A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men 5)

He did, frowning slightly. Then he glanced toward my brother and turned back to me to cock his head in a curious manner. I set my finger over my mouth and motioned him to come to us. He once again checked out what his coworkers were doing. Then he turned back to me with a nod as he held up a finger, telling me to wait a minute.

“Incredible,” Zoey murmured beside me. “I think I actually followed that entire conversation you guys had. You and Asher would make awesome spies.”

I winked at her. “If only we could use our powers for good.”

I barely caught Asher giving me the go-ahead to meet him over by the hallway as he lifted a tray full of used glassware.

“Come on.” I grasped Zoey’s hand and jerked her after me, weaving through people so we could stay out of sight from the bar. Our mission grew more perilous as we had to move close to it to reach the hall, but Oren and Noel seemed busy without Asher on hand to help. So, they didn’t notice us.

Asher waited with his arms still laden with dirty glasses. I slowed to a stop, Zoey catching up to my side. Frowning at the dishes he was lugging toward the back kitchen, I shook my head. “Didn’t Pick just buy you guys a new one of these sanitizing machines where it washes those right under the counter?”

Asher sighed and rolled his eyes. “It’s on the fritz, and the new one is on back order. Pick is pissed.” Then he glanced curiously between Zoey and me. “What’s up, ladies? Finally decide to give up on your men and be my favorite band groupies?”

My shoulders sagged. It’d probably be better for my mental health if I did give up on Oren to follow Non-Castrato around, but...I’d already come this far. “Unfortunately...no.” I lifted Oren’s phone to show it to him. “Can you sneak this back behind the bar?”

Asher glanced at the cell phone and lifted an eyebrow. “That’s Ten’s.”

I nodded and sent him a cringe.

An ornery grin lit his face. “Do I even want to know what you did to it?”

This time, I shook my head no.

He laughed. “Cool. I’m in. Slide it in my front pocket here, sweetness.”

Since his hands were full, holding the tray of cups, I reached for the front pocket of his black T-shirt and slid the phone in before patting it gratefully.

“And a little sugar?” he encouraged, tipping his face down and to the side to show me his cheek.

I rolled my eyes but leaned up to kiss his cheek. He nodded his approval and then turned to Zoey. “

You too, princess. Don’t be shy.”

Zoey reluctantly stepped forward and kissed his cheek too.

Asher straightened, looking rather proud of himself. “Ladies,” he murmured. “It was good doing business with you.” Then he turned away and was off.

I wanted to stick around to make sure he got his job done. But I trusted Asher, so I gripped Zoey’s arm. “Let’s get out of here before we’re caught.”

I had some text messages to write.

“Holy shit.” I gaped at the screen of my phone as I read the text that had been sent to me while I was working.

The bar had closed nearly twenty minutes earlier, and all of us left behind to clean up were just about done with our duties for the night. I’d just grabbed my phone where I’d left it sitting by the cash register when I’d noticed I had a waiting message.

Have you been a good boy since our first encounter? I’ll only give you a repeat of last night if you’ve been a good boy.

The sender showed up as...Midnight Visitor.

“Holy fucking shit.”

“What?” Noel asked curiously as he came up to me from behind.

I spun toward him, feeling the instinctive need to shield my screen from his eyes. But then I told myself that was stupid. There was no need to keep this from him. No reason at all. So I turned the phone around to let him read the message.

“She somehow got hold of my phone and added her name and number.” I turned it slowly back to me and wondered aloud, “That’s so totally whack. And how the fuck did she know you guys had been calling her Midnight Visitor?”

Unless it really was Caroline. Maybe Gamble had mentioned it to her, or Ham had told Blondie, who’d told her.