Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

he’d gotten her pregnant this morning? The thought of their child beginning its life inside her right now had all his protective instincts roaring to life.
    “Was there a question in there, officer?” she asked, raising a brow at Judd.
    “Yeah, I’d like a breakdown of your whereabouts since leaving the Pitt last night.”
    “Judd, that’s not necessary,” Garrett said.
    “By the book, Garrett.”
    Garrett ran a hand through his short hair, his jaw clenching. “You don’t have to answer him, Sonya.”
    Her eyes flicked to his and then narrowed toward Judd. “I’m sure he already knows you spent the night with me, so why are we going through this?”
    “I need it for the record,” Judd said.
    “I left the Pitt with Garrett and was with him until around six this morning. Do you want all the salacious details?”
    “That won’t be necessary.” Judd turned to Garrett. “You willing to verify that?”
    “You know I am.” The steel in his voice was cold and sharp, letting Judd know he’d better watch his step.
    Judd turned back to Sonya. “Who else is aware that you two spent the night together?”
    She sighed and dropped her gaze, fingering the frayed cuff of her long-sleeved t-shirt. “Uhm…Aidan knows.”
    “You told Harte?” Garrett asked, his tone unbelieving. Why would she confide in Harte? Unless there was more between them than she’d let on.
    Her eyes shifted to the side. “Not exactly.”
    “What do you mean, ‘not exactly’.”
    Sonya glanced at Judd and then back to Garrett, color staining her cheeks. “It’s…personal.”
    Garrett leaned back and took a deep breath. What had he expected from their one night together? That she’d share everything with him? Care about him? He knew she must have feelings for him on some level, right? If Sonya and Aidan had personal things still between them, where did that put him?
    Corte stepped up to the door and knocked. Garrett slid it open. “Excuse me for interrupting, but I found this onboard. Looks like it could be the murder weapon.”

C HAPTER T WENTY- E IGHT
    The trooper handed Garrett a gaff hook encased in a large plastic bag. Blood stained the end of the hook. Sonya knew, with the day she was having, that the blood had to be Kendrick’s.
    “That’s not mine,” she said, her voice an octave higher than normal. “I don’t have a halibut gaff on board. The only hook I have onboard is five feet long, not two. What good would a two foot gaff do on a drift boat? I need one longer than four feet just to reach the water from the sides of this tub.” She was rambling but couldn’t stop herself. She was smart enough to know how bad this situation was getting. She’d threatened Kendrick last night, in front of a dozen witnesses. Now the murder weapon was found on her boat? Sweat broke out over her body, but she felt cold. Colder than she could remember being in a very long time.
    “Sonya,” Garrett’s voice cut through the fog that was rapidly closing her in. Suddenly he was there, kneeling in front of her, taking her hands in his. “You have an ironclad alibi. We know you didn’t do this. You couldn’t. Kendrick had been dead between ten and twelve hours. We were together during that time.”
    She met his eyes. Seeing the reassurance in his should have allayed her fears, but it didn’t. “If I use your alibi then everyone will know we were together. If the fishermen find out, I’m going to be blackballed more than I already am.”
    Garrett let go of her hands and fell back on his haunches. “Let me get this right. You’re willing to be arrested and charged with murder rather than let anyone know we were together last night?”
    “Dude, that’s rough,” Judd commented from the bunk.
    “No,” Sonya said. “It means you have to find the real killer so we don’t have to use the alibi.”
    Garrett got to his feet and walked back to the stove, where he’d positioned himself when he’d entered the pilot house. Sonya tried not to miss his steady warmth. She knew by the tightening of his jaw and the rigid way he held his shoulders that she had hurt him with her refusal to come clean about them. There was a lot at stake here.
    “If that’s the way you want it.” Garrett rubbed the back of his neck. “If the gaff isn’t yours—” he picked up the evidence bag “—do you have any idea how it got onboard your boat?”
    She racked her brain and came up with nothing. “I’ve no idea.”
    “I have one,”