Matt (Big Sky Lawmen Book 1) Read online

  “Matt, you can go back in with your sister now. She’s doing great, five centimeters dilated already.”

  The doctor’s voice brought him back to the present.

  Matt nodded. Five centimeters. What the hell was…wait, it was his sister’s ho-ha. The doctor had just shared information about sister’s private parts with him. He coughed, hoping he could get through all this. He walked back into the room to see his sister with her eyes now closed and head resting back on a pillow.

  He held her hand and got onto the bed beside her. “How you doing?” he asked.

  She squeezed his fingers. “The pain’s getting harder to deal with.”

  “Okay, now just breathe like the nurse showed us in the Lamaze class. Deep breath in and another deep breath out.”

  Matt did the breathing exercise along with her but started to feel lightheaded and thought it best he quit. The last thing his sister needed was him passing out.

  He thought about Mia and what she must be thinking about right now. He was tempted to call her but then his sister interrupted his thoughts.

  “Remember you’re in charge of setting up the laptop computer when I start pushing,” Jennifer said. She rubbed the large mound under the sheet they’d draped over her body.

  “Yeah, just like old times, let me do it all while you just lie there.” They’d arranged for Phil to watch the actual birth of his child via Skype.

  “Are you ready to be called Uncle Matt?” Jennifer asked him.

  “Oh, I think so.”

  “Good, you can get some practice in before you have one of your own. Okay, okay, you’ve told me a million times you’re never getting married, but a sister can only try and push her big brother into domestic bliss.”

  He didn’t know why, but an image of Mia popped into his head.

  “Ouch, hey Matt, bad contraction and need some help,” Jennifer said.

  He put his arm around her, and they both breathed together and made puffing sounds like they’d been taught.

  “You bring the tennis ball?” asked Matt.

  “Yep, in my bag over on the chair.”

  “You want me to massage your back with it?”

  “That would be heaven right now,” his sister said.

  Matt got out a tennis ball while his sister turned over on her side.

  “Hey, sis, you mind? You’re not wearing panties, and I can see your bare butt,” said Matt, sitting on the bed again.

  “Yeah, like you’ve never seen a woman’s ass before.”

  He thought of Mia again. Yeah, her ass was a cute one. Well what he’d seen of it the other night. He’d been too busy trying not to look and dealing with an erection that he’d knew he couldn’t do anything about.

  “Am I getting my massage or not?” asked Jennifer, pushing her butt back into his body.

  “What? Oh, sure, just daydreaming.”

  “I didn’t think you did that.”

  “What?” asked Matt. He made circles on her lower back with the tennis ball.

  “Daydream. Hey, you really are goofy today.”

  Goofy, had she said goofy? Is that the effect Mia had on him?

  “You ever watch the sun reflected on Flathead Lake?” he asked her.

  “My god, you are acting sort of weird. Don’t tell me that’s what you’ve been doing lately.”

  “So what if I have? Nothing weird about that.”

  She rolled over to face him. “The fact that you’re asking is kinda strange. Have you arrested someone for smoking pot and tried some of it for yourself?”

  “No, I have not,” Matt said.

  “It’s a woman, that’s it. You’ve finally found someone and it’s making you unMatt like.”

  Just what the hell did she mean by unMatt like?

  “Yeah, you have a dreamy look to those baby blues,” his sister said.

  She tweaked his nose like she had when they were kids and she’d teased him every time he’d had a crush on one of her friends. “So what’s her name, and where did you meet her, and most importantly, when do I get to meet the woman’s who’s turned my brother into mush?”

  His sister’s comments and questions brought the whole horrible scenario crashing back into his brain.

  “Jennifer, it’s a mess,” he said, flopping against the back on the bed.

  It was his sister’s turn to put her arm around his shoulder “So what’s the problem?” she asked. “Hey, hang on, another bad contraction.”

  “You okay?” Matt asked her.

  “I’m fine. Feel like I want to push, but I know I can’t just yet.”

  He grabbed her hand, and she squeezed it until the pain had subsided.

  “So what’s the trouble?” she asked.

  “It’s my new undercover role. We’re after a guy, and one of his sidelines is an escort service.”

  “That’s right, the hookers mom was talking about.”

  Matt nodded, but the last thing he ever wanted to do was call Mia was a hooker.

  “This FBI agent sent me undercover to get information from one of his girls.”

  “Geez, Matt, you mean you had sex with a prostitute?”

  “No, not that far undercover. She’s a law student and the sweetest person I’ve ever met, and I want to date her for real, but…”

  “You’ve lied to her about who you really are, plus she’s an escort and you’re a sheriff.”

  Matt nodded.

  “Only you, big brother, could do this. Fall for a woman and it be part of one big complicated mess.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Emily couldn’t concentrate on any of the law class notes that morning. All she could think about was Matt. She wondered if his sister had delivered yet. She didn’t know too many guys who would stand in for their brothers-in-law in the delivery room. She felt her cell phone vibrate when she was sitting on the grass eating a sandwich. She’d slept at the cabin. Well, if she could call it sleep. She’d tossed and turned thinking about if he was going to call her and if so, what it was he had to tell her.

  “Hi, Emily, just checking how things went yesterday.” It was Mia.

  “Great, look, Mia, thanks so much for the offer to make some money with the – ” She stopped when a couple of people chose to sit near her. “Well, you know, but I don’t think it’s for me.”

  “That’s fine, Emily, you gave it a try, and for that I say good for you.”

  Yeah, and now she was going to have to take the job in the coffee shop after all.

  “So the client, when he calls again is it okay if I service him next time around?” Mia asked her.

  Emily dropped her sandwich. Service him. The thought of another woman being with Matt.

  “Emily, are you still there?”

  “Yes, and yes, that’s fine.”

  It wasn’t but she was in no position to dictate to either of them who and who they didn’t have sex with.

  She burst into tears again.

  *****

  “Push, Jennifer, push, honey.” That was Phil via Skype.

  Matt hadn’t realized babies took this long to come into the world. It was now just after 4 a.m., and his sister had been pushing for the last hour, but it seemed his niece or nephew was taking their own sweet time entering the world.

  She dug her nails into Matt’s hand as she grunted and pushed. “Honey, I finally see a head,” Phil said.

  Jennifer rested back on the bed. Matt wiped her forehead with a damp washcloth. Right now she looked like she’d been swimming as her dark locks clung to her cheeks and forehead.

  “Okay and again,” said the doctor.

  Matt held onto her as she pushed harder. “You okay, sis?” he asked.

  “Hurts like hell,” she said, grabbing his arm. He knew tomorrow he’d be bruised from all the gripping she was doing but probably not as sore as she’d be.

  “Doing good,” the doctor said.

  “Honey, the baby has lots of hair,” Phil said. “Hey, Matt, you really should watch. It’s on
e of the most wonderful sights I’ve ever seen.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Matt said.

  Jennifer grunted and pushed again. The sheet they’d placed over her slipped as she moved her legs, and Matt knew he should have looked away, but he was spellbound by the beautiful image of a dark haired baby emerging from between his sister’s thighs. His nephew or niece.

  Okay, it was his sister, and he’d didn’t want to see her you- know-what. However, this was the miracle of birth, so all he’d do was take a quick look. He moved down the bed. Phil was right. It was almost as breathtaking as the sun sparkling on the lake…almost.

  He held his sister’s leg this time as she gave one final push, and out slid the baby into the doctor’s hands.

  “It’s a boy,” said Matt. “Hey, I have a nephew.”

  He kissed his sister’s head as the baby was laid upon her stomach.

  “Hey, Uncle Matt, you want to stand in for me and cut the cord, too?” asked Phil.

  Sure he could do this, after all he’d come this far. A tear slid down his face as he looked at the perfect baby his sister had just brought into the world. What the hell was wrong with him, watching the sun on the water, now getting emotional after the birth of a baby? He was beautiful and suddenly Matt felt like he wanted to be a father.

  Mia would make a great mother. Okay, she was a call girl, but he’d get her out of that life. He’d find her another job to do while she was at law school. He’d see if anyone knew of job openings for her.

  Yeah, he’d reform her. They could be reformed, right? And they’d take it from there.

  *****

  Emily paced her apartment floor. She was supposed to be studying for the first test of her introduction to ethics class but couldn’t. Matt hadn’t called her. Maybe he’d just told her that he would as a less awkward way of exiting the cabin so quickly.

  She sat down and looked at her open textbook. The words were a blur. She ran her hands through her hair. What if he’d opted to hire another girl tonight? What if it was Mia? There was one way to find out: call her.

  Emily reached across the table for her purse and dug out her cell phone. What if she and Matt were getting horizontal right now? What if she was giving him a blow job?

  She pressed the numbers, realized she’d hit two incorrect digits and had to start all over again.

  “Hello…”

  Emily was just about to ask if Matt was with her when it dawned on her that Mia’s answering service had kicked in. She didn’t bother to leave a message. She pressed the end call button and threw the phone across the table.

  She hadn’t felt like this about a guy for a long time. No, correct that, ever. The thought of him with someone else, even if it was a paid escort, and probably meant nothing to him, made bile rise in her mouth. If he didn’t call her she had to figure out some way of finding him.

  *****

  Matt had been dead on his feet by the time he’d left the hospital. He realized he hadn’t called Mia like he’d promised and that she was probably wondering what had happened to him. He was on his way to the hospital to see Jennifer and James Matthew Selbert, as his nephew was now called. James in honor of their father, and Matthew in honor of him. Once he got done with that, he’d call Mia and see if she’d like to get together with him, and if she did, he’d come clean about who he really was and what he was doing.

  “Wow, now I’ve seen it all,” said Matt, as he turned the corner into his sister’s room and found her breastfeeding James.

  “I can’t believe how shy you are. Hope my son doesn’t take after you.”

  “I have no problem with boobs. In fact, I love them, but just not yours. Nothing personal.”

  He sat down trying to avert his eyes, but it was hard because seeing the newborn suckle at her nipple was another beautiful sight.

  “There, he’s all done. So do you want to hold him?”

  Babies weren’t his favorite things, but then again neither had seeing them born. “Sure.”

  Matt stood and approached the bed, glad that his sister had now covered her breast with a towel before she lifted James away and handed his nephew to him.

  He was warm, smelled like powder and was soft. Wow, he liked the feel of the little guy. Yeah, chick flick movies were next. God help him. He sat back in the chair and looked at the newest member of their family.

  “Don’t you think he looks like Dad?” asked Matt.

  “I thought the same thing. I hope he doesn’t lose his hair like him.”

  They both burst out laughing.

  “I bet he’ll want to be a sheriff too,” said Matt.

  “I hope not.”

  “And what’s wrong with that?” asked Matt.

  “Nothing, nothing at all. Mom and dad stopped by and were over the moon with their first grandchild.”

  “I’m sure they were. Takes some pressure off me now.”

  “And how is the hooker you were telling me about?”

  Matt looked over at his sister. “She’s not a hooker. Okay, she is sort of, but not like you think.”

  “You wouldn’t be the first lawman to think he could reform a bad girl.”

  “So you think I’m crazy, is that it?”

  She shook her head. “I think you might be serious about her, and if that’s true then I know she must have something good about her.”

  James moved slightly and yawned. “Oh yeah, little guy, I bet you’re tired from all that work you put in coming into the world.”

  “You mean all the work I did,” said Jennifer, resting her head back on the pillow.

  “Maybe I should let both of you get some rest. So you still want me to pick you up tomorrow and take you home?”

  “That would be great. And James can see the crib that Grandpa put together for him.”

  Matt stood. “James, just hope Grandpa followed the instructions on how to put it together correctly, or you’ll be sleeping with your mom. So you want me to put him back in this bassinette here?”

  “Sure, and I’ll try to get some rest before he needs feeding again.”

  Matt kissed his head and gently laid him down just as the little guy’s eyes flickered, and then he was asleep.

  Matt walked over to Jennifer and kissed her cheek. “See you tomorrow.”

  *****

  Where was Mia? Emily had called her three times since her last attempt to reach her yesterday evening. Maybe she was just too busy with clients. On the fourth attempt Emily finally left a message.

  “Mia, it’s Emily, could you give me a call when you have a chance?”

  Just as Emily ended the call, her cell phone rang. “Hello.”

  “Mia?”

  It was him, Matt, and he was still calling her Mia. Well, of course he would. That’s who he thought she was. She should tell him, but it had to be done in person. She’d come clean about the whole thing, running into Mia and her suggesting she give the escort business a try.

  “So was it a boy or girl?” Emily asked.

  “Boy, James Matthew, and he weighed eight pounds and one ounce.”

  “Well done, coach.”

  “My sister did all the work. I cut the cord.”

  Emily smiled. She could even hear pride in those four simple words.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call you last night. She didn’t give birth until the early hour of the morning. By the time by parents stopped by and we all visited, well it was late and I didn’t want to wake you.”

  “I wouldn’t have minded.”

  “I like the way you said that. So how about getting together tonight?”

  She had the test tomorrow, and she was way behind with her studying. “I can’t tonight.”

  “Mia, be honest with me. Have you got an appointment with another client?”

  “No, no, really, Matt. I can assure you it’s not that. I have a test in my corporate ethics class at 8 a.m. tomorrow, and if I don’t seriously hit the books tonight, I’ll flunk big time.”

  “Ok
ay, so how about to make up for lost time, I stop by tomorrow night and take you out for a meal so we can talk?”

  “That sounds like a perfect plan.”

  “You like Mexican?”

  “I love it.”

  “Great, because I know this little hole in the wall place that serves the best margaritas and pulled pork tacos to die for. How about I pick you up about 7 p.m.?”

  “I’ll be waiting. Oh, and you need my address right?”

  “Yep, almost forgot the most important thing.”

  “It’s 569 Willston Street, Apartment 129.”

  “I think I know where that is.”

  “See you then.”

  “And now go hit the books. I want to hear you aced that test.”

  *****

  Matt put the phone down. He’d tell her over dinner who he really was and how he wanted her to get out of her line of work. He rested the phone against his forehead. God, he hoped she was studying and not out on another -- whatever they called it.

  The thought of her with another man made his stomach turn. Some stranger touching her, kissing her, putting his dick inside her. He’d kill him.

  No, she was telling him the truth. He knew when someone was lying to him. He hadn’t been in law enforcement for twelve years without knowing that.

  He leaned back on the chair. Now he had to find a way to keep himself occupied all evening. Whatever he did he’d be thinking about her all night.

  *****

  Matt was restless. He was tempted to call Mia again, but it was past midnight and she had a test to take first thing in the morning, so she’d probably wouldn’t appreciate being woken up. However, he wanted to just hear her voice before he drifted off to sleep.

  He wanted to hold her, too, but that would have to wait until tomorrow. Well, technically later today. Matt turned onto his side and fluffed up the pillow with his fist. He closed his eyes hoping to drift back to sleep, but all he could see was Mia, Mia naked underneath him as he kissed her, ran his hands over her breasts, down her belly and then spread her legs. He swallowed. Shit, he was rock hard. Matt rolled onto his back, pulling his shorts away from his cock. Oh, how he wanted, needed to make love to her right now. Matt pulled on his shorts again. They were cutting into his balls, and it was getting downright uncomfortable.