Page 134 of Wrapped in Perfection

"We'll just have to make the best of lockdown, okay?"

I stroke the back of his head. "I have a lot of design work to do. I'll utilize this time to create. And I can think of lots of things we can do by ourselves..."

He grins. "We'll start exploring those options after our guests leave tonight."

"Deal."

He gives me a panty-melting kiss, and the buzzer goes off. "I think our guests are here."

Over the next hour, people arrive. I give tours to everyone, except Dmitri's brothers. Nora shows up with Boris.

I hug her. "I'm so glad you're here. I thought you had to work tonight?"

Her face falls.

Boris tugs her close to him. His face hardens, and he speaks directly to Dmitri. "The city came in and found some loophole to shut the pub down due to outdated electrical wiring."

Dmitri's body stiffens. He stays silent. The brothers continue to stare at each other.

Nora blinks hard. Her smile appears forced. "Hopefully, you'll have time to start the redesign soon so I can get these issues fixed and reopen?"

"Yes. Of course. Tomorrow, I'll work on it."

She nods and scrunches her forehead. "Thank you."

"Of course. Actually, I have something in my design studio I'd like to show you. Do you want to come with me?"

"Sure."

Boris releases his arm from around her, and he and Dmitri speak in Russian. Boris sounds more aggressive than Dmitri. I recognize the phrase, "this week," but that's it.

I lead Nora into my studio. Chase and Jamison are in the room. I introduce them to Nora.

"This is impressive, Anna," Jamison says.

I can't help but beam. "Thank you. I love it. I still can't believe Dmitri surprised me with it."

"I'm glad to see you've got a good space to work in," my brother quietly says.

I'm not sure what he's thinking. It's the first time I've had anyone besides Harper over. Not because I didn't feel I could, I just hadn't had time.

I pull out a few samples of flooring and open my wallpaper book. I skim through it and show Nora what we discussed earlier at her restaurant.

"I love it. I think it's perfect!"

"Okay. This will help me create the rest of the design."

Steven and Harper walk in, and more guests follow. Soon, everyone is in my studio.

My stomach growls. "Well, you can all stay here, but I'm going to eat. I'm starving."

When I get to the main room, Dmitri and his brothers are all huddled together, speaking Russian. They all seem upset.

The others enter the room. Dmitri pats Boris on the back and comes to the food table. "Kotik, did you eat yet?"

"No, but I'm about to. It smells awesome."

He hands me a plate.

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