Page 146 of Finch

Bella gasped, all the more scandalized. All Hugh caught was a swish of her skirts as she raced

away from the room. Curiously, she ran in the opposite direction of Finch’s office. Perhaps she

had it on good authority where the man was hiding. In any case, while he waited for rescue,

Hugh resumed what he’d been doing—attempting to save himself. He balled his discarded

shirt and swabbed it over the floor, hoping it would suck up the oil, and it did. To a point. The

problem was that there was much more floor than there was shirt, and Hugh still had a long

way to go before he made it to the door.

“Bugger.” Hugh pitched the shirt across the room and was moments away from stripping out

of his pants and repeating the process when an idea struck. Inspired, he lay chest-down in the

oil slick and invited his dragon out to play. Dark purple scales tumbled down his spine and over

his shoulders. While they did, his bones creaked and complained as his musculoskeletal

system changed to accommodate his wings. Once they were present, he flexed them to warm

them up. Then, with a few mighty flaps, he glided through the oil like a reptilian pontoon boat.

Hugh reached the door before Bella returned with help, which was just as well. Even outside

the deathtrap that was their future nesting room, Hugh found it difficult to stand. In the end he

had to remove his shoes and socks to get purchase on the floor. Shirtless, barefooted, and

glistening with oil, he walked to his room in silence and spent the evening in the shower. Dinner

was served late that night for shower-related reasons. Hugh, hair still wet, descended into the

dining room and discovered the table had been set for one.

“Did Finch eat already?” he asked when a skittish Bella brought out his meal.

She shook her head and set his plate before him, then scurried away.

“Will you send for him?” Hugh called after her.

He could only assume by her squeak that she would.

Hugh waited a few minutes for Finch to appear. When he didn’t, a despondent Hugh ate dinner

alone and returned to his room to wait for Finch to come home.

* * *

Hours passed. Close to midnight, Hugh ventured from his chamber to see if Finch had gone

to sleep in his own bed. It would be unusual in the extreme, seeing as how they’d been

cohabiting since Finch’s heat, but Hugh could think of no other explanation for Finch’s bizarre

absence.

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