Page 48 of Wrapped in Perfection

"Any other news, or are you done?" Dmitri asks.

In a dry voice, Maksim replies, "That's it. I'll leave now."

Dmitri doesn't object, and Maksim disappears without saying another word.

I smell Dmitri before he touches me. His arms slide over mine, and he kisses my head. "Kotik, I'm sorry about my brother."

My pulse beats hard in my neck.I don't know anything about Dmitri. My judgment isn't good. I stayed years with Mitch and shouldn't have.

Why does his touch have to make me feel alive?

"You don't have anything to be sorry about." I move my arms away from his and put my hands on the keys, but I'm not sure what to type. The spreadsheet I created for my design jobs is on my other computer. I sigh and shut my laptop.

Dmitri sits next to me. "What's wrong?"

Why didn't I take my laptop when Chase told me to pack? Why did I walk away with nothing?

"I'm not sure what I was thinking."

Dmitri lowers his voice. "About what?"

My life. Us. What I'm doing.

My self-doubt and anxiety about everything surface. "I shouldn't have taken this job. All my spreadsheets are on my other computer. I've not done anything this extensive before."

"Take it a room at a time. You don't need to meet Maksim's deadline. It's unrealistic to expect you to deliver a quality product without proper time. I have a spreadsheet for ordering I usually use with Lada. Will it help to see it?"

"Maybe."

He assesses me, and I look away. "What else is going on here?"

"Nothing."

He turns my face to his. Hurt shows in his eyes. "You lie to me."

How does he always know when I'm lying to him?

"I realized I don't know anything about you," I blurt out.

A line forms between his eyebrows. "What do you want to know? I've been nothing but honest with you."

"I... I don't want to get involved in something worse than I was in before."

The green in his eyes darkens. His voice stays calm, but the anger can't be missed. "You think I'm worse than a man who beat you?"

I inhale sharply. The shame I always feel about Mitch and my situation fills me. But no matter what Dmitri is involved in, I don't believe he would hurt me.

I also never thought Mitch would. And then I stayed after he hurt me the first time.

"No. I don't mean that," I quietly reply.

"What exactly are you trying to say, Anna? Please, be clear." Disappointment and annoyance swirls with pain in his eyes.

What am I so poorly trying to communicate?

"Why are you involved with the mob?"

There. I put it out there.

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