Page 170 of Finch

looked nice.

And it looked even better when he saw Finch in it.

His beautiful, radiant Finch.

During the time they’d spent remodeling and furnishing the nursery, Finch had become

extraordinarily round with their child. Hugh quite enjoyed the sight of it. It was a reminder of

what he and Finch had accomplished together, and a promise that one day soon, he would be

a father.

“We’ll need additional staff,” Finch said one afternoon while they were cuddled in their hoard

bed. Finch was nude, but had covered his legs and groin with the blankets they shared. He

was immersed in his phone. Hugh, also nude but entirely uncovered, rubbed some sort of

hydrating cream in small circles over Finch’s taut belly. Whatever it was smelled excellent. He

wasn’t entirely convinced it couldn’t double as food.

“Hire all the staff you need, love,” Hugh told him. “Anything for you.”

“One extra maid should do the trick as long as I can keep our current staff on track.” Finch

made a noise in his throat somewhere between a groan and a hum. The little dragonet inside

him kicked. Hugh slid his hand over the spot and delighted when it happened again. “The issue

is,” Finch continued, “I’m not sure how useful I’ll be after our baby is born. I don’t intend to cede

any more of my responsibilities than I already have, but in the event any complications occur,

it would be wise to have extra hands to help around the estate. The two months we have left

before the baby arrives should be sufficient to train new talent.”

“Hire three new staff, then, Finch,” Hugh said. The kicking stopped, so Hugh resumed

smoothing cream over Finch’s skin. “We hardly have more than a skeleton staff as it is, and

you deserve all the time in the world to bond with our little one after he or she is born. I’d rather

have the staff twiddling their thumbs for lack of things to do than scrambling like madmen to

accomplish a chore list a mile long. And even if you don’t think our current staff is overworked,

I happen to think it would be good to lighten their burden. They deserve it.”

Finch hummed in agreement, but didn’t otherwise reply. He continued to flick his thumb across

the screen of his phone.

While he was distracted, Hugh continued to massage his stretched skin. He dipped lower,

following the curve of Finch’s belly to the blankets covering his groin, which he casually

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