Calamity Jena (Invertary 4)

Jena put her hands on her hips as her cheeks flushed. “He cheated on me, Mom. A lot.”

“Men do that.” Her mom waved a hand dismissively, as though it was nothing. “You need to compromise in a relationship. You’re lucky you caught his eye in the first place. You’ll never get another man like Frank, one who’ll help you with your career. Who’ll make sure you never want for anything. Plus he’s hot. What else is there? If you keep being selfish like this, you’ll be alone forever.”

Matt had heard more than enough. He left Gordon shaking his head in disgust as he stepped out into the store. Jena’s mother’s eyes shot straight to his, and to his disgust, they showed interest. She batted her lashes, fluffed her hair and pushed her boobs out. The sight made him want to vomit. When Jena spotted him, she took a step towards him before stopping herself. For some reason, her hesitance annoyed him. She was damn well within her rights to lean on him. If she needed to be rescued, he could do that. Hell, he was great at rescuing women. He had a lifetime of experience.

“Hey, princess,” Matt said. “I brought lunch. Can’t have you wasting away.”

Her eyes widened at his tone, silently asking what he thought he was doing. Matt couldn’t have answered even if he wanted to. All he knew for sure was that he didn’t want her mother to think Jena was alone. She wasn’t alone. She had him.

“Matt, look who’s come to visit.” Her smile was tight enough to crack a tooth. “It’s my mom. Mom, this is Matt, my…”

“Boyfriend.” Matt held out his hand as Jena looked like she was going to choke. “I was lucky enough to snap Je

na up when she came to town. There have been guys queuing up to date her.”

Her mother tried to hide her shock as she shook his hand. She held it a minute longer than was polite. He had the urge to rub his palm on his leg when she released him.

“You’re a cop?” She lifted an eyebrow in Jena’s direction. “You never told me you were dating a cop.”

“You never asked,” Jena muttered.

“They must grow them big in Scotland,” Jena’s mother told Matt, making him cringe. “Call me Mona.” Her smile was sultry. Her laidback tone completely different to the one she’d been using with her daughter. She let out a throaty chuckle before he could say anything. “I know what you’re going to say. I get it all the time. Folk are generally shocked I have a grown daughter. We look more like sisters.” She cast a snide glance Jena’s way. “Although if you keep dressing like that, honey, they’ll think you’re the mother.” She laughed again. It was forced and nasty.

“No,” Matt said. “I wasn’t going to say that. You definitely look like her mother.” He turned away from her shocked expression to look down at Jena. “Your mum has a great sense of humour.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. “Nobody would take one look at you both and think you were older. Hell, you don’t have the same wrinkles she does, for a start.”

Mona gasped. “They said Scottish men were tactless.”

Matt gave her a smile that often got him out of trouble as a teen. “Was I being tactless? I can never tell.”

Jena was stiff as a board in his hold. Matt ignored it. He knew exactly how pliant she could become when he put in a little effort. The thought made his blood heat. Okay, so he hadn’t thought through the whole being Jena’s pretend boyfriend thing, but there was definitely an upside—he got to touch Jena again. Sure, he said he wouldn’t do that. He’d been determined to remain at a professional distance. But this didn’t count. It was all part of his duty to her—as a cop. Kind off. Maybe. Aw, to hell with it, he just wanted to hold her. Stuff being professional. There weren’t any rules against dating the women you were protecting. Hell, it wasn’t even an official job anyway. He nodded to himself. It was settled. There was nothing to stop him. He was dating Jena. He smiled at her as something settled within him. The anxiety of being around her and not touching her melted away. Yeah, he was definitely going to have a relationship with Jena. It was the right decision. Now he just had to tell her.

“You must be starving, princess,” he said softly. “You didn’t eat much for breakfast this morning.”

“Oh, she’ll be dieting,” Mona said before Jena had the chance to speak. “I’m glad you took my advice,” she said to Jena.

Matt felt the muscle in his jaw tick. “I really hope that’s not the case. You don’t need to diet. In fact, you lose one inch of that gorgeous body and I’ll tie you to the bed and force-feed you cupcakes. No man wants a skinny woman in his bed, isn’t that right, Gordon?”

The old man came up to stand on the other side of Jena. He folded his arms over his overalls. His face was shuttered and his eyes were hard. “Aye, that’s right. All these women trying to get the body of an emaciated wee boy. What man in his right mind finds that attractive. Unless, of course, he’s perverted and sick in the head. No, give me a woman with sexy curves any day of the week.”

Jena gave him a grateful smile and relaxed slightly. “Don’t let your wife hear you say that.”

“Now why would I look at another woman, when I found the perfect one?” His eyes twinkled.

Mona had obviously had enough. “It was nice meeting you both, but Jena’s taking me to see her other friends—Josh McInnes and his manager, Mitch. Mitch is here, right? I checked the web and it said he was here.”

Matt shook his head. “Jena and I have plans for the afternoon. Maybe some other time.”

“Jena.” Mona stared at her daughter, her smile fixed in place. “I came all this way to see you. Surely you have time for your mom.”

“Tell you what,” Matt said. “Why don’t we meet up for dinner later in the pub? That’s where all the locals hang out. You can usually find Josh there in the evening. Isn’t that right, Gordon?”

“Auch, aye, he loves the pub.”

“Really?” Mona perked right up, her need to spend time with her daughter totally forgotten. “Why didn’t you say so? That gives me the afternoon to get changed and organised. I came straight from the airport.”

The way she spoke implied she was waiting for a compliment on how great she looked.

“Aye, you look like you could use a spruce-up,” Matt said instead.