Page 132 of Perfect Pitch

Wariness.

Hope.

Fear.

I only need one question answered before I push the incident behind us. “Were you with me because of him?”

His head moves back and forth slowly.

I tip mine to the side. Waiting.

He steps closer until he can sink his fingers beneath my braids. “In spite of it, Beats. Once I realized who you might be, I should have walked away.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I couldn’t,” he corrects. His fingers tighten almost to the point of pain against my scalp.

“Why?”

“You have me ensnared, enthralled. What matters except that?”

I lay my hands against his chest, absorbing his strength. “What indeed?”

He opens his mouth to say something more, but I lay my fingers against his lips. His eyes blaze at me as I slowly pull my fingers away before replacing them with a brush of my lips. “I understand.”

“Do you?” his voice is jagged with need.

I nod before taking his hand and leading him to my room.

* * *

After worshiping me from the top of my head to the bottom of my soles, Mitch holds me close to his body. He cups my face before promising, “I refuse to allow Beckett to come between us again, Austyn.”

“That’s good to know because...” My voice hitches. “Because I think he’s going to be in between everything from now on.”

That’s when I catch him up on everything that happened in the law offices of LLF before my father stormed the gates.

He rolls over so he’s looking down at me. “So, your mother flew back to Texas?”

“I think... I think she went to confront my grandfather.”

His eyes narrow. “I’d enjoy helping with that.”

I pull out of his arms and roll off the bed. Snatching up his shirt, I wrap it around myself with a shiver. “I still haven’t shared the worst part.”

“How does something get worse than what your grandfather did to your mother and Beckett?”

I mumble the answer. Obviously not quite low enough because Mitch sits up slowly, his back to the wall. “Did you say what I think you just said?”

“That my grandfather called me an—‍”

“Don’t say it twice,” he lashes out. Naked, he surges from the bed and storms to wrap his arms around me. I lean in and use his weight as support. He rasps, “Tell me you know that’s not true.”

Sliding my hands around his muscular back, I mumble against his tattoo, “I guess.”

“You guess? How can it even be a doubt? You light up my world just by being in it.” Even as my heart soars at his words, Mitch grips me beneath the arms and braces me against the wall near my closet. My legs wrap around his waist as my head falls back. His cock nudges my entrance and I draw in a swift breath. “I won’t have you absorbing that man’s hate.”

Wiggling, I gasp, “How do you plan on convincing me?”

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