Matt (Big Sky Lawmen Book 1)

by Vanessa Devereaux

  Oh, to hell with it. He lifted his butt, pulled them down his legs and kicked them off. Boy that felt so much better. His dick sat up on his belly, and his balls pulled.

  Maybe a cold shower. Before he knew it, his hand was stroking his cock, and he was thinking of Mia and what he was going to do to her later that day. He closed his eyes imagining himself thrusting inside her as his hand picked up speed and intensity.

  He cried out her name as he climaxed.

  *****

  The test wasn’t as bad as Emily had expected. She was one of the first to finish, which she wasn’t sure was a good sign or not. She headed out into the student commons and pulled out her cell phone. Mia still hadn’t answered her call. Maybe she was pissed off with her about letting her have the trial run at being an escort and then telling her it wasn’t for her. Well, Emily wasn’t going to lose sleep over it. If she wanted to return the call that was fine. If not, no big loss.

  *****

  Mother and baby were home safely, and now Matt headed back to work. Agent Lewis was waiting for him when he arrived at his office.

  “Come in, and shut the door,” he said pulling out a folder. Matt sat down.

  “Now about this case involving Mark Vincent.”

  “Yeah, I want to talk to you about that. I need to be taken off the case.”

  “I think Vincent might have caught onto what we were up to because one of his girls was found beaten unconscious early this morning.”

  “Shit.”

  “Exactly, don’t know if he’s responsible, but he’s been known to have a nasty temper if anyone does the least little thing to piss him off. Or it could be a client, or even just a random assault we’re dealing with here. They said she’s still in a coma, but maybe you can go to the hospital and speak to the doctors. See if they know more details about when she was brought in and when, and if, they expect her to regain consciousness so we can talk to her. See if she knows who did this to her. It could even be our way of getting our man.”

  Matt nodded, wondering if Mia knew her.

  Agent Lewis opened up the folder. “She’s at Glacier Valley Regional hospital in intensive care and the ID on her said Mia Stevens.”

  Matt stood, positive he was going to be sick. He turned and ran, hearing FBI man call after him.

  “Just where the hell do you think you’re going? I haven’t finished talking to you yet!”

  Chapter Fifteen

  He couldn’t look at her. His once beautiful Mia. Correct that, no matter what had happened to her, she’d always be beautiful to him.

  However, right now Mia’s face was almost unrecognizable. Most of it was covered with gauze, and her head was bound with tape and bandages that made it look like she was wearing a cap. Machines beeped every second or so. He prayed the machines weren’t the only things keeping her alive because they’d barely had chance to get to know one another. Dear god, he couldn’t lose Mia. In just two days he’d realized there was more to life than work, and that meeting the right woman was, and always should have been, his priority.

  He’d come to the hospital not as a sheriff on an assignment, but he’d posed as her boyfriend hoping they’d let him spend as much time with her as possible. She had spoken of her family, of her mother, of her father who was an attorney, but he’d never bothered to ask if they were living in Montana. The fact that no one else was here or had asked about her probably meant they weren’t, or maybe they hadn’t been even informed yet.

  The doctor had told him she’d probably wake up, but when was anybody’s guess. Whether she’d have any permanent brain damage, well, he couldn’t tell at this point.

  They’d allowed him ten minutes to sit beside her in intensive care. He pulled up a chair and tried to hold her hand, but it was covered with tape and IV needles and tubes. A tear fell from his cheek. Had she gone out last night and not really studied? Had the guy she’d been with done this to her, or had it been her boss? Either way, he’d find out and kill him.

  “Oh Mia, we’d only just gotten to know one another, and I was sure we had a future. In fact, I’ve never believed in love at first sight, but I’m pretty sure that’s what happened when you opened the door to me at the hotel.”

  A tear bounced from his face onto her arm. Did she feel it?

  Could she hear him?

  “I’ve never felt like this about a woman, ever. Mia, you have to wake up because we have lots of sun shimmering on the water to see together.”

  He couldn’t help it; he broke down. He’d only done that once before in his life, and that’s when his grandpa had died.

  Matt looked up at Mia. Her beautiful face was all swollen and bloodied. He gritted his teeth. He should have insisted they spend the night together, him helping her study. She would have been under his watchful eye and nothing like this would have happened.

  “Mr. Hennessey, you have to leave now.” The nurse’s voice made him jump.

  “Sure, I’ll be right out.”

  He turned to Mia again. “I want to kiss you, but I might hurt you, so imagine my lips on yours, okay? I’ll be outside. They have chairs that fold out that you can sleep in them, so if you wake up I’ll be right here for you, so you’re not scared, okay?”

  *****

  It was 7.45 p.m.

  Okay, he’d been late the first time they’d met in the hotel, but that was before they’d known one another. Now he had her number, and if he was delayed, he’d call, right? Except guys that were about to stand up a woman on a date didn’t do that.

  Emily sat down. First Mia wasn’t calling or returning her messages and now Matt. It had to be because they were together. He was with her right now. Maybe they’d even fallen in love. And here she was thinking Matt was different, that maybe he was the one.

  Wouldn’t be the first guy who’d led her to believe they had something special going on. Maybe he was married. Maybe that was his wife giving birth and not his sister.

  Move on and forget about him. But could she? In the back of her foolish mind she’d thought he could change him and make him see that a great looking guy like him didn’t need to pay for sex.

  She’d never believed in love at first sight, never experienced it, but she was pretty sure that’s what had happened the second she’d opened the door to him at the hotel.

  She slumped down on the couch, ready to burst into tears when she realized she’d sat on the remote control, and her ass had turned on the TV. It was the news. As if she wasn’t depressed enough.

  She reached under her butt to retrieve it so she could switch it off, but the current story caught her attention.

  The young woman has been identified as Mia Stevens, and she’s in critical condition at Glacier Valley Regional Hospital.

  *****

  This time Matt had been allowed in to sit with Mia for twenty minutes. They’d told him there’d been no change in her condition but that she’d had a comfortable night. Didn’t they always say that no matter what? How would they know for sure if the patient couldn’t talk? How could someone with bruises and cuts and tubes going in and out of her body be comfortable? Matt knew they said it more for the patient’s family and friends than anything else.

  “Mia, I hope you can hear me.” He touched her arm. “I promise you I’ll find out who did this to you.”

  Two nurses walked in, one carrying another bag of saline. One smiled at Matt before hanging it up on a pole by Mia’s bed.

  “We’re going to turn her now so she doesn’t get bedsores, but you’re welcome to stay,” she said.

  “Sure.”

  Matt stood and walked away from the bed as he watched the nurses get either side of it and roll the sheet Mia was lying on. They’d dressed her in the typical hospital gown which meant as they turned her Mia’s butt came on full display.

  What a minute. Something wasn’t right here. He watched as they flipped her the other way, and suddenly her butt was out of view.

  “Hold on, could I see her backside again?”
>
  They both looked over at him. Well that had come out all wrong. Made him sound like a complete pervert.

  “It’s just she has a tattoo on her lower left butt cheek, and my Mia doesn’t.”

  His Mia.

  He knew he wasn’t mistaken because that night in the hotel room when she’d gotten into bed, he’d got a good view of her ass. Neither of her cheeks had been adorned with tattoos.

  They rolled her over as Matt walked to the bed. Sure enough on this Mia’s backside was a tattoo of a red rose. He fingered it. It wasn’t a new one and it hadn’t been there the other night.

  “Do you have any ID for her? Driver’s license, any photo ID?”

  “Sure, if a patient’s in ICU and doesn’t have a next of kin present when they’re brought in we keep their personal effects at the nurses’ station. I’m sure there’s a driver’s license with her purse.”

  Matt rushed out of the room still wearing the blue robe they’d had him put on to go into the intensive care unit. He found the nurses’ station and waited until the only person currently working there had finished talking on the phone.

  “Hi, can I see all the personal effects for Mia Stevens?”

  “Sir, I don’t think I can allow you to…”

  Matt dug out his sheriff’s badge and lifted it up in front of her face. He’d need to switch from boyfriend to lawman now.

  “One minute. I’ll get it for you.”

  He ran his hands through his hair while he waited. His back and neck hurt from sleeping in the chair all night. He was tired, and now it was possible he’d kept vigil over the wrong woman. A girl he didn’t even know.

  The nurse came back to the desk and handed him a large manila envelope.

  “Here you go.”

  “Thank you.”

  He stepped to one side when another couple approached the desk and asked the nurse a question. He reached into the envelope and pulled out the contents. A necklace with an M on it, a cosmetic bag, birth control pills, and a billfold. He opened it and there was her driver’s license. He slipped it out.

  He almost wanted to laugh but couldn’t because some poor young woman was lying in intensive care fighting for her life…just not his young woman. This wasn’t his Mia.

  “Matt.”

  He closed his eyes. Had he really heard his Mia’s voice, or was he dreaming, hallucinating maybe? Not getting enough sleep could do that to you.

  He turned around. If he was hallucinating this was a pretty good one because she was standing just a few feet from him and looked so real that he wanted to touch her. No, he wanted to do more than that.

  He grabbed her and pulled her into his body and planted a kiss on her lips. If she wasn’t real, right now he was probably looking like a damn fool, kissing the air and holding his arms out around nothing but dead space. He smelled her too, felt the warmth of her body. This really was his Mia. She pulled away from him.

  “Matt, what are you doing here?”

  She glanced down at the sheriff’s badge that he’d hung on his waistband. He’d put it there after he’d shown it to the nurse.

  “Oh my god, you’re a cop, aren’t you?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  He hadn’t answered her, instead stood with his mouth open looking at her like he’d seen a ghost or something.

  “Yeah, I’m a sheriff, and I think we need to go someplace and talk.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what’s going on, why you lied about who you were. Or maybe you’re just a sheriff who uses escort services?”

  What a second, what was happening here? So what if he’d lied? She’d lied, too, and a client had every right to pose as who he wanted. Sheriff. Wait a second, would she be arrested for being a hooker?

  What had she got involved in? She had known Mia could be trouble. She had been since she’d been a little kid. Emily should have stayed away from her.

  Matt turned to the nurse at the station. “Is there a private room where Mi -- ”

  He turned back to look at her, probably wondering her real identity.

  Should she reveal her true name? A sheriff could find it out anyway, so what was the point of hiding any longer?

  “Emily. My real name’s Emily Garwood.”

  “Is there a room where Emily and I can talk in private?” Matt asked the nurse.

  “Sure, there’s one down this hallway on the left. It’s for patients’ families, so if someone needs to use it you’ll have to vacate it.”

  “Sure, no problem. We won’t need it for long.”

  Matt put his hand on the small of Emily’s back and encouraged her to walk ahead of him. Just the feel of his body on hers sent pulses of excitement through her. She went into the room that looked like someone’s living room complete with a couch, chairs, lamps, even a bookcase with paperbacks.

  “Before we say anything, I have to do this,” said Matt.

  He grabbed her, pulling Emily into his body. His mouth went on hers. She opened hers and let his tongue glide across her lower lip. She ran her hands through his hair, but then he pulled away from her. “So you want to tell me why I’ve spent all night worried sick about a woman who I thought was you?” he asked.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I’ve got time.”

  He got hold of her hand, and they sat on the couch.

  “I ran into Mia…the real Mia in a coffee shop. We went to school together; we used to be good friends, but I hadn’t seen her since we were sixteen. We got talking, and she told me she was an escort, and then we met for lunch.”

  Emily leaned back on the couch. “This is going to sound terrible. And now when I think about it I don’t know whatever possessed me to even consider it. I told her I needed a job and was thinking about working in a coffee shop and that’s when she told me how much money she made. She suggested I give it a try.”

  “I was your first client?” He ran his finger down her cheek.

  Emily nodded. “And I can assure you, you were the first and only one.”

  “You don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that.”

  “And let’s get one thing clear. I didn’t take any money for us…well, you know. I let her keep it, so technically, I’m not a hooker, and you can’t arrest me.”

  “Oh, Emily, that’s the last thing I intend to do.”

  Emily took a deep breath. Was she off the hook completely? “She said to pretend I was her and use the name Mia just in case her boss wondered what she was doing, what I was doing at the hotel.”

  Emily leaned forward, putting her head in her hands. “Were you there that night to arrest me for prostitution?”

  Matt hugged her and kissed the back of her neck. “No, I was there to get information about your boss…her boss.”

  “Now it all makes sense. I mean all the questions you were asking.”

  He put his finger under her chin and pushed her face up, forcing him to look at her.

  “Guess I should tell you my last name now that we’re not client and escort any more. I’m Matt Hennessy.”

  This was all too much for her to take in. Emily leaned into Matt and burst out crying.

  *****

  He couldn’t describe how good it felt to hold her again and to know she wasn’t really an escort or any part of Mark Vincent criminal network. He stroked her hair.

  “This could be all my fault. I mean with Mia. Maybe her boss attacked her after she told him what she’d let me do.”

  “Yeah, it’s possible, but that’s what I’m going to find out. Now I know she’s a friend of yours that makes her special.”

  She pulled away and looked at him. Her pretty eyes were flooded with tears. He hated to see her so upset. One tear escaped from her eye and made a journey down her cheek. Matt swished it away before it reached her upper lip.

  “Can I see Mia?” she asked.

  “I think they’ll let you, but I’ll warn you she’s not the prettiest sight.”

  Emily nodded. “
I feel so bad that maybe her boss did this to her.”

  They left the room and walked back to the nurse’s station where Matt asked if Emily could visit with her friend. She was given a surgical robe to wear, and they went through to the ICU. Emily squeezed his hand when they entered Mia’s room.

  “Who could someone do such a terrible thing to another human being?” Emily asked.

  Matt put his arm around her. “You’d be surprised what people are capable of.”

  “So she’s not said anything, not moved, nothing?”

  “Not as far as I know. They told me she’s comfortable, though.”

  That was it; assure Emily in the same way the nurses had assured him when he’d thought Mia was Emily.

  He still couldn’t believe it. His meeting Emily and the mix-up. “Sheriff, miss, you’ll have to leave now because the doctor is about to check on Ms. Stevens.”

  Matt nodded and got hold of Emily’s hand and led her outside.

  They sat on the same chairs he’d spent the previous night worrying about the woman whose hand he now held. He’d forgotten all about the test she was taking and was about to ask her how she did when his phone rang.

  “Excuse me, I’ll just take this.”

  He stood and walked over to the window and looked down onto the parking lot as he took the call. It was Agent Lewis.

  “Sheriff Hennessy I heard what happened to one of Vincent’s girls and I think we need to talk. How about I meet you at your office in thirty minutes?”

  “Sure thing, I’ll be right there.”

  He ended the call and walked back to Emily.

  “Emily, that the FBI agent who’s been working on Mia’s boss’ case. He wants to speak with me. But how about you and I get together tonight?”

  “Sure, but what about Mia? Shouldn’t I stay here with her?”

  Matt smiled. No wonder he’d fallen big time for this lady. She was still worried about her friend.

  “She’s getting the best care, and they’ll phone should she wake up or if there’s any change in her condition. How about we get together tonight. The real us this time.”

  “I’d like that so how about coming to my place?”

  “Okay, your apartment and I’ll be there about 7 p.m.”