Enjoy the following excerpt for IF YOU WERE MINE…
There were half a dozen girls in bikinis waiting in Zach’s
garage, but the woman laughing with his dog in her arms, wearing a sweaty,
long-sleeved T-shirt and muddy shorts, with a messy braid trailing down her
back, put them all to shame.
He couldn’t think of a time he’d ever seen eyes that color,
brown with so many flecks of gold that he couldn’t look away. And, Jesus, that
mouth of hers, rosy and full, made a man want to do crazy things...like grab
the puppy and kiss it all over its drooly, disgusting little face for bringing
Heather here today.
He’d been pissed off at Gabe and Summer for dumping the dog
on him for two weeks. Now he realized he should thank them, instead.
Unlike most women, however, he could tell Heather wanted
nothing to do with him. Fortunately, her dog didn’t seem to have any of the
same qualms, especially when he sniffed the glazed sugar on Zach’s fingers from
the donut he’d been eating for breakfast.
“Hey, mutt,” Zach said, thinking fast, “I left the rest of
my donut on the counter inside. You want it?”
The huge dog’s ears twitched as if he understood, but he
didn’t move. Instead, he looked up at Heather for approval.
Clearly, she was gearing up to refuse. But, man, that huge
dog could play up the puppy dog eyes when he wanted to. Zach was impressed. He’d
have to remember how to do that in the future.
Her dog let out a low whine and Heather finally sighed and
said, “Okay, fine. Go.” As she let go of his leash and the enormous dog loped
off toward the garage, she followed him, still carrying Cuddles.
“I get that you weren’t prepared for a puppy, but I can’t
leave her with you if you’re going to put her in a crate all day. She needs to
understand how to stay with you so she doesn’t get hurt by something in the
garage. You’re going to need to work on training her to understand your
commands. And you’re going to have to do it without yelling at her.” She shot
him a hard look. “Ever again.”
He would agree with whatever Heather said just as long as
she stayed long enough for him to convince her to give him a chance. He couldn’t
remember ever wanting a woman this bad, this fast.
“Hey Chase,” he told his brother, “I’ve got to call off the
shoot.”
The models looked at his brother in confusion and Chase told
them to take five before saying, “Chloe is going to have the baby any day now,
and then I’m out of commission for a while. You sure you want to reschedule?”
Despite her ongoing protests that she was fine, Zach was
already kneeling in front of Heather and gently wiping at the open skin on her
knee with an antiseptic wipe from a nearby First Aid kit.
“I’ve got to clear my schedule for puppy training.”
“Seriously?” Heather blinked at him like he was driving on
three wheels. “That’s why you’re sending everyone home? Isn’t your boss going
to be mad?”
“Agnes didn’t mention my last name, did she?”
Her eyes widened with disbelief as she looked from him to
the sign on the wall, then back again. “You’re the Sullivan in Sullivan Autos?
This is your garage?”
“Don’t worry, I know cars a lot better than I know dogs.”
But he knew women best of all. And, he thought as he slid a
Band-Aid strip over her left knee, he couldn’t wait to get his hands on more
than Heather’s knees. Because even as he cleaned and bandaged her cuts, her
skin was so warm, so soft, so responsive to his touch.
After he slid another Band-Aid strip over her silky smooth
skin, he held out his arms. “Now that the shoot’s off, I’m all yours to train.”
Most women would have been pleased by the sensual undertones
in his words, or would at least have blushed, but she simply glared at him with
icy cool eyes.
Cuddles yawned and curled closer into her chest. What Zach
wouldn’t do to be where the puppy was.
She shifted her legs out of his reach. “You can’t cancel
your photo shoot. You’ll lose too much money.” She stood up and grabbed her dog’s
leash again. “Atlas, it’s time to go.”
Damn it, she was going to leave. Panic gripped him, even
though he’d only just met her, even though he could easily find another woman
to have sex with. “Heather—”
She frowned as she looked down at where he was still
kneeling on the cement floor. “Since you can’t keep Cuddles here while you’re—” She paused to look at the models
chain smoking and talking on their cell phones in the parking lot. “—working,
I’ll take her to my office. When she wakes up, she can play with Atlas until
you get there for our first session.”
She told him the address, then made a clicking sound that
had her huge dog following her out of the garage with an adoring look on his
furry face.
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.
Source: eARC
My Review....
In the last few books Zach has been probably the least talked about except for his good looks. In this book my heart broke for Zach and the little boy he was and all that he lost. The fear that engulfed him so he tried not to fall in love so they would never have to lose him. Zach gutted me. Thank goodness for a stubborn just as damaged dog trainer.
With Heather comes Atlas her dog. I loved having Cuddles and Atlas be involved with this love story just as much as Heather and Zach were.
It always saddens me the damage our parents can do to us during our very important years of developing our foundation of our being. Whether they are conscious choices or not. It is how we use to survive and thrive that is the key to success. Heather and Zach were both stuck in victim mode but when they love creep in they both transformed into survivors.
The connection between Zach and Heather was instant and powerful. I found this book had a lot more hope and trust as well as true love.
This story is great as well as the series is fantastic.
4 Thumbs up!
Lauren
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Fabulous review! I'm glad you enjoyed reading "If You Were Mine!" I'm a sucker for stories with animals as major characters. Thanks for taking part in our gigantic tour, and if you have time to cross-post your reviews to Amazon and GoodReads, that would be awesome. :-D
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