When they’d found an empty patch of grass, she put down her bag of training gear and said, “We’re going to work on positive reinforcement today.”
Zach raised his eyebrows. “You want me to reward the little punk after what she pulled this morning?”
She gave Atlas a subtle signal and he stopped panting after the squirrel climbing up the tree to train his full attention on her instead. “Good boy.” She smiled at him. “Down.”
She reached into the pouch she’d strapped onto her belt loop and squatted down to hand him a treat. She scratched between his ears and looked up at Zach. “Why do you think Atlas wants to please me?”
His eyes sizzled. “Who wouldn’t want to please you?”
She swallowed hard, not sure how their conversations—even about totally unsexy things like dog training—always managed to veer so quickly.
No, that wasn’t precisely the truth. She knew exactly how it happened.
Because Zach Sullivan was walking, living, breathing sex. And she was a sensual woman who couldn’t help but respond. At least on a physical level.
Continuing as if he hadn’t just set the blood to racing through her veins, she said, “It’s comforting for him to know that I’m in charge, and that I’ll always give him clear cues as to when I’m happy or upset with him.”
Zach frowned at the puppy in his arms. She didn’t think he was aware of it, but even though he still claimed to be angry with the dog, he held her gently against his chest, her little head leaning into his heartbeat. “Seems to me yelling is a pretty clear cue.”
She had to smile at what an adorably cute pair they were, even as she shook her head at the fact that she was acting just as pathetically as all the women they’d come across during their walk.
“Honestly, all the yelling does is make her more anxious. Which makes her act out more, especially when she doesn’t know the proper behaviors to replace the naughty ones with.”
“And here I used to think I liked my girls naughty.”
She groaned. “You’re incorrigible.”
She should be a whole lot more upset about it, but the truth was, she kind of liked his sense of humor.
“Incorrigible enough to tell you how hot it is when you use big words?”
She should have known better. If she gave him an inch, he’d take a mile. Suppressing a grin, she said, “Try irritating, instead.” She took Cuddles from him, then handed him the bag of dog treats. “Go over to that tree and let’s work on the come command a few times first.”
She held her breath, waiting for him to make some off-color play on the command they were working on, but he simply stuck to the program and headed over to the tree. Not, of course, that she was disappointed he hadn’t grabbed the opportunity for a double entendre, or that she was starting to enjoy the constant spark of being with such a magnetic man.
But, oh, as she watched his lean, muscled body move in the sunlight, she couldn’t hold in a sigh of pure female appreciation. Zach Sullivan might have been irritating and incorrigible on the inside, but on the outside he really was a work of art.
After a few minutes of Cuddles running into Zach’s arms at his command, the puppy’s tongue was hanging out.
“Bring her over here and you can give her some water.”
She put a small bowl on the grass and handed Zach a water bottle to fill it with. Cuddles immediately plopped her muzzle into the bowl. Before Heather told him what she wanted him to do, Zach started petting the puppy and telling her how smart she was. Her tail wagged all the while and Heather knew there was no point in trying to fight her smile as she watched them together.
Okay, so Zach had made a terrible first impression on her, but he just might turn out to be her best student yet.
When Cuddles had her fill of water, Heather turned to Atlas, who had been waiting patiently by her heels. She pulled a multi-colored rope out of her bag and tossed it a few feet away.
“Go ahead and play, Atlas.” Cuddles bounded through the bowl of water in her hurry to go play, too.
“That mutt of yours worships you.”
“He’s purebred Great Dane, not a mutt,” she informed Zach, and then said, “I think he’s pretty great, too.”
It was so tempting to relax with Zach, and to pretend they were sharing a morning in the park together with their dogs. Too tempting.
Clearly, she needed to work harder to remember what they were together: dog trainer and puppy owner. Nothing more.
“Now we’ll work on positive reinforcement. What I’d like you to do is call out Cuddles’s name a few times while they’re playing. You don’t need to tell her to come, but every time she looks at you, give her a treat or pet her or tell her how great she is.”
Zach nodded, then turned his focus to the puppy. “Cuddles.”
The puppy looked up at him, still holding the tattered rope in her mouth, to see what her temporary owner wanted. He was immediately there with a treat and a hug. What a lucky pup she was to be the recipient of so much of Zach’s focused attention.
He stepped back. “How’d I do?”
“You’re a glutton for praise, aren’t you?”
He moved to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes, his fingertips making the barest contact with her skin. “That good, huh?”
Oh God, she thought, as thrill bumps rose across the surface of her body at his gentle touch, good didn’t even begin to cover it.
“Do it again,” she said, her words coming out far too breathy for anything outside of a bedroom.
His eyes darkened as he slid his fingers against her hair again, this time brushing the pad of his thumb across her cheekbone. “With pleasure.”
She got so lost in sweet sensation, in the sinful promise of pleasure in his eyes, that it took her far longer than it should have to step back from his heat.
“Not that. Say the puppy’s name again.”
For a moment, she thought he was going to ignore her clarification and pull her against him instead. Her eyes dropped to his mouth of their own volition. What, she couldn’t stop wondering, would it be like to feel them press against hers? Not one of those soft kisses he’d given her against her cheek in the kitchen, but a raw, demanding kiss that left her no room to hide exactly how he made her feel?
Abruptly, he turned and called for the puppy. Again, Cuddles responded immediately and he showered her with praise and affection.
Heather could feel her cheeks flaming at the embarrassing way she kept losing herself over him, especially after the way she’d mentally derided so many other women for doing the exact same thing. Tightening her resolve to keep her wits about her, she turned her entire focus back to the training session.