The Girl's Got Secrets (Forbidden Men #7)(36)

“Thanks, man,” he told Noel.

“Aww...anything for our delicate little cupcake.” Noel went to pinch his cheeks, but Asher slapped his hand away and called him a dirty name.

As Noel moved off, laughing, a blushing Asher slanted a glance my way. “Sorry about that. They can get really...forward.”

Again, he surprised me. Fisher would’ve already been all over those two girls—a very sad fact I hadn’t learned until after I was engaged to the douchebag. Yeah, it’d been kind of downer to hear he’d slept with a new girl pretty much every time he’d gone out into public without me.

I took a small sip of my beer as I studied Asher’s face, watching him glance over his shoulder at the ladies Noel had shooed away. His expression confused me. I saw the flicker of interest; he definitely didn’t mind what he saw. But there was also a wariness that didn’t mesh with his initial attraction to them.

“And...you don’t like forward?” I couldn’t help but ask.

He zipped his gaze to me, his green eyes filled with surprise. Then he shrugged. “I don’t know. I just...” He shifted his shoulders again. “I guess I just like to be the one pursuing, you know.” With one last glance at the women he’d rebuffed, he added, “And I haven’t had the chance to do that in a while.”

“I can imagine.” I’d definitely experienced the same draw to him every other female tonight had. He was probably constantly chased by a horny mob.

Shifting closer, he lowered his voice and admitted, “It’s embarrassing as f*ck. They all crowd around me as if I’m something, I don’t know, amazing, and they don’t know jack shit about me. I’m just a regular guy, and I can’t help but think they’d only be disappointed if they really got to know me.”

Oh, I begged to differ on that point. So far, he was turning out to be incredibly interesting...and growing more interesting by the moment.

Thank God Jodi showed up then, before I could say anything, because I might’ve blurted out that I thought he was by no means dull or regular.

She slid up against me, giggling—obviously drunk off her ass—and almost knocked me off my stool, right into Asher. I had to put out a foot and slam my hand onto the counter to catch myself.

“Hey, puta,” she cried, wrapping her arms around my neck and giving me a big sloppy kiss on my masked cheek. “Oh my God, you’re so hot tonight. Have I told you how good you look in this get-up? Are you going to drive me home? I could give you fake road head in the car.”

I rattled out a nervous laugh, glad she hadn’t given my identity away yet, aside from the puta reference and fake road head offer, but I hoped Asher hadn’t caught that. Still, she was so wasted she might actually give me away soon. “Looks like I will be,” I answered, slipping an arm around her waist to keep her upright. “You are plastered, chica.”

“Feels good,” she answered, tipping her head back, only to catch sight of who I was sitting beside. Eyes flashing open wide, she gasped. “Oh my God, there’s that gorgeous lead singer dude in your band again. Don’t you just want to lick him?” She started to climb into my lap and crawl across me to reach him. “Hey...Asher Hart? Can I lick you?”

“Jodi!” I hauled her back to the other side of me. “Down girl. No licking my bandmates.”

She wrinkled her nose and made a pouty face. “You’re no fun. Besides.” Her tongue came out to waggle at me. “I just gave that bastard Billy head under the table to get my panties back. And my tongue was all over—”

I slapped my hand over her mouth to shut her up. “Eww.” Then I remembered where she’d just had that mouth, and I quickly removed my fingers to wipe them on my pant leg. Glancing at Asher, I cringed and mouthed the word, Sorry.

He only laughed. “Don’t worry about it.”

But I kept stressing. “How long do you think it’ll take to clean off the stage?”

Waving me away, he shook his head. “Don’t worry about that either. I’ll take care of everything. Just get this lovely lady home safely, and we’ll be square.”

Jodi tittered and rested her head on my shoulder. “Did you hear that? He called me lovely.”

“He also called you a lady, so he’s also obviously had too much to drink as well.”

“Hey,” Jodi muttered in outrage and pinched the inside of my arm at the most tender spot ever, making me yelp and squirm away.

Next to us, Asher’s phone rang, keeping him from having to respond.

As he answered, my roommate leaned up into my ear and loudly whispered, “Have you told him you’re a girl yet? You said you were going to tell him right after the gig tonight. I bet he’ll want to jump your bones when he finds out.”

“Shh...” I hissed, scowling her quiet as I waved a hand to hush her. “Not yet.”

After this evening, my goals had changed. I was still riding some of the giddy rush I’d gotten from playing for people, people who cheered us on and loved what we did for them. And then Asher...sitting here, just talking to him...I realized I didn’t want to leave the band.

So I needed a new plan. I needed to approach this delicately, in a way where I could convince the guys to keep me on after I revealed my true identity to them. If I played my cards right, maybe I could coax them into letting me stay on as a girl.