Blackmailed by the Billionaire Brewer
Page 12She smiled to herself, hoping that the physical process of making those facial muscles work would kick off a feel-good hormone or something, and then her heart skipped a beat. A warning light on the dashboard was blinking on and off, silent but as effective as a red-hot needle near her eyeball. The symbol looked like a chunky toy submarine and had the word check underneath. “Check what?” Her hands suddenly felt clammy on the steering wheel and she wasn’t all that cold anymore. She swallowed and stared hard at the road ahead that was quickly disappearing under the snow.
“Just a silly light, cat, nothing that can’t wait until we can get to Mike the Mechanic in a couple of days. Absolutely nothing to worry about.”
She turned off the heater to be on the safe side and gritted her teeth hard. There was a vibration, probably just the road surface, which reminded her that she hadn’t looked at the tread on her tires lately. She eased off the gas although her instinct was to put her foot down and get to the vet clinic as quickly as possible, but she couldn’t risk skidding in this kind of weather. Maybe she had a slow puncture… God, she hated having to drive anywhere in this heap of scrap metal.
The vehicle was losing speed as the road sloped uphill, but putting her foot down didn’t make much difference, and the vibrating became intermittent lurching that had her developing a panic attack. She couldn’t stop; she had to keep going.
“Shit.” The fear in her voice was audible and that made her even more frightened. Her knuckles tightened around the steering wheel and adrenaline prickled her forehead. “This is all your fault, Sophie, just wait till I get a hold of you.” And then one last grinding lurch and the engine spluttered and stalled.
Piper tried the ignition, but after a few whiny attempts it became clear it wasn’t going to play. So it wasn’t a flat tire. It was a dying, possibly now dead car. Perfect. Her chest felt like someone was clenching a fist inside of it. “Deep breaths, Piper, this is going to turn out okay.” She unclipped her seat belt and strained to reach her purse on the backseat to get her cell phone. The cat started to growl in a deep, threatening way, and she wondered if anyone had ever been savaged to death and then eaten by a pregnant domesticated cat.
To her relief, the cell phone showed a healthy signal so she could call Melanie and ask her to come and rescue her. Her buddy Kira was probably closer, but she didn’t want to bother her. She’d had such a hard time since her aunt and guardian had died and, right now, she had her hands full with her old boyfriend, Max. Kira texted earlier that Max had refused to leave town like he was supposed to, and Piper hadn’t gotten the feeling that was a bad thing. The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt a hot reunion between the two.
Her dad was out of the question, too. His car was more of a wreck than the stupid Dodge she was stranded in right now, so there’d probably be two of them who’d need rescuing by the end of the night.
The phone felt cold against her ear and she had an awful sense of foreboding about how this was going to turn out. “Come on, Mel, pick up…” Her call went to voicemail.
“I’m going to have to swallow my pride and do the unthinkable, aren’t I?” She sighed deeply and slid Matt’s business card out of the credit card slot of her cell phone cover. “Talk about humiliating.”
He picked up immediately, too quickly for her to change her mind. “DeLeo.” His voice exuded calm and confidence, and she pictured him lounging on an expensive chair in a cocoon of warmth with a nicely chilled bottle of beer close at hand.
“It’s me, Piper.”
“I know.”
“Oh yes, silly me, I forgot you know everything about me including my cell phone number.”
“You were added to my VIP contact list within seconds of dropping your card. I had every intention of seeing you again whatever happened.” He paused as if expecting a reaction, but Piper’s lips were pressed together. “But anyway, this is a nice surprise. I didn’t expect to hear from you for a few days. Been shopping yet?”
“This isn’t a social call.”
“Strictly business, you really meant that?”
His tone sharpened. “Go on.”
“My car’s broken down halfway up Spring Canyon Road and I can’t get a hold of anyone else right now.”
“You’re out there in these conditions? Don’t you listen to the radio or TV? What the hell did you think you were doing?”
“I’m not calling you for a damn lecture, DeLeo. I need rescuing and I figure if there’s anyone I know with a big, kick-ass four-by-four, off-road type pretentious vehicle, it’s likely to be you. Am I right?”
“I have a Porsche parked downstairs.”
“Damn, is that a two-seater?”
“Yep. Are you getting picky about how you get rescued?”
“Fine, I guess I’ll have to balance the cat on my lap.”
“Look, I’ll tell you all about it when you get here. Just hurry up before I freeze to death. So will you come and get me?” She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. “Or do I have to beg?”
Chapter Five
Matt stared straight ahead as the windshield wipers of his four-by-four thrashed back and forth, barely clearing the snowfall before it obliterated his view again. You had to be a certifiable maniac to be out on a night like this. He had an excuse, but what was Piper Reilly’s? And what was going on with the damn cat?
He had no idea what kind of car he was looking for and hoped she had the sense to put her lights on. Then he berated himself for not finding out what she was driving and for not telling her what to do. Not that she’d take kindly to being issued instructions by him, anyway.
The engine roared as the road began to climb and he was glad of a vehicle that could cope with terrain. His Porsche was nice and the ladies loved it, but it wasn’t designed for winters in Colorado—just a toy for around town most of the time.
It was forecasted to get very nasty, very quickly, so he wanted to get this situation resolved. A bolt of excitement zapped up his spine as he rounded the hill and the road leveled out, revealing a car, dark blue by the looks of the portions that weren’t covered by a layer of snow. The headlights were on and blazing through the blizzard. “Smart woman,” he whispered.