If You Were Mine (24 page)

herself were lost in a moan of sheer bliss as his hands began to

massage her shoulders.

“I thought sex with you was the best thing I’d ever felt, but

this might actualy be better.”

She was so lost in the throes of the sweet pleasure of

Zach’s hands breaking down her stiff muscles that it wasn’t until

he said, “The best thing you’ve ever felt, huh?” that she realized

what she’d just admitted.

“Massages are worse than drugs for me,” she improvised,

the way he was touching her making her words surprisingly true.

“I get loopy and say things I don’t mean.”

“I get loopy and say things I don’t mean.”

His laughter washed over her just as he moved down over

her shoulder blades to the middle of her back. His hands were

so large that they easily spanned her rib cage. “I wonder what

else I can get you to say?”

No matter how good he made her feel, she was keeping

her mouth shut from here on out. God only knew what he was

going to do with that information she’d just accidentaly handed

him on a silver platter. The last thing a guy like Zach needed to

know was that he was
the
sexual champion on top of everything

else.

“Do your worst,” she chalenged him, but her words were

muffled by another low moan of pleasure.

“Don’t you mean my best?” he asked in a silky voice that

should have had her tensing to prepare her defenses.

But how could she when he chose that moment to press his

thumbs into the smal of her back where she’d been aching from

lifting and carrying everything in the balroom to set up last night’s

fundraiser?

“Oh. God. Yes.”

But her utter and complete capitulation obviously wasn’t

good enough for him, because a moment later he had slid his

hands down to her hips and was massaging her glutes. She

gasped at the shocking pleasure of her sore muscles beneath his

fingertips, along with the sensuality of knowing whose hands

were on her...and that he could choose at any moment to do so

much more than just massage her muscles with them.

much more than just massage her muscles with them.

“Can’t even form words now, can you?”

He sounded incredibly pleased with himself, and yet, she

could hear the way his confident words broke at the ends. As if

he was holding onto
his
control by a very thin thread.

From the first moment she’d met him, she’d wanted to snap

that control, wanted to best him by knocking him off his

pedestal. And even though she liked him a whole heck of a lot

more now than she ever thought she would—and despite the

way he was turning her muscles and mind to mush with hands-

down the best massage she’d
ever
had—she stil couldn’t resist

that urge.

Frankly, she didn’t want to.

The truth was that if she ever let down her defenses around

Zach, Lord knew how he’d take advantage of that.

“This is when I usualy turn over,” she informed him in what

she hoped was a fairly steady voice.

This time he was the one left speechless as she roled over

onto her back and deliberately lifted her arms above her head.

Zach’s eyes, she was pleased to see, blazed with fire.

Before he could pick a place to rub, she boldly said, “My

arms are sore.”

She’d hidden her scars from everyone else, but every time

Zach touched them, caressed the marks of old pain, she felt

soothed.

Healed.

The only sounds in the room came from both of them

breathing, faster and louder with every second of the sensual

breathing, faster and louder with every second of the sensual

massage, and she wasn’t sure anymore which of them was

making more noise as he worked out the tension in her biceps

and triceps. When he moved his hands down toward her

breasts, she was sure he’d decided to go for the gold, but

instead he found a muscle just below her colarbone that had her

practicaly sobbing with gratitude.

“You’re amazing.”

She opened her eyes and saw him staring down at her with

such intensity as he replied, “So are you.”

The reverence in his words, combined with the fact that he

stil didn’t touch her breasts as he moved his hands lower down

her rib cage, had her eyes closing again, her lower lip sliding

between her teeth as she tried not to beg him for even more

pleasure.

“That’s my job,” she heard him say, and then his teeth were

replacing hers on her lower lip and he tugged it in between his

lips. “God, you taste good,” he said and then he was kissing her

some more, an upside-down kiss that stole the rest of her brain

cels away in perfect choreography with his hands as they moved

from the bottom of her rib cage to feather over her stomach, then

lower stil.

She opened up for him, moaned into his mouth as he slid

one hand past her damp curls and into her, while the other

moved in perfect circles over the point of arousal between her

legs. Just that quickly, she went off beneath him. Somehow, he

managed to be there not just with his hands, his fingers, but with

his mouth, too.

his mouth, too.

Too impatient to let her climax run its course, she puled

him up over her so that both of them were lying on the narrow

massage table. She ripped at the zipper of his jeans and he was

ready with a condom the second she had him free.

Wrapping herself around him was so natural, so perfect,

that it was almost as if he’d always been there with her, in her

arms, holding her.

Loving her.

A short while later she dropped Zach off at his place so

that he could head for Southern California. Heather went to pick

up the dogs at Tina’s house and after a reunion where they both

acted like she’d been gone for one year instead of one night, she

took them to the park and the dog bakery and the coffee shop.

By then, they were dragging enough for her to accept that she

couldn’t avoid going home anymore.

She loved her house. After being around people al day

long at her office, it had always been a wonderfuly quiet,

peaceful respite.

So then, why did it suddenly feel too quiet?

And how could she possibly feel lonely when she had two

absolutely wonderful furry companions?

She didn’t already miss Zach, darn it. It wasn’t at al okay

that he could have taken a spot in her life that quickly, or that

that he could have taken a spot in her life that quickly, or that

thoroughly.

Her phone rang and she had her hands too ful with bags of

dog food to look at the caler screen before answering.

“Hi, Heather, it’s Lori. Zach’s sister. We met at the

basebal game.”

Heather had given Lori her phone number to pass on to a

friend who was thinking about getting a new puppy, but she

hadn’t expected Zach’s sister to cal herself.

“Of course I remember who you are,” she told Lori. “How

are you?”

“Are you free tonight? We’re doing an impromptu girls’

night here and I thought you’d be a great addition.”

Any other time Heather would have made her excuses, but

her empty house stil loomed way too big. Besides, Lori and

Sophie had been realy nice. Why shouldn’t she spend some time

with them? Just because she and Zach would eventualy run their

course and go their separate ways didn’t mean that she couldn’t

make a couple of friends along the way.

After a quick shower, she grabbed a bottle of wine and a

container of brownies she hadn’t been able to resist at the recent

farmer’s market. Female laughter rang out as Lori opened her

door.

“Heather’s here,” she caled out to everyone and a moment

later, Heather found herself being openly studied by several sets

of eyes. “Heather, this is Chloe, Nicola, and you already know

Sophie. Chloe is married to my brother Chase. Nicola is dating

my brother Marcus.”

Oh no. Why hadn’t she realized she’d be walking into

Sulivan Significant Other land? Had Zach scrambled her brain

that much with his supersexy massage that she couldn’t think

straight anymore?

“Look, she brought brownies. What did I tel you? Is she a

good one, or what?”

Chloe, who was
extremely
pregnant, nodded. “It’s so nice

to meet you.”

Nicola echoed the sentiment as she handed her a glass of

red wine. Heather knew enough about Zach’s family to

remember that Marcus owned a winery in Napa Valey, but was

often on the road with his pop star girlfriend. She tried not to be

too starstruck and prayed she wouldn’t make an idiot of herself

around the girl by admitting the way she and Atlas liked to dance

around the room to Nico’s songs.

Lori pinned her with a knowing glance. “A friend of mine

was at the fundraiser last night and said it went realy wel.” She

raised her eyebrows. “She also mentioned something about a

kiss.”

Clearly, word had spread—quickly—not only about Zach

donating his car, but also about the scorching kiss outside the

Fairmont. Heather was glad Lori wasn’t the type to beat around

the bush, because now that she had finaly clued in to what was

going on, she had to make sure they didn’t have the wrong idea.

“Zach and I are stil just friends.” As the three other women

blinked at her in surprise, she clarified, “With some benefits.”

blinked at her in surprise, she clarified, “With some benefits.”

Despite the fact that she knew she was blushing, she wanted

them to understand. “But we’re stil just friends.” She looked at

Lori. “Sorry, I know you were hoping for more than that, but—”

She shrugged. “—it’s al either of us wants.”

Nicola recovered first. “Lori and Sophie said I would realy

like you, but they were wrong. I
lov e
you.” She grinned.

“Seriously, I think I’m going to dedicate my next song to you.”

“Unless I beat you to it by having a girl and naming her

Heather,” Chloe said.

Heather realized she must have been sitting there with a

shel-shocked look on her face when Sophie explained,

“They’ve never seen a woman resist faling head over heels in

love with Zach before. Especialy when he puts on the charm by

giving away an expensive car to try to impress her.” Sophie

thought about it for a moment. “I haven’t either, actualy. Women

always get so stupid around him, just because of what he looks

like. It’s got to be kind of weird for him, even though I guess

he’s used to it by now.”

Chloe nodded her agreement. “At my wedding, you should

have seen my girlfriends. I thought they’d al be trying to get at

Smith because he’s a movie star. But they were practicaly

forming a line in front of Zach. Chase told me that Smith loves

having him around as a foil. I heard he once offered him a fultime

job on the set of his movies just to hang around and deflect

attention.”

Heather laughed. She could al too easily picture it. But she

couldn’t let them think Zach had given away the car for selfish

couldn’t let them think Zach had given away the car for selfish

reasons.

“He realy wanted to support the animal shelter with his

donation,” she insisted.

“Of course he did. Like I told you at the game, he’s nice,”

Lori said, before adding around the brownie she’d shoved into

her mouth, “Even when we were kids, Sophie and I couldn’t tel

who wanted to hang out at our house because they wanted to be

our friends, or who was just there to drool over Zach.”

“You’ve got to tel us your secret of staying so resistant to

him, so we can pass it on to our friends,” Nicola said.

Heather worked to keep her smile intact even as a picture

of her father coming back from one of his business trips al

smiles, with false words of love, slammed into her.

Her “secret” wasn’t one she would wish on anyone else. It

was better that al of them believed love was real, that they held

onto hope rather than cynicism.

But she knew they wouldn’t let her off without giving them

an answer, so she said, “Wel, despite the fact that he isn’t hard

to look at and he makes me laugh, he’s also realy irritating. And

way too possessive.” At the perfect silence that folowed, she

turned to Lori and Sophie and said, “No offense. For al his

faults, he can be a realy nice guy.”

“For al his faults?” Sophie echoed with wide eyes.

“Way too possessive?”
Lori looked around at the other

women, before turning back to Heather. “Are you sure we’re

talking about the same Zach Sulivan?”

Heather couldn’t believe they’d miss something that