The Girl's Got Secrets (Forbidden Men #7)(35)

There were more girl bands I loved, but I didn’t want to somehow give my gender away by listing too many, so I merely watched Asher continue to chuckle.

“Trust me. I’m not bashing your choices in the least. I agree with every single one of them. And hey, I’ve been known to listen to Katy Perry and Taylor Swift with the best of them, so don’t worry about music genres with me.”

“Dude.” I leaned in closer. “I wouldn’t go broadcasting that to Galloway. I don’t think he’d be so—”

“Yeah.” He lifted his hand to let me know my warning was moot. “I know.” Then he shrugged as if unconcerned. “I just like all kinds of music. As long as it’s got a good beat, cool lyrics and resonates in my bones, I’m in.”

I nodded respectfully. “I get that.” I didn’t tell him I was pretty much the same way. Country, rap, alternative, hip hop, classics, I just loved music.

“But I grew up with my parents listening to Nirvana on a loop, so that’s probably why most of our songs lean more the way they do.”

“Hmm, I wondered about that. I can definitely see the influence.” I wondered if this meant he’d had a hand in creating any of our original songs. Just how many hats did he wear in our little group? Guitar player, vocalist, manager and now possible songwriter?

The guy seriously needed to stop saying and doing things to impress me.

He sneezed, and immediately said, “Excuse me,” as he reached for a nearby stack of napkins to wipe his nose. And dammit, I even liked his gentlemanly reaction while he tossed the used tissue into a trash can. Ugh! My tiny little crush was getting ridiculous here.

Needing to get my head back into the conversation and away from him being a hot, interesting piece of man candy, I finished my own beer and said, “I’ve really been getting into Breaking Benjamin lately.”

“Mmm.” He pointed at me as he took a drink, then had to wait to swallow before saying “And Five Finger Death Punch.”

“‘The Wrong Side of Hell,’” we said together, naming our favorite song from that group. Then we laughed at the same time.

“Well, isn’t this cozy?” Ten asked, appearing in front of us.

I tensed, hoping he kept his big mouth shut. But Asher let out a small moan, and waved his empty bottle in his friend’s face. “Don’t be a dick. Just get me another drink.”

“Dude, slow it down. What is this, your fifth of the night?”

“No, it’s my...” He frowned as if confused so I answered, “third.”

“Right.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “It’s my third...and it’s my last, mother.” After a quick scowl to Ten, he asked me, “You want another?”

“Mmm. Okay. Uno más.” I slid my empty toward Ten, who shook his head.

“Huh?” Ten only blinked. “What the hell does uno más mean?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s Spanish. Means one more. Por favor. But this should be my last drink, too. I’ll probably end up driving Jodi home...if she hasn’t already left with someone else.” But when I glanced around for her, I was surprised to find her still hanging around Galloway and his table full of women.

“You know, I took like two years of Spanish in high school,” Asher said from beside me. “And I learned jack shit.”

I turned back to him and was blasted with a fresh wave of lust. Damn, but he was too pretty. And those green, green eyes...so frigging intense.

“Well, my entire family is from México, so I grew up with plenty of people who don’t know anything but Espa?ol,” I explained. “It’s pretty common for me.”

“Really? Huh. I never would’ve guessed that about you. You seem so...American.”

I arched an eyebrow. “I am American. Born and raised right here in Illinois.”

“I mean...” He rolled out a hand and his eyes flared as if he was worried he’d offended me.

“My dad was American,” I explained. “But since I don’t remember him and grew up with my mom’s side of the family raising me, yeah, you could say my heritage is very deeply embedded in all things Latino. I probably fell in love with the type of music I did because to me, it was so much more exotic and exciting than what I was used to my family always listening to. Plus, it was kind of fun to be the rebel in the group.”

With a laugh, Asher nodded. “That makes sense.” He opened his mouth to say more but two girls approached, one sliding up right against his side and running her fingers along his chest. “Hey, you’re Asher Hart, aren’t you? We loved your performance tonight.”

The smile he sent her was friendly enough as he said, “Thanks,” but then he leaned away, obviously uncomfortable with her proximity.

I couldn’t keep my narrowed gaze off her red painted fingernails as they kept traveling lower and lower down his chest and over his stomach, steadily making their way toward his lap. “You have the most amazing voice ever.”

He caught her wrist before she could get a handful of little Asher but still managed a tense smile. “Glad you liked it.”

“Hey! You two.” Noel pointed at the two women and waved them off. “This is a VIP area. You need to move along.”

The women huffed out their displeasure but Noel narrowed his eyes, and they finally slunk away. As soon as he was relieved of the girl’s grasp, Asher spun on his stool so he was no longer sitting sideways to face me but now had his legs tucked securely under the counter space...so no more women could climb into his lap.