Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

silent steel carcass. Peter and Wes stood nearby. Peter with his hat over his heart, and Wes with his fingers interlocked as though in quiet prayer.
    Gramps looked downright ticked off.
    “Everything all right, over there?” Sonya hollered over the hundred or so feet of water separating them.
    Gramps gave a sharp nod and lowered the shotgun. “Son of a biscuit refused to start after all I did to try and save it! Dagnabbit.” He blew hair out of his eyes. “Figured it was time to put it out of its misery.”
    Thank heavens. Sonya wanted to laugh but didn’t dare because it would hurt Gramps’s feelings. “I think that was a sound decision.”
    “ Sound? ” Garrett mumbled behind her. She elbowed him to keep quiet. It was all she could do not to bust up in giggles over the relief of a dead engine instead of another dead body.
    “Hope I didn’t scare you,” Gramps called, seeming to realize how Sonya and Garrett might have taken his actions.
    “Nope, just wondering what the hubbub was all about.” Sonya waved to her family, disengaged herself from Garrett’s arms, and turned back to the pilot house. She needed a rest after that scare. Her heart felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest.
    “Hubbub?” Garrett asked, following her. “We need to have a sit down and explain a few facts to everyone. Roland is still out there. You know what I thought when that gun blast went off?”
    Sonya continued her trek into the pilot house and then down the ladder to the bunk. “Yeah, the same thing I did. Do you really think Roland is laying in wait? Ready to come after us as soon as our guard’s down?” She turned to face him as he shadowed her into the small room.
    “No, I think we’ve seen the last of him. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to do everything in my power to protect you in case I’m wrong.”
    “Anything to protect me, huh?” She inched over to him, trailing her fingers down his chest.
    “Absolutely anything.” Garrett’s breath caught as her fingers curled into the waistband of his jeans.
    “How about playing big bad trooper to a hell-bent-on-trouble fisherman?”
    “We’ve been playing that all season.” His voice went guttural as he pulled her up against his body. “We ought to be pretty good at it by now.”
    “I think there are still some holes that need mending.” An afternoon of “mending” sure as hell would make her feel better.
    She screeched as Garrett picked her up and tossed her onto the bed.
    He stood tall and domineering next to the edge of the bunk, not taking his eyes off her as he slowly stripped off his t-shirt, and yanked free the snap on his jeans.
    She wetted her lips and loved how the action caused his gaze to darken as he followed the trail of her tongue.
    He knelt one knee on the bed, and his next words sent a thrill tingling through her core. “Prepare to be boarded.”
    Oh, how she loved those words.
    THE END

N OTE FROM THE A UTHOR
    For the purpose of writing Hooked , I kept set and drift gillnet fishermen from fishing the same tides together. During the peak of the salmon run, the Department of Fish and Game will open the fishing periods for both set netters and drifters. It’s a mad fight to catch as much fish as we can while fishing the same tides together. As Sonya didn’t have enough crew to do both types of fishing during the same tide, I elected not to show this aspect of fishing. It is insane and would have made great material, but it wouldn’t fit within the story I was writing.
    Also, the Naknek-Kvichak District has not fished the Naknek River since 2007. The Fish and Game stipulates that the Naknek River will open to gillnet fishing when the escapement (number of salmon upriver) of the Kvichak River falls below the projected escapement goals. Any given fishing season we never know if we will be fishing the Naknek River or not until the Fish and Game announce it. Otherwise fishing happens in the bay, which the Naknek and Kvichak Rivers flow into. It’s still combat fishing as every drift boat fights to be the first to lay their net on the line. And the fish cops are always outnumbered.
    My family was among the first to start both set netting and drifting. Now other savvy fishermen have followed suit, making it even wilder out there. For more information on commercial fishing in Bristol Bay check out the Alaska Department of Fish and Game .

SHIVER: A PREVIEW
    Tiffinie Helmer

C HAPTER O NE
    Aidan Harte stepped out of his rented