Page 63 of The Princess

Taylor knocked and the door swung open. If he wasn’t confused before, he was now. He put his hand on the door and pushed it further open. “Hello?”

Silence greeted him and he checked the number on the door to make sure it was the right one. The number 414 stared back at him and he shrugged before pushing the door all the way open and took a step inside.

An empty space greeted him. But in this clearly unoccupied apartment, there stood a little table in the entryway. This one had yet another envelope with his name on it. Taylor stepped all the way inside and shut the door. Again, he carefully opened the envelope and pulled another card out.

“Go into the living room.” Taylor read it out loud, then set the card down on the table. He did as he was told and walked around the corner. His breath stopped, catching in his throat. The whole place was empty except for a fuchsia ball gown, all tulle and sparkles that hung in the living room window from a hanger. It was surrounded by fairy lights that were draped over the window and tacked up around the edge of the room making it look magical.

Taylor forced himself to take a breath and he crossed the room, half afraid this was all some sort of crazy dream. When he reached the dress, he noticed a tag tied to the hanger.

“Wear me.” Taylor dropped the tag and ran his fingers over the dress. He looked down and noticed a pair of ballet flats that matched the color of the dress perfectly. He still didn’t know what was going on, but he wasn’t about to argue with the most beautiful dress he’d ever seen. It was like they’d plucked it out of his wildest dreams and materialized it for him.

Taylor stripped out of his clothes and carefully stepped into the dress. It had a side zip, which saved his life. If he’d had to turn himself into a pretzel to zip his dress, he might have died. The best part was the way it fit. It hugged his torso like a glove and when he moved around there were no weird gaps from his lack of breasts. It was almost like it was made for him. He eased into the shoes and wiggled his toes.

“Just call me Cinderella,” he whispered to himself, smoothing his hands down the front of his dress. Laughter bubbled out of him before he could stop himself and he did a little spin, grinning at the way his dress puffed out, swirling around his legs.

The sound of a low whistle made him screech to a stop mid-twirl. His heart slammed against his ribs and his cock went from zero to ready in the span of a single breath because Nash and Damon stood there in tuxedos.

“Fuck me,” Taylor breathed. He’d never seen a more stunning sight in his entire life.

Nash stepped in with a dozen roses, which Taylor only noticed when he was presented with them. “You look magnificent,” Nash told him.

What even was his life right now? Taylor took the flowers from Nash and breathed in their soft scent. “These are stunning. Thank you.” Taylor filled his lungs full of their scent again. Then Damon came up to him and handed him a small box.

“The flowers are from both of us. And so is this.”

Balancing the flowers in the crook of his arm, Taylor popped the lid of the box off. Nestled in the box was a gold charm bracelet.

“No,” Taylor said and managed to gently lift the bracelet out of the box to have a better look. “It’s got little charms.” He studied them and, with each one, his heart swelled up, growing with so much affection for these men that he thought it might burst.

There was a plant, for obvious reasons. A frog, that had to be the work of Damon. A few days ago, Taylor had transported Freddy the Frog over from his apartment to one of the plants he’d smuggled into Nash’s house. There was also a heart, which Taylor loved almost as much as he loved the spatula. He squinted at the last one.

“A key?” Taylor asked, slightly confused. He lifted his gaze to Nash and Damon, who stood with twin expressions of mischief on their faces.

Nash pulled a set of keys from his pocket. For a moment, he looked terrified. His voice trembled when he spoke. “You’re standing in my new apartment. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One of the rooms is going to be an office for me. And another is going to be the master bedroom, but I was thinking that, if you wanted, we could convert the third bedroom into a dressing room for you.”

“You want to give me a room in your apartment?” Taylor couldn’t trust his ears to not lie to him. Clearly, he’d heard wrong.

“No, I want to give you a room in your apartment. Our apartment. The three of us.”

Taylor looked at Damon. Then at Nash again. His heart zipped around in circles in his chest and his insides felt like they were experiencing an earthquake.

“I—say again?” Taylor clutched the flowers tighter. Damon stepped forward and plucked the bracelet from Taylor’s hand and carefully opened the clasp. Taylor stood there stiff as a board, not even breathing while he watched Damon put the bracelet on him.

When it was secure, Damon lifted his gaze and looked Taylor in the eyes. “We want you to live with us. But if you’re not ready for that, we understand.”

Taylor’s head spun to the point he couldn’t form a thought, let alone a sentence. His look of utter speechlessness must have shown on his face because the next thing he knew, Nash was there, taking the flowers from him and Damon was moving in close, sweeping him into his arms.

“What are you doing?” Taylor felt like he was in a the most sublime dream.

“Did you think we got all dressed up just to ask you to live with us? No, my sweet princess, we’re going to dance.”

“Dance, but there’s no—” Taylor tripped on his tongue, silencing himself when music started to play. He tipped his head back and a laugh bubbled out of him. “The two of you are too much. I swear this is so over the top.”

Taylor loved every moment of it, though. From the mysterious letter to the fairy lights and the dress. Good grief, the dress.

Damon took Taylor’s hand like he intended to dance properly instead of just standing in place and swaying back and forth. And then to his utter delight, Damon took a step, then another, leading effortlessly. Taylor had never danced like this before and it wasn’t long before he stepped on Damon’s toes.

“Shit, sorry.”

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