Romance on the Edge 01 - Hooked

his eyes off Sonya sitting next to Garrett. “That’d be great, thanks. By the way, I saw that old outboard of yours on the tarp. Did you get it running?”
    “Sure as heck, did.” Gramps grinned from ear to ear, and Sonya wished that she’d been the one to bring up the outboard instead of Aidan. She knew Gramps wasn’t happy to be no longer fishing, due to his injury. He wanted to be part of the operation, to feel needed, wanted, useful. She should have recognized this and made more of an effort herself. “Want to give me hand tomorrow mounting it on the skiff?” Gramps asked, sounding like a kid who was dying to play with a new toy.
    “You can count on me.” Aidan took a big bite of cake and groaned with pleasure. “Margaret, if you weren’t already married, I’d make a play for you myself.”
    Grams actually blushed. Sonya didn’t like where this was going. Granted, Aidan had always been part of the family, but there needed to be limits, especially since there was no way she was getting back together with Aidan. Her family needed to stop encouraging him too.
    “Gramps, I can give you a hand with that engine in the morning,” Sonya said.
    “Great, Aidan and I can sure use your help. As heavy as that engine is, it’ll take all of us with my bum hand.”
    Well, that went and backfired. If she made a big deal out of Aidan not helping now that she volunteered, she’d come off bitchy. Breaking up was hard to do, she thought. Her family was comfortable with Aidan. She’d have to find a way to be comfortable too. It would be easier if Aidan didn’t look at her like a pound puppy in need of a loving home.
    “If you’d like help with the engine tonight, I’d be happy to lend a hand,” Garrett added.
    “Much appreciated, but I’d rather do it when it’s a bit lighter outside,” Gramps said. “My eyes don’t see so well in the dark anymore, and it’s a bugger bolting that engine to the skiff.”
    A silence settled over the group that had tension testing the waters. It was blatantly obvious how comfortable Aidan was with her family and vice versa, while Garrett, though welcomed, didn’t have that natural rhythm which had developed with Aidan over the years.
    “Well, I’d better be headed back,” Garrett said. “The tide will be getting high soon.” Garrett rose to his feet, while Aidan extended his, easing back in his seat, like he had all the time in the world and was welcome to stay as long as he wanted.
    Sonya wanted to kick his feet from under the table.
    “Walk me out, Sonya?” Garrett asked, holding out his hand in what really wasn’t an invitation, more of a “this is my woman” message directed toward Aidan.
    With both men’s eyes on her, Sonya choose to go with Garrett, almost stumbling when Aidan’s stare narrowed with temper.

    “I need to know what’s still ‘personal’ between you and Harte,” Garrett said, as they walked in step across the beach toward his Jeep. A burnished moon glistened over the dark surface of the ocean, painting a coppery trail to the horizon.
    “I don’t want to get into it.” Sonya wished now that she’d decided to stay in the cabin. The day had already been way too long to venture into the past with Garrett.
    He grabbed her arm, and swiveled her around to face him. “Too damn bad. Every instinct I have is pointing me in Harte’s direction. Now, tell me.”
    “I can’t.” She looked past him, down the beach. The area was deserted except for an eagle feasting on a fish that had washed up on shore after falling out of someone’s net.
    “Can’t? Or won’t, Sonya?” Garrett pressed.
    “What difference does it make?”
    “Can’t, tells me you don’t trust me. Won’t, that you are protecting Harte. Do you still care about him?”
    She bit her lip. How did she answer that in a way that satisfied them both?
    “Sonya.” Garrett placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at him, his eyes drilling into hers. “Why are you protecting him?”
    “I’m not really. It’s just that…I can’t even contemplate that Aidan would be behind what happened to Kendrick or the attacks on me and my family.” She shook her head and wished she hadn’t as a headache had begun to develop. “Aidan has been a part of our family forever. I even thought that someday we would…”
    “That you would what? Marry?”
    Her eyes shifted to the encroaching tide and then back to his. “To be honest, yes.”
    “Why didn’t you marry?”