Page 37 of Wicked Roses

Delphine is so shocked to see me, she can’t even speak. As I drop into the chair between them, she blinks and stares, completely thrown off guard.

She couldn’t have worn a more maddening dress. In true Delphine fashion, it’s classy but sexy. A velvety maroon that clings to every curve of her body and hints at her incredible pear-shaped figure. Just a taste. Just enough to draw attention and make the male brain short-circuit.

Her curls are gathered in an updo with a few stray tendrils framing her face, showing off her exquisite neck and shoulders.

Chadwick dabs at the wine he’s stupidly spilled. “Salvatore Mancino... what... just what do you think you’re doing here?!”

“I heard friends were dining tonight. Yet my invite must’ve been lost in the mail. Am I not a friend?”

“I’m getting security!” In his indignant haste to run and tattle on me, he knocks over Delphine’s glass next. More wine pours over the once-pristine white table cloth. “Damn it! I don’t know what you think you’re doing here, Mancino, but you will not be tolerated!”

“Funny you should mention that. There are a few things I won’t be tolerating either.” My hand seizes hold of the steak knife lying forgotten near his dinner plate. The move is so deft and fast, it’s already twirling in my fingers by the time he catches on. He takes a fearful step back, the wine-soaked cloth napkin in his grip.

This couldn’t be a more accurate delineation between us and the men we are—I’m playing with a sharp steak knife like a psycho and he’s backing away clutching some fancy monogramed dinner napkin.

“I don’t think you should stay much longer,” I say calmly. The knife is a blur between my fingers. Chadwick’s eyes lose focus trying to follow along. Delphine sits as still and speechless as a statue. “I’m giving you to the count of five, Ernest Jr. One.”

“Security!” he shrieks, his voice filling with panic. He doesn’t bother even pretending to be tough about the situation; he breaks out in a dash for the door.

The second he crosses the threshold, I’m up, slamming the door shut behind him.

“My men will ensure he’s transported home. He should arrive in one piece.”

Delphine’s shock finally dissolves. She tosses her dinner napkin and jumps to her feet. Anger blooms on her face and flashes in her dark-eyed gaze. She’s pissed.

“How could you? You’re not even supposed to be around me in a public setting!”

“This isn’t public. This is the private dining room.”

“You’re unbelievable!” She marches toward the door, her purse in hand.

I side step into her path. “You’re coming back to the loft with me. Dinner is over.”

* * *

We fight the entire drive home. It’s one of the loudest, nastiest fights we’ve had. Even my men share glances as they remain silent observers to us trading fiery retorts back and forth. I’ve lost count of the number of times Delphine has called me an asshole. My unapologetic reaction pisses her off even more.

“You had no right!” she yells once we’re inside the loft. She yanks off her heels and loses the four and a half inches she’d gained. Even with them on, she was still a head shorter than me.

My gaze drops as she does, readjusting to her new height. She tries to step around me, but I don’t let her. When she moves to the left, I move to the right. Her step to the right is mine to the left.

“I’m not playing this game with you! Move!”

“We need to discuss ground rules.”

“There are no ground rules—I’m a grown fucking woman! I don’t need your permission to go out at night.”

“You left without my security.”

“It was dinner with a friend! Completely harmless untilyoushowed up and acted like a psycho,” she growls.

“You don’t seem to understand the gravity of what could be happening. If you are being targeted like we think, dinner with a friend isn’t so harmless.”

Delphine lifts herself up on tiptoe and jabs a finger into my chest. “You’re going to have to accept me living my life if I’m going to stay here! I’mnotgoing to be a scared damsel in distress that needs your protection 24/7. I want to start feeling alive again. Part of that is doing things with friends! And going on dates with men!”

“I thought it was a harmless dinner. Now it’s a date?”

“So what? I could have sex with him and it wouldn’t matter. Why? Because it’s not your call!”

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