Brooklyn Heat Read Online Free

probably meant she was a little bit buzzed. She lowered her voice.
    “Hey!” she said again. “Come here, I need to ask you something.”
    The bartender reluctantly pulled himself away from the two college coeds, one of whom was now licking salt off the other one’s stomach.
    “Another drink already?” he asked, picking up her empty glass. He looked at it doubtfully, like he thought maybe she’d had enough.
    “No.” She slid the hundred-dollar bill Chad had left across the bar, hoping the bartender would think it was her that was paying the tab and leaving a big tip. “But I have a question.”
    “Yeah?” He picked up the hundred and slipped it in his pocket, not bothering to ask if she wanted any change.
    “The penthouse,” she said. “What would a room like that cost?”
    “I dunno.” He shrugged. “A couple grand a night?”
    He said it so cavalier, so casual, like he was used to people spending so much money just for the privilege of sleeping. Then he picked up her empty glass and walked away.
    And before Kenley could talk herself out of it, she decided she would go and meet Chad. It didn’t mean she was going to sleep with him. She just wanted to check out the penthouse. It would be silly not to -- after all, she might never get another chance to see a room that cost two thousands dollars a night.

    ***
    It turned out that you had to use some kind of special touchpad to get into the penthouse, which Kenley thought was ridiculous. They couldn’t have given it the same keycard system as the rest of the hotel? She ran her finger over the pad. Next to it, there was a small doorbell, but she didn’t ring it. Now that she was here, she was kind of losing her nerve.
    She looked down at herself, wondering if it would be way too obvious that she’d stopped at her room to fix herself up. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a black sleeveless sweater. She’d given her makeup a touchup, swiping some mascara over her eyes and lining her lips with a shiny pink gloss.
    She thought she’d looked good when she’d surveyed herself in the mirror a few minutes ago, but now she just felt ridiculous. What had she been thinking, coming up here? She must have been crazy. This wasn’t who she was, the type of girl who just went following some guy to his hotel room. Yes, Chad was hot. And yes, he was obviously rich. But still. That didn’t mean anything. Money wasn’t important to her, and besides, it was always the rich ones who were getting crazy and killing people.
    Like that Jordan Vandersloot kid. He was super rich, and always luring women back to his hotel room so he could chop them up. The thought of getting chopped up was enough to do it, and she turned around, ready to head back to the elevator and back to her room when the door to the penthouse opened.
    Chad stood there, grinning. His baseball hat was gone, and his navy blue sweatshirt had been replaced by a black t-shirt. It was the kind of t-shirt that looked expensive, and it hung on his body, hugging his biceps perfectly. “What’s up?” he said easily, and leaned against the doorframe.
    “How did you know I was out here?” Kenley asked.
    “I saw you on the security monitor.”
    “There’s a security monitor?”
    “Of course.” He nodded, like it should have been obvious. He was probably one of those rich types that were always getting nervous that someone was going to break in and steal all of their super expensive things. People like that were so annoying. If you had to spend more time worrying about your stuff than enjoying it, what was the point?
    “Oh.” She swallowed, and then smoothed her hair back. Now that he knew she was out here, he was probably going to expect her to come in. “Well, I was just leaving.”
    “Don’t you want to come inside?” He must have sensed her hesitation, because he added, “Don’t worry, I’m not a psycho or anything.”
    “Really?” she asked. “Because ‘I’m not a psycho or anything’