’ve got a puppy?” He shook his head. “And you named her Cuddles? I’ve got to admit, Sullivan, I didn’t see this coming. Not in a million years.”
She waited for Zach to make an excuse about his niece and how it wasn’t his dog or his name, but instead his gaze shifted to her for a split second before he replied, “I didn’t see it coming, either.”
Fortunately, Jerry didn’t seem to hear any strange undertones in the conversation as he said, “Dogs will do that to you. But it’s worth it. Best friend you’ll ever have.” He shook Zach’s hand again. “I’ll drop by the shop early next week to check out the Austin Healey.”
After Jerry had walked over to the coffee dispenser, she informed Zach, “David is going to be working with you and Cuddles tonight out back.” She knew she didn’t have to make excuses to him since he already knew she’d planned to pass him off to another trainer, but still she said, “I’ve got a meeting with my advisory board tonight.”
“Sounds important.”
“It is.” The heat of his body drew her toward him and she forced herself to take a step back. “Have a good training session.”
Atlas’s ears were down as he followed her inside the conference room and watched the puppy he adored head into the back with Zach.
God help her...she felt the same way.
* * *
An hour later, Heather sat at her computer to type up her notes. But for the first time in a very long time, she couldn’t concentrate on the work she needed to get done. Atlas pawed the door and she walked outside with him to let him take care of business. He sniffed every inch of the lawn and she knew he was searching for a sign that Cuddles was still there. But both the puppy and his owner had left.
Was it only twenty-four hours ago that Zach had been standing outside the front door holding a pizza box, acting like he owned the rest of the world and he wanted her to become another one of his many possessions?
Atlas finally gave up on Cuddles and watered a bush in the corner, but he didn’t look all that relieved. Heather knew she probably looked the same way. Irritated and lost.
She needed something to take her mind off Zach. Knowing more work wasn’t going to do it, she texted her best friend. Up for a movie tonight?
Brenda texted back in the affirmative and that she’d pick up tickets to a sweeping historical drama she’d wanted to see for a while and meet Heather at the theatre for the 7 p.m. show.
Heather had just enough time to drop Atlas off at home before heading out. At the theatre, she hugged her friend, careful not to knock the huge container of popcorn she was holding onto the floor. “I’m so glad you could come.”
Brenda grinned and linked their arms together. “Me too. It’s so much better to drool over Smith Sullivan with you, rather than trying to sit there with my husband and pretend that I’m not getting hot all over.”
Heather stiffened from head to toe. “We’re watching a Smith Sullivan movie?”
Her friend picked out seats right in the middle of the theatre and people started to fill in all around them, trapping Heather.
“Even better, I hear he has his shirt off for half of it. My husband is so going to get lucky tonight.”
Oh God. Heather had needed a night out at the movies to take her away from Zach...not to remind her for two straight hours about the man she was trying so desperately to forget.
“So,” her friend asked, right on cue, “have you been seeing anyone new lately?”
Heather choked on the popcorn and reached for the red slushie Brenda had bought for her, sucking it down so fast she got nailed with brain freeze.
“No,” she said, although Brant, a guy she’d casually dated for the past few months, had called and left her a message today about wanting to see her. She liked him well enough, but if she agreed to meet him for dinner she knew what he’d expect. And right now, she couldn’t imagine getting naked with anyone except—
Her groan of self-disgust was cut off by the start of the previews. Heather sank down in her seat and gritted her teeth. Somehow she’d make it through the movie. After all, how similar could Zach and his famous brother be?
* * *
Really freaking similar.
Brenda was still wiping away her tears as the lights came up in the theatre. “Wasn’t that an amazing love story? To have a man like that want you so badly...I can’t even imagine.”
Heather pressed her lips together. She was going to keep her mouth shut. She wasn’t going to say—
“I know his brother.”
Shoot, what was wrong with her?
Heather slung her purse over her shoulder and tried to stand up, but Brenda clamped her hand on her arm, holding her in place in her seat. “Whose brother?”
They were the only two people left in the theatre and the cleanup crew was coming in with their garbage bags.
“Smith Sullivan’s brother.”
Brenda squealed so loud that Heather winced. “Oh my God! When were you going to tell me?”
Never had been the plan, because Zach wasn’t supposed to play any kind of important—or long term—role in her life at all.
“Zach is one of my new dog training clients.”
“Does he look like Smith Sullivan?”
Heather felt her cheeks turning pink at the way her friend said his name like they were kids out on the playground and he was the popular boy they all had a crush on.
“Actually,” she admitted, “he’s even better looking.”
Her friend pinned her with a look she couldn’t escape. Brenda was the only one who knew all about Heather’s family. She’d met her father and mother and had seen their icky dynamic—the charmer and the charmed, the liar and the enabler—firsthand.