Worth It (Forbidden Men, #6)(129)

No one wanted to hear that kind of shit about his mom. What if he ended up blaming me, hating me, because I’d gotten time with her that he hadn’t or because I came from the seed of his mother’s murderer?

I shuddered, tempted to flee. Except I couldn’t.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and stared back at a man I’d known over a year, a guy I looked up to and respected and actually liked. And suddenly, I could see my own chin, maybe the shape of my face, the cut of my shoulders.

It freaked me out. Paralyzed me.

“I’ve been thinking about that message you left on my phone.”

“Aww, f*ck,” I muttered.

An amused grin lit his face. “Yeah, I sensed you regretted making that call, but I’m still glad you did. Because I’ve always wanted to know where I came from, and this is honestly the first lead I’ve ever gotten.”

“It doesn’t mean it’s true,” I started. “It could’ve been some other woman completely who’d been your mother. I’m sure mine wasn’t the only one who...” I couldn’t finish the sentence, so I swallowed hard.

“You’re right. It might just be a coincidence. We might not have the same mother. But I found a way to get the truth, once and for all.”

I shook my head. “What’re you talking about?” My gaze landed on the envelope in his hand. “What is that?”

But I pretty much already knew.

He tapped it against his palm slowly. “It’s DNA test results, matching a piece of my hair to a piece I stole from you.”

My legs turned to Jell-O. “Oh, shit,” I mumbled, blindly finding my way to his couch and plopping down. “So it was a match? We’re really...?”

I glanced up at him, and his brown eyes held so much compassion and understanding that I almost lost it.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t opened it yet. I thought the two of us should open it together.”

“Right now?” I wiped my hands over my face, still afraid of the answer. Not sure what it’d mean for us, no matter what the results were.

“When else?” He watched me as he opened one end. I almost blurted out for him to wait. I wasn’t ready. But he’d already pulled the papers free, and was scanning the front page.

And it was too late to stall anything.





The Girl’s Got Secrets Forbidden Men – Book 6

Asher’s Story



Here’s the same old “girl posing as a boy” story but with a rock-n-roll twist.



Remy Curran dreams of one day being in a band, except the group she wants to join refuses to hire a female drummer. So, she auditions as a guy...and makes the cut.



Becoming “Sticks,” a member of Non-Castrato, isn’t quite what she dreamed it would be, though. She spends most of her time keeping up the subterfuge and learning how to walk, talk, act, and drink like a man.



But what’s even harder to deal with is acting oblivious when the band’s heartthrob lead singer, Asher Hart, treats her like one of the guys and not a woman. She never imagined he’d be so much more than a pretty face with a nice voice. But he’s better than perfect.



He’s perfect for her.



When love and lies collide, Remy must keep up the act or lose everything.





Thank you to my family. Yes, ALL of you seven siblings, way more than seven sibling in-laws, parents-in-law, Mom, over twenty nieces and nephews (sorry, I’ve lost count exactly how many nieces and nephews there are now!!), aunts, uncles, cousins, and whatever!!! And a special thank you to my husband and kids: Kurt, Lydia, and soon-to-be Sadie, since you actually have to live with me! Another thank you to Shi Ann and Alaina for your eternal willingness to read my rough drafts...at any point in the story!



Thanks to my British half, Ada Frost. There aren’t enough kind words to list everything you’ve done for me! And I do apologize for mentioning you in the six-years-ago portion of the story when you wouldn’t have had any stories published yet; I figured since this is fiction, it was okay to stretch the truth a little. And hey, it was just too fun to resist the shout-out since this story is pretty much a tribute to Ryan...whose book I’m still waiting on (no pressure)!!



Thanks to beta reader, Amanda at Beta Reading Bookshelf, my editor, the always brilliant Stephanie Parent, and proofreaders, Autumn at The Autumn Review plus Shelley at 2 Book Lovers Reviews. And thank you to the ladies at E. M. Tippetts Book Designs for slotting me in and making some awesome formatting for my stories.



Here are a couple more shout-outs to some awesome peeps I’ve met just because I write books. Thanks for inspiring me to write more!

Lindsay Brooks – For being you!

Adrienne Ambrose – Reigning queen of the Facebook tag!!

Michelle Chen – For that amazing letter you wrote in support of Zoey and Quinn.

Sarah Turner – For being so darn sweet and for the Forbidden Men tip jar. Genius idea!

Carol Sales – Because you truly GET Harry Potter mania!

Brynne Hounsell – Mostly because I want to suck up to you in the hopes you’ll hook a girl up with some Packers tickets one day!! Just kidding, but seriously... I do envy your Green Bay connections!!