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.

Chapter Three

The afternoon sun was streaming in through Heather’s office window as she finally hung up her phone. Rubbing the back of her neck with both hands, she stretched the tight muscles. If she’d known it was going to be this much work to head up the fundraising committee for the San Francisco animal shelter or just how hard it would be to convince potential donors to give to their worthy cause...

Well, she would have signed up for the job anyway. But at least she might have been better prepared for it. Fortunately, the big fundraising events were both this weekend, and then she could lie in a bath with her eyes closed and a very big glass of wine as long as she wanted to.

But for right now, coffee would make everything better. And maybe a couple of those chocolate truffles she had told her assistant Tina to throw away.

She got up from behind her computer and Atlas and Cuddles both yawned as she walked past. “Don’t let me interrupt your naps,” she told them.

They’d played together all day and she was impressed that Zach’s dog had only had a couple of accidents, more from the excitement of playing with a big dog than anything else.

Atlas immediately plopped his big head back on his huge dog pillow and she shot him a mock scowl as she opened the door. “Keep rubbing it in how awesome your relaxed schedule is and next time I’ll send you out to deal with every one of those companies I just called.”

Her final words landed in a thud against a hard, male wall. “Talking to the dogs, huh?”

Heat seared her hands as she pressed them against the chest of the ridiculously gorgeous man whose low voice had just rumbled through her.

“Zach.”

“Heather.”

He smiled down at her, his dark eyes full of so much sensuality that she almost felt singed by nothing more than his gaze. One that seemed to promise more pleasure than she’d ever imagined.

Seriously, what was wrong with her? She took a much needed step back. And why was it so difficult to pull her mind back from the gutter’s edge around this man?

She’d never had a problem keeping her guard up around men before. For all his good looks, Zach Sullivan shouldn’t be any different. Especially when he was as charming as they came.

Charming had never been a point in any man’s favor where Heather was concerned. Not when her father had given the trait such a bad rap.

“How’s the puppy doing?”

She moved to the side so that he could see Cuddles licking Atlas’s muzzle with the kind of great enthusiasm that only a puppy could exhibit.

“She seems to have him under her spell.”

“She sure does.”

She realized Zach was staring at her, or more specifically, her hair. She’d had it back in a braid earlier, but had tugged it free as the afternoon wore on.

“You have beautiful hair.” His mouth moved up into a ridiculously sexy smile. “Makes a guy want to run his hand through it to see if it’s as silky as it looks.”

Since she foolishly found herself wanting the same thing, she reached into her pocket for a hair band, then pulled it back into a ponytail. She’d put on a new shirt upon her return to the office, but she still had on her muddy shorts.

Pointedly ignoring the compliment about her hair, while telling herself she didn’t care if she still looked like a grubby mess, she said. “Are you ready to get started with training?”

Her voice was brisk and professional, but Zach only seemed to relax more against her door jamb.

“You didn’t tell me you owned this place. Very impressive.”

“Heather, I’m back from the bank dropoff and they wanted to know if—” Tina’s mouth fell open, then snapped shut. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Zach said to her attractive blonde employee. “I’m Zach Sullivan.”

Her assistant’s eyes widened and all she said again was a breathy, “Hi.”

Tina was brilliant with not only dogs, but also their owners. She was an organizational whiz. And she had a very serious boyfriend.

Still, one look at Zach was clearly all it took for her brain cells to wash down the drain. It was small comfort to Heather that she wasn’t the only one that had happened to today.

Good thing she was over it.

Completely, one hundred percent over his square jaw, and his broad shoulders, the way his mouth—

Yikes. Really, her brain needed to stop doing that.

“Tina,” she said in a scrupulously professional manner, “Zach is the new client I mentioned would be by later for some one-on-one training with Cuddles.”

“She’s such a cute puppy,” Tina gushed. “And I just love her name. Most guys wouldn’t be confident enough to name their dog Cuddles.” She beamed at Zach.

Ugh. Heather didn’t think she could stomach either coffee or chocolate anymore. The sooner she got Zach out of her office and out into training, the sooner he’d leave.

And then everything would go back to normal.

Like her heart rate, for one.

“Atlas, heel.” Her dog carefully extracted himself from beneath the tiny puppy and moved to her side.

Five p.m. was precisely when the bulk of her day care clients came in to pick up their dogs and, unfortunately, just the walk across the large room out to the fenced-off grass behind the building was enough for Zach to attract a shocking amount of female attention. Women she’d known for years, whether single or happily married—even the grandmothers—couldn’t keep their eyes off him. The last thing a guy like Zach Sullivan needed was a puppy to make him a magnet for even more female attention.

When they finally managed to get outside, he put the dog down on the grass. Cuddles immediately started running in circles, chasing her tail. She could tell from the way Atlas was vibrating beside her that he wanted to play, too, but he was too well trained to break protocol on a whim.

“How long did your brother have Cuddles before he asked you to watch her?”

“A couple of days.”

She was glad to hear the slate was fairly clean, at least. “The first few days with a puppy are really important. They can be so cute that even when you want to keep to the rules, you end up breaking them. But that would be a big mistake with her.”