Just as she’d known it would, Heather felt the evening begin to crash in around her. But then, Zach slid his hand higher up her thigh and said, “Our dogs can’t stand to be apart. It was love at first sight for the two of them.” His eyes held hers a moment too long. “Which means Heather is stuck with me. Aren’t you?”

Her father’s frown would have normally made her feel like garbage. Any other time she would have felt sick at the fact that after all he’d done, it still mattered to her what he thought.

But yet again, Zach somehow managed to turn everything inside out and upside down. Enough that she found herself smiling in the face of barely averted disaster.

“It really was love at first sight for Cuddles and Atlas.” She raised an eyebrow at Zach. “Fortunately, you’ve grown on me since that first day at your garage.”

Her mother tried to nod as if it all made sense, and her father was still glowering at Zach, but when the waiter came to tell them the specials, she found it surprisingly easy to tune them all out.

Brilliant man that Zach was, he made sure the feel of his fingers on her skin, the way he was playing with the hair lying between her shoulder blades, kept her focus more on him than on anything her parents were doing during dinner. And as he purposefully steered the conversation to his famous siblings, and his mother practically lost her mind at learning he was Smith Sullivan’s brother, she was amazed to realize that Zach had come through for her in a way no other man ever had.

Right when she needed him the most.

Chapter Twenty-six

It was still dark outside when Zach’s cell phone started buzzing on her dresser. When he ignored it, the call came through again.

Heather turned in his arms. “Sounds important.” Her words were muffled by his bicep.

Even as he shifted away from her to reach for his phone, he enjoyed running a hand over the curve of her hips. She made a small sound of pleasure at his touch and he couldn’t believe how much he liked having her in his bed. In his arms.

In his life.

When he saw the name on his phone’s screen, he came instantly awake, thoughts of early-morning sex with Heather moving to the back burner for a few seconds. “Chase? Are congratulations in order?”

He could hear the satisfied grin in his brother’s voice. “Chloe and I want you to come meet Emma. We’re at home.”

Pure joy at hearing about the newest Sullivan warred with his sudden realization of what day it was: the twenty-third anniversary of his father’s death.

Zach’s chest clenched tight as he heard Chase’s wife speaking in the background. “She wants you to bring Heather.”

It took Zach a few moments to force thoughts of his father out of his head before he turned back to Heather.

She was sitting up in the bed. “Your brother had his baby?”

Her long hair was flowing around her shoulders, tangled from the previous night’s lovemaking. Things had been crazy when they’d gotten back to her house after all the hours of teasing. He’d taken her against her door, finishing what he’d started before dinner in the same place, driving into her so hard that the door frame shook with every thrust as he took both of them to heaven and back.

For the second time in one day the dogs had gotten a show, but she hadn’t seemed to care quite as much. Not, he thought with a satisfied grin of remembrance, when she’d been too overwhelmed with pleasure to do much thinking—or worrying—at all before falling into an exhausted sleep in his arms.

Yet again, he couldn’t keep his hands out of the dark silk as he moved back to her bed and pressed his mouth to hers in a good-morning kiss.

“Her name is Emma and he wants us to come meet her.”

Pleasure lit her face at the idea of seeing a new baby. Still, she asked, “Us?”

He knew better than to tell her that she was a special request. “Come with me to meet my niece, Heather. Please.” He would have wanted her there anyway, but now that Emma’s birth and his father’s death were forever entwined, he needed Heather there to keep him grounded.

She slid from his hands and the bed, beautifully naked. “Race you to the shower.”

He got under the water just behind her. He loved to wash her hair, couldn’t get enough of her little gasps and moans of pleasure as he soaped her up and rinsed her off, but despite the inevitable arousal that built from a few hot kisses neither of them could resist giving and getting, they quickly rinsed off, toweled off, and put on their clothes. Heather let the dogs out into his backyard to take care of business while he poured food and water into their bowls. She grabbed two bananas from the kitchen counter and handed him one as they left the house.

* * *

Zach didn’t bother to knock before walking into Chase’s house. It seemed to Heather that everyone inside was talking and laughing at once and she clutched the teddy bear to her chest that she’d purchased for the baby.

Showing up with Zach at his brother’s house first thing in the morning was akin to wearing a T-shirt that said, Yes, we’re sleeping together. Of course, she reminded herself, after drinks at Lori’s house, they all knew that anyway.

It was just sex. Great sex with a friend. A really good friend. But nothing more than that.

Heather had reminded herself of this so many times in the past few days that it had become a mantra in her head. Only, it was so hard to keep her guard up when Zach was so playful, so easy to laugh with, so tempting to kiss. And on nights like last night when he’d been nothing short of her knight in shining armor...well, she simply couldn’t get her head—or heart—around the confusing swirl of emotions he inspired.

Hour by hour, she felt him creeping in further and further, past the thick, strong walls she’d built so many years before, and she was powerless to stop it.

Fortunately, before she could feel weird about walking into the middle of a Sullivan family celebration, Lori spotted her and ran over with open arms.

“Yay, I’m so glad you’re here!”

Heather hugged Zach’s younger sister and smiled at her. “Congratulations on your new niece.”

Lori was glowing with pride. “She’s gorgeous and obviously a Sullivan since she couldn’t wait to get to the hospital to make her big appearance. Good thing they had a fantastic midwife on call.”

A brother she hadn’t yet met shook her hand. “I’m Marcus.” His eyes were warm and she noticed he didn’t let go of Nicola’s hand. “It’s really nice to meet you.”