Journal Entry

Lorenzo's staff is so extraordinarily nice. And charmingly insistent that I dress up for my first dinner with their master. Honestly, all that's lacking is for Be My Guest to play in the background, and it would seem like we're roleplaying Beauty and the Beast.

Only...the Beast already looks like a prince.

So how else is he cursed?

Am I just reading too much into nothing?

Or is there something I'm missing?

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING me?"

Lorenzo had just stepped out of the shower, and the first thing he saw was how his entire wardrobe had been ransacked.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

When Teo had suggested he dress up for dinner, Lorenzo had only given the older man a look.

Why the hell would he dress up in his own home?

Teo had simply nodded, and Lorenzo had thought that was the end of that.

But he was wrong, obviously.

Teo was no war hero for nothing, and the older man had easily won this battle by getting rid of his clothes.

Or almost all of it rather, except for his suit.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Teo knocked on the door. "Do you need anything, signore ?"

Lorenzo flung the door open. "Damn you."

"You have ten minutes to dress up, signore ."

"Is that another fucking threat?"

"Would you like me to play some music while waiting? Something like Fifth Dimension's Last Night I Couldn't Sleep —-"

"I'll be down in fucking five, damn you."

Teo allowed himself a smile. " Grazie, signore ."

Lorenzo's teeth gritted against each other as Teo walked away, and he actually heard the older man start whistling.

And of course, it had to be that song about losing sleep, which Lorenzo wasn't guilty of.

He just happened to need only a few hours of sleep, but that didn't mean he had been nervous about meeting his wife.

Because he hadn't been.

At all.

Dammit .

Lorenzo went on cursing his majordomo even as he dressed himself in haste. The old man was no liar, and Teo would make good his threat if Lorenzo were to come down one second too late.

The dining room was ablaze with lights when Lorenzo came down, and unfortunately, all of those lights came from dozens of fucking candles.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Teo nodded in satisfaction. "I thought so, too."

The door to the dining room swung open, and Teo's grandson came rushing in.

"Just in time," the older man said. "Give the flowers to el signore, Migo."

The teenage boy cheerfully handed over his cargo, and it was only to avoid accidentally hurting Migo's feelings that Lorenzo reluctantly found himself holding a bouquet of red fucking roses.

"Congratulations on your wedding, signore ."

Lorenzo managed a tight-lipped smile. " Grazie ."

Teo checked his watch. "Your wife should be coming down at any moment. We'll give you a few minutes of privacy before serving the first course."

Lorenzo didn't really hear what the older man had said nor was he was aware when grandfather and grandson quietly slipped away.

Instead, his mind was entirely focused on the flowers he was holding. Was he really going to give this to his wife? What if she thought this was an attempt to seduce her? He had promised he would keep her safe, dammit. He couldn't—-

"Oh!"

—-throw the fucking flowers away, since it was already too late.

His wife stood by the doorway, a stunning vision in ivory silk, hands over her mouth in shock.