Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

trooper had her doubting him, he’d—
    Aidan stopped in his tracks. What was he doing? This wasn’t who he was. These thoughts weren’t his. Sonya wouldn’t respond positively to his manhandling her again.
    If he laid a hand on Hunt, Sonya’s sympathies would be with Hunt. The trooper was right now, talking trash about him. Trying to place the blame on him for what happened with Peter today.
    Good luck with that. He smirked. Sonya had seen Peter get hit with the brailer. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. It had been an accident. Pure and simple. It wasn’t an accident that he’d been close, though. He’d been staying “close” for days. It was a good thing he had. Close enough to step in when he’d seen what had happened.
    Having Lana with him had been a godsend. Peter couldn’t keep his eyes off her. His cousin was worth her weight in distraction. She didn’t even know the blessing she’d added to Aidan’s cause. Hunt could try his best to pin this latest accident of Sonya’s on him. Aidan hoped he made a good case, because Sonya would surely side with him.
    At present, he was her hero, and he was going to stay there.
    The feel of her back in his arms was like a soothing ointment. He wanted her back. Wanted the feel of her sweet body next to his. Wanted to lose himself inside her again, and experience that feeling of utter peace and contentment she’d brought him.

    The second they were alone, Garrett advanced. Sonya stood her ground, though she could swear it shook under her feet. It wasn’t fear that had her quaking in her shoes. Hell, she didn’t know what it was, but it made her blood pump faster in her veins. She couldn’t call the sensation all that unpleasant. Though feeling anything for the man after he’d basically told her she was too much trouble for him, grated on her nerves. Much the way an out of tune instrument always caused her to flinch.
    “Are you sleeping with him?” Garrett asked, his tone low, menacing.
    “ What ?” His question knocked her off balance. “What does that have to do with what happened today?”
    “Answer the question.”
    What right did he have to ask? He must have read something in her expression for he growled her name in warning.
    “Not anymore,” she bit out.
    “ When? When did you stop sleeping with him?”
    Now he was getting plain nosey. “Not that it’s any of your business, but last summer.”
    “You’re fooling yourself if you think it isn’t any of my business.”
    “Excuse me?” she huffed. “You can’t just…just—”
    “Tell me what happened today.”
    She took off her ball cap and slapped it against her thigh as she arranged her answers. He had her so off balance she didn’t know where to begin. “It really was an accident. The brailer bag swung wide and Peter was in its path.” She smoothed her hand over her ponytail and donned her cap, careful of the bandage at her hairline, and pulled the ponytail through the opening in the back. As though in slow motion, she relived the terrifying scene in her head.
    “Don’t get caught up in what could have happened, Sonya. Just tell me what did happen.”
    “The tender pulled up the brailer, and it hit Peter, knocking him overboard.” Her voice broke, but Garrett continued to regard her silently until she pulled it together. She quickly bypassed the fear of praying for Peter to surface and rejoined the facts as they happened. “Aidan pulled him out of the water and brought him back to camp while I finished tendering the fish.”
    “Where did Aidan come from?”
    “Aidan didn’t have any part in this, Garrett. He saved Peter’s life.”
    “I don’t believe in coincidences, Sonya. Where did he come from?”
    “We’re both fisherman, Garrett. He must have been in line to tender his fish too.”
    “Were there fish in his boat?”
    “Well…no. I don’t think so.” Sonya scratched at a mosquito bite on her arm. “He must have just finished tendering before I started to.”
    “Did you see him in line?”
    Sonya thought about the long wait, bobbing on the waves, as fishermen tendered in front of her. “Uh…I’m not sure.”
    “Okay, that’s enough for now.”
    Sonya laid her hand on his arm. “Garrett, Aidan didn’t have anything to do with Peter falling overboard. It was an accident. They happen.”
    “I don’t like the feel of this.” Garrett whipped off his sunglasses and wedged them in the opening of his shirt. “My gut’s telling me that you’re in serious