Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

cigarettes and sucking dry a cooler full of beers. A laugh would cackle over the water every now and then. Mostly they sat and waited for fish like the rest of them.
    “This is ridiculous.” Sonya stood. “Let’s tie up to the Double Dippin’ and get out of this rain. I’m cold to the bone.”
    Wes nodded. “I doubt we’ll catch any more fish freezing our digits off out here than sitting on the boat where it’s warm and dry.” He indicated Aidan. “You want to invite him?”
    She didn’t, but then felt like they’d come to an understanding, and Aidan wouldn’t see the overture as an invitation from her this time. “Aidan,” she hollered, cupping her hands around her mouth. His head snapped up at his name, like she’d woken him. How could anyone sleep in this weather? “Want to join us aboard the Double Dippin’ ?”
    He nodded and started his engine. Sonya did the same. The sooner she was out of this wet, miserable weather the better. Someday she needed to fish on an ocean where she could wear a bikini and actually get a tan.
    They met at the drift boat. Sonya left the men to tie the skiffs to the painter’s line, so they could drift behind. She stepped up to the pilot house and called Peter’s name. She heard some muffled cursing and entered the small room to find Peter and Lana struggling into their clothes. “Whoa.”
    “It’s not what it looks like.” Peter pulled his sweatshirt over his head, his face popping up out of the hole.
    “It looks as if you two were fooling around.” Sonya glanced at Lana. Her shirt was inside out and the blush on her skin rivaled the pink of her shirt. “Better fix your top, Aidan’s right behind me.”
    “Oh, no! He can’t find me like this. If he tells my dad, I’m dead.”
    Letting Crafty know what his daughter had been up to with Peter aboard the Double Dippin’ went against Sonya’s survival instincts too. “Down to the bunks,” Sonya said, pointing to the ladder that led below. “He can assume you had to use the head.” She heard Aidan and Wes on the steps outside the pilot house. “Hurry.”
    Lana gave her a grateful look and scrambled down the ladder. Sonya glared at Peter. “How long has this been going on?”
    Peter was saved from answering when the door slid open and Wes and Aidan filled the room. Sonya sent Peter a look that clearly said their conversation wasn’t over.
    “Where’s Lana?” Aidan glanced around for his cousin, as he unsnapped his rain jacket.
    “Down here,” came Lana’s muffled reply. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
    “Why don’t I make some hot chocolate?” Sonya suggested hoping to cover any questions Aidan might pose over Lana’s whereabouts.
    “I’ll get out the cookies.” Peter grabbed a bag of Nutty Butters, obviously thinking along the same lines as Sonya.
    “How about I break out the cards?” Wes hung up his raingear on the hooks by the door next to the others, and rubbed his hands together.
    “As long as we aren’t betting with money this time,” Aidan said. “I’m still trying to recover from the last time you cleaned out my pockets.”
    Lana joined them and Sonya was glad to see her clothing in the right place and her blushing under control. She helped Sonya fix instant hot chocolate for everyone. Cards were dealt around the bunk, Aidan and Wes at opposite ends. Sonya took the captain’s chair, which left Lana and Peter to pull out the bench from under the bunk. It was more than cozy in the small room, and it didn’t take long for the windows to fog with condensation. Sonya found herself laughing for the first time in a long time. This was another thing she enjoyed about fishing. The camaraderie between friends. Downtime filled with conversation and the occasional game of Rummy.
    “I’m out.” Wes laid down his hand, much to the good-natured complaints of the others. Points were counted up, and more groans were given as Wes took the lead.
    The cards were handed to Aidan for his turn to deal. “So what’s everyone planning to buy after the season?” This was another game they hadn’t played yet this year. Hearing what everyone dreamed of buying with their percentage of the season’s take.
    “A new laptop for me.” Lana picked up her cards and stacked all the high cards to the left like she always did. She really needed to mix it up, especially playing with Wes who had an eye for such tells.
    “I’m hoping I make enough to buy this sweet motorcycle a friend of mine has for