Page 145 of Wrapped in Perfection

Hurt crosses her face.

"Harper, I don't even know everything. If I could tell you, I would. But I can't. I'm sorry."

Something changes in her expression, but I'm not sure what.

"Is there something you want to say?" I ask.

"Don't take this the wrong way."

"Okay..."

"Steven said no one in Chicago messes with the Ivanov brothers."

"What does that mean?" I snap defensively.

She holds her hands in the air. "Calm down."

I take a deep breath. "What else did Steven say?"

"Nothing. He knew Dmitri through the foundation work he was involved in with Vivian. When I told him you were dating Dmitri, he said Mitch better not try to mess with you because the Ivanovs won't stand for it."

"That's true."

"Right. So who is ballsy enough to threaten them to go to these measures?"

I groan. "Harper, you need to drop this."

She sighs. "All right. But I'm here if you want to talk."

I smile. "I know. Thank you. Now can you show me what you brought me?"

Her eyes brighten. She picks up a package she brought with her and sets it in front of me. "Open it."

My stomach flutters. "I'm suddenly super nervous."

"You shouldn't be. They turned out amazing."

I open the flap of the yellow envelope and slide out a stack of pictures. "I still can't believe I did this." I take the cardboard off and stare.

Dmitri's birthday is in a few weeks. I told Harper I want to give him something special but didn't know what, since he has everything and can buy whatever he wants. Harper showed me some boudoir photos her boss Cindy had shot. The only thing I could think of to give Dmitri that he couldn't buy himself was more of me. So I let her talk me into it.

"I still can't believe I did this," I repeat.

"Girl, look how sexy you are!" Harper gushes.

Every picture is sensual but classy. Some photos highlight my breasts, others my ass. "Even my thighs look amazing," I mumble.

Harper laughs. "You have great thighs."

"I can't believe these are me." If I didn't know better, the pictures could be in a sexy magazine.

"Dmitri is going to flip, isn't he?"

My butterflies take off. "I think he'll like them."

Harper huffs. "He's going to love them, or something is wrong with his eyes. Let's go to your bedroom and figure out what to enlarge and hang where."

"What? No way!"

---