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Zak’s head. Ethan would set him straight soon enough. Carly would arrive at the lodge for her interview with Dane, then she’d leave. Simple as that.

CHAPTER 8
    Carly packed her bag, which included her hockey skates. Ethan may have been telling her to bring her skates in jest, but he probably didn’t know she grew up with two brothers on a lake in Massachusetts, so she knew quite a lot about hockey. From the time she could remember, she’d tried to keep up with her brothers, but when she inevitably couldn’t, she resorted to reporting on their antics instead.
    Her brothers and their friends would humor her by pretending to hoist the Stanley Cup over their heads and give her an interview about their come-from-behind win. Those early years had given Carly the inspiration to write about sports.
    She waited inside the small airport terminal wondering what to make of Ethan Forrester. No matter how hard she fought to forget their night together, Ethan kept intruding into her dreams. His full mouth, his gentle hands, his playful demeanor. She didn’t regret what happened. She couldn’t.
    While waiting for Ethan, she watched small planes land and take-off. She felt a bit anxious about flying in a propeller-operated plane instead of a jet. All she knew about Gold Creek, Alaska, was that it was a very small town in the interior of the state. Therefore, she assumed it had a very small runway, too.
    When she saw Ethan approach her, her anxiousness soared to new heights but it had nothing to do with airplanes. Like so many Alaskans, he wore jeans and a fur-ruffed parka, along with a ball cap with the Forrester Lodge logo on the front.
    “I wasn’t sure where to buy my ticket,” she said. “What airline are we flying on?”
    “We’re on Tundra Air, but no need for a ticket. My brother is picking us up.”
    “Your brother is a pilot. Travis, right? But you all own the lodge?”
    Ethan raised a brow over the unscarred eye. He should know a journalist remembered details like that, at least a journalist like her. “Yes, Travis, and yes, we’re all part-owners of the lodge.”
    “All three boys are going home. Will your sister be joining us, too?”
    “I’m not sure yet.”
    “Is this a family get-together?”
    “Dane couldn’t spend Christmas with us because of his schedule. So when he’s free, we get together. But now that we’re into mid-January, Fiona might not be able to attend because of her classes. We do the best we can.”
    Guilt pressed heavily on her shoulders. She couldn’t intrude on them. “I’m not sure about imposing on your family like this. Surely there must be another time or place for me to talk to Dane.”
    “Nope. I’m afraid not. Besides, Fiona probably won’t be there, so it isn’t the entire family.”
    “But—”
    “Do you want an interview with Dane or not?”
    “Well, yes, but flying across the state to do it seems rather extreme.”
    “You’re the reporter.”
    “I’m not a reporter, I’m a journalist.” Which wasn’t completely true—she just felt compelled to argue with him for whatever reason.
    “Okay, a journalist, but either way, don’t you have to do whatever you need to do to get the interview?” His tone wasn’t friendly; in fact, far from it.
    Why did Carly have the sense that his words carried another underlying meaning…like even if sleeping with a guy was necessary to get an interview, she’d do whatever it took? “What exactly are you saying?”
    “I’m just saying, sometimes you have to go to extremes to get what you want, right?”
    She wanted to argue with him, but clearly she had gone to extremes just by attending the fundraiser to track Dane down. Perhaps he wasn’t completely wrong, but something in his tone didn’t sit right with her; however, she decided to let it go. “Yes, I suppose so. Should I book a flight home at least? For later today or tomorrow?”
    “You’ll have to stay the night tonight, but you can probably leave the next