Page 48 of Pitcher Perfect

Caleb:DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE. I will tell dad what you did to his baseball cards

Charity:you wouldn’t!

Caleb:try me

Charity:ugh fine. I won’t DM, but I already followed the brewery and you can’t stop me

* * *

Austin’s eyesclosed as he pulled the fork from his mouth, dropping his elbows onto my counter. The sexy moan he let out went right to my dick. It was probably a good thing I was still on the other side of my kitchen counter so he couldn’t see the growing bulge in my jeans.

“Good?” I sounded like I’d smoked two packs a day for twenty years.

“So good,” Austin said. “Are these pistachios?” He tapped his fork against a piece.

I nodded. “Pistachio-crusted salmon with a ginger-cardamom yogurt sauce.”

He took another bite then followed it with a sip of his coffee-cardamom stout. “Shit. This is amazing. You weren’t exaggerating when you texted that you’d come up with some good options.”

I smiled both at the compliment and thoughts of how often we’d been texting. He’d seamlessly transitioned into someone I talked to daily. I’d been hesitant to text him much because I knew how busy he was at work, but every time he initiated conversation during the day sent a spike of joy through me.

“Normally, I wouldn’t pair salmon with a stout, but I think it works.”

Austin’s blinks grew slow as he chewed another bite. “It does. The cardamom lamb with pear chutney was great, too, but there’s something about this. Using local salmon would be a nice touch.” He tilted his head and looked up at the ceiling. “Though the banana-cardamom creme brûlée was killer too.”

I chuckled. It was endearing that Austin insisted we begin the tasting with dessert while I finished up the other dishes. He’d looked like a little kid breaking the rules at Grandma’s house when he’d suggested it. I would do a hell of a lot to keep that carefree smile on his face.

I didn’t want to fish for compliments, but we needed to come at our options from every angle to pick the best one. “Not too much cardamom? I thought pulling that flavor out of the beer would be a good route. Not too overpowering and a less common flavor to highlight.”

Austin wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin I’d dug out of a box somewhere. He was quiet for a moment, but I could see his brain whirring. “It’s a brilliant idea.”

He looked so sincere that most of my reservations about the food fell away. “I think we’re getting somewhere.”

Austin leaned forward ever so slightly. “Yeah. Me too.”

I froze for a moment, staring into his beautiful eyes. “So, um.”

Several moments passed. “Yeah?”

“Do, uh—” I blinked. His eyes hypnotized me. “Should I cook this for the other guys so they can weigh in?”

Austin sat back in the chair at my kitchen bar. That wasn’t the direction I wanted him to move.

“Good call. I know they trust us on this, but it’s their brewery, too, so they should be involved in the final decision. I ordered some ingredients for the beer, which will take a few days before we can start brewing. That gives us time to make changes if we need. Though, I’m confident they would green-light the tactic of highlighting the cardamom, so we’re not on a time crunch to finalize the dish.”

“Awesome. I know you’re anxious to start brewing.”

He grimaced. “Yeah, it’s a bit too tight for my liking.”

“You don’t like it tight?” The teasing words tumbled out of my mouth, but it wasn’t my fault. His sounds and expressions as he ate my food rendered me defenseless.

Austin stared at me with wide eyes. Before I had time to apologize and panic, definitely panic, he grinned. “Timelines.Not fond when those are tight.”

“Ah. Right.” I winked at him like a complete chump.

Instead of giving myself room to be even more of a dumbass, I cleared our plates and poured the rest of the open beer bottle into our two glasses.

“I like other tight things just fine,” he said.

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