The Girl's Got Secrets (Forbidden Men #7)(137)

I came awake to the soft strum of a guitar. In the background, a hospital monitor beeped and air packs around my ankles hissed out a sound as they released pressure.

Turning my face to the melody of the guitar, I blinked Asher into focus as he sat to my right, playing for me. My lashes felt gritty and my throat raw, reminding me what had happened.

The chocolates, I realized. Someone had given me chocolates with some kind of peanuts hidden in them. But I wasn’t too concerned about that now. I was awake, un-swollen, and breathing again, so I guessed things were bien.

For the moment, I just wanted to listen to Asher play to me. The tune was unusual, reminding me a lot of “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s...and yet a little different. I didn’t think I’d heard it before.

And then he began to sing.



I wake up early with your breath

falling on the pillow next to mine.

Another night spent in your arms

and I know this day’s just fine.

Yes, it is.



‘Cause there’s this promise in your smile

that no matter what tomorrow brings,

I’ll make it through the mile,

with you there, right by my side.



Oh...I can do anything with you there, right by my side.



Sometimes I hold back the words

that I want to say to you,

because this thing that we’ve started

is way too fresh and too new.



Oh...oh, oh, oh, oh. Right by my side.



But there’s this promise in your smile

that no matter what tomorrow brings,

I’ll make it through the mile

With you there, right by my side.



I can do anything, anything at all, when I know

You’ll be there on the morrow

Standing at my side.



You’ve already taught me how to love,

To laugh, and listen to your heart.

Oh, baby, I can’t wait to learn some more

so we’ll never truly be apart.



This time it’s good.



We can do anything.

Just me and you.

Right by your side.



A grin lit my face as he strummed the last of the melody, and tears filled my eyes. “That’s my song.”

Asher glanced up, and his green eyes warmed. “I know. Sorry, I changed the rhythm a little. It seemed like it needed a gentler tune than the one Fish ’N’ Dicks’s used.”

“No. This one is fine. It’s perfect. Hermosa. Exactly the kind of tone I had in mind when I wrote it.” I shook my head in wonder. “How did you know?”

“That they were your lyrics?” A grin lit his face. “It wasn’t too hard to figure out.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, touched to the bottom of my soul. “It’s perfect. You have no idea what this means to me.”

He set his Taylor down and reached out to take my hand, gently running his thumb over my IV. “And you have no idea what you mean to me.” He shook his head and looked pained as if it were difficult to swallow. “Because I never told you. Jesus, Remy... You can’t even imagine what it was like to hold your unconscious body in my arms and realize I never got to tell you.”

“Asher,” I started, shaking my head. “You don’t have to—”

But he shook his head, stopping me. “I want to. I want to tell you now. I love you too, Remy. I’ve fallen so f*cking in love with you this past month without even realizing it, I...” He stopped talking and shook his head as if he wanted to stop again. Then he closed his eyes briefly before opening them and looking straight at me. “Te amo,” he said.

Happy tears filled my eyes. But then I shook my head. “You really don’t have to say that just because I almost died. You—”

“I’m not. I promise you.” Lifting my hand to his mouth, he kissed my knuckles. “I was just trying to figure out how to best say it to you when I came home and found you on the floor.”

I sucked in a shuddered, surprised breath. “You were?”

He nodded, then leaned forward and pressed his forehead to my arm. “Te amo. Eres mi nena, mi chica.”

A grin exploded from me. “?Dios mío! That was...said perfectly.” Relieved joy spread through me as his lips crashed to mine. I opened my mouth to him and our tongues tangled. He scooted closer and I gripped his hair harder. His fingers found the side of my throat and drifted over my thrumming pulse. He didn’t pull away until voices of nurses outside my room door made us jump apart.

Simultaneously, we each touched our own lips, still remembering the kiss. Then we broke out grinning together.

I shook my head, beyond amazed this was actually happening. “Who taught you how to say that?”

Laughing, he blushed a little and admitted, “Tomás might’ve coached me.”

“Big T?” The mention of my cousin had me glancing around expectantly.

But Asher said, “He had to go. Grumbled something about filling in a shift for you at the restaurant since your lazy ass wasn’t going to work in the morning...his words.”

I grinned. “Sounds like him.”

“Your uncle and grandmother were here too. Along with Jodi and...Gally and Holden.”