Page 55 of Pitcher Perfect

I liked seeing him in a T-shirt because it gave me the opportunity to appreciate more of his ink. It covered his entire left arm from his wrist, and his ink stopped just under the hem of his sleeve on his right arm. I couldn’t discern a specific scene on his left arm but rather an array of shapes and flourishes with interesting elements scattered throughout. I wanted to take my time to explore every inch.

Something on his right bicep caught my eye. “Do you have a Mario tattoo?” I stared at the familiar white glove and blue overalls peeking from under his sleeve.

Austin groaned. “Yes. It was a stupid college thing.” He shoved his sleeve up to his shoulder and showed me the tattoo that was visibly older and not as well done as the ink on his left arm.

“I’m scared to ask the story behind it.”

“Things you’ll do when your friends get an idea in their head.” He shook his head, but his smile was full of love. “The guys and I playedMario Kart 64more than we studied. Ty got the idea that we should each get a tattoo of a character.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t convince you all to get them on your lower backs.”

Austin smirked. “Ask him someday where his tattoo is.”

“Oh, no. What character did he get?”

“Princess Peach.” He grinned. “He played Donkey Kong in the game but thought Peach would make a funnier tattoo.”

“He’s not wrong.” Ty cracked me up.

“Dom got Bowser, and Ethan picked Yoshi.”

Austin clearly cared about his ink given the tons of hours, money and skill that went into his left arm. I loved that he hadn’t tried to cover up or change the Mario even though it didn’t go with the rest of his tattoos at all.

“What’s first?” I asked, trying to hold back my laughter.

He shot me a grateful smile.

Austin talked me through measuring the grain and pouring it into one of the tanks. He shared all the technical terms and science of each step, and I let his soothing tone wash over me as we worked.

I ogled Austin shamelessly as he poured buckets of the grain into one of the vats. I climbed onto the platform with Austin and looked into the heating mix of water and grain, watching as the water slowly darkened.

“Can you clean out the spent grain? I need to measure the hops and add the other ingredients for flavor.” He handed me a scoop and showed me how to dig it out of where it had settled at the bottom.

As I was bent over, scooping piles of hot grain into a bin, a whistle startled me. I hit my head against the big metal vat.

Austin laughed. “Shit. Sorry. Was just admiring the view. Didn’t mean to cause a concussion.”

I stood and turned around to face him while rubbing the top of my head. “Like seeing me on my knees, huh?”

Austin’s eyes flared, and his cheeks tinged pink, but he didn’t look away. “I do.”

Seeing him eager for me settled some of the worry that had grown since he’d left my apartment. I realized one of the reasons I’d been so anxious to see him was because it was the last official time we had work to do together with the beer going to ferment for a while. He said that I could come back when it was time to keg it for the competition, but that was weeks away. I hadn’t been sure I would see Austin during that time.But with how he’s looking at me?I had nothing to worry about.

Austin reached out and gently touched the top of my head. “Sorry about the damage.”

“You could kiss it and make it better.”

I studied him for any indication that I was pushing too far, but he seemed just as eager. Austin licked his lips and leaned forward. I doubted I would ever tire of feeling his lips against mine. The kiss wasn’t full of the same passion as our last, but it held promise.

“Hey, Aus, I’m trying to reconcile an invoice—”

Austin and I jumped apart at Dom’s voice.

“Sorry, guys. Didn’t mean to interrupt thehardwork back here.”

Austin pinched the bridge of his nose and mumbled an apology to me. He turned around to face Dom. “What do you need?”

I caught Dom’s grin before I turned back to finish scooping out the grain.

---