Read Blackmailed by the Billionaire Brewer for Free Online Page B

dependable, secret-keeping Melanie was always there as a shoulder to cry
     on.
    “Hi babe.” Melanie’s voice had a tinkly quality to it that reminded Piper of the candy
     store doorbell of her childhood, instantly soothing. “Half-shot latte? Or something
     stronger?”
    “Americano,” Piper said grimly.
    Melanie’s eyes widened and her pink glossed lips formed an O. “Understood.”
    “Thanks, sweetie,” Piper said a few moments later as she threaded her fingers through
     the handle of the coffee mug. “Thanks for coming at such short notice. It’s damn freezing
     out there today, isn’t it?”
    “Sure is. I’m wishing I could take some time off and hit the beach, like you just
     did.” Melanie put a cookie down on the table and grinned. “So did you get enough shells
     and stuff in Sanibel?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You met someone, didn’t you?”
    This was unusually direct for Melanie, but her friend was almost psychic about these
     things and she had told her on the phone that she needed an emergency advice summit.
     “Um…”
    “You’re kidding me? Ohmygod. Spill!”
    “It was nothing. A one-night stand. We were drunk.”
    “But you still—”
    “Yes.”
    “And?”
    “And nothing. It was hot, but it’s history. One night, five hours flying time away.”
    Melanie wiped crumbs off her mouth and swallowed a bite of cookie quickly. “Tell!
     Tell me all about him.”
    “He just happened. He was therapy. An attempt to get Stanley out of my head for good.”
     Melanie’s mossy green eyes were wide like saucers and she nodded for Piper to continue.
     “He was the hottest guy I ever…but that’s it. I left before he woke up.” Which wasn’t
     strictly true, but nobody needed to know she’d bolted while she thought he was in
     the bathroom.
    “Aw.”
    “Yep, I’m a total bitch.”
    “You left him a note though, right?”
    “No, bitches don’t leave notes, now do they?”
    Melanie rolled her eyes to the ceiling and tipped her head from side to side as she
     weighed the argument. “That was kind of rude of you.”
    “Yes, I know.”
    Melanie fidgeted with exasperation. “You’re not saying much. More detail!”
    “Concentrate on eating that thing or you’ll choke.” Piper waved her coffee spoon at
     the offending baked good. “I need you conscious and lucid right now.”
    “What did he look like?”
    Piper sighed and let the spoon fall with a clatter onto the table. She was exhausted
     and she had dragged her friend away from her wedding planning business at one of her
     busiest times. “Oh, I don’t know, a cross between Brandon Flowers, Adam Levine, and
     Robert Downey, Jr. Younger than the real Downey, though.”
    “That’s a relief.” Melanie did a duh face. “Sounds pretty good to me.”
    “He was or, at least, that’s the way it seemed by the time we’d drank all the rum
     on Sanibel Island.” The memory of all that alcohol made her stomach gurgle. “Fewer
     tattoos than Levine, but pretty ones. And he was bigger.”
    “Bigger?”
    “Muscles! Talk about a filthy mind.” Piper thought Matt had muscles like granite.
     “And maybe bigger in the other department, who knows? I’ve never had a one-night stand
     with the other three.”
    Melanie bit down on her bottom lip with excitement. “So he was—”
    “Enough questions. Eat up, so we can talk seriously. You really might choke when I
     tell you what happened today.” Piper wasn’t ready to admit she felt guilty about leaving
     Sanibel the way she did, no note, no thanks for a great time and all that. He’d been
     in the right place at the right time and she had used him. He was totally right about
     that.
    “Okay, I’m done.” Melanie popped the last piece of food into her mouth and grinned.
     “I can’t wait to hear this!”
    A few minutes later Piper had told Melanie everything about Matt DeLeo from start
     to finish, and Piper was breathless and light-headed from talking so fast. “So, to