Free Heat Of The Moment (Brooklyn Heat) by Locklyn Marx Page B

you?”
    He looked her in the eye, and she didn’t look away. She wanted him to name a figure. She would try to get him up of course, because she wasn’t going to do it for anything less than twenty five thousand dollars. Even though it would be in a more legitimate way, she was still going to end up in the tabloids. Her name was still going to be out there, linked with his forever, at least as far as google was concerned. Twenty-five thousand dollars in a few days would be way more than she’d ever made in her life. It would give her time to find another job, to relax while she did it, to not have to worry about anything for a while.
    “A hundred thousand dollars,” Chad said, his tone serious.
    Kenley almost blinked. But she forced herself to take a moment, to act like she was thinking about it. And then, finally, she said, “Deal.”

Chapter Six
    One hundred thousand dollars. The words had been out of his mouth before he even knew what he was saying. Chad was no stranger to being a little extravagant –
    bottles of Cristal, the best hotel rooms, thousand dollar pairs of sunglasses. But those were treats, and at the end of the day, you at least had something to show for it.
    You’ll have something to show for this, too , he told himself as he walked through the airport in New York the next morning, fresh off his flight from Florida. You’ll have a shiny new endorsement deal, which could be a springboard into other, shinier endorsement deals.
    When he really thought about it, though, the hundred thousand dollars wasn’t the problem. Yes, it was a lot of money, but if it got him the deal, it was a small price to pay.
    The real problem, the problem that had been nagging at the back of his mind ever since he left his mom’s house and Kenley yesterday afternoon, was that he had been so quick to offer it.
    He hadn’t planned on offering her any money. Yes, he knew there were probably going to be expenses – clothes and dinners, that kind of thing. But those were normal expenses you had when you were dating someone. He hadn’t planned on actually paying her to pretend to be his girlfriend.
    He’d underestimated her, though, because she’s come right out and asked him what it was worth. And in that moment, he’d wanted her to say yes so bad that he’d blurted out a hundred thousand dollars.
    Why was she having that effect on him? He’d never seen anything like it.
    Actually, that wasn’t true. He had seen something like it, on his best friend Jay Havens.
    It was the same way he’d acted when he’d met his fiancé, Alyssa. The thought was so disconcerting that Chad picked his phone up and immediately called Jay.
    “Yo,” Jay said when he answered. “Where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for days.”
    “Question,” Chad said while he waited for his luggage to come around the carousel. He kept his head down so that no one would recognize him. Luckily the area he was in was relatively free of foot traffic at this time of day, but in New York, it was usually only a matter of time before someone spotted him. “When you met Alyssa, how did you know she was the one?”
    “Because I couldn’t stop thinking about her, and I’d do anything to be with her.”
    Through the phone, the sound of Alyssa saying ‘aww’ could be heard in the background.
    The two were always together, ever since they’d gotten engaged.
    Chad loved Alyssa – she was cool and fun and always called him out on his shit, which he found refreshing. But normally, he would roll his eyes at the fact that that Alyssa was so close to Jay that she could overhear Jay’s conversation. Today, however, Chad thought it was sweet. The thought was alarming.
    “Why?” Jay asked suspiciously. “Why do you want to know how I knew Alyssa was the one?”
    “No reason.”
    “Did you meet someone?”
    “No.” His suitcase came around the carousel, and Chad reached down and picked it up.
    “Who is she?” Jay