Free Stoned (Unlikely Heroes Book 4) by Leslie Georgeson

couldn’t watch him draw away from her like this in revulsion. It hurt too much.
    A long silence stretched, the only sound that of his heavy breathing that gradually slowed and gentled.
    Until she could hear nothing at all.
    Nothing except her own heartbeat.
    Then there was a whisper of sound.
    She jerked her eyes open in time to see the door slam shut behind him.

CHAPTER NINE
    Stoner felt like the biggest ass. He’d humiliated her. Hurt her. She’d crumbled in front of him, the strong woman he’d known vanishing like a puff of smoke.
    “Fuck!” He slammed his fist into the wall. Again and again and again. Finally, he drew back, glaring at the hole he’d left in the sheetrock. He hadn’t known. The only logical explanation of course was breast cancer. Obviously she’d undergone a full mastectomy. He’d seen the evidence. Her breasts were gone. She had to resort to stuffing her bra to make it look like she still had breasts.
    “Jesus.” He leaned his forehead against the wall, staring down at the hole he’d made. He knew she felt like only half a woman now. He’d witnessed the horror in her eyes, the embarrassment. The humiliation.
    He’d made her cry.
    He’d been so shocked, he hadn’t known what to do. He’d fallen to his knees in bewilderment and stared at her as tears streaked down her cheeks. A wire? Where the hell had that come from? Why had he attacked her like that? Karen wouldn’t have access to a wire. She wasn’t working undercover for the government. She was a botanist for Christ’s sake.
    Shit. He raked a hand through his hair, drew in a ragged breath. When she’d pulled back, the sting of rejection had hit him hard and he’d lashed out, using the excuse of searching for a wire as a way to punish her.
    When he’d discovered the truth behind her withdrawal, he’d raced out of there like a coward. Like he’d been disgusted.
    But he wasn’t. Not with her. With himself, yes. He was just…shocked. It wasn’t her fault. He wanted her to know it didn’t matter to him. That he still wanted her.
    He needed to apologize. Shit, he couldn’t leave her suffering like this.
    Neal Stone, the badass biker and drug dealer, never apologized to anyone. Yet he’d already apologized to her once for hurting her arm earlier. He should have resisted the impulse, for it was ruining his “badass” reputation. But damn her, she made him weak and he hadn’t wanted her to think he was a horrible person.
    She didn’t know that Neal Stone never apologized. She didn’t know the real Neal Stone. She only knew the man he presented to her. She didn’t know he was a different Neal Stone around her than he was around others. But if he wasn’t careful, she might catch on.
    Shit. She was royally screwing up his plans.
    But he still wanted to apologize.
    He was about to do that—go back in the room and apologize to her—when booted feet clomped across the hardwood floor behind him.
    Stoner turned as Viper reached the top of the landing. The leader of the Cobras spied Stoner and paused. He came forward.
    “Where’s the woman?”
    Stoner jerked his head toward his door. “In my room.”
    Viper nodded, his gaze searching Stoner’s. “You keeping her in line?”
    Stoner choked out a laugh. Keeping her in line? As if.
    “Yeah.”
    Viper’s pink gaze narrowed on him. “I heard she didn’t want to smoke. I also heard you’ve made her your woman. That true?”
    His woman? He wished. “Yeah, she’s mine.” Let them all think she was his.
    Viper studied him a little longer in silence. “You realize you’re going to have to kill her when we’re through with her, right? So don’t get too attached.”
    Stoner heaved out a sigh. “I know.”
    “Good. Keep it together, man, and learn all you can from her. I’m looking forward to our business venture.”
    Viper clapped him on the shoulder, then strode past him to the huge suite at the end of the hall. Stoner remained in the hallway, staring down the empty