Enjoy the following excerpt for IF YOU WERE MINE…
There were half a
dozen girls in bikinis waiting in Zach’s garage, but the woman
laughing with his dog in her arms, wearing a sweaty, long-sleeved
T-shirt and muddy shorts, with a messy braid trailing down her back,
put them all to shame.
He couldn’t think
of a time he’d ever seen eyes that color, brown with so many flecks
of gold that he couldn’t look away. And, Jesus, that mouth of hers,
rosy and full, made a man want to do crazy things...like grab the
puppy and kiss it all over its drooly, disgusting little face for
bringing Heather here today.
He’d been pissed
off at Gabe and Summer for dumping the dog on him for two weeks. Now
he realized he should thank them, instead.
Unlike most women,
however, he could tell Heather wanted nothing to do with him.
Fortunately, her dog didn’t seem to have any of the same qualms,
especially when he sniffed the glazed sugar on Zach’s fingers from
the donut he’d been eating for breakfast.
“Hey, mutt,”
Zach said, thinking fast, “I left the rest of my donut on the
counter inside. You want it?”
The huge dog’s
ears twitched as if he understood, but he didn’t move. Instead, he
looked up at Heather for approval.
Clearly, she was
gearing up to refuse. But, man, that huge dog could play up the puppy
dog eyes when he wanted to. Zach was impressed. He’d have to
remember how to do that in the future.
Her dog let out a
low whine and Heather finally sighed and said, “Okay, fine. Go.”
As she let go of his leash and the enormous dog loped off toward the
garage, she followed him, still carrying Cuddles.
“I get that you
weren’t prepared for a puppy, but I can’t leave her with you if
you’re going to put her in a crate all day. She needs to understand
how to stay with you so she doesn’t get hurt by something in the
garage. You’re going to need to work on training her to understand
your commands. And you’re going to have to do it without yelling at
her.” She shot him a hard look. “Ever again.”
He would agree with
whatever Heather said just as long as she stayed long enough for him
to convince her to give him a chance. He couldn’t remember ever
wanting a woman this bad, this fast.
“Hey Chase,” he
told his brother, “I’ve got to call off the shoot.”
The models looked
at his brother in confusion and Chase told them to take five before
saying, “Chloe is going to have the baby any day now, and then I’m
out of commission for a while. You sure you want to reschedule?”
Despite her ongoing
protests that she was fine, Zach was already kneeling in front of
Heather and gently wiping at the open skin on her knee with an
antiseptic wipe from a nearby First Aid kit.
“I’ve got to
clear my schedule for puppy training.”
“Seriously?”
Heather blinked at him like he was driving on three wheels. “That’s
why you’re sending everyone home? Isn’t your boss going to be
mad?”
“Agnes didn’t
mention my last name, did she?”
Her eyes widened
with disbelief as she looked from him to the sign on the wall, then
back again. “You’re the Sullivan in Sullivan Autos? This is your
garage?”
“Don’t worry, I
know cars a lot better than I know dogs.”
But he knew women
best of all. And, he thought as he slid a Band-Aid strip over her
left knee, he couldn’t wait to get his hands on more than Heather’s
knees. Because even as he cleaned and bandaged her cuts, her skin was
so warm, so soft, so responsive to his touch.
After he slid
another Band-Aid strip over her silky smooth skin, he held out his
arms. “Now that the shoot’s off, I’m all yours to train.”
Most women would
have been pleased by the sensual undertones in his words, or would at
least have blushed, but she simply glared at him with icy cool eyes.
Cuddles yawned and
curled closer into her chest. What Zach wouldn’t do to be where the
puppy was.
She shifted her
legs out of his reach. “You can’t cancel your photo shoot. You’ll
lose too much money.” She stood up and grabbed her dog’s leash
again. “Atlas, it’s time to go.”
Damn it, she was
going to leave. Panic gripped him, even though he’d only just met
her, even though he could easily find another woman to have sex with.
“Heather—”
She frowned as she
looked down at where he was still kneeling on the cement floor.
“Since you can’t keep Cuddles here while you’re—”
She paused to look at the models chain smoking and talking on their
cell phones in the parking lot. “—working, I’ll
take her to my office. When she wakes up, she can play with Atlas
until you get there for our first session.”
She told him the
address, then made a clicking sound that had her huge dog following
her out of the garage with an adoring look on his furry face.
Zach understood
exactly how the dog felt. One sign from her and he’d happily do the
same thing.
His brother moved
beside him and, together, they watched Heather leave, her long braid
swinging behind her, her legs strong and tanned in her shorts.
“Who’s that?”
Zach grinned. “My
new dog trainer.”
And, hopefully, a
hell of a lot more than that real soon.
...Excerpt from IF YOU
WERE MINE by Bella Andre ©2012.
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