Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Solomon’s eyebrows lifted to his hairline. “That’s thorough. She sounds nice.”
Hugo laughed under his breath. “She sounds like a control freak, but she’s not. She’s one of the sweetest women you could know. She says the list helps her stay that way, since she doesn’t enjoy worrying, and with all seven of us roaming around she’d do nothing but if she didn’t have a system. That’s part of her system.”
“It’s smart. I can think of a dozen cases off the top of my head where a list like that would have come in handy.” He nodded, staring at Hugo intently enough to make him uncomfortable. “My shower attacked me. I think it’s connected to the possessed dishwasher but there’s no way to know until I call the plumber. That’s why I’m here.”
“I heard about the shower. The demon dishwasher is new.” He saw some grit in his hair and the dried dirt on his face. “What did you do to make them attack?”
“I was thinking about you.”
Hugo stepped back automatically. “Don’t say that.”
From his open, confused expression, it was obvious that Solomon wasn’t in seduction mode. And yes, he was really feeling that pain medication. Hugo reminded himself to find out what it was and pin a note to his chart if Bronte hadn’t done it already.
“I was thinking about you,” he insisted, looking down at his cast again. “This is bad. Rory broke his arm falling from a tree on a dare. James played his Homecoming game with a hairline fracture.”
Bemused, Hugo handed him another glass of water. “Are we planning on listing off all your family’s injuries now?”
“I fell in the shower, Hugo.” He glared in response. “It’s humiliating. I was naked and I’d just been remembering… You told me not to say it. But now I have my first and hopefully last broken anything and that’s what I’ll have to tell people. My war story.”
This Solomon Finn was irresistible and that wasn’t a good thing. Hugo glanced at the curtain, praying for his sister to speed things along. “You could remind them about that time you were winged by a bullet in the line of duty, instead. That might distract them. Or even better, keep the whole shower incident to yourself. The hospital won’t tell anyone, and you and I both know you can keep a secret.”
When he didn’t respond, Hugo looked back and froze at the pain he saw there.
Way to kick him when he’s down, Nurse Asshole.
“Younger, I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”
“No it didn’t.” He stood until he was looking down at Hugo. “And you’re right. Finns are all good at keeping secrets, but I’m the best. At least, I’m the first. Rory and James are tied for second. Did you hear about Rory? I didn’t know until Elder was dying.”
Hugo reached out to steady him when he swayed. “That he’s moved into a house with two men? I heard about that.”
“Not that.” Solomon shook his head and leaned closer, taking a deep, audible breath. “Why do you always smell like apples? I’ve wondered about it for years.”
Lord, please give me strength. “Austen sells her own line of skincare products at an uptown salon.” Why did he sound so out of breath? “She uses her siblings as guinea pigs on a regular basis. This soap didn’t dry out my skin and I liked it, so I buy it in bulk.”
“Your sister?”
“Austen? Yes, she’s my sister.”
“You never talked about your family.”
He didn’t know how that was possible. He always talked about his family. Especially Austen, since he’d bragged about her products for men to half the station when he worked there. Most of them asked for a copy of her catalogue before he left.
But back then, whenever Solomon was in the room, everything else had disappeared for him. All he could think about was what he wanted to do to him the next time they were alone. His family was the last thing on his mind.
“You should sit down, Younger.”
He nodded, burrowing his nose into Hugo’s neck for one lust-inducing moment before lowering himself back to the hospital bed. “Sorry. I want to kiss you. I keep forgetting you don’t want that anymore.”
God, he wished he didn’t.
Hugo ran a hand over his face, wondering if the temperature in the hospital had shot up by ten degrees in the last minute. “It’s the medicine, Younger. This happens sometimes when a patient takes something they’re not used to. It’s totally normal, but I think I should go check on Bronte and see what’s taking her so long.”
“Don’t go.” The handsome man pushed his hair back off his forehead in frustration. This time with his good hand. “It’s not the medicine. And that’s not what I’m sorry for.”
“Oh.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me? You never gave me a chance to explain.”