If You Were Mine (The Sullivans #5)(24)
Author: Bella Andre

Zach had actually looked serious as he’d said, “That’d be great, Soph.”

Sophie’s husband muttered, “That’s never going to happen.”

No wonder Zach was so confident. It wasn’t just his looks, it was all that unconditional love from his family.

A family who actually understood what love was.

Envy stole through her as she imagined what it must have been like to grow up in a family like his. She hoped he knew how lucky he was.

After the fourth inning, Lori called out for popcorn for everyone. Zach grumbled and reached for his wallet when Lori said, “This one’s on me.”

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Feeling generous today, Naughty?”

Heather had to grin at the nickname. It definitely seemed to fit the sister sitting beside him.

“I just figured I should get some celebrating done early,” Lori said.

“What are we celebrating, Ryan’s impending shut-out?” Sophie asked as she took a bag of hot popcorn.

Lori pinned Zach with a knowing glance and a wicked grin. “Zach knows what we’re celebrating, don’t you, big brother? See, when you guys got married, we made this bet about who would be the first to fall—”

Zach abruptly stood up and grabbed the dogs’ leashes. “The dogs need to take care of business. You coming?” he asked Heather.

“I think you’ve got this one,” she told him. “Oh, and don’t forget these.” She handed him a couple of blue plastic bags.

He looked at them with disgust before taking them with a scowl, scooping up Cuddles and dragging Atlas up the stairs. After Jake got up to join Zach and the dogs, Lori scooted over onto Zach’s seat beside her.

“How long have you and Zach been dating?”

Heather choked on the piece of popcorn she’d just swallowed and had to quickly take a sip of lukewarm lemonade to wash it down. “We’re not dating. I’m just helping him train Cuddles.”

Lori looked terribly disappointed. So, Heather noticed, did her twin.

“Seriously? You’re not together?”

Why hadn’t she gone with Zach to take the dogs outside?

And what was with these Sullivans who always said the first thing that popped into their heads?

“No, we’re not,” she told Zach’s sister, but she flushed as she thought about all of his double entendres, the way he’d kissed her cheek, her hand. And how much fun she had with him, the way he made her laugh even when she should have been scowling.

“Darn it. You’re beyond perfect for him, isn’t she, Soph?”

“Lori, stop embarrassing her.” Sophie shot her a sympathetic look. “Sorry about my sister. I wish I could say this is an aberration, but the truth is, she’s always like this.”

Heather hoped they could move onto another subject, like Sophie’s pregnancy, but those hopes were quickly dashed as Sophie added, “Although it would be really fantastic if you two did start dating.”

Heather felt like she was back in high school, getting grilled on her secret crush as Lori said, “I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

Heather barely restrained herself from asking, How does he look at me?

“He’s just happy I agreed to work with him and Cuddles.” She shook her head, remembering the way she’d found the two of them that first day at his garage. “I’m afraid the puppy was way too much for him to handle at first. But he’s done really well with her.”

Sophie smiled. “He’s always been great with animals and kids. Even when he tries to act like he can’t be bothered with them, they all adore him the instant they meet him.”

“Funny you should say that,” Heather found herself telling Zach’s sisters, “Atlas doesn’t trust men very often, especially big ones, but he was never afraid of Zach. Not for one instant.”

Lori clapped her hands together with glee. “You do think he’s great! I can’t wait for you to meet everyone,” she said as if it were now a done deal.

“I can’t date Zach!” Heather’s words came out too loud, too fast, too impassioned.

God, she was making such a fool of herself. As soon as Zach had shown up with Cuddles, she and Atlas should have hightailed it out of the ballpark. But she’d been so happy to see him. Had felt so incredibly, wonderfully alive just at the sound of his voice.

She’d thought she was strong enough not to be tempted by him. But not only had he succeeded in tempting her…he’d done it so fast it made her head spin. He was slipping in under her walls, and the armor she wore around her heart, too fast. Too frequently. It seemed that no matter how much energy she expended to try to push him away—when she remembered to push him away and wasn’t laughing with him or wanting him—she wasn’t even close to succeeding.

The problem was that while Zach was fun and blatantly sexual, he also came with a core of something real beneath the devil-may-care sarcasm. And that was precisely what scared her: the real man beneath the jokes and the sexual innuendo.

She could fight her reaction to the charming Zach, but the sweet, loving, genuine Zach was a whole other story.

Still, she knew she needed to keep fighting. Because if she made the mistake of letting him in, and then he ended up hurting her, she’d never forgive herself.

Of course, she hadn’t meant to insult the older brother Sophie and Lori clearly worshipped, so she said, “Zach is a nice guy. I’m sure he’ll find someone great one day.”

“I hope so,” Lori said with a sigh. “I know he acts like he doesn’t need anyone, but I’ve never bought his act. Then again, maybe it’s because he’s my brother and I love him and I don’t want him to be alone forever.”

“He loves you, too. All of you.” She’d known that ever since the first time he’d spoken of his family, before she’d ever met them. “He has pictures of you all over his house.”

Lori shot Sophie a look before saying, “You’ve been to his house?”

Heather clarified, “He had a bit of an emergency with Cuddles the first night they spent together. We had an emergency training session.”

One that ended with her hand in his and his lips on her cheek.

Strangely, Lori picked that moment to stop torturing Heather. Instead, she leaned back in her seat, popped a handful of popcorn into her mouth, and said around it, “Sophie’s right. I shouldn’t have said all that stuff to you. I was just so caught up in a fantasy of having someone like you as a sister-in-law instead of one of the awful girls he usually hooks up with.” She sighed. “It figures you’d be too smart to want anything to do with him.”