Page 209 of Perfect Pitch

“I’m surprised he didn’t kill me,” I mutter.

“I think Fallon wanted first crack. We were drinking at her apartment when...”

“Wait, drinking?”

“Decaffeinated chai from wine glasses.”

“Ahh. Didn’t you say she lives in a dorm?”

Austyn’s head rocks back and forth on my chest. “She moved off campus to the apartment above Galileo’s when she started working there.”

I lift Austyn’s wrist and brush my lips across the inked notes. “Kitty did this?”

“After our plane landed when we arrived back to New York and I met all of you at LLF.”

I trail soft kisses around her delicate wrists and say, “Someday, I want the exact same tattoo to remember our child. Not now when wounds are constantly being reopened for you, but later.”

Her head snaps up and her gaze meets mine straight on. “You’re serious?”

“Absolutely.”

“Mitch, I would have spared you this.”

“But being spared this means I walked away from you. I can’t fathom that, Beats.”

Her little body stiffens as my thumb sweeps over a ridge on her wrist that didn’t used to be there. “I almost...”

I kiss her softly. “You never left me. You were in so much pain your heart forgot where it belongs.”

She swallows over and over. “I swear, I will never leave you again. Not willingly.”

Tucking her close to my side, I feel her arm wrap around my waist. “That’s all I need. You’re all I’ll ever need.”

But she doesn’t hear me. Her even breathing tells me she’s fallen asleep.

* * *

The next morning, I carefully slide away from Austyn trying not to wake her. Her lashes flutter and her lips curve in a smile that isn’t anywhere as big as the ones she gave me before that debacle at Redemption but is still filled with everything I need—love, hope, and a glimpse of our future.

I bend down and kiss her before murmuring, “I’ve got to go to work. Kane will be by later to set up your tech.”

She stretches, shifting the blankets in all sorts of interesting manners. My dick pulses as the lightweight blankets get trapped beneath her body. “That’s the best sleep I’ve had in months.”

I lean over her, caging her upper body with mine. Fists planted by her shoulders, I lean down brushing my nose against hers. Once, twice. Her lips part and I capture her lower lip between my teeth.

She moans softly, “Come back to bed.”

“Vixen,” I accuse.

“Yours,” she counters.

The way my heart swells makes my cock almost an afterthought. I capture Austyn’s lips in a kiss so thorough, the skin around her cheeks is slightly abraded. When I lift my head, I find pools of love reflecting at me even as rivers of sorrow bisect them. I cup her cheek and whisper, “Is it too soon to tell you I love you, Beats?”

Her eyes probe mine. There’s a pregnant pause before she whispers, “No, because I still love you, Mitch. Be careful, please?”

Before Austyn got hurt, I might have dismissed the second part of her remark—if she said anything at all. Now? Beckett’s words from the other night ring in my ears reminding me about how precious time is. I kiss her one more time. “I will.”

Then before I decide to spend the day in bed, I leave it and her.

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