But with Zach...
Daring to give in to the shockingly strong urge to kiss him would be the stupidest thing she ever did. Even from a distance, being near him made her feel completely out of control. If he were to put his mouth, his hands, on her naked skin—
Just the thought of that had her senses reeling.
She took another step back from him. “I’m still playing catch-up from being pulled out of the office for so long this morning, so I’ll have to pass on dinner.”
She told herself she wasn’t being a coward. On the contrary, she was being smart, protecting herself from the exact kind of man that could destroy her.
“Remember what I said about tonight,” she told him before he could press her on dinner again. “Don’t make the mistake of letting Cuddles get away with anything because she’s cute. You’ll only confuse her.”
“What if I’ve got a thing for cute?”
This time, he very clearly wasn’t talking about the dog. Evidently she hadn’t been direct enough with him thus far. It was long past time to put him in his place.
“Then you’d better get over it real fast. Atlas, time to say goodbye to your friend.”
Heather made a low clicking sound, then turned her back on Zach and walked away from temptation.
Chapter Four
Zach wanted Heather with a hunger he’d never felt before. His fascination with girls had started early and he’d been kissing in school hallways way back in middle school, going a heck of a lot further than that by high school. But for all the playing he’d done during his thirty years, he’d never felt such a strong need, especially so quickly.
Had this been the way his father had felt about his mother when he’d met her?
Suddenly realizing the crazy direction his brain was going, he almost lost his hold on Cuddles. She gave a little squeak as he tightened his grip on her.
What was wrong with him, thinking about Heather that way?
Ever since he was seven and his father died unexpectedly of an aneurism, leaving his mother behind to mourn him at the same time that she had to keep raising eight kids, Zach had known that he could never let himself form that strong a bond with a woman. He was too much like his father. Looked like him, acted like him, had all the same interests. He even got the same headaches his father used to get, ones that would come on like a bullet train one minute, and be gone the next. They’d been so much alike that Zach’s uncles had barely been able to be around him after his father’s death because he reminded them too much of Jack Sullivan. Even now, whenever he saw his father’s brothers, he could tell how hard it was for them to be around him.
All his life, Zach had been careful to keep the boundaries clear with women. He was all for great sex until they made the mistake of trying to stick emotions on it, at which point he always got the heck out. He couldn’t stand the thought of a woman falling in love with him, planning her life around him, only to have 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.
That is, if he could convince her to give him a go.
Finally, 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 all gone home, he dialed her cell 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 small smile before she replaced it with a scowl.
“Why are you here again? And how did you get my cell 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 all 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 office. The Great Dane immediately started whining.
“Really, Atlas?” Heather asked in an exasperated voice. “You’re going to pull 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 officially loved the annoying little ball of fur, even if she had tried to use his T-shirt to sharpen her tug-of-war skills 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 tell 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.”
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 usually the way it played out, with both sides flirting while no one said what they really meant. But Zach was perfectly happy to give up the game. Really happy about it, in fact, given that the game had been getting pretty old lately.