She blinked at him. “Did you hear what I just said?”

He grinned. “So that’s a no.”

Her lips lifted from her teeth in that snarl he found so sexy. “I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

“Thank you.” He couldn’t stop grinning.

“It isn’t a compliment,” she snapped.

“One date.”

She began to pack up her training bag. “No dates. I think we’re officially done here. And I can’t work with you on Thursday or Friday.”

“We don’t want to work with another trainer.”

“It’s nothing personal,” she said. “I just can’t do it.”

Zach hated the fact that it actually didn’t sound personal. But why? Women loved him. Why didn’t this one? And, more to the point, why couldn’t he just let it go and move on to the next easy—boring—conquest?

“What could possibly be more important than Cuddles?” And me?

“Bark in the Park.”

It took his brain a beat too long to figure out what she was talking about. Finally, it hit him. “The dog day at the ballpark?”

“I chaired the committee and I have a lot of loose ends to tie up before the game starts Friday night.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“It is,” she agreed, and he finally noticed how tired she looked.

“I can help.”

“No!” She flushed again. “What I mean is that I’ve got a great team of people who have been working with me and we’re in the home stretch now. But thanks for the offer.” She looked at her watch. “We should call it a night.”

Like hell he was giving up that easily.

“If Cuddles sits, have dinner with me.”

She looked like she was going to refuse, but then she glanced over at Cuddles, who was on her back, working on a good deep back scratch in the grass.

“Okay, but when she doesn’t, you have to agree not to ask me out again.”

He couldn’t believe the whole thing was up to the puppy. “Deal.”

“Cuddles!” The puppy looked at him from where she was sprawled out on the grass and he gave the hand command a split second before saying, “Come!”

She immediately hopped up and sped over to him.

“That one doesn’t count,” Heather told him.

He shot her a look that said he already knew that. He paused, sent up a silent prayer, then said, “Cuddles, sit!”

The puppy blinked up at him for several seconds and he thought it was all over...until her little ears went back and she plopped her rear down on the grass as if she’d been waiting her whole short life for him to tell her to sit.

He reached into the treat bag on Heather’s belt—taking any excuse to touch her—and handed one to the puppy while telling her what a good girl she was.

“How was that?” he asked Heather.

She shot him a suspicious glance. “You played me.” She looked at Cuddles’s innocent face and then his less innocent one. “You were practicing before tonight, weren’t you?”

“We wanted to impress you.” Which was true. “Still, you’ve got to admit it was pretty close there for a while.”

She sighed and said, “I know a great Indian place with a patio that allows dogs.”

Chapter Ten

They settled into their seats with the dogs contentedly chewing on the plastic bones she’d brought for them. Heather took a sip of her cold beer and couldn’t repress a sigh of pleasure. She and Zach hadn’t talked much as they’d walked the three blocks from her business to the restaurant, apart from her trying to convince him that Cuddles could manage the trip on her little paws, while he made one excuse after another for why he “needed” to carry her.

She’d never seen anyone get attached to a dog so fast, and frankly, she was worried about how he was going to deal with giving the puppy back to his brother. She’d actually taken a few minutes that afternoon to scan her list of Yorkie breeders to see if any of them had a new litter coming soon, but she was very much afraid Cuddles was irreplaceable.

The mischievous but loving puppy fit perfectly with the mischievous but loving man who was holding her in his arms.

Loving?

Ugh. She took another gulp from her glass, while sternly reminding herself that even though this was practically a script of her vision of a perfect night out, it wasn’t a date. And she had no business thinking of Zach as loving...not even if he was currently looking at her with more affection than desire.

His eyes darkened as she stared into them and she amended that thought to slightly more.

Just as the waiter came to their table, Zach’s phone went off. “Sorry, it’s my brother.” He gestured to the menu. “Go nuts with the meal. I trust you.” He stood up to take the call away from the other diners.

Even after she’d ordered, the buzz was still going through her from his last casually tossed-off words. I trust you.

What would it be like to be able to say that to someone without pause, to give her trust to someone she’d met less than a week ago?

She tried not to stare at Zach where he was standing on the sidewalk talking with his brother, but when he laughed and his gorgeous face lit up, she realized she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t take her eyes off him. Every other woman on the patio was staring, too.

Amazingly, he didn’t seem to notice or care that he was the center of attention. Instead of soaking up the public’s adoration like the vain man she’d once thought he was, he was utterly focused on what his brother was saying.