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.
Clearly, she needed to work harder to remember what they were together: dog trainer and puppy owner. Nothing more.
“Now we’ll work on positive reinforcement. What I’d like you to do is call out Cuddles’s name a few times while they’re playing. You don’t need to tell her to come, but every time she looks at you, give her a treat or pet her or tell her how great she is.”
Zach nodded, then turned his focus to the puppy. “Cuddles.”
The puppy looked up at him, still holding the tattered rope in her mouth, to see what her temporary owner wanted. He was immediately there with a treat and a hug. What a lucky pup she was to be the recipient of so much of Zach’s focused attention.
He stepped back. “How’d I do?”
“You’re a glutton for praise, aren’t you?”
He moved to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes, his fingertips making the barest contact with her skin. “That good, huh?”
Oh God, she thought, as thrill bumps rose across the surface of her body at his gentle touch, good didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Do it again,” she said, her words coming out far too breathy for anything outside of a bedroom.
His eyes darkened as he slid his fingers against her hair again, this time brushing the pad of his thumb across her cheekbone. “With pleasure.”
She got so lost in sweet sensation, in the sinful promise of pleasure in his eyes, that it took her far longer than it should have to step back from his heat.
“Not that. Say the puppy’s name again.”
For a moment, she thought he was going to ignore her clarification and pull her against him instead. Her eyes dropped to his mouth of their own volition. What, she couldn’t stop wondering, would it be like to feel them press against hers? Not one of those soft kisses he’d given her against her cheek in the kitchen, but a raw, demanding kiss that left her no room to hide exactly how he made her feel?
Abruptly, he turned and called for the puppy. Again, Cuddles responded immediately and he showered her with praise and affection.
Heather could feel her cheeks flaming at the embarrassing way she kept losing herself over him, especially after the way she’d mentally derided so many other women for doing the exact same thing. Tightening her resolve to keep her wits about her, she turned her entire focus back to the training session.
When Cuddles had responded to Zach saying her name a good dozen times, she said, “I think that’s good enough for her to start to associate pleasure with you.”
“Pleasure?”
Oh no, what had she just said?
She forced herself to continue as if it were what she would have said to any other client. “The more she associates treats and affection with you, the less likely it is that she’ll get her jollies from shredding your couch apart. Especially once she learns that you don’t approve of that behavior.”
“I thought you said yelling was out.”
“You won’t need to yell at her anymore. Because if you catch her pulling feathers out of a pillow and don’t smile and pet her and tell her how wonderful she is, she’ll be disappointed.”
“I wonder if the same thing would work with my staff?”
She had to laugh at the idea of him dealing with the big men she’d seen working in his garages the way he just had with the puppy.
A young couple walked past, their hands linked, their mouths fused to each other’s faces. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t stopped just then to paw at each other and murmur adoring words against each other’s lips.
Zach caught Heather’s grimace. “You don’t approve of the loving couple?”
“I could have lived without seeing them clean each other’s tonsils, but other than that, I’m happy for them for as long as it lasts.”
“As long as it lasts?” He looked confused. “I thought all women believed in forever?”
Just the stupid ones. “Nope, not all of us.”
He was helping her pack up her bag as he said, “Why not?”