Page 26 of Perfect Pitch

“Oh my. I need to get some beauty sleep.” Mrs. Garcia pats her hairnet of curlers. Instead of leaving, she walks right over to Rainbow Brite, bends down, and presses kisses to both her cheeks. “Brilliant, Austyn.”

“Thanks, Mrs. G. Your words mean everything.”

After that, it’s a quick parade of the same before it’s me, Trevor, and the sprite. I demand, “What the hell is going on here?”

“You look familiar,” the girl—Austyn—ponders.

“Unless my brother’s taken down every photo of us, I’m not surprised by that,” I growl.

Her face lights up and she quickly slides her headset off from where it was draped around her neck. She whacks Trevor in the stomach, who grunts. “You didn’t tell me your brother would be stopping by.”

“I had no idea, Austyn. Austyn, Mitch.”

She nods, but before I can say anything to her, Trevor demands testily, “Why are you here, Mitch?”

“Charlie texted me.”

His face relaxes. “Should have seen him dancing with Mrs. Kwan earlier. I hope like hell someone got pictures.”

I close my eyes at the image that leaps into my head. “No, just no.”

“Man may have just hit seventy, but he’s still got game.” Trevor grins.

I blink for a few moments at the carefree expression on my brother’s face—something I haven’t seen in far too long. Stepping forward, I hold out my hand to the woman who somehow has eased his internal struggles with his sense of self to put it there. “You’re Austyn?”

She holds out her tiny hand to shake mine, nodding. “Trev’s roommate.”

The minute our hands connect, a bolt of energy surges up my arm, almost stopping my heart. The fireboat of sensation travels all the way down to my cock, which hasn’t seen action since—God, was it last Christmas when I had a night off? She appears to be just as startled. It takes an act of Herculean effort, but I manage to let her fingers go before I embarrass myself. “Good to meet you.”

“You as well. Hey, if you guys have stuff to talk about, I’ll just head to my room to get some shut eye. Running into your uncle at the show was crazy, but I didn’t expect to do two gigs tonight.”

She and Trevor guffaw at some kind of private joke. Somehow, the fact they’re close enough to share secrets leaves me feeling irrationally irritable. Before she escapes, I demand, “How exactly did you meet Charlie?”

Instead of Austyn, it’s Trevor who answers, “He was at Amaryllis Design’s show tonight. Austyn DJ’d.”

“Really?” I know how close my uncle is with the extended Freeman family. A nasty insinuation worms its way into my head. Did Trevor get her the gig?

“Yeah. I did a job for Amaryllis before...” Her words are interrupted by an enormous yawn. She flaps her hand in front of her face in an adorable way as if she’s trying to flutter oxygen back into her lungs. Uncharacteristically familiar blue eyes blink up at me before she slurs. “Sorry. Exhausted. Nice to meet you, Mitch. Trev, you know where everything goes?”

I frown at the way she orders my brother—princess to peasant—but my brother nods frantically. “On it, Austyn. I’ll lock it all up.”

She utters a weak, “Good night” at both of us before wandering down the hall and stumbling into the second bedroom.

As soon as the door closes, I turn on my brother, “What the hell? Did you just become your girlfriend’s lap dog?”

He gives me an odd look. “What do you mean girlfriend? Austyn and I aren’t together.”

“I wouldn’t have questioned that until I saw you fawning over your roommate.” I weave my fingers beneath my chin and rest my chin in the natural cup before fluttering my eyelashes at my brother.

He punches me in the arm. “I’m just doing my job.”

“Your job? Your job is marketing medical supplies.” Not my personal choice, but not everyone’s life choices need to be ones that make them happy.

Trevor gives me a disparaging look. “Wrong. I quit. About five weeks ago. So glad we’ve talked since I made that decision.”

With a lethal glare toward the closed bedroom door, I hiss, “Would that be around the time the DJ moved in?”

“Well after. Once I knew what I could be making marketing her as a product, there was no contest. I quit working at a job I hated and leapt on the Austyn Kensington train.”

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