Wicked Eddies by Beth Groundwater Read Free Book Online Page B

making her jump, and his eyes twinkled.
    Mandy laughed. “You mean your not-so-silent partner.”
    He leaned over and kissed her. “And she tastes good, too. Fat Tire?”
    â€œJust a couple. Sorry you missed pool night.” Mandy shifted to face him. “I found out some stuff about Howie Abbott, though.” She filled him in on what the fly-fishermen had told her about the man’s cheating.
    Rob nodded. “I’ve heard rumors that Howie and his buddy Ira Porter were cheaters. Never really been caught. They were registered as a team in the tournament, and Ira’s scrambling to find another partner. I hear tell no one’s biting, though.”
    â€œWhere’d you hear this?”
    â€œA couple of the registered teams came in to rent rafts from us for the float-fishing practice and competition days. And I’ll be guiding another team on the float practice day. This tournament is making some money for us.”
    Mandy shook her head. “I don’t understand why someone would cheat in a fishing tournament, for Pete’s sake.”
    â€œThe purses can go pretty high,” Rob said. “Not as high as those in bass fishing tournaments down south, but ten thousand dollars for the winning team isn’t chump change. Even more important are the bragging rights.”
    When Mandy lifted an eyebrow, Rob smiled. “Being a woman, and a practical one at that, you wouldn’t understand.”
    â€œTry me.”
    â€œThe size of the fish implies the size of the catcher’s willy, and the number caught is related to the fisherman’s prowess at catching the lady folks.”
    Mandy laughed. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”
    â€œI am a little bit, but these fishermen are deadly serious.” Rob drank some beer. “You should’ve heard them talking at the counter today about past tournaments and who’d won what and who the tough competitors were.”
    â€œDon’t women fly fish, too?” Mandy had tried it a couple of times with her Uncle Bill when she was a teenager, but she had neither the time nor patience to master the technique. After she’d hooked her thumb a couple of times, she gave up.
    â€œSure. There’s a women’s team in the tournament, too, but the sport’s dominated by the hombres . But enough talk about fishing.” Rob finished his beer, put it down, then gently pushed Lucky’s head off his lap and stood. He held out a hand for Mandy.
    As he lifted her to her feet, she could see from his languid gaze what he wanted, and she wanted it, too. But she was going to have a little fun first. “Be careful, or this fish might just wiggle off your hook.”
    When he drew her to him, she shimmied her hips in jest, but that only made Rob pull her in tighter against his chest, taking her breath away. “No catch-and-release tonight, my little trout. I’m going to heat you up and devour you.”
    Lucky gave a doggy snort of disgust and plopped down on the floor.
    Giggling, Mandy let Rob draw her into the bedroom where they tumbled onto the bed.

Four
    There’s a fine line between fishing
and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
    â€”STEVEN WRIGHT
    Remembering Rob’s lingering kiss before they had parted ways i n her driveway, and remembering the evening before, Mandy drove to Detective Quintana’s office the next morning with a satisfied smile.
    You know, spending a lifetime with that sexy man might not be so bad. But that word “lifetime” was sobering. Would Rob still have the hots for her when she grew wrinkled and fat? A line from an old Beatles love song popped into her head, something about wondering if my lover would still need me when I’m sixty-four. What would Rob’s answer to that question be? What would hers?
    Mandy stuffed the questions in the back of her brain while she
pulled into the lot in front of the county government building. She