Page 157 of Beau and the Beast

“It’s really something else. This is the first book you’ve written?”

Beau nodded.

“People are going to love this,” she said, putting her hands on top of the manuscript.

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course,” she said. “I wouldn’t lie to you. My fate depends on it being a good book.”

“Do you think it can break the curse?”

She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, her eyes falling to the pages.

“If this doesn’t do it, I don’t know what will,” she admitted. “But I have a good feeling about this, Beau. Something in me is telling me that this is what we needed all along.”

His heart leapt at her words. He wanted to pull her out of the chair and hug her, to do a victory dance in the middle of her office. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut and leaned back in the chair.

“You don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that.”

“You don’t know how happy I am that you showed up at our door with a pen and paper,” she said.

“I could kiss you right now, Violet.”

“Kiss Wolfram instead,” she said. “No offense, but I think the boss enjoys it more than I would.”

He laughed, his heart flushed with affection for both of them. “I will.”

He was about to leave the office when something occurred to him that had been bothering him.

“Violet, if this is going to break the curse, when do you think it’s going to… you know, kick in?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Violet said. “Maybe it’ll happen when you finish the last word of the last draft. Maybe it’ll be when we publish the thing or get it printed for the first time. Maybe it won’t be until the first reader finishes it. But if you’re almost done, I know the time must be close.”

He nodded. “I can’t wait to do this for you all. I know you can’t either.”

* * *

It wasas if showing Violet the pages had broken some sort of seal, and as he made his way to Wolfram’s study, Beau felt unexpectedly energized.

She believed in him. He was going to break the curse.

There would be so much to sort out soon if she was right: the money he and his brother would be sharing, the move they’d inevitably be making to a better, more accessible apartment, and how his relationship with Wolfram would translate to life in the real world.

Because it was beyond denial now, wasn’t it? That Wolfram would still want him after he was restored to his normal appearance.

They shared something more than friendship and sex. Theirs was a bond that would last beyond an extreme change in circumstances.

When Beau returned to the study, Wolfram was gone. He stepped through into the bedroom and heard the shower in the adjoining bedroom running. Beau leaned against the closed door for a moment, trying to decide what to do.

* * *

It had beenan odd day with Violet’s interruption and Beau’s anxiety about whether or not she would like the book. When Beau left to speak to Violet, Wolfram had found himself impossibly distracted, reading the same email over and over again without being able to comprehend it. Instead of wasting time, he decided to take a break and get showered before dinner.

He’d been deep in thought, letting the punishingly hot water pound the muscles in his back, when he heard the bathroom door crack open.

Through clouded glass, Wolfram watched Beau’s outline enter silently and then begin to undress. Wolfram was already hard by the time Beau let himself into the shower stall. The smile on Beau’s face told him everything he needed to know.

“She loved the book,” Wolfram guessed.

---