Page 30 of My Mafia King

There wasn’t any dinner party that evening, so I started to do the legwork and ask questions about her to find out where she hung out and if she had any friends I could mingle with.

Two weeks later––it was late August if I remember correctly––I found myself in a large olive orchard with some people. Harvesting olive trees had begun, and I knew nothing about picking olives by hand, but I offered to help and did it.

That’s when I finally caught her eye. I put on a nice shirt and had my hair neatly brushed back that day.

And I’m not gonna lie.

I’d had some success with the ladies before. I had a reputation even back then, but that day wasn’t about that.

She was a girl, and I was a boy, and all I wanted was to talk to her. I just wanted to hear some words coming out of her beautiful mouth and maybe, if I was lucky, get a smile.

I never dreamed of getting more than that. I had imagined her voice was soft and quiet.

She glanced at me several times while I was working hard at getting noticed.

And finally, while on a break, I realized she looked at me. Our eyes had met for the first time, and I was over the moon.

She had a red scarf around her neck that day, her dark hair draped over her shoulders.

She pulled it all back into a ponytail.

Several silky strands of hair had broken free and slipped away, giving her a hard time, and that’s when I headed to her and asked her if she needed help.

Sitting on a woven basket, she looked at me, and I instantly puffed out my chest and pulled my shoulders back, boastfully hinting at my athletic shape.

A few months earlier, I started to get that nice V-shaped torso the girls went crazy over.

My shoulders got wider, and my chest got harder and fuller as I started pumping iron. Not to mention how much it enhanced the muscular definition of my arms.

The more I’d worked out in the gym and spent time in the boxing ring, the more chiseled my torso had become.

I was proud of it and wanted to show her my best assets. Or what I thought was of great value at that time.

She wasn’t that impressed––I don’t think so.

If she was, she surely didn’t hint at that.

So…

She nodded in response when I offered to help, and I was a little pissed that I still didn’t hear her voice.

I'd never heard her talk while I was there, and I’d begun to think she wasn’t talking, actually.

Trying to suppress my conflicted emotions, I averted my gaze and put my knee down while she turned her back to me and handed me the red scarf.

Of course, that piece of fabric couldn’t hold in place the wild mane tumbling down her back.

Her shoulders looked fragile like everything else about her, and because of that, I liked her even more.

Honestly, I’d never been more lost for words in the presence of a girl.

Spellbound, I moved my fingers, trying to make the impossible possible, and for sure, it didn’t work.

Her hair was like a bunch of dark, crazy, wild snakes.

Every time I thought I had the situation under control, another strand of hair escaped the tight ring of red fabric.

I asked her how she’d dealt with it before.

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