Page 154 of Perfect Pitch

Her eyes, the bright blue orchid color warms. “There’s nothing else that stands in our way.”

I tug her back against my chest and tuck her head against my shoulder. “No. Nothing.”

That’s when I catch sight of Beckett sitting at the top of the stairs.

Chin propped in his fist, dressed in a zipped-up sweatshirt and lounge pants, the international rockstar who the world assumes has it all has a wistful expression on his face. I briefly wonder how they’re getting along as Austyn drags me into the kitchen after Kane, moaning about the need for her morning coffee.

That’s when she shouts, “Beckett, are we eating in or are we going out?”

He drawls, from his position at the top of the stairs, “Kid, if the world knew I was awake the morning after the Grammys, they’d fall over. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Does this mean you’re not burning breakfast today?”

“What have you been eating?” I ask.

Together she and Kane answer, “In ’N Out.”

I chuckle. “Nice.”

Just then, the music in the whole house stereo changes to Tiffany. I’m about to gag, but before I can, there’s a distinct slap up the backside of my head. Beckett growls, “Let go of my daughter so she can help me cook and I can feed you heathens.”

“You expect me to eat... oh god. Baby? You listen to this crap?” I double over as Austyn dances around the kitchen.

Austyn snatches up a wooden spoon and her voice bellows out, “Look at the way...”

I clench my teeth in an attempt to stop a raging hard-on from tenting my pants, as I’m well aware both Kane and Beckett are ready to bust on me for it.

As she gets to the part about putting my arms around her, Austyn does just that before forcing me to dance with her. I growl, “I can’t deny you a damn thing.”

Her head twists as she sings directly to me. And for the first time, I listen. I truly listen. I hear what Austyn’s singing, what the lyrics mean—racing to find the person you can’t be without. The urgency of that first kiss when you’ve been separated.

The beat of your heart that was made just for that special someone you can’t live without.

Heart pounding, my eyes lift to find Beckett’s on mine. I jerk up my chin before I silently acknowledge what he needs me to as Austyn’s father—what he can’t demand as the father whose been out of her life for all but the last month.

A need to protect her.

Instead, he’s entrusting his daughter’s heart—the most precious, beautiful part of her—to me.

It’s a gift without value.

* * *

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

FEBRUARY

Ever since the Grammys, Beckett Miller and DJ Kensington are in each other’s back pockets. Is this a potential collaboration or something more? I wouldn’t mind more of either of them, if you take my meaning.

—Moore You Want

“The threat’s credible?” I confirm with Kane.

“Very. He even double-checked it through Sam before bringing it to me.” He lays out the stills Chin collated together from the body cam he wears before sending them over to Sam Akin for analysis. Any of us who have worked with Sam, Hudson’s resident hacker extraordinaire, know one thing about him. He doesn’t make mistakes. If he does, people die.

Kane points out a sexy brunette in every photo, starting with the night of the Grammys. Sometimes her face is slightly obscured. Sometimes, it’s caught head on. Taken out of context, “Gorgeous.”

Kane agrees. “Curves everywhere a man would want to find them. Sam said she paid good money for them.”

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