Melting His Alaskan Heart (13 page)

“Yes, to both.”

He turned and got a pair of boxer briefs out of his dresser and pulled them on followed by a pair of gray sweatpants.

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. She wanted to say so many things and ask a million questions, but she needed time to think and assess.

“Would you like me to turn off the bathroom light?”

“No. It’s fine. Thank you,” she answered, attempting to keep her tone light. She didn’t want him to know her feelings were hurt. She didn’t want to instantly react like she normally did in these situations. Which was really quite laughable, because it wasn’t like she’d been in this situation before—offering herself up as a friend with benefits. But she didn’t have a choice.

“There’s a lamp on the nightstand if you need it.”

Carly fumbled under the lampshade and flipped the light on, careful to keep one hand holding the quilt up to cover her chest. “Got it. Thanks.”

He headed for the door and mumbled, “I’ll be right back.”

As soon as he shut the door, Carly ran for the bathroom. She threw water on her face and brushed her teeth. She slipped on her silk robe and made her way back to the bed, but she stopped in front of the portrait of Ethan’s deceased wife. “I’m guessing you’re my competition and I don’t stand a chance.”

Carly slid under the covers. Somehow the portrait still beckoned to her and despite her efforts to ignore it, the pull of curiosity forced her to look across the room at the portrait again. The eyes of the woman seemed to be speaking to her—trying to say something. Carly asked, “What do you want?”

Carly stared at the portrait and while sympathy was the overwhelming emotion coursing through her, she was jealous too. Ethan would never care for her the way he loved his former wife. Love. Why was she thinking of love? Just the idea of it stunned her. She didn’t love Ethan, she just wanted his body. At least, that was what she told herself.

“Can’t I have just one small corner of his heart?” Carly asked the portrait. “Or do you get all of him?”

The door opened and Ethan appeared with one coffee mug in his hand and the other tucked under his arm.

Carly jumped out of bed. “I’m sorry. Let me help you with that.”

Ethan handed her one of the steaming mugs. “I thought I heard talking in here.”

“I was just talking to myself.”

“About anything interesting?” He raised a brow.

About all the ways I want you
, is what she wanted to say, but since she was so good at blurting out the truth, she figured why ruin her stellar record. “I was actually talking to your former wife.”

He gave her a questioning look. “You believe in ghosts then?”

“I believe her presence in your life is very real—not a ghost, at all.”

He strode around the end of the bed and slumped in a wingback chair. He brought the mug to his lips and Carly wondered if she should repeat what she just said, but she followed his lead and took a sip of her coffee instead.

“My mom is baking blueberry muffins. They should be done soon. I’ll get us some in a minute.” He bent his left leg and put his ankle on his other knee.

He skillfully changed the subject, she noted. Fine. She was good with that, so maybe she’d get to the root of the problem. “Why are you so anxious for me to leave?”

“I’m not. I just figured you’d want to get your interview. That is why you’re here.”

“Sure. I want the interview, but I also wanted to see you again.”

He stared at his mug he held in his lap.

“This is usually the part where you say you’re happy to see me again, too.” She paused. “But if you don’t feel the same, that’s fine. I assume we are keeping up the pretense that we’re dating, right?”

“I don’t like being dishonest with my family, but yes.”

“So what’s the plan for today?” she asked.

“We’re going to play hockey out on the lake once it’s light.”

“Sounds great.” She was determined not to let his sour mood affect her and not take it personally. She was here under the guise of his date and she was going to play it up for all it was worth. She was determined to believe Ethan wanted her here despite how he was acting. His actions spoke volumes of how he really felt about her. He had handled her with passion and tenderness. This morning he acted indifferently toward her. She would focus on the positives. He wanted her last night; maybe she could convince him that he wanted her in the daylight hours, too.

P
REPARING
for the interview with Dane, Carly found herself a little nervous. This wasn’t normal for her. Even with Dane and his iconic status in the hockey world, she still didn’t place athletes above anyone else. She decided she must be nervous because she wanted to make a good impression on Dane because of Ethan.

She waited for him to enter the library.

He swaggered into the room with all the attitude of an athlete, and she swore he wore a smirk on his face. He sat down across from her. “So you know I detest giving interviews and I’m only doing this for Ethan.”

Nothing like getting right to the point. “I appreciate your candidness, Dane. I’m well aware that you are only doing this for your brother. I promise I won’t disappoint you on the article. I won’t print anything you don’t approve of. Do you mind if I record this?”

“I know you write well. I checked out some of your articles. Even for Ethan I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t think you were a good journalist.”

“Thank you.” She paused and reached for her recorder. “I think.”

Dane leaned forward and placed his elbows on his jean-clad legs. “Before you turn that on, I have a few questions for you.”

She raised a brow. “All right.”

He narrowed those intense green eyes at her. “You aren’t dating my brother, are you?”

She wasn’t expecting Dane to be quite so candid. “I thought I was interviewing you.”

“I’m not agreeing to anything, even if I promised Ethan, until you answer a few of my questions first.”

“Okay.” The wheels of her brain were spinning.

“Are you dating my brother or aren’t you?” Dane asked.

She was an excellent reader of people and she decided she probably wouldn’t be able to bullshit Dane. “No, I’m not.”

He leaned back in his chair. “That’s what I thought.”

He was being honest with her, so she decided to do the same. “But I wish I was, if that counts for anything.”

“Let me guess, he’s been pushing you away.” He quirked a brow.

Now it was her turn to lean forward. “Yes. That’s exactly it. My ego is a little bruised, too, since we are being completely honest.”

“Since his wife died, he’s closed himself off from other women.”

“I’ve gathered that.”

“We’ve all tried to set him up, but nothing has worked.” He looked at her with such intensity, she shivered. All the Forrester brothers had the most expressive eyes, it would be easy to get lost in them. “Until you.”

“What do you mean, until me? I haven’t been able to crack his shell.”

“You’re sharing a room with him. He’s introduced you to the family. That’s a lot farther than any other woman has gotten with him by a long ways.”

She sighed. “Thanks, but like you said, he keeps pushing me away and even I, a person who isn’t ashamed to go to great lengths to get what she wants, am feeling frustrated by his rejection.”

“I’m not seeing rejection. I’m seeing a man who is watching you every second. I see the interest in his eyes, even if you don’t.”

A little embarrassed, she shrugged. “Between you and me quite honestly, he’s completely won me over. I would love nothing more than to be genuinely dating him.”

“We want to see Ethan happy. Despite your unusual means of getting an interview with me, I like you. I figure you’re the only type of woman who could handle him anyway.”

She laughed. “What do you mean by that?”

“He’s as stubborn as a bear. You might have to face more rejection from him before this is over, but I promise you, he does like you. He likes you a lot. He wouldn’t have pushed the issue of an interview with me if he didn’t.”

She nodded. Hearing those words from Dane made her heart skip a beat. “That’s nice to hear. Thank you.”

“I’ll help you however I can. Once we get back to Anchorage, you give me a call if he’s giving you grief.”

A smile creased her lips. She bit down on the end of her pen. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

The rest of the interview went fine and Carly was thrilled to be given a little piece of hope.

CHAPTER 15

Ethan made sure Dane kept to the bargain and gave Carly an interview. They met in the library and he assumed it went fine, but he didn’t ask. He hinted that she should hop on the next flight out of Gold Creek, but she wasn’t budging. The woman was stubborn and annoying as hell. He wanted her gone, but she appeared to be digging in her heels, or in her case digging in her skates.

With only four hours of daylight this time of year, his family took the opportunity to skate together. A few members of the community showed up too, so they had enough skaters to play four on four. Sabrina was the very unofficial referee and scorekeeper.

Carly skated amazingly well for not being an Alaskan-raised kid, but then, he really didn’t know much about her background except that after this weekend there would be no reason for her to be in his life, and he could move on. She’d gotten her interview with Dane—she should be gone, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t gone from Gold Creek and she wasn’t out of his thoughts either.

He hoped he’d been rude enough to her this morning that she’d leave. But she would have none of it.

When she had the puck, his brothers let her skate with it, except both Dane and Travis were awfully chummy with her. She skated right past them and scored a goal. “What are you doing? Might help if you played a little defense!” he yelled specifically at Travis.

“She’s too fast for me,” Travis called back.

“Yeah, right.” Ethan turned to Dane. “What’s your excuse?”

“Since you guys are making me play one-handed and with a left-handed stick, I’m handicapped.”

Carly wore a smile as big as Alaska on her face. Beneath her white stocking cap, her long red hair flowed behind her while she skated. Ethan wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen anything so beautiful. This woman had wormed her way under his skin and it scared him to death. He had to get away from her. Or get her away from him, one way or the other.

“Where’d you learn how to skate?” Ethan couldn’t resist asking her.

“I grew up in Massachusetts with two brothers. I had to learn how to skate if I was going to keep up with them.”

Sabrina asked, “Why you’d move to Alaska?”

Travis answered for Carly. “To take a job as a sports journalist for
Alaska Today
magazine.”

“How did you know that?” Ethan asked.

“We talked during the flight here, remember? When you were pouting,” Travis answered. “She used to work for a home décor magazine in New York City.” He skated alongside Carly and said, “I’m surprised you aren’t a bit more shell shocked moving from one extreme to the other.”

Ethan wanted to check Travis into the snow bank, but then he remembered Travis was on his team, so instead he said, “Quit fraternizing with the enemy.”

Carly took the puck away from Travis and scored again.

“What the hell?” Ethan said. “Is anyone playing hockey or are we just letting Carly have shooting practice?”

Since Zak was on Carly’s team, he was all smiles. “Whatever you’re doing to distract Travis and Dane, keep it up. I like it!” he yelled.

“I don’t know what my teammates are doing, but they aren’t playing hockey,” Ethan said to anyone who would listen.

“Your team is stacked,” Carly said. “What are you complaining about?”

“How is my team stacked? I have a handicapped NHL player and Travis.”

“Yeah, but Travis played in college.”

“How did you know?”

“He told me,” she said before taking the puck from him.

“When?” Ethan skated behind her. He could have easily stolen the puck back, but he didn’t. He enjoyed watching her skate, especially from behind. It bothered him that she knew so much about Travis when Dane was the one she interviewed. What else did she know about his family?

“We talked on the plane, remember?”

Oh, yeah.
He remembered how annoyed he’d been with himself on the flight here, but for the life of him he couldn’t even remember why. He seemed to be in a perpetual state of aggravation around her.

Except for the night they met, when he had the mask to protect him.

He was determined to quit letting Carly score all the goals, so he grabbed the puck from her and scored a goal of his own. When he had the puck and was certain to score another one, Carly came up behind him and unexpectedly shoved him into the snow bank. She jumped on top of him and said, “Go, Zak!”

While he lay prone in the snow, and Carly on top of him, Zak scored.

“I don’t know what my teammates are doing,” Ethan said. “Not much apparently.”

The puffs of their warm breaths mixed together. Carly’s mouth was inches from his. She said, “I could get used to playing hockey with your family. Especially when I get to check you.”

Ethan smiled despite his efforts to stay angry and keep her at a distance. “Yeah, well, you cheat.”

“True.” She laughed. “I don’t see you complaining that much.”

“I’m complaining on the inside.”

Zak’s voice called out. “Keep him distracted, Carly. You’re doing great!”

Ethan laughed despite himself and he loved the weight of her body pressed into him along with the sheer happiness expressed on her face. He hadn’t remembered a time when he genuinely laughed so hard. It had been a long time.

“I know!” Carly yelled back.

Ethan rolled her off and left her lying in the snow, but not before he took another look at her. Her cap had slipped off and her hair splayed out around her like the sun.

“You have the best family,” she said. “I love them.”

Ethan stopped. He took his family for granted most of the time. He’d let his life become all about loss, not about what he had.

He looked into Carly’s green eyes, so alive with energy and life. “You’re right. I do have the best family. I’m sure I don’t tell them enough.”