Read Blackmailed by the Billionaire Brewer for Free Online

said it.”
    “I’m sorry, none of my business.”
    She suddenly wanted to ask him over to her folks’ for Sunday dinner to show him how
     real people lived, normal people who peeled their own potatoes and scrubbed the floor,
     but knew her mom would fall for him instantly. He had that little boy lost look about
     him when his guard was down, when he was asleep, she remembered that much. Those long,
     dark eyelashes… No, her private life was a total no-go area if she wanted to survive
     this. Matt DeLeo should remain as secret or at least as low-key as possible. And what
     was she doing trying to be nice to this man, anyway? He was blackmailing her, for
     God’s sake! The wine must be strong.
    She swallowed a spicy slice of potato and then wiped the red sauce off her lips with
     a napkin. “I know nothing about you, so the random inappropriate remark is going to
     be inevitable. We didn’t get to talk that much in Sanibel. Correction, we did talk,
     but it was pretty much nonsense.”
    “Did you even want to talk?”
    “What do you mean?”
    He tapped his fork annoyingly against the edge of a plate. “You seemed more interested
     in my tattoos than anything else.”
    She was tempted to ask him now why he had chosen the bold swirling ink that seemed
     to be inspired by the sea. The vivid strokes of color were still imprinted on her
     mind from the night they had spent together in spite of her inebriation. She decided
     against asking. “They intrigued me, especially that cute little turtle.”
    “Past tense?”
    “Everything that was nice and fun and honest seems past tense right now.”
    “I guess that has to be my fault? Or is it yours?”
    She shrugged. “Must be karma. Or God. Or a Hobbit, who the hell knows.”
    “I’m the same as I was a week ago, Piper. We just changed towns, that’s all.”
    She shook her head vehemently. “No, no you’re not.”
    “Because I have money and a suit and a conservative work ethic? I’m still an opportunistic
     scumbag, believe me.”
    “Oh, I do believe you.” She put her hand over the top of her glass to stop him from
     refilling it with sangria. “I just never imagined you’d turn out to be such an accomplished
     opportunist scumbag. Admitting to being an itinerant drifter is one thing, but blackmail
     and stealing panties for leverage is quite another. I can see why you’ve been so successful
     in business, Matt. You’re selfish, ruthless, and nothing gets in the way of what you
     want.”
    His jaw dropped for a second and his smile faltered. “But you still love me, right?”
    Their eyes locked for longer than she was comfortable with. She’d gone too far by
     being so harsh, but it was too late to take it back. “Sorry, that came out a little
     stronger than I intended.”
    He put down the sangria jug and nodded toward the hand that was still clamped over
     her glass. “Maybe you’re right. Things are different now that we’re back in Colorado.
     Or you are. Restraint wasn’t in your vocabulary a few days ago.”
    It was none of his business, but she was going to put him straight. “A couple of days
     ago I had decided to get blind drunk a few thousand miles away from my hometown and
     have a one-night stand with a complete stranger. It was a really stupid, immature
     thing to do, but I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time and I just wanted to lash out
     somehow.”
    “And I was the lucky guy to get hurt?”
    A stab of guilt stalled her for a moment. “Hurt? For real? That was never my intention.
     Besides, it was you going on about being a drifter and an opportunist, remember? Walking
     away from a one-night stand of consensual, no-strings lust does not equate with hurt.”
    “Okay, I was offended, and upset because I wanted to see you again.”
    “Looks like you got what you wanted in that case.” She needed this conversation to
     end and its subject matter to never resurface again. “You might as well know I behaved
     like I did because