Author: Bella Andre

“We’re just friends.” It was the truth, although, unlike the night at his sister’s apartment, she decided to leave off the with benefits part.

“Just friends?” Her mother looked between the two of them. “But today when we dropped by your building—”

Her mother didn’t have to finish her sentence for it to be abundantly clear that she’d assumed since they had been having sex in Heather’s office that they were an item.

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.”

Nicola hugged her with her free arm. “How are the benefits going?” she whispered into her ear and Heather couldn’t help but laugh and say, “Good.”

Ryan, Sophie, and Jake came by to say hello again and she was both glad, and uncomfortable, when Zach moved beside her again, his hand warm on her lower back.

“Chase had to go take care of a diaper change,” Zach said, scrunching up his face in disgust, “and then we can see Chloe and the baby.”

“Even with these two in me,” Sophie said, looking down at her stomach, “I can’t believe Chase actually has a baby now.” She paused before adding, “And that she was born today.”

It didn’t take long for Heather to learn that their father had died on this very day.

Zach’s hand tightened on hers as Marcus said, “I can’t help but think he had a part in this, somehow.”

Each of the siblings seemed to pull together more tightly. All but Zach, who slipped his hand from hers and moved from the circle of Sullivans, his expression completely shuttered in a way she hadn’t seen it before.

Heather wanted to pull him into a quiet corner to ask him if everything was okay, and to let him know she was there for him the way he’d been there for her with her parents. Before she could, Ryan popped the cork on a bottle of champagne and a beautiful woman with gray hair walked into the room from the back of the house.

Heather quickly realized the photo she’d seen of Zach’s mother, while stunning, hadn’t come close to doing her justice.

She loved the way Zach so easily moved to hug his mother, with soft words said only for her ears, before turning to introduce them. “Mom, this is Heather. Heather, this is my mom, Mary.”

“Congratulations on your new grandchild, Mary,” Heather said as Zach’s mother regarded her through warm and intelligent blue eyes. Heather was mesmerized and more than a little stunned by the close relationship this woman had with all of her children.

“Thank you,” Mary said, looking both radiant and sad as she smiled. Was she also thinking about Zach’s father and the grandchild he would never meet? “I’m so glad you’re here to share this moment with us.”

A dozen words was all it took for Heather to feel perfectly welcome in what should have been a family-only event. One day, when Heather had kids of her own, she vowed to love them the same way this woman had obviously loved hers, enough to welcome their friends and lovers into the fold with open arms.

“I’m thrilled to be here.”

She took the glass of champagne Zach handed her and raised her arm in a toast as Sophie’s husband said “Slainte!” the Irish version of “Cheers.”

They were all drinking when Chase walked out, looking exhausted and rumpled...and beside himself with happiness. Zach grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowd. Okay, so not only did she love the way he clearly cared about his mother and siblings, but the fact that he was in a rush to go meet his new niece?

Unbelievable.

Especially considering her opinion of him that first day they’d met. She couldn’t believe how wrong she’d been.

“Hi, Heather,” Chase said. “It’s great to see you again.”

Even though she’d barely met him for thirty seconds at Zach’s garage, she had to hug him. “I’m so happy for you and Chloe.”

“Thanks, we’re thrilled. Want to meet Emma?”

Zach was already halfway down the hall to their bedroom and she could hear Chloe laughing at something he said as he pushed open the bedroom door. A few seconds later Chase held the door for her, but Heather didn’t walk through it.

How could she, when she was utterly mesmerized by the sight of Zach holding baby Emma, staring down at her pretty little face in absolute wonder.

Heather’s heart—and her soul—were captured as she watched Zach slip one finger into the little fist and raise it to his lips.

He looked up at Heather, his eyes utterly intense and full of love. “You’ve got to come see her. She’s a freaking miracle.”

The pull of his low voice was the only thing that could possibly have gotten her stuck feet moving again. But she couldn’t breathe quite right as she moved closer and she felt her legs shaking as he shifted the baby in his arms.

Emma was perfect, and so beautiful, that Heather knew she didn’t have a prayer of stopping the tears that were coming. She hadn’t cried since she was a teenager, but the sight of the baby in Zach’s arms pulled at a part of her that was supposed to be shut down, closed off, impenetrable.

Suddenly realizing just how deep she was in the quicksand, she yanked her gaze from Zach and the baby to hand Chloe the teddy bear.

“I’m sorry, I should have said hello and congratulations first.”

“Thanks, Heather. It’s great to see you again,” Chloe said in a tired, but happy, voice.