Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

the ramp to the beach. With the tide out, she was able to drive the ATV right up to the back of the Double Dippin’. Peter met her outside, having heard them pull up, with Gracie riding snug in the waistband of his pants.
    “Hey, you’re back.” He stated the obvious and then frowned when he saw Garrett. “Why’d you bring the fish cop?”
    “Trooper,” Garrett corrected through clenched teeth. “How many times do I have to say it?”
    Peter looked at Sonya. “We aren’t in trouble, are we? Don’t tell me something else happened?” His face went white. “Gramps?”
    “Everything’s fine. Garrett just wanted to talk to me about…stuff.” She shrugged as if Garrett’s presence was no big deal. She wasn’t going to inform her little brother she and Aidan had pulled a stunt that now began to seem a bit childish. “Why don’t you take the 4-wheeler back to camp?”
    “Leave the fish cop, er, trooper here with you? Alone?”
    “I can handle him,” Sonya stated.
    “You sure?” Peter asked, eyeing Garrett.
    Sonya took a peek. No wonder Peter acted so protective. Garrett’s expression was like the calm in a snow globe. One little shake and he’d be all storm.
    “Why don’t you check on Lana? I’m sure she could use a break from Cranky and Crafty.”
    That had Peter disembarking. Once he reached the muddy sand, he handed over the pistol. “Keep Gracie with you. I’ll see you later.” He nodded to Garrett, jumped on the 4-wheeler and roared off down the beach.
    Sonya tucked Gracie into the front of her waistband and climbed aboard the Double Dippin’ feeling Garrett’s presence like a kerosene heater set on high at her back. She entered the pilot house and immediately shut all the curtains. There were too many boats dry around her that could see into the wheel house for her liking.
    “Okay, let me have it.” She sighed. The sooner he reprimanded her, the sooner he could get off her boat and walk back to the cannery.
    “Think you can handle me, do you?”
    She recalled the careless words she’d thrown at Peter. They’d been meant to reassure, but obviously Garrett had taken them a whole other way. He took a threatening step toward her in the small space, which didn’t leave her with much room to move, let alone breathe. His powerful shoulders blocked her view of the rest of the room. All she saw were those shoulders, big and broad, and his chest, roped with muscle. She remembered all too well what his muscles had felt like. The pilot house suddenly seemed not just small, but much too warm.
    “How are you going to handle me, Sonya?” His tone had lowered and had the effect of the bottom dropping out of her stomach. It was threatening and sexy as hell. Bringing him to the Double Dippin’ wasn’t the best place she could have chosen after all.
    She was having one night of lousy decisions.
    “Say your piece, and then get off my boat.”
    “Do you know how asinine your actions were tonight?”
    She had a pretty good idea, but she wasn’t going to admit it. At least not to him. “I showed Kendrick that I’m not going to roll over like all the other fishermen out here. He knows I’m watching him now.”
    “You jeopardized the surveillance we had him under. He’ll be more careful now. Sneakier. And since his ego is now at stake, he’ll be meaner.”
    She bit back a smile, remembering how it felt to have Kendrick gasping for breath at her feet.
    “You might have enjoyed yourself tonight, but you set my operation back weeks, if not sunk it all together.”
    She swallowed her smile, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach.
    “Why did you do it? Why didn’t you come to me first, instead of Harte? I know that Nikolai’s injury shook you up, and I understand the need for action, but Sonya, do you have any idea what could have happened to you tonight?”
    “I was prepared, and Aidan was with me.”
    “Against Kendrick and his hoodlums? What if the patrons of the bar turned and sided with Kendrick? As it was, they didn’t do anything to come to your aid.”
    “I didn’t need their help. I had things under control.”
    “No, you didn’t. If Judd and I hadn’t intervened when we did, the situation would’ve gone to hell. Where would your family be if you were too hurt to fish? Or worse? What would happen to Peter? Your grandparents? Wes? You are the glue that holds your family together. Without you, they would be lost.”
    Why did he have to be so damn intuitive? Why did he have to