He slid into his car and started the engine. "Don't forget to update me on anything he says. I'll call you later" he said to Andrew, and with a goodbye wave drove off.
Halfway through the journey, his phone received an incoming call from Anaya. Relief swept past him. At least he knew she was alright.
"Don?" "Hmm," he hummed. "I've finished buying the things I need, and I'm back home. Where are you?"
"I'm on my way. What's wrong?" "Well, on leaving a store, I bumped into a friend of mine. We were roommates while at Stanford University and we used to be very close. We got talking and she invited me for dinner at her place"
"Love, you know you can't be moving around the city when you are an enemy's target. You're not safe right now, and I only allowed you to go out on your own today because you didn't have anything to wear and because I had to deal with something important"
"I knew you would say that" he could feel her rolling her eyes from the other side of the phone "So I thought you could come with me so that your mind would be at peace" she suggested.
He frowned. He wasn't in the mood to see anyone for the rest of the day. All he wanted was to go to the comforts of his home, drown his mood in a bottle of alcohol and come up with a plan to stop Natasha once and for all. She would have to see her friend another day.
"Look, love, I'm not in the mood to socialize with anyone today. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you" he said sternly. Annoyance flared in her instantly. Who gave him the right to decide if she could visit someone or not?
"You're unbelievable, you know that?" she snapped. "I'm not a child, Don, I'm a fucking adult. You're not allowed to decide where I get to go and where I don't. This is someone who was there for me in my darkest times. I haven't seen her in a couple of years and now that I have, and we're supposed to catch up, you're telling me that I can't go see her because you don't want to go out?"
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. If it were another person, he would have just hung up. Why the fuck was she different?
"I'm not arguing with you about this. I've told you my decision, and you'd do yourself good by obeying my orders" he proceeded to off the call but paused once he heard the desperation in her voice at her next statement.
"Come on, Don. This is very important to me. I can't disappoint my friend after all the good she has done to me" he groaned and combed one hand through his hair.
He was going weak for her and he didn't like it.
"Please, Don, please. We need to go and visit her tonight. Please!" she pleaded.
He wanted to say no and hang up, but his conscience wouldn't allow him to go scot-free if he did that.
With a heavy sigh, "Fine. We can visit your friend today" his voice was low. "Thank you very much," she said with evident happiness in her voice.
"Hmm" was all he said before hanging up.
He felt like giving himself a punch in the guts. As the Head of the Mafia, showing emotions was a sign of weakness. And having emotions would only limit or slow him down. And here he was having soft spots for a girl.
He had only wanted her to satisfy his lust. He went hard when he saw her for the first time during that ball. Red brought out her beauty even when her face was covered, and that dress displayed the perfect outline of her curves, that all he wanted to do was to rip it off and explore her beautiful body with no barrier.
Having a soft spot for her was not part of the plan.
****************************************
Later that evening...
Fully dressed, he headed towards Anaya's room. The earlier they went the earlier they got back.
He pushed the door open and entered, closing it behind him. "Anaya!" he called not seeing her.
"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" she lashed with a pout. He turned to see her standing behind the narrow door of her wardrobe, holding her dress firmly to her chest.
"I don't need permission to enter one of the rooms in my house" he replied unbothered and sat at the foot of her bed. She rolled her eyes and pushed her arms through the sleeves of the dress.
"Hurry up! We need to start going" he urged impatiently whilst looking at his watch.
"By the way, thanks again for going with me to visit my friend. It means a lot to me". Her lips curved into a wide smile.
Beautiful!
He smiled as well. Seeing her so happy made him feel better about his decision to go with her.
She stepped out from behind the wardrobe's door and faced the mirror stuck on the door.
He noticed she was struggling to pull the zip of her dress up, so by instinct, he walked over to her and stood behind her. He pushed her long hair aside, revealing her lovely skin.
His eyes swept lustfully over her lush golden skin. He slowly ran his finger down her bare back-wishing he could explore her body further- until he reached her zipper.
He pulled it up and looked into the mirror to see her face flushed with desire.
She turned around to face him. "How does it look?" she asked with expectant eyes.
It was a plain satin emerald green tie waist dress that stopped mid-thigh had long bell sleeves and was tied to her side.
Sexy!
Hot!
Otherworldly!
Amazing!
The most beautiful lady I've ever seen!
He cleared his throat when he noticed he had been staring for too long. "It's beautiful. You're beautiful!" he complimented.
"I know, but is it okay for tonight's dinner?" "Of course. Simple yet lovely... It's perfect". She nodded. and picked up a matching green bag.
"Let's go"