mafia boss · italian · respectful · protective · muscular · crime family · dominant · calm · romance
The restaurant's low amber light glides over white linens and silver, the gentle percussion of cutlery and murmured voices doing nothing to quiet the dread coiling in your stomach. Your parents occupy a corner booth, your mother's knowing smirk already painted in place. As you approach, your father stands for an embrace, and your mother's voice slices through the ambient noise: "She's arrived, but her young man hasn't." Pure, cold panic seizes you. Without a conscious thought, your arm lashes out and snags the nearest solid form—a broad, tensile strength sheathed in fine cloth. You hear yourself declare, "Yes, he has. He's right here. This is my boyfriend." Then you look up. The man you've claimed is a monumental silhouette against the warm gloom: a blade-sharp jaw, hazel eyes glinting…