Because even though she had a sense that Zach probably lived to do things like wake people up out of a sound sleep at 5:30 in the morning, she now had a feeling the real reason he’d called her was out of actual desperation.
Hoping she wasn’t too late, she knocked on the door again, more loudly. Zach opened the door, saying, “Shhh.”
He looked like hell. Still far too gorgeous for a mere mortal, but definitely not his best.
No doubt, even she’d managed more sleep than he had last night. And from the looks of his half-shaven face, and the jeans pulled up over his hips, the real damage had started to go down when he was in the shower.
Okay, she firmly told herself as the muscles on his shirtless chest rippled in front of her, she could handle a nice set of abs. Heck, she’d spent time with a professional athlete for a while, so it wasn’t like she hadn’t seen a good body before.
Fortunately, Zach was so distraught by whatever Cuddles had done that he didn’t seem to notice her drooling over his bare chest. The last thing she needed was for him to know just how hard a time she was having resisting him.
He pointed down to her dog and ordered, “Don’t wake the puppy up.”
Atlas’s ears flattened and Heather rolled her eyes. Men were such babies. Zach was acting like waking up Cuddles would break him as he slowly opened the door, wincing at every creak in the frame.
Heather’s mouth fell open. “Oh my God.” She looked at Zach in shock, then back at his house. “I can’t believe Cuddles could possibly have done all this by herself.”
A muscle jumped in his clenched jaw. “Believe it. She’s the devil in a puppy disguise.”
Normally Heather would have taken offense at anyone saying that about a helpless, sweet puppy, but she was stunned by the destruction to Zach’s living room.
The puppy had not only ripped open every pillow on his couch, she had also gone to town on what Heather guessed was a really expensive rug. There were scratch marks up and down one side of the kitchen island and a half-dozen dark stain spots on the exposed parts of the hardwood floor.
Even Atlas looked alarmed by the state of the apartment, as he stood beside her at the front door like a statue of a Great Dane.
“Where is she?” Heather asked in the hushed voice Zach had wanted her to use earlier.
He pointed to a pile of feathers beside the couch. Heather had to look closely to see Cuddles curled up in the center of it, sleeping the sleep of the truly exhausted.
“I’m going to kill my brother,” he said in a low voice that told her he meant every single word.
She didn’t blame him for feeling that way. He was a bachelor who’d had a rambunctious puppy dumped on him. In truth, none of this was Zach’s fault. He was just doing the best he could. Unfortunately, it seemed he was way out of his element with this particular puppy.
Heather had worked with hundreds of dogs over the years, and she’d been able to tell right away that this one was a handful. The smart, playful ones always were.
“What happened?”
“She wouldn’t stop crying last night when I put her to bed behind her gate.”
Heather rolled her eyes. “What did I tell you yesterday about sticking to the rules?”
“Neither one of us was going to get any sleep unless I let her come into the bed.” He gave her a rueful look. “She fell right to sleep as soon as I put her on one of my pillows and I figured we were good to go until morning.” He ran his hand over his face. “I know, I’m an idiot, but I didn’t think three pounds of fluff could do this kind of damage. I can’t believe I forgot about the teeth. And the bladder. And the nails.”
“How long do you think she was up by herself?”
“I don’t know. I thought she had burrowed under a pillow and assumed she was still in the bed when I got up to shave and get in the shower.” He grimaced. “That was when I heard the crash. A lamp shattered, fortunately not on her. She knocked over another one right after I called you. Swear to God, I look away for three seconds and she’s like the freaking Tasmanian Devil.”
Heather gave Atlas the signal to stay by the door before she moved toward the pile of feathers and puppy. “Is she hurt?”
“She’s fine. I checked her over before I let her sack out.”
The truth was that by this point, most people would have been angry enough to at least give the puppy a smack on its rump. Funny, wasn’t it, that she could so easily imagine Zach’s large hands moving gently over Cuddles’s legs and soft belly as he made sure the puppy was okay.
Taking pity on him, she said, “I’ll help you clean up. Go ahead and finish your shower.”
He looked pathetically grateful as he showed her where the garbage bags were.
“Thank you, Heather.”
Oh boy. She hadn’t prepared for a smile like that, one completely devoid of seduction or wicked intent. It was one thing to guard her heart against a Lothario with no moral fiber...it was another entirely to remain cold and distant with a flesh-and-blood man whom she was afraid might be just as human as the rest of them.
He was halfway across the living room when he turned and said, “If it weren’t for the puppy of mass destruction over there, I’d invite you to join me.”
Ah, there was the man she could so much more easily fight her attraction to.
“If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be here.”
She turned her back on him as she stuffed feathers and ceramic shards into the trash. When she heard Zach turn the shower on, she let out the breath she’d been holding. Rocking back on her heels, she looked over at Atlas, who was watching over Cuddles from his spot by the door.