Karen sobered, the laughter fading away. “No, never.”
He cocked a brow. “Surely you’ve wanted to try it, at least once? Come on, it’ll help you to relax. I’ll sit beside you, show you how to do it.”
She sputtered. “You’re kidding me. You’ll show me how to do it? Seriously?”
He stepped closer, bending so his face was mere inches from hers. Her heart thudded against her ribs. She sucked in a breath.
“Just try it,” he whispered. “I promise I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re too high strung, Karen. You need to relax. If you want any chance of surviving this place, you need to chill out a bit, okay? Do what Viper wants, keep him happy, and you just might find a way out of here.”
She searched his gaze. He was trying to tell her something. But…what? That if she cooperated, he might help her escape? Would he do that? She had no clue. His expression remained unreadable, his eyes emotionless, keeping his true thoughts hidden. What was Stoner up to?
She puffed out a breath. “Okay,” she said at last. “Just…one little, um, whatever you call it, uh, joint.”
He stepped back. “It’s a bong, Karen, not a joint. The smoke is filtered through water before you inhale it. The water supposedly removes most of the toxins from the smoke.”
He made it sound easy, like it wasn’t so bad. Like it was safe.
“Like a humidifier?” she asked.
His lips twitched. “Sort of. You’ll see. Come on.” He snagged her hand in his and pulled her down the hallway. The warmth from his hand radiated into hers, heating her chilled fingers, making her overly aware of his presence, making her want. Him.
They entered a room two doors down and paused in the entryway. Music blared out from speakers mounted on the walls. Eighties’ rock. Karen recognized the song, but she couldn’t name the band. Marijuana smoke filled the room. Karen’s eyes watered. She coughed. She wrinkled her nose at the smell. How could anyone enjoy this?
Stoner pulled her farther into the room. “You’ll get used to it. It just takes a few minutes.”
Someone turned the music down. Karen felt eyes on her.
Trying to see through the smoky haze, she was able to make out a huge sectional couch sitting in the middle of the room. Full of people. At least eight or ten of them. Others sat in chairs around the room, passing around the bong.
She recognized the handsome Rebel seated in the middle of the group on the couch. Scar, the dog he’d rescued, lay on the floor at his feet. Rebel pointed at her.
“Look! It’s Penelope Cruz! Isn’t she hot? No, wait! That’s…that’s Eva Longoria! Oooh! Come here, baby.” He patted his lap.
Karen snorted out a laugh. She glanced at Stoner. He shrugged. “He’s stoned, Karen. He sees you, but his mind interprets you as something else.” He lowered his voice. “Though honestly, I think you’re hotter than both those actresses.”
Her heart skipped a beat. He did?
“He’s having delusions.” She pulled her hand from Stoner’s grasp. “And so are you. I don’t want to do this. I want to go to bed. If you’ll just show me where I can sleep, I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the night.”
“Look!” Another man shouted from an armchair near the far corner. “I see giant pussies!” He reached up toward the ceiling. “I can touch them! Ooooh, they’re wet for me!”
Snorts of laughter erupted from around the room.
“You need to get laid, Weasel,” someone said from behind Karen. “I sure as hell don’t see any pussies.”
Despite herself, Karen chuckled. She jerked her gaze to Stoner’s. He was watching her with unveiled desire, his eyes smoldering with a dark intensity.
Her breath caught. She needed to get out of this room and away from these people, away from Stoner, now.
Before she did something she feared she might regret.
Turning on her heel, she stumbled for the door.
“Don’t go, Eva!” Rebel squealed. “Come sit on my face!”
“I see huge tits!” the guy in the corner was bellowing as he continued to reach for the ceiling. “Double-double Ds!”
Ignoring them all, Karen stumbled out into the hallway. She gulped in fresh air, trying to free her lungs of the marijuana smoke. These guys were all frickin’ nuts. She wanted no part of this.
Strong arms came around her from behind, pulling her against a hard male body.
“Those guys are just high,” Stoner whispered in her ear. “Don’t let them get to you. If you want to go to bed, I’ll take you to bed.”
If you want to go to bed, I’ll take you to bed.
Her heart thundered. She swallowed hard. His arms were wrapped around her stomach, just beneath her ribcage. His fingers pressed into her lower abdomen, holding her in place. She shifted. The evidence of his arousal pressed into her back.
“Let me go.” She squirmed against him. “Please.”
He turned her in his arms until she was facing him. “Not yet,” he whispered, his gaze hot on hers. “You’re strung tight as a fucking bow. Let me help you relax.”
He lowered his head.
She stared, unable to move, as his mouth came closer. But he didn’t kiss her. Not on the mouth. Instead he turned his head, then nuzzled his way up the side of her neck to her earlobe. Karen shivered. He teased and sucked on her earlobe, then made his way down and across her collarbone, pressing little kisses against her skin, all the way to the other side of her neck. He paused at a spot beneath her ear and sucked.
The breath whooshed out of her lungs. Her legs trembled. Her hands moved upward, slipping inside his vest and clutching at his T-shirt, feeling the hard muscles beneath the thin cotton. Desire shot through her, centering in her lower abdomen, making her squirm with need. God, it had been so long…
“Neal,” she said breathlessly. She wanted his mouth on hers. Now.
He lifted his head, his gaze searing hers with the passion that consumed him. “I know, baby,” he whispered. “You have no idea how many things I want to do to you.” He lowered his voice and whispered in her ear, telling her in explicit detail what he longed to do to her.
His crudeness didn’t repulse her. Instead, it made her even hotter. God, she wanted him like she’d wanted no other man before. How could that be?
“God yes,” she whispered, unable to deny the need that raged through her body. Too caught up in him to care at that precise moment what would happen if he discovered her secret.
He headed down the hallway, urgently pushing her in front of him. Karen stumbled a couple of times before he scooped her up and carried her the rest of the way. He mounted the steps at the end of the hallway, then went up, and up, clear to the top. To the third floor. Karen clung to him, trying not to think about the ramifications of her actions if she went through with this.
Dear God, she was about to have sex with a stranger. A hot, sexy stranger with shaggy, sandy-colored hair and striking hazel eyes. A big, muscled, badass biker dude. A criminal. A drug dealer. A murderer.
What the hell was she thinking?
The woman she’d been before wouldn’t have cared about any of that. She would have slept with the devil if he was good looking enough. But she wasn’t that woman anymore.
Stoner paused at a door halfway down the long hallway on the third floor. He set her down while he removed a key card from his pocket. He swiped it through the slot. The green light flashed. He turned the knob and shoved the door open.
Karen stepped back. She couldn’t do this. She’d got caught up in the moment is all. She needed to stop this before Stoner figured out her secret and thrust her away in disgust.
Confusion—or was that hurt?—flickered across his face. “Karen?”
“I…I can’t do this. I haven’t had sex in…like…three years. I–”
He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and tilted her face toward his, at the same time lowering his head until his lips brushed hers. His tongue flickered out to lick and tease, press against her l
ips, seeking entrance.
She couldn’t hold back the moan that escaped her lips. He walked her backward into the room, slamming the door shut behind them.
Their tongues met in a frenzy of lust, licking, swirling, tasting. He cupped her face in his hands, holding her head still, as he devoured her mouth. Karen melted against him, clutching at his vest, pulling it off his shoulders, yanking at his T-shirt and slipping her hands up inside to feel the hot skin of his hard chest. His muscles quivered beneath her fingers.
His hands dropped to the front of her jeans, popping the snap and yanking down the zipper in one swift move. He pressed his hand inside, boldly cupping her. She gasped.
“You’re wet,” he breathed against her mouth, sounding surprised. “Jesus.” He rested his forehead against hers, breathing heavily, and stared into her eyes.
“I need to see you.” He pulled his hand free of her pants and yanked at the buttons on her shirt, tearing it open with his eagerness and sending buttons flying. His gaze fell upon her bra-covered breasts.
Oh shit, oh no!
“No,” she whispered shakily, rearing back. How had she let it go this far? What was she thinking?
Lifting her arms protectively in front of her, she backed away from him.
He hissed out a breath, a bewildered look on his face. “Karen?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lead you on. I can’t do this. Really, I can’t.”
His gaze swept down her figure and back up. “Why? You were all gung ho until I–” He broke off. His eyes flickered with sudden comprehension. “Holy shit. You’re wearing a wire! Why didn’t I think of that before? Hell, why didn’t Viper think of that? He always checks people for wires.”
He strode toward her.
What? A wire? Karen backed up rapidly, glancing around her as she went. The room was a typical hotel room with a king-sized bed, a couple of end tables, a dresser, an armchair and a television. A small bathroom was off to her left.
“I’m not wearing a wire.” Spinning on her heel, she raced for the bathroom.
He caught her in two strides, yanking her up against him.
“Where’s the wire?” he growled. “In your bra?”
He pulled at her bra, his fingers pressing, squeezing, searching, yanking it away from her skin. He managed to undo the clasp. The material fell away from her chest.
The padding came loose in the struggle, falling to the floor at her feet.
Seeing it lying there like a stuffed sock, lifeless, unmoving, where once had been life and feeling and womanness…
She crumpled.
He drew back in bewilderment, letting her drop to the floor.
“What the hell?”
Oh God, he saw! He knew!
Her throat clogged with humiliation, embarrassment, horror. The swirl of emotions shoved their way up until they nearly choked her. She gasped in a breath. Tears filled her eyes, rolled down her cheeks. She grabbed at the empty bra cups, trying to cover her skin, trying to hide her secret, as the bra hung loosely off her shoulders.
Stoner stumbled backward, then dropped to his knees, his eyes wide as he stared at her.
Karen squeezed her eyes shut. She 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 corridor, long after Viper had entered his room and closed the door.
He turned back to stare at the door to his room. It was time to apologize to Karen. To try to make her understand. Would she listen to him?
He swiped his key card through the slot and pushed open the door.
He glanced around. The room was empty.
The only way out of his room was through the door he’d just come in. Then the sound of running water pierced his senses. She was in the shower. He hesitated. Maybe he should leave her alone for a while.
Striding over to the end table at the left side of the bed, he pulled open the drawer. He withdrew a pen and a notepad.
He would leave her a note. He contemplated what to say for a long moment, then sc
ribbled on the notepad. He tore the piece of paper from the pad. He tossed the pen and notepad back in the drawer, then slammed the drawer shut.
The shower was still running.
Stoner carried the paper over to the closed bathroom door. He set in on the floor in front of the door. When she came out, she would see it. She couldn’t miss it.
He wasn’t very good with words. Would it help her feel better?
He set his extra key card on top of the note for her to use to access his room whenever she needed. It was an invitation he hoped she would understand: she was welcome in his room anytime, day or night, whenever she wanted.
Stoner strode from the room, closing the door behind him.
* * *
The note lay on the floor, beckoning her closer. Karen stared at it. Had Stoner left it? She snatched up the key card laying on top. What was Stoner trying to say by giving it to her? She would need it to access his room when he wasn’t around. Did this mean he was never coming back to his room? Or was he just giving her a key to his room so she could come and go whenever she wanted? Whatever the reason, she would be sure to take the key card with her whenever she left the room. If she ever needed a place to hide, Stoner’s room would be accessible.
She stared down at the note for a long moment, chewing her bottom lip, then bent to pick it up.
I’m sorry, Stoner had written in a bold, manly scrawl.
She smiled. The writing was so Stoner.
She read on.
It makes no difference to me.
Her breath hitched.
I still want you.
A sob bubbled up her throat at those last four words.
I still want you.
Those had to be the most beautiful words she’d ever heard. For three years she’d felt like half a woman, believing no man would ever want her again. Why would anyone want her now? She had no breasts. Part of what made her a woman was gone forever.
I still want you.
Emotion burst inside her chest, spreading outward, warming her cold limbs better than the warm water from the shower.
I still want you.
She sank to the floor and clutched the note to her chest, overcome with emotion. A tear trickled down her cheek.
Stoned (Unlikely Heroes Book 4) Page 6
