“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, not buying it.
He scowled. “I’m serious.”
I rolled my eyes. “So... What, then? You just smell like her because—”
“Because she wouldn’t stop rubbing against me like some kind of cat in heat,” he snapped, glowering hard.
“Right. So you’re saying you love everything there is about women but when one rubs against you like a cat in heat, you don’t take her up on the offer? Gally certainly would.”
“Do I fucking look like Gally?”
When I realized just how pissed and irritated he was with this line of questioning, I blinked and pulled back, amazed. “You’re really serious, aren’t you? You didn’t screw her.”
“No, I did not.”
My breath caught in my throat, and hope flared in my chest. “Why not?”
“Because...” He seemed too flabbergasted to continue.
Unable to let this drop because I was dying of curiosity, I pressed, “Because...?”
“I was tempted, sure,” he relented on a shrug. “Feels like it’s been forever, and I’ve been craving sex like you wouldn’t believe lately, but...”
No way could I drop this issue, so I said, “But what?” Then it hit me. Oh dear Lord. “You have an STD, don’t you?”
“Jesus. No!” He sent me a dark look, then pointed threateningly. “Okay, fine, I’ll talk, but if you ever repeat anything I’m about to say to Gally or Holden, I will kick your ass to Ellamore and back. Got it?”
I sniffed out a laugh. “What do I look like? Some kind of gossiping girl desperate to tell everyone else your personal business? Please.”
His shoulders relaxed before he rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and reluctantly admitted, “It’s just...I’m not really a fan of one-night-stands.”
My mouth fell open. Leaning his way, I cupped my hand around my ear and said, “Say again?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Laugh it up, fucker. It’s just not my thing. Okay?”
I lifted both hands. “Trust me, I’m not laughing. I’m just shocked is all.” And really impressed.
He glanced away, looking humiliated. “Pathetic, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t say it was pathetic either. It’s just...unusual for a guy in your position.” A very good, amazing unusual. “Which makes me extremely curious as to...why?”
He sighed and rolled his gaze to the ceiling. “I knew you were going to ask that.”
“Well?” I lifted my eyebrows, letting him know I still wanted the answer regardless. “For someone who loves women so much and is craving sex...” I started.
“I do love women,” he insisted. “I just want one to want me instead of...” He rolled his eyes. “Asher Hart.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came. After a second, I said, “Aren’t you Asher Hart, though?”
He growled and frowned at me. “Yes, but...Christ, I don’t even know how to explain it.” When he grabbed his hair in supreme frustration, I took pity on him and decided to stop playing dumb.
“You want someone who appreciates the man within, not just a groupie wanting to score with the lead singer of a band.”
Dropping his hands from his hair, he gazed at me as if he’d just discovered a kindred soul. “Yeah,” he murmured. “Exactly.”
I nodded, letting him know I understood. “So you don’t just want a physical connection. You want something...deeper.”
He looked down at his hands. “Oh, trust me. I love the physical connection. And I’ve done the one-night-stand thing because it seems to be the only thing women want from me. It’s just...I don’t know. All my friends at Forbidden have these incredible women that they’re all devoted to and completely crazy about. And when I watch them together, it just looks so...”
“Nice?”
He blew out a breath and glanced at me. “Makes me wonder what a real relationship would be like.”
That confession had me blinking. “What? You’ve never been in one?”
He shook his head. “No. You?”
My lips quirked. “With a woman? No.”
Snorting out an amused sound, he muttered, “With a guy, then?”
“Well...sure. A couple times. I mean, not tons but...three or four meaningful enough ones.”
Focusing on me as if he’d just discovered I knew the secret meaning of life, he asked, “What’re they like?”
I crinkled my brow. “Relationships?”
“Yeah.”