by Bella Andre
Because she missed the man who had become her best friend.
In the span of two weeks, Zach Sullivan hadn’t just managed to get into her pants...he’d charmed his way into her heart. Even worse, his laughter and warmth had taken up residence in her soul.
Just as Atlas couldn’t seem to move on from Cuddles, she hadn’t even come close to shaking herself free of the puppy’s temporary owner.
The worst part about their breakup, though, was that as the days crept by and the dust settled around her bruised heart, she couldn’t help feeling that she’d let him down.
Those first few nights she’d hated herself for thinking she was different, that she could be the one woman a man like Zach could actually fall in love with. But that had been anger, and pride, spinning her wheels. Because regardless of the way the awful scene had played out between them, she couldn’t deny that he’d been hurting.
And that was why he’d let her go.
Okay, so maybe love hadn’t been enough for them...at least, not in that crucial moment of making the choice between staying and going, between keeping and giving away. But could it be? If she gave it another chance and stayed this time, to push past his walls and find out what had hurt him so badly?
Atlas’s sighs turned to snores as he let the warm sun and her hand on his back lull him to sleep. Heather lay down, her head on his back, and closed her eyes. What she wouldn’t do for an hour of restful sleep.
She took in the smells of leaves and fresh-cut grass, the sounds of birds chirping overhead, the laughter from strangers all around her. But instead of feeling a sense of peace at the soothing sounds and sensations, she saw her father’s face in her mind’s eye
Heather found herself watching a seventeen-year-old girl confronting her father with his lies. The girl was so brave, so strong, as the man she had to thank for her dark hair, her long fingers, had laughed in her face as he told her that what she’d found out about his secret life on the road wasn’t true, as he swore she and her mother meant everything to him.
From a distance, she watched that girl turn into a woman, one who believed her duplicitous father was the blueprint for all charming men. That laughing eyes and easy professions of love couldn’t possibly be real.
And then, with perfect clarity, she cut to that moment in the kitchen when the man she loved wrapped his arms around her and the dogs to try to shield her from both past and future pain by simply being there for her.
She sat up suddenly, her eyes opening wide.
All along, Zach had fought for her. From that first moment when he’d insisted she work with him and Cuddles, until he’d gotten in that race car last Saturday, he’d been unrelenting in his insistence that they belonged together. At first, just as friends-with-benefits, until neither of them could keep denying that they were so much more than that.
Her stomach twisted as she realized what she’d done. Or, rather, what she hadn’t.
Don’t stop loving me. No matter what happens, promise me you won’t ever stop.
He’d begged her for that promise as if he’d known it would all come down to one moment when he’d try to push her away.
But instead of fighting for him the way he always fought for her, instead of forcing him to own up to the reasons he was working so hard to push love out of his life, she’d decided it was safer to walk away from him instead. Safer for her.
Atlas opened one eye as she clipped on his leash and leaned in close to his muzzle. “Time to go get the girl and the boy. It’s not going to be easy to win them back,” she said with her first real smile in a week, “but they’re worth it. And we’re not going to give up, this time. No matter what.”
* * *
“Goddamned flat tire!”
Zach should have been able to change a tire in his sleep. But the spare wasn’t cooperating, kept slipping off the studs, while Cuddles sat on the sidewalk beside him and panted her encouragement.
He needed to get out of here to start figuring out a way to win Heather back. He couldn’t stand to waste one more second without her.
A new spare dropped down next to his head and Zach looked up to see Ryan standing there, shaking his head. After all the cracks he’d made about his brothers falling in love during the past year, Zach had expected at least one of them to come out to heckle him.
“You’re a mess. Can’t even change a tire without her around, can you?”
Zach knew he should be thanking his brother for the new tire. Instead, he growled, “You’re not safe, asshole. If this can happen to me—” This being falling in love, of course. “—it can happen to anyone.”
But the brother that was close enough in age for them to practically be twins didn’t look worried as he walked away. He should be, thought Zach. And when the day came that Ryan lost it over a girl, he was going to make sure to rub his brother’s guts in it.
Finally, with the new spare in hand, he started making headway. Five minutes and he’d be out of here and working out a way to make up his colossal screwup to Heather. There had to be some way to get her to accept his apology, he just wished he knew what it was...
Just then, something wet and sticky and overly warm moved over his cheek. He was so surprised, he banged his head on the side mirror. But even though his ears were ringing and it took his vision a couple of seconds to right itself, he could make out the huge paws.
Atlas’s huge paws.
Heather.
He jammed his shoulder against hard metal as he shot to his feet. The woman he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about for one single second stood on the sidewalk.
My God, she was beautiful. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
His fingers itched with the need to grab her, to pull her into his arms, to thread his fingers into her hair and kiss her.
“Hi.”
The one short word, more breath than sound from her lips, rocketed through skin and bone, straight into Zach’s heart. A heart that had finally started beating again. Just because she was near.
“I’m sorry.” He’d never apologized for a damn thing in his life, but he would say the words over and over to her until she believed him. “I’m so damned sorry. I was just trying to get this tire on so I could come and tell you. I miss you. I love you. Please come back to me. And bring your mutt for Cuddles. I’m not going to hide anything from you anymore. I’m going to tell you everything, so many things that you’re going to wish I’d never opened the floodgates.”
She looked like she could hardly believe what he was saying, but then shock turned to movement and the next thing he knew she was flying into his arms.
He put his hands in her hair and had his mouth a breath from hers when she said, “Don’t kiss me yet.”
Knowing he was covered in grease and sweat, he asked, “Because I stink?”
“No,” she whispered against his mouth. “I love it when you have one of your rare imperfect moments. It’s because once you kiss me I’ll be too busy wanting you to hear what you have to say and I’ll definitely forget everything I need to say.”
Jesus. That almost pushed him over the edge, but he could see, could feel, how serious she was. “Who first?”
“Me.”
“Talk fast.”
Her mouth curved up into a quick little smile before she took a breath and said, “I’m the one who’s sorry. For leaving you that night.”
What was she apologizing for? “I made you go.”
“You didn’t make me. I could have stayed. I should have stayed and made you tell me what was wrong. I should have done whatever I needed to do to find out what happened to you out there in that burning race car.” She pulled back enough to lift her eyes to his. “What happened, Zach?”
“You were the only thing I thought about during the crash.”
“What about your family?”
“We’ve had my whole life together. But you and me,” he smiled at her, “we’d only had two weeks. It wasn’t enough. I wanted a lifetime of memories with
you, not just the ones we’d crammed into fourteen days. It’s no excuse for the way I screwed up, but the thought of leaving you one day the way my father left my mother and all of us...I couldn’t stand it. I’m so much like him that I always thought I was going to die the way he did—too young, without any warning. I was so afraid of leaving you behind that I made you leave me first.” His chest felt tight as the old beliefs tried to take him over again. “I’ve never told anyone that before. Only you. Do you still want to be with me, even if I die the way my father did?”
“Oh, Zach.” Her hand moved to his jaw, her thumb stroking over the fading scratches on his cheek. “You can be such a fool. One I love so much. Of course I still want to be with you.”
That was when he knew for sure that she might actually take him back. Not just because she was in his arms, not just because she’d listened to his apology...but because she’d just called him out on his stupidity, the way she had so many times before.
“Can I kiss you now?”
Her gaze dropped from his eyes to his mouth and he could already taste her sweetness when she said, “Almost.”
He dropped his forehead against hers and groaned. “Would it speed things up if I mentioned how much I love you again?”
She grinned, her lips almost touching his—but not quite—as she said, “I fell in love with you so fast, so deep, I could hardly keep up with it. But even though I knew I loved you, I still didn’t think it was enough.”
“Because love never meant anything in your family.”
She nodded, sighing. “I’ve measured every man against my father since I was seventeen. You seemed so much like him at first. So charming, so confident, that I had to keep my guard up all the time. Only, it turned out that you aren’t like him at all. You’re sweet and kind and warm and honest...and the only man alive who could have torn through my control and made it possible for me to love.” She smiled at him, a smile so beautiful he lost his heart to her all over again. “But love is just one part of what I feel for you.”
He was the one pulling back in surprise this time. “It is?”
“You taught me to trust. To have faith and hope. How to laugh again.” She ran the pad of her thumb over his bottom lip. “And when I’m safe and warm in your arms, just like this, I know the true meaning of peace.”
Just as he’d been unable to wait so many times before, he had to take the kiss he wanted, devouring her lips with the hunger of a man who’d gone without for far too long. Heather kissed him back with the kind of passion that belonged between tangled sheets in dark bedrooms, not suburban sidewalks.
He never wanted to stop kissing her, not when he had an entire week of lost kisses to make up for. Unfortunately, his family’s clapping and cheering couldn’t be ignored forever.
Heather looked over her shoulder and her eyes went wide. “Have they been watching the whole time?”
His brothers and sisters and mother and baby niece were all out on the front lawn now. “Through the windows for most of it, but I’m guessing they couldn’t stand not hearing every word, or at least trying to read our lips. Which is a good thing, because I know how much they’d hate to miss this.”
He dropped to one knee and her mouth fell open. “Zach? What are you doing?”
The dogs both nosed his hand as he pulled the black velvet box out of his pocket and opened it up. “Asking you for forever.”
Her eyes lit up even as her mouth wobbled at the corners. He knew he wasn’t playing fair by offering her the ring so soon after they’d made up. But from that first moment he’d set eyes on Heather, he’d pulled out all the stops to make her his. He wouldn’t stop now, wouldn’t ever stop loving her with every piece of his heart and his soul.
“My father gave my mother this ring.”
She looked down at the ring, then back up at him. “It’s beautiful, Zach.”
“Will you be mine, Heather?”
“I’ve always been yours.”
He loved the sound of it.
Always.
And then she said something he liked even more.
“Yes.”
Epilogue
Ryan Sullivan sprawled out on the lounger under the big oak tree in his mother’s backyard, enjoying his beer.
Everyone was ecstatic that Zach had convinced Heather to take him back, but none more than Lori, who had been crowing about her victory on the bet they’d made to anyone who would listen, while the two dogs—one huge, one tiny—chased each other in circles on the lawn. Emma gurgled with happiness whenever the dogs came near.
It had been a heck of a year for his siblings. Weddings. Babies. Engagements. Even dogs.
Ryan didn’t have anything against people falling in love, and he was glad it had worked out so well for everyone...but the whole thing looked like a heck of a lot of trouble. The sex part, he was game for, of course. But all the breaking up and getting back together, the anguish he’d seen on his siblings’ faces when things went wrong?
No, thanks.
He was perfectly happy with the status quo. He liked his job on the pitcher’s mound, enjoyed spending time with his family, friends, and the pretty women who understood not to expect too much from a guy like him.
When his phone buzzed in his pocket, he was almost too relaxed to bother to pull it out. When it buzzed again a few seconds later, he reached into his back jeans pocket to shut it off. Before he could, he saw the text:
I need your help.
Vicki?
She’d been one of his closest friends in high school, but he hadn’t seen her, or heard from her, in a long time. Too long.
Was she in trouble?
He quickly texted her back.
Where are you?
He was gripping his phone hard enough to crack it as he waited for her answer.
San Francisco. Pacific Union Club.
What was she doing back in the city? And at the exclusive, old-money cocktail lounge?
Ryan was out of the chair and heading for the front door when her next text buzzed through to his cell.
Come quick.
Gone was the relaxed Sullivan the world thought they knew. Because if anyone so much as touched a hair on Vicki’s head, Ryan would kill them.
~ THE END ~
Don’t miss the first four books in Bella Andre’s Sullivan family series ~ out now!
THE LOOK OF LOVE
(Chase & Chloe, The Sullivans #1)
FROM THIS MOMENT ON
(Marcus & Nicola, The Sullivans #2)
CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE
(Gabe & Megan, The Sullivans #3)
I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU
(Sophie & Jake, The Sullivans #4)
Watch for Book #6 coming Fall 2012!
LET ME BE THE ONE
(Ryan Sullivan’s story)
* * *
Please enjoy the following excerpts from Bella Andre’s books...
I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU
Sophie & Jake – The Sullivans #4
© 2012 Bella Andre
Sophie Sullivan, a librarian in San Francisco, was five years old when she fell head over heels in love with Jake McCann. Twenty years later, she’s convinced the notorious bad boy still sees her as the “nice” Sullivan twin. That is, when he bothers to look at her at all. But when they both get caught up in the magic of the first Sullivan wedding, she knows it’s long past time to do whatever it takes to make him see her for who she truly is...the woman who will love him forever.
Jake has always been a magnet for women, especially since his Irish pubs made him extremely wealthy. But the only woman he really wants is the one he can never have. Not only is Sophie his best friend’s off-limits younger sister...he can’t risk letting her get close enough to discover his deeply hidden secret.
Only, when Sophie appears on his doorstep as Jake’s every fantasy come to life—smart, beautiful, and shockingly sexy—he doesn’t have a prayer of taking his eyes, or his hands, off her. And he can’t stop craving more of h
er sweet smiles and sinful kisses. Because even though Jake knows loving Sophie isn’t the right thing to do...how can he possibly resist?
Enjoy the following excerpt for I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU...
Jake decided to steer completely clear of Sophie for the rest of the wedding. A little distance from all those soft curves and plump red lips would help him get his head back on straight.
“I’ve got this,” he told Sammy, one of his best bartenders at the original McCann’s in the city. “You can circulate with the trays.”
Fortunately, the wedding guests were thirsty, clearly needing some vino or hops to wash the taste of the syrupy vows from their tongues. Pouring drinks for strangers was as natural to Jake as breathing, and he immediately got into a rhythm in the middle of the vineyard as the meal was served and people kept a running line behind the bar between courses. He couldn’t remember a time he hadn’t been drying clean glasses, rearranging bottles. As a kid, when his dad had been the one running the taps, Jake had been in the back loading and unloading the dishwasher for a few extra bucks while the cooks at whatever pub they were at slung together plates of fish and chips and colcannon.
When the female guests flirted with him at the bar, he flirted back. So what if none of them were even half as pretty as Sophie? The Sullivans might be pairing up one after the other like they’d been infected by the same virus, but Jake had had his shots.
Love wasn’t going to take him down.
He knew better than to think that love meant a damn thing when the going got rough and it was easier to split. No wife, no kids, plenty of pretty women, but no rings, was what Jake’s future held. He’d play with all the kids the Sullivan clan was bound to pump out, would enjoy being Uncle Jake, but he wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking he’d ever be a good husband or father.