Page 55 of Perfect Pitch

As we talk in the small café off Broadway well into the night, Austyn fiddles with her hair. At one point, her hair is pulled to the top of her head in a ponytail that’s reminiscent of early MTV. Deadpan, I inform her, “The ’80s called while you were gone. They want their hair back.”

Her laughter draws stares from tables nearby. Neither of us cares.

For the rest of the night, we trade quips back and forth sharing a different foundation than just the burning heat that runs between us.

* * *

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

OCTOBER

I feel like my dating app is like fall. Love everyone until there’s nothing left clinging.

—Sexy&Social, All the Scandal You Can Handle

“You might live your life by the rules written on a piece of paper, but I live mine by the beats that leap from it.”

I cross my legs at the ankles and ask, “Nietzsche?”

She grins. Her head is propped on her hand. Her iPad is focused on her face, and I can make out her head and the curve of her luscious breasts. She corrects me, “Kensington.”

“I love it. When did you write that?”

She flops to her back, eyes to the ceiling, affording me a full view of her ample bosom which is so exquisite when paired with her delicate figure. “I was in my first semester of college. I was so frustrated by the classes I was taking. I mean, come on.” Her face turns to look at me. “Do you really picture me in chemistry and statistics?”

I guffaw. “No. They didn’t make you take those, did they?”

She nods. “It was a waste, Mitch. I knew what I wanted to do with my life and I was wasting my mother’s money by taking classes that had no impact.” She flips to her side, causing her breasts to jiggle. “I didn’t mind psychology. I loved history and, of course, music. I was even looking forward to theology, though I shocked the professor when I asked at what point during the semester we were going to study Wiccan.”

I drag my leg up and brace my forearm against it as I use the other hand to loosen my tie. “What was their reaction?”

Austyn glares. “They advised me to withdraw from the class.”

I can’t stop the laugh that starts deep in my chest. “Why do I have no problem imagining this?”

She flips over to her stomach, which pulls her shirt lower and tighter. “Because you’re finally getting to know me?”

I flick a few buttons of my shirt open. “True, Beats. That I am.”

We’re on a FaceTime call and I see her magnificent eyes narrow before her expression turns angelic. Uh-oh. My balls clench up in anticipation. In the short time we’ve known each other, I’ve learned one thing—Austyn Kensington is temptation sent by the devil in a package carved by angels.

We talk for a few more minutes about nothing and everything, just getting to know one another. Every time I amp up my flirtation, she’s right there with me. I mentioned how hard it was to be away from her and her immediate come back was, “Why don’t you show me how hard it really is, Mitch?”

I love her banter, her wit. It’s more of a fucking turn on than her body—something that if I really wanted, I could go down to the hotel bar and snap up in an instant. Instead, I’m palming my cock out of the camera view so I don’t come in my dress slacks as she cavorts on the bed.

My eyes narrow as I imagine pinning her down with my body and spreading those sweet thighs apart with my shoulders...

“You got awfully quiet all of a sudden,” Austyn notes.

“Just thinking about everything I have to do tomorrow. I’m anxious to get back to the city,” I tell her somewhat truthfully.

Reluctantly, she offers, “I should let you go then.”

“We’ll talk again, Beats,” I promise. “Night.”

“Night, Mitch.” Her face disappears.

I toss my iPad to the side of the bed, swing my legs to the side and untie my shoes, slip off my socks, and undo the rest of my shirt. I’m just about to reach for the snap on my slacks when I hear a long, drawn-out moan from the direction of my bed.

---