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I assumed he was still dealing with something from work. He’d explained several times that even when he was officially off duty, he wanted to be reachable if somebody needed his help.

I admired that about him.

I finished washing, rinsed the shampoo from my hair, and turned off the shower.

When I stepped out, Hudson still hadn’t appeared.

I wrapped a towel around myself, dried my face, and found another towel for my hair.

Perhaps he’d received an actual work emergency.

I opened the bathroom door.

“Hudson? Is everything—”

I stopped.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his phone in his hand.

His expression was completely different from the one I’d seen only a short while earlier.

He looked up at me, and whatever I’d been about to say disappeared.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen at the logging site?”

Hudson stared at me for a moment, then held up his phone.

“Peyton, I need you to tell me the truth about something.”

The sharpness in his voice startled me.

“Of course. What’s happened?”

He stood, holding the screen toward me.

“Did you know about this?”

I frowned and stepped closer, still clutching the towel around myself.

A screenshot filled the display.

At the top was the Folio Soundworks name, accompanied by a cheerful promotional graphic. Below it was a photograph of Hudson.

And beside the photograph, in large, unmistakable letters, was his full name.

HUDSON HEWITT.

My stomach dropped.

The accompanying text announced that a real-life lumberjack had been recruited to narrate a steamy dragon-shifter romance, inviting readers to meet the man behind the voice.

I read it twice, scarcely believing what I was seeing.

“Oh, no. Hudson, that’s not supposed to be public. Oliver was very clear that they couldn’t release your name or photograph without permission.”

“That’s what I thought.”

His tone made me look at him more carefully.