Ethan was the property manager at Pinecrest Lodge, wasn’t he? Lily could not get the question out of her head. She spent the next hour chasing Wookie through the evergreen forest and jumping at the snap of every branch or the buzz of every insect. Despite the fact that she was alone, Lily couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.

This sabotage, it was inconvenient but not dangerous, right?

Are you a reporter or aren’t you? Lily wanted to report real news, the sort of news that women like herself went into dangerous situations in order to verify. She wanted to do something that mattered and if she was going to succeed, she would have to get her hands dirty. Even if she’d never done anything like go undercover to find the truth.

You can’t do that here, anyway. First, she needed to land herself the promotion. Then she would figure out how she was going to swallow her fear and put herself in questionable situations in the pursuit of the truth. What mattered was making a difference through her words, and she was determined to do that.

As if agreeing with Lily’s thoughts, Wookie yipped. Lily jumped. She glanced behind her for the twentieth time this morning. Only trees, the rustle of branches as a squirrel climbed up a trunk, and the swoop of a bird. Nothing dangerous.

When she turned around, Wookie was gone.

“Wookie!”

A distant bark in answer at least gave her a direction to run toward. Lily lurched after her dog, scanning the underbrush for a foot-long ball of fur. She reached the end of the trees first. The clearing opened behind Ethan’s cabin. His black truck sat in front of it, the tailgate down. Wookie bolted past toward Lily’s cabin.

“Not fair,” Lily muttered under her breath. “You have four legs. I only have two.”

At least she knew that her dog would find her way toward Ethan. As the speck of fur disappeared behind her cabin, she slowed to a walk. Ethan must have decided to go straight to work on the plumbing once he’d returned with the supplies. For that, she could only be grateful. She didn’t want to think about going another day without a shower, even a cold one.

The closer she got to the break in the pipe, the more determined she was to make herself useful. She’d cooked breakfast this morning, learned how to light her own campfires. Even if she’d never touched a plumbing pipe before in her life, there had to be something she could do to help.

On the edge of the soft, muddy ground, she found Wookie dancing around Ethan’s form as he crouched. He held a screwdriver between his teeth as he wrestled with a bolt on the side of the pipe. She quickened her step to join him.

“Let me help. Can I hold something?”

His eyebrows set in a determined expression, he barely seemed to notice her as he pulled the screwdriver from between his lips and handed it to her. He used one hand to hold the pipe steady while he jiggled a slightly rusted bolt out of its fastening.

He didn’t even need the screwdriver, from what Lily could see. She was standing there, worse than useless. But what could she do to help?

“Can I hold the pipe steady for you?”

“I’ve got this.”

“Of course you do. You’re the property manager, after all.”

He didn’t say anything, but his shoulders tensed as he continued to work.

“You are the property manager, aren’t you?”

Ruby had introduced him as her handyman…hadn’t she?

“I’m fixing this, aren’t I?”

He didn’t look her in the eye.

She rolled the handle of the screwdriver between her palms as she frowned. Was he hiding something from her? “If you’re the handyman on the campground, why did you recommend to Ruby to hire someone else? Isn’t a property manager and a handyman essentially the same thing?”

Ethan’s fingers stilled on the pipe. He raised his gaze to hers, his dark eyes unreadable. After a moment, he said in a soft voice, “I’m not going to be here for much longer.”

“Oh.”

She should have considered that. After all, she was only here for a week in total. She hadn’t once thought to ask him if he was a permanent worker. Winter was coming, and who decided to camp in the middle of winter? It made sense that he was only here seasonally, even if Ruby would probably do herself a favor by employing him longer.

As he returned his attention to the pipe, she said, “I’m sorry for asking. That was weird of me.”

He didn’t answer, which only made her embarrassment grow. Tapping her fingernails on the handle of the screwdriver, she returned to a safer topic of conversation.

“I want to help.”

Wookie squeezed between Ethan’s ankles from behind, turning with a canine smile to earn his attention in front of him.

Ethan released the pipe to catch his balance. Gruffly, he said, “Then take your dog before I trip over her.”

Lily swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat. She felt all the closeness they’d built up over the past few days disappearing. Maybe she shouldn’t have questioned his role as handyman. She exchanged the screwdriver for her dog. Her hair fell across her face, tickling her cheek.

This morning, he’d kissed her. She could still feel the phantom brush of his lips against hers. Had that connection between them just been a single moment that was gone? Maybe she’d fooled herself into thinking it was something more.

“I’ll get out of your way.”

As she started to straighten, Wookie held tight to her chest, Ethan shoved the screwdriver into the back pocket of his jeans. He caught her by the upper arm, helping her up and straightening with her. “I’m sorry. It shouldn’t take me long,” he said, his voice rough.

She nodded, unable to meet his gaze. He gently released her arm. After taking a couple steps, frowning, she glanced back. He was already back at work, as if she wasn’t there. Maybe the issue wasn’t that he didn’t want her around or didn’t think she was good enough to help him. Maybe he was in the Man Zone or whatever men liked to say when they were engaged in manly activities like fixing things.

“I don’t really know much about you, do I?”

She hadn’t meant that to come out so loud. When Ethan glanced up, frowning, Lily felt her cheeks fill with heat. She dropped her gaze and muttered, “Good luck,” before she turned and fled to the safety of her cabin.

It shouldn’t matter how much she knew about him. They’d only met a couple of days ago and she had only a few days left at the campground, anyway. But after the kiss they’d shared this morning, the intangible connection between them, it definitely mattered to her.