He hadn’t just broken the rules tonight, he’d smashed them to smithereens. But for a couple of hours, he decided he didn’t care.

Besides, there was a big difference between laughing with Heather and falling in love with her. He’d wanted to sleep with her from the start. It was no hardship to add laughter—and comfort—to the mix.

Love still didn’t have to play into the equation.

Hell, after what he’d just found out about her father, it was no wonder she wasn’t looking for forever. Yet again, the two of them were well matched.

When the dishes were cleared away and the waiter mentioned dessert, she put her hands over her stomach and said, “I wish I could.” She reached for her wallet, but Zach had already handed the waiter plenty of cash.

“Thanks for dinner,” she said, a soft smile on her beautiful face. “I had fun.” She looked faintly surprised as she added, “A lot of fun.”

So had he. More fun than he could ever remember having with a woman.

Whether she’d liked it or not, they’d just had their first date.

And it had been a good one.

As if she’d just realized that, she tensed. “I’ve got to get a really early start tomorrow. David will take good care of you and Cuddles on Thursday and Friday. I’ll check my schedule to see if Monday evening will work for me to check on your progress.”

Even though they’d just spent the past few hours together, Zach wasn’t ready for her to go yet. Plus, with the way the spicy food had made her lips a little redder, a little plumper than they usually were, all he could think about was kissing her. He stood and reached for her hand to help her up from her seat. She looked at it for a moment before putting her hand in his.

Before he could make his move, Heather made hers, her mouth soft on his cheek, she whispered, “Good night, Zach,” a warm breath against his ear before she patted Cuddles on the head and walked away with Atlas following beside her.

With any other woman he would have assumed she was teasing him, taunting him by coming close, but not nearly close enough, purposefully testing his patience as some sort of sensual dance.

But from Heather, that kiss on the cheek had been something completely different. Not a tease, but the beginning of trust that he could pretty easily guess she rarely, if ever, gave a man.

By the time he’d picked up Cuddles and headed up the street to his car in Heather’s parking lot, she was long gone. Which was just as well, because he had an important phone call he needed to make. One he didn’t want her to hear.

Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he dialed his brother Ryan, who would be pitching for the Hawks on Saturday during Bark in the Park.

“Hey, Ry, I need you to do something for me.”

Unlike Heather’s father, Zach had never cheated on a woman. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t willing to play a few games if necessary. Because he sure as hell wasn’t willing to wait until the following Monday for the chance get on Heather’s calendar again...or to have their first real kiss.

Chapter Eleven

Friday evening, Heather walked up to the will-call window at the baseball stadium with Atlas on his leash. He was sticking extra close to her side because of the crowds of men.

“Hi, I got a call from the office that they’ve upgraded my ticket.”

She gave the man behind the glass her name and he whistled when he pulled out her ticket. “This is one of the best seats in the stadium.”

She grinned at him as she thanked him for the ticket and headed into the stadium. It had been a really nice surprise when she’d found out she was being upgraded to a better seat as a thank you for her help with the fundraising event. She didn’t get out to the ballpark much, but she never missed the one day each season when dogs and their owners were invited to enjoy the afternoon together.

It was a perfect day out, full of bright sunshine and blue skies with soft clouds moving slowly overhead. Even better, dogs were absolutely everywhere. How could she not have a good time?

She sighed as she scanned the signs for the section her seat was in. For the past couple of days she’d been dragging. Sleep was hard won and even her favorite chocolate truffles had lost their appeal. She’d been putting in double time between the office and the finishing touches on the fundraisers, but her output wasn’t even close to half as good as it had been the week before.

Maybe she was coming down with a summer flu. Or maybe her friends were right and she was working too hard.

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Another sigh followed the first as the childish phrase played on repeat in her head. She knew exactly why she was bumming out.

She missed him.

Somehow, Zach Sullivan had wormed his way into her head. She didn’t regret giving her time to the animal shelter, but on Thursday at 5 p.m. when she’d been down at their headquarters working out the final details for tonight’s event and Saturday night’s auction and party, there was somewhere else she had wanted to be.

Joking with Zach. Laughing with Zach. Being impressed by how well he worked with his temporary puppy.

Finally finding the right section, she and Atlas navigated their way down the stairs past the other dogs. There were six empty seats in her row, and as she took hers, she looked up and realized she really was in the best seat in the house, right behind home plate.

Firmly reminding herself that this was her chance to relax and enjoy herself for a few hours, she closed her eyes to lean back in her seat and soak up some sun, when Atlas started quaking and shivering. Not the bad kind where he was scared, but with pure excitement.

It was the way he acted whenever Cuddles was—

“Great night for a baseball game, isn’t it?”

As the low voice she hadn’t been able to get out of her dreams rolled over her, through her, finally settling deep down in her fluttering belly, Cuddles and Atlas had an ecstatic reunion before beginning to happily root around on the cement for remnants of smashed hot dogs and popcorn.

In a millisecond she went from dragging and tired to abundantly alive. At the same time, her unstoppable pleasure at seeing Zach made her mad.

Mad at herself for not having any self-control, even though she knew better. And mad at him for outmaneuvering her time and time again. Because all the things that hadn’t made sense about her ticket upgrade, suddenly did.

“I can’t believe I forgot—your brother plays for the Hawks, doesn’t he?”

Zach settled into the seat next to her. Too close. Close enough that she could feel the heat of his thigh against hers. Why had she worn shorts instead of jeans?