Do You Feel Loved, Kitten? [Mafia Romance]

4 - The First Encounter

I was at the bar, waiting for my date. He was late.

Suddenly I jumped in fear. Someone touched me. My blood ran cold.

It was him. The guy from a dating app.

"I told you no touching," I said making sure my voice is cold and firm.

"Wait, I thought you meant no touching in a  sexual manner?" he said looking genuinely confused. He was in a simple suit and thin tie in blue color.

"No. It meant no touching in every way" I looked at his wrist nervously and took a step back in case I had to run.

"Okay, fine, fine. I'm sorry" he raised his hands in a defeat signal.

"It's fine just a misunderstanding," I said trying to persuade myself away from punching the strange man in the face. "Iacopo, right?"

"Yes. Nice to meet you, Lia. You look exactly like from the picture but the picture didn't give justice to your beauty"

"Thanks," I said blushing. He didn't look bad himself. Warm brown eyes, dark brown hair, and tanned skin.

"I was surprised you want to meet so soon girls usually want to talk more"

"I prefer talking in person"

"Same. Let's take a seat" He said and was about to grab my hand but his hand stopped in a mid-air. The handsome man I caught eye contact with was forgotten.

"Let's go, they have the best drinks in the city here"

I ordered a drink with rosemary, orange slices, and raspberry syrup. It sounded interesting and ended up to be the best drink I've ever tasted.

The conversation with Iacopo was bland. I don't think he was interested to hear what I have to say more than he was interested in my breasts. I stopped myself from sighting when he purposefully changed the topic of the conversation from my life in the US to revisiting the issue that I believe was already settled.

"You're really cute, you know that? I wish I could touch you" his voice was full of desire, he was staring at me as if he was hypnotized. It was a very disturbing experience.

"Thanks," I said quickly and blushed "I will be right back," I said with a desperate need to take a deep breath. Dating wasn't for me, clearly.

I went to the toilet and took a moment to look at the mirror. How do I get out of the situation? I just didn't know how to say to him that I'm not interested and we should part. Ugh, what did I get myself into? Should I call Alex? No. I'm an adult and I shouldn't rely on anyone to save me.

This is when I promised myself that it's just one drink. I will order a drink and when I'm done I will tell that guy I need to go because it's late.

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Valentino was sitting in a VIP section on the top floor of the club where he could calmly observe everything that was going on downstairs. He could watch her like a hawk following his prey.

"Tino, you're looking at this girl for a while now. What's special about her? I've never seen you be interested in more than five seconds"

It's like I felt something when I looked at her. Marco, Valentino's closest coworker was the only person who was allowed to use the "Tino" form. Others used his full name or referred to him as Mr. Anastasi.

What about the girl? If he wanted one he would usually take her even if she had a date. It didn't take much for the girl to be convinced to join the table of Valentino.

Valentino's best quality was his instinct. It never failed. Something about this girl was telling him to steal her from that man and never let her go again.

"There's something about her. I'm not sure"

"What if she's your mate?"

"She isn't"

"How can you be sure?"

"My mate would never meet with another man on a date"

"Who knows. Times are different, society changes. You hook up with women all the time"

"I'm a man"

It was true that to this day it was more normalized for unmarked men to have relationships outside of the soul bond. Not all of them practiced it some preferred to wait, but there was that prevailing misogyny in a society where men were allowed to have previous relationships and women were expected to wait for a "Destined One". Anastasi family was following archaic rules and they also involved the traditional role of women so to Valentino the idea that his soulmate would speak or even look at another male was fury inducing. Absolutely not.

"She's absolutely not my mate and I will prove it to you" He was about to get up and go to her table just to give a simple touch, but he stopped. She got up and got her purse but her jacket was left hanging on a table

"Hey, do you see what that motherfucker is doing?"

Marco was referring to that woman's date. He was slipping a small, white pill into her drink the moment she left the table.

Things were about to become interesting.

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