Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

written up by the troopers for a loss of concentration. Something got away from them. There were the few cutthroats looking for any opportunity to bend the law to their advantage. After all, fishing was all about advantage. The best vantage point, the best fishing hole, the best boat, and the best crew.
    “Heads up,” Gramps said. “We have fish cops twenty feet off the stern.”
    Sonya glanced behind them. Sure enough there was the Calypso , a former drift boat the state used to “blend in” with the other fishermen. Any fisherman with any fish sense knew the Calypso for what she was.
    A spy vessel.
    “Looks like they want to board us,” Gramps said.
    Peter pointed at the Calypso . “Do you see that?”
    “Yes.” She nodded. They hadn’t done anything. Hell, they didn’t even have their net in the water. She glanced at the instrument panel and noticed the time. They didn’t have time for this. “Wes, Peter, prepare to get the net in the water.”
    The Calypso angled alongside them. She heard Garrett’s voice clearly as he yelled from the deck of the trooper’s boat. “ Double Dippin’ , prepare to be boarded.”
    Damn it all to hell. If this had something to do with last night, Garrett was out of line. With no choice, Sonya did as the law ordered. A rope flew over the side of her boat and Wes caught it, securing the boats together. Garrett leaped over, looking lethal in his dark blue uniform, trooper hat, and sunglasses. He glanced around the deck, nodded toward Wes and Peter, then zeroed in on her up in the pilot house.
    “I need to talk to you.”
    Oh no, he did not . “I’m busy here. You realize that we’re about to drop our net.”
    He whipped off his sunglasses, his piercing eyes hard as ice. “Not before we speak. Don’t make me give you a safety inspection.”
    Double hell! He could hold them up indefinitely if she didn’t cooperate. “Gramps, hold her steady.”
    “Give him hell, Sonya. We need to get fishing.”
    “Plan to.” Sonya slid down the rail of the stairs and stomped her way on deck toward Garrett. “What do you want?”
    “You have a problem onboard.”
    “Yeah, I’m looking at it.”
    The Albatross puttered by, and Chuck Kendrick yelled across the open water, “Yo, Double D, better treat that trooper right. Show him your titties, and he might be kind enough to let you off with a warning.”
    She sent Chuck the finger, a message the dimwit would understand, and then caught Garrett’s narrowed look.
    “Not afraid of making enemies, are you?” he said, with a cocked brow.
    “Just speaking to Chuck in the language he understands.” She didn’t need to explain herself to him and resented the feeling to do exactly that. She tried to hand him a copy of her permit and fishing licenses for everyone onboard.
    “What’s this for?” he asked.
    “Trying to speed up the process.” She flapped the papers at him again. “Come on, I’ve got fish to catch, and there has to be someone else you could be harassing.”
    “I’m not here to check that your paperwork’s in order.” His eyes snapped with temper. “You’ve pissed some people off, Sonya.”
    “That’s nothing new. I piss people off all the time.”
    “I don’t doubt it.” He leaned into her, and she caught a whiff of that spicy mix of man and power. She didn’t like it. It took a moment to clear her head.
    “Are you listening to me?” he asked, advancing a step.
    “Yeah.” She waved her hands in front of her as though to scare off a pesky bug. “Say what you gotta say, and then get the hell off my boat.”
    “I don’t know why I bothered trying to do you a favor. You’ll probably ignore everything I have to say on principle.”
    “Probably.” She nodded. “Just spit it out, so I can get my net in the water.” His delaying her on the first day of fishing had better not be intentional.
    “Check your hydraulic lines. I overheard someone say they’d sliced them.”
    “What?”
    “Just do it.” He turned and leaped over the side, back onto the Calypso . The man was in great shape to be able to do that so gracefully. Wonder what else he could do with such power and grace? Damn, she needed to get her mind off his body and back on the job at hand.
    “What’d he want?” Peter asked, throwing the Calypso’s rope back to her. Boats all around them were throwing their buoys in the water and laying out their nets in a roar of diesel engines. Garrett had kept them from getting a prime