Her Mafia Prince ✔️

Chapter 8 - Make Yourself Useful

~ Gabriella's POV~

"So you're a computer guy?" Dean nodded his head, an amused smile on his face as he put his coffee down on the little coffee table between us. We were having that coffee that I accidentally promised him yesterday. Although I was unsure about this, it was actually going pretty well.

He's a really nice guy.

"Yeah, I work with large companies managing their online security and stuff like that. It's a lot more complicated but I won't bore you with the details."

I nodded my head as I sipped on the hot chocolate I ordered before I mumbled. "Thank you."

As soon as I realised what I just said my eyes widened and he let out a loud laugh. I, on the other hand, was mortified. "I didn't mean it in a bad way, I'm so sorry."

Dean just sat there laughing for a good thirty seconds as an embarrassed blush arose on my cheeks.

"It's okay, don't worry about it Gabriella." I gave him a shy smile as I sipped on my hot chcolate again. "So where did you go to school? You're American right? I can tell by the accent."

"I'm actually Australian." My eyes widened at his words and I tilted my head to the side, taking in his tanned skin and bright blue eyes.

I thought he was joking at first but when he just stared at me with the same expression and he didn't start laughing I realised he was actually telling the truth.

"Australian?" He nodded his head in confirmation.

"Not American?" He shook his head this time with an amused smile. "But to answer your question question, I went to the University of Melbourne. Then I moved here when I graduated and got a job."

"Oh...wow you must think I'm such an idiot. This is going terribly isn't it?" Once again he just laughed at what I was saying.

"It's fine Gabriella, you're funny. I like that." He was just trying to make me feel better and it definitely wasn't working - I just wanted to go over to the rug in the middle of the cafe and hide under it.

We ended up talking for another twenty minutes before he had to leave for a meeting and I had to get back to the salon. Although I made myself look like a total idiot, surprisingly he still messaged me the next day to get another coffee together.

By the time three and a half weeks had passed we ended up going for a quite a few lunches and a couple of dinners together too. Only because I had the time, most of my friends were busy these days with their own lives including Matteo who was out of town for those three weeks and then busy with work when he came back. I also didn't want to be at home too much so when he asked if I wanted to go for dinner with him after work I accepted.

I find it quite mad how out of nowhere Matteo came into my life and literally turned my life upside down within the space of a few days and then became a really close friend to me. Now, out of nowhere I met Dean and we get on really well. I know we'd only known each other for a short while but part of me could see something possibly developing between us with the way it was going.

He was just extremely sweet and caring and even when I made myself look so stupid compared to him since he's so intelligent, he never minded. He still made me feel like I was equal to him and not inferior like many overly smart people can do.

The only thing so far that I didn't like was when he tried to kiss me after our first dinner and I had to politely reject him. It's probably not that big of a deal for others but for me it was. Mostly because of what happened between Matteo and I, but also because of past experiences with guys who just wanted to sleep with me. As I mentioned before I had a boyfriend who tried to sleep with me and when I rejected him, he cheated on me.