Page 51 of Savage Prince
Maybe it was Dmitri’s father that made him so assured. After all, the Sharpe family was at the head of the Raven Syndicate. Dmitri knew he’d inherit the entire organization from his father, so he was cocksure and insufferable.
He still looks insufferable with his black suit and slicked-back hair.
“Rose. I heard you were back in Boston,” he says, drawing out my name as he speaks. “But I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“You heard? That’s nice.”
I expect Dmitri to stop five inches further away from me than he does. He’s too close. Close enough that I can see a faint scar on his chin and the self-satisfied gleam in his eyes.
“You know, you don’t look like a day has passed,” Dmitri says, his gaze scanning up and down my body.
I feel like something’s crawling down my spine. There’s something distinctly gross about his cocky attitude and the way he talks about me. I don’t like the way he’s insinuating I look like a high school girl, and I don’t like the way he thinks he can just invade my personal space.
“Really?” I reply. I try to keep my voice light, but it feels strained. “I haven’t really thought about you since then. I didn’t recognize you at first.”
Dmitri smirks. I’m not sure if he heard me, or if he thinks my veiled insult is funny.
“I find that hard to believe. You were smart.”
“Iamsmart,” I say, taking a step back to open up more space between us.
But he moves at the same time I do, following me so smoothly that it’s as if we’ve both stayed in the same place. His hand rests on my hip suddenly and he brings his mouth to my ear, his voice lowered to a whisper.
“Want to know a secret?”
I don’t. Goosebumps spread over my skin, and I pull back, away from his looming presence, completely unsettled.
But before I can say anything, footsteps ring out behind Dmitri.
“Get the fuck away from her,” Aiden’s deep voice growls.
CHAPTER16
Aiden
All I can see is Dmitri’s hand resting on Rose’s hip. The shadowy light on the balcony is tinted with red, my ears ringing as I stride toward him. As soon as I’m close enough, I step between them, bodily blocking Dmitri and forcing him backward.
He takes a step back, startled, but then regains his composure. He shifts his stance, planting himself in place as if he hasn’t already given up ground to me. Like he thinks he can fucking take me.
But he’s wrong about that.
If he touches Rose, I’m going to fuckingendhim.
Dmitri doesn’t hide the way he looks at me. Distaste twists his features, fear and anger burning in his eyes. It just gives me another reason to want to fuck him up.
Tension cracks in the air, unreleased energy brewing between us. This is the worst fucking place to make a scene. No one may have noticed us yet, but they’ll sure notice if I punch Dmitri in his smug mouth.
Dmitri’s lip curls. I want to tear it off his face. His voice is calm when he speaks, but I can hear the revulsion in his words.
“You’d better learn to watch your fucking Irish temper. You aren’t married yet.”
A growl rolls through my throat. I want to fucking throw myself at him, but I know I can’t. My words come out rough when I finally manage to string a sentence together.
“You’remarried, though. Why don’t you go take care of your wife and leave Rose alone?”
There’s a dark flicker in his eyes. I know Dmitri loses his temper almost as quickly as I do. He’s a hypocrite and a piece of shit.
I don’t give him time to answer. I turn on my heel and reach for Rose, grasping her arm and pulling her away. She makes a small noise of surprise, her heels clicking as she stumbles to keep up.
