Free Hooked (A Romance on the Edge Novel) by Tiffinie Helmer Page B

was the hottest foreplay she’d ever engaged in, and they were only talking. Conversations like this invariably lead to something else. She ought to end it here and now. Say what she’d come to say and leave.
    “Have you ever lived in the moment, Sonya? Experienced what life has to offer, without thinking of tomorrow?” He took another step closer, towering over her. She was above average height for a woman at five eight, but he still loomed over her with his six-foot-plus frame.
    “No, I’ve never had that luxury.” She’d been fifteen when she’d lost her parents and her sister, Sasha. Peter had been only two. He’d been a big, though welcome, surprise to her parents in their later years. The load of responsibility Sonya had taken on, at that young age, prevented her from doing just what Garrett tempted.
    “Want to give it a try?” he asked. “Forget who you are. Forget who I am. Could you do that?” His voice lowered to a seductive level and stroked dark fantasies to life.
    Her fingers itched to trace each line of muscle in front of her that beckoned.
    Could she?

    What the hell was he doing?
    Garrett knew he had no business goading Sonya into taking a bite of what he offered. He was a trooper. She was a fisherman. If they got physical, it would definitely be something he’d have to deal with “tomorrow.” Besides, he doubted very much, that he could walk away from this woman after one night. It’d take at least a couple.
    The cold water must have dulled his senses. It had definitely soothed his foul mood. The one she’d been largely responsible for putting him in.
    Surfing the Bering Sea had been stimulating, cutting loose and riding a wave that at any moment could have ridden him. There was no way to describe it. Then he’d walked out of that water and seen Sonya standing there under the shelter of the abandoned dock, a log piling at her back, and he’d wanted to take her while the wind screamed around them.
    He wanted to make her scream for him.
    Garrett watched emotions skitter across her face. Her cheeks blushed from the biting wind, eyes dark and direct as they met his. Was she actually going to pick up the gauntlet he’d tossed her way? It was his turn to swallow as she stepped toward him, her hand pressed against his thudding heart.
    “I don’t ever forget who I am. When I give myself to a man, we both remember.” Her hand took a journey down his chest to his abs, which he couldn’t help sucking in. “You wouldn’t be able to forget me tomorrow, Garrett. Even if you wanted to.”
    Christ . Her other hand joined in her exploration of his chest. His breathing was suddenly heavier than when he’d pulled himself out of that freezing ocean. He wasn’t chilled now. Far from it. If possible he felt even more exhilarated.
    She broke eye contact and stared at her hands, petting him, as though she wanted to venture over every inch of his skin. He was more than willing to let that happen.
    “I didn’t come here to engage in the physical,” she said. “I wanted to thank you for giving us a heads-up today on that hydraulic line.” She paused as though forgetting her train of thought, her fingers caressing his abs, the light, exploring touch sending signals to his lower half he knew he shouldn’t entertain. She took a deep breath, as if needing strength, and stepped back. He felt the loss of her heat like an extinguished flame.
    Meeting his eyes, she added, “I also came to warn you. I don’t want you as my protector. You need to treat me like every other fisherman out there on that water.”
    He captured her elbows and brought her into full contact with his body. “You aren’t the same as the others, Sonya. I can’t help but differentiate.”
    “You’ll have to.” She attempted to pull out of his arms, but he only tightened his hold.
    “We might be on different sides of the line, but you enjoyed tying me in knots today.” He caught the twitch of her lips.
    “Who’s tying who up?”