Heather had given Lori her phone number to pass on to a friend who was thinking about getting a new puppy, but she hadn’t expected Zach’s sister to call herself.
“Of course I remember who you are,” she told Lori. “How are you?”
“Are you free tonight? We’re doing an impromptu girls’ night here and I thought you’d be a great addition.”
Any other time Heather would have made her excuses, but her empty house still loomed way too big. Besides, Lori and Sophie had been really nice. Why shouldn’t she spend some time with them? Just because she and Zach would eventually run their course and go their separate ways didn’t mean that she couldn’t make a couple of friends along the way.
After a quick shower, she grabbed a bottle of wine and a container of brownies she hadn’t been able to resist at the recent farmer’s market. Female laughter rang out as Lori opened her door.
“Heather’s here,” she called out to everyone and a moment later, Heather found herself being openly studied by several sets of eyes. “Heather, this is Chloe, Nicola, and you already know Sophie. Chloe is married to my brother Chase. Nicola is dating my brother Marcus.”
Oh no. Why hadn’t she realized she’d be walking into Sullivan Significant Other land? Had Zach scrambled her brain that much with his supersexy massage that she couldn’t think straight anymore?
“Look, she brought brownies. What did I tell you? Is she a good one, or what?”
Chloe, who was extremely pregnant, nodded. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
Nicola echoed the sentiment as she handed her a glass of red wine. Heather knew enough about Zach’s family to remember that Marcus owned a winery in Napa Valley, but was often on the road with his pop star girlfriend. She tried not to be too starstruck and prayed she wouldn’t make an idiot of herself around the girl by admitting the way she and Atlas liked to dance around the room to Nico’s songs.
Lori pinned her with a knowing glance. “A friend of mine was at the fundraiser last night and said it went really well.” She raised her eyebrows. “She also mentioned something about a kiss.”
Clearly, word had spread—quickly—not only about Zach donating his car, but also about the scorching kiss outside the Fairmont. Heather was glad Lori wasn’t the type to beat around the bush, because now that she had finally clued in to what was going on, she had to make sure they didn’t have the wrong idea.
“Zach and I are still just friends.” As the three other women blinked at her in surprise, she clarified, “With some benefits.” Despite the fact that she knew she was blushing, she wanted them to understand. “But we’re still just friends.” She looked at Lori. “Sorry, I know you were hoping for more than that, but—” She shrugged. “—it’s all either of us wants.”
Nicola recovered first. “Lori and Sophie said I would really like you, but they were wrong. I love you.” She grinned. “Seriously, I think I’m going to dedicate my next song to you.”
“Unless I beat you to it by having a girl and naming her Heather,” Chloe said.
Heather realized she must have been sitting there with a shell-shocked look on her face when Sophie explained, “They’ve never seen a woman resist falling head over heels in love with Zach before. Especially when he puts on the charm by giving away an expensive car to try to impress her.” Sophie thought about it for a moment. “I haven’t either, actually. Women always get so stupid around him, just because of what he looks like. It’s got to be kind of weird for him, even though I guess he’s used to it by now.”
Chloe nodded her agreement. “At my wedding, you should have seen my girlfriends. I thought they’d all be trying to get at Smith because he’s a movie star. But they were practically forming a line in front of Zach. Chase told me that Smith loves having him around as a foil. I heard he once offered him a fulltime job on the set of his movies just to hang around and deflect attention.”
Heather laughed. She could all too easily picture it. But she couldn’t let them think Zach had given away the car for selfish reasons.
“He really wanted to support the animal shelter with his donation,” she insisted.
“Of course he did. Like I told you at the game, he’s nice,” Lori said, before adding around the brownie she’d shoved into her mouth, “Even when we were kids, Sophie and I couldn’t tell who wanted to hang out at our house because they wanted to be our friends, or who was just there to drool over Zach.”
“You’ve got to tell us your secret of staying so resistant to him, so we can pass it on to our friends,” Nicola said.
Heather worked to keep her smile intact even as a picture of her father coming back from one of his business trips all smiles, with false words of love, slammed into her.
Her “secret” wasn’t one she would wish on anyone else. It was better that all of them believed love was real, that they held onto hope rather than cynicism.
But she knew they wouldn’t let her off without giving them an answer, so she said, “Well, despite the fact that he isn’t hard to look at and he makes me laugh, he’s also really irritating. And way too possessive.” At the perfect silence that followed, she turned to Lori and Sophie and said, “No offense. For all his faults, he can be a really nice guy.”
“For all his faults?” Sophie echoed with wide eyes.