Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

to cause trouble. She didn’t doubt that he got off on it. Other than corking him off the other day, she usually stayed clear of him. The man scared her, though she blustered her way through it every time she was within a few feet of him. If he knew she quaked around him there’d be no telling how far he’d take that tidbit of information.
    Kendrick was her bogeyman. Corking him off the other day had been an accident. She sure as hell hadn’t planned it.
    Could Aidan be pulling these pranks? That thought upset her more than thinking Kendrick had her in his sights. She’d loved Aidan, probably still did in some locked corner of her heart.
    Don’t go there.
    She’d dealt with all that. Aidan didn’t deserve her love. Would he mess with her? She didn’t like the idea of a man she’d shared herself with, wanting to cause her grief. She couldn’t have misjudged his character that much, could she?
    Idiot. Black eye, remember. You hadn’t seen that coming.
    No, she couldn’t discount Aidan, which meant she might have an enemy living right next door. She surveyed the Hartes’ camp across the creek. They’d shared this section of beach for a long time. Her dad and Earl had actually been friends until her mother had come into the picture. Both men had been enamored with Kyra the summer she’d hired on as a cannery worker, but Mikhail Savonski had won her heart.
    A sharp pang of loss intruded—how she missed her parents and her sister. Two halves of one egg, she and Sasha had been inseparable. Sometimes she missed Sasha so much she couldn’t breathe. Losing her had been like losing a limb. She’d never be completely whole again.
    As far as Sonya knew, she could have pissed off anyone out here. Most kept to themselves, others liked to mess it up. She’d definitely caught someone’s attention. Which brought her right back to contacting Garrett.
    How did one go about contacting a fish cop anyway? They were always around when you didn’t want them, but when you needed them, poof, nowhere in sight. She’d be damned if she’d radio the Calypso . It wasn’t like you could have a private conversation on the VHF. If she got on the radio, every fishermen out in the bay would know she was contacting the trooper.
    She’d have more trouble than she already had if she did that.
    So that left her to hunt down Garrett. It wasn’t like she could sneak up on the Calypso without anyone noticing. Except someone had boarded the Double Dippin’ without anyone being aware.
    Nope. She wasn’t about to seek Garrett out. Not going to happen. She’d have to take her chances. Be on her guard, and if Garrett happened across her path then she’d mention the problems they’d been having. Besides, they were on top of things. The chance of more mishaps, now that they were being vigilant, was unlikely.

    So much for vigilance.
    They’d fished the set net sites during the night tide, returning to camp in the wee hours of the morning. Sonya had anchored the Double Dippin’ in front of camp, right at the end of the running line. She hadn’t gotten any sleep because she’d felt the need to constantly check the boats every half hour. A lot of good that did.
    Someone had still gotten by her.
    The Fish and Game had closed fishing for the next twenty-four hours to increase salmon escapement up the river, which gave the fishermen a much needed rest before drifting tomorrow.
    Not that her crew would get any.
    Sonya clenched her fists and wanted to punch someone, preferably the asshole messing with them. They were down a skiff again, but this one hadn’t been cut adrift.
    It was left tied to the running line and sinking to the bottom of the damn ocean.
    She reached for the mic to radio the cabin, and then set it back on its clip. The first thing her crew was going to ask her was if she’d contacted Garrett. Of course, she hadn’t and she’d been fortunate not to have run into him.
    Or unfortunate as the case now seemed to be.
    There wasn’t anything anyone could do for the skiff. It was dead in the water until the tide went back out.
    She picked the mic back up and changed to channel sixteen, the trooper’s station on the VHF.
    “ Calypso this is…” She stopped and then began again. “Come in Calypso .”
    She waited and then there was a crackle followed by a burst of static. “ Calypso here.” It wasn’t Garrett who’d answered the radio. “Please identify yourself.”
    Damn. “Can we switch to channel fourteen?” she