Page 51 of The Arrangement

A soft knock on the closed office door drew Viviana’s head up. “Yeah?”

“You decent in there?”

The feminine voice had Viviana sighing. Apparently her earlier question about Jen to Anton hadn’t exactly been as vague as she meant for it to be, considering his response. The fact that the girl wasn’t some old flame of his was a relief for Viviana, but she still felt a bit childish for even having brought it up. Of course there were women she was going to meet that had been with him, and pretending like there weren’t any out there was only going to be more difficult when she did come face to face with one.

Or shit, she could just go down his path and shoot one of his past lovers.

Quit it, Viviana thought bitterly. You’re not even the jealous type.

“Um …Vine?”

“Yeah, come on in.”

The girl that opened the door was not what Viviana had been expecting. Jen was pretty, yes, but in a really unassuming way with a warm smile and bright eyes. At least in her early thirties, she was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, seemingly relaxed as she looked around the office.

“Wow, he really did go all out for you, huh?”

Viviana cleared her throat, feeling a bit embarrassed about the mess she’d made in the office. “I have no idea what to wear.”

“Well, something clubby but not whorish.”

A bubble of laughter burst from her lips. “Is that even possible?”

“Yeah, and by the looks of it, Anton had somebody helping him. He’s a man; there isn’t any way on earth he knew what to order. Oh, here …” Viviana barely caught the remote before it could have flown by her head. With a squeak, she hid the device in her tote bag. “He said something about leaving his coat lying around, so you needed to have that for now.”

Oh, God. The heat that crawled up her cheeks couldn’t even be hidden. “I—”

“Don’t want to know,” Jen interrupted with a soft laugh. “I just do as I’m told, honey. I don’t see, hear, or know a damned thing. My paycheck is always better for it, too. Of course, explaining some of those bonuses at the end of the year always hurts come tax time.”

Viviana shook her head, smiling. She liked this girl already. “Can you help me?”

Jen nodded. “Yep, I sure can. And we’ve got some time seeing as how he has visitors downstairs and I needed to make myself scarce for a while.”

“Okay.”

A too-short dress was picked up by Jen, the black, slinky fabric shimmering under the office lights before she dropped it back down with a disgusted sound. It wasn’t long before she had pawed through half of the articles Viviana had already dismissed as being a little much, given the occasion. Before long, Jen laid four black dresses across her legs then moved towards the rack that held the coats.

“My, my … what do we have here?”

Viviana scoffed. “I have no idea what those are for. The tweed coat I have is more than dressy enough for this, to be honest.”

Jen smirked over her shoulder. “I do.”

“Care to enlighten me?”

Jen opened up one of the bags, rubbing her hand along the fur in silence. Another bag was opened, and then another. While Viviana wasn’t exactly against wearing fur, she didn’t have a whole collection of them, either.

“I don’t think he meant for these to be worn tonight, but more for you to just have them period. These men have a thing for it. Gets them bothered in all kinds of naughty ways.”

“Excuse me?” Viviana asked, more confused than ever.

“Maybe it’s a Bratva thing … or a Russian thing. Furs, they like them a lot.”

“Oh.”

Jen winked. “By the looks of these, I’d say Anton has a preference for minks.”

With Jen’s help, it didn’t take Viviana long at all to find the right dress, undergarments, and purse to go with those shoes Anton decided on. The dress fell to her mid-thigh, hugging the curve in her waist with a perfect fit. Elbow length sleeves and a modest V-neck plunge in the front, the article was more than sexy enough to be worn in a club, but with the right accessories and coat, it was also quite appropriate for just about anything else, too. Even those silver heels didn’t detract from the dress, adding a bit of freshness to the dark color.