The Brambilla's, The beginning

A couple of days later Leone had to deal with a problem in an area he never usually goes to. It was in the poorer part of Italy. When his business was concluded he and William stopped at a small diner to grab a bite to eat. Needless to say, they were overly dressed for such a place.

"Boss, we could go somewhere else," William said as they entered the restaurant.

"This will be fine," Leone said as they made their way over to one of the booths. It didn't go unnoticed by him how every eye in the place turned their heads to stare at him.

Kelly, who was working with Eleonora on the morning shift nudged her in the ribs. "Look at the guy who just sat in your section."

She turned her head in the direction that Kelly mentioned. The man who was sitting in her section wore an expensive suit, it was obvious that he didn't belong here. Everything about him screamed wealth and a man who was important. He looked as dangerous as he was handsome and every woman in the place was checking him out.

"Damn, why don't I ever get the hot ones sitting in my section? Well, don't just stand there, take them over the menus."

Eleonora grabbed the menus and walked over to their table. Her heart began racing and her palms were sweaty when he looked up at her and smiled. "Can I get you, gentlemen, something to drink while you look over the menus?" There was something about him and the way he was looking back at her that sent a tingling all through her body. No man had ever made her feel this way.

Leone felt as though he had died and gone to heaven when he looked up at the blonde waitress who had the voice of an angel. She was not only beautiful but there was something so magical about her smile. It was her eyes that captured his heart. They say that the eyes are the window to one's soul and he could see that she had a pure and kind-hearted one.

"Leone, the waitress asked you a question," William said, noticing the way his boss was looking at the girl who was holding out the menu to him.

He snapped out of the trance he was in and took the menu from her and cleared his throat. "Coffee please, and one for my friend." He watched as she walked away to get them their drinks and couldn't stop staring at her legs and ass.

"She's really beautiful, boss."

He looked over at William. "Yes, she is."

She took their coffee over and wrote down their order, feeling his eyes on her the whole time, which made her a bit nervous. He had this aura about him, a man of mystery and sexuality that got her heart beating and core throbbing. "I'll be back with your meal shortly," she said and left the table.

"Thank you, it smells really good," he said when she brought their food over and he looked at her name tag. "Eleonora, that's a nice name. I'm Leone Brambilla, and this is my friend, William."

"Thank you," she replied and shook his hand when he held it out to her. He had a firm grip and his hand wasn't sweaty like most men. "Enjoy your meal."

He looked over at William and saw the smirk on his face. "What's that look for?"

"I think you're smitten with her, can't say I blame you though. You should ask her out."

"I just might do that. But I'm sure she's got a lot of guys after her and is probably involved with someone."

"All you have to do is ask her if she'd like to go out and if she has a boyfriend then she'll say no. You've got nothing to lose."

When they were done eating he told William to go and wait for him outside while he paid the bill. He went over to the cash register where she was standing and handed her the money and while he was doing that he checked her finger to make sure she wasn't married.

When she went to hand him back the change of twenty dollars he shook his head.

"No, keep it, it's a tip."

"Thank you, that's very generous of you."

"I was wondering if you're not busy Saturday night would you like to have dinner with me? Or we could go see a play."

"I don't usually go out with strangers whom I've just met."

"But you know my name and I know yours so that means we're no longer strangers. I want you to know that I don't usually do this. I mean, I don't usually go to a restaurant and pick up the waitress."

"I'm sorry, I'm busy Saturday."

Needless to say he was very disappointed. "Oh, well perhaps another time."

"Maybe," she said as she picked up some menus when some customers walked in. "I've got to get back to work. It was nice meeting you."

"You too," he said and left the restaurant. It didn't matter that she had turned him down, he wasn't about to give up.

Kelly who was standing not far from them went over to her. "Did I hear you right, did you actually turn him down for a date?"

"I don't know him."

"Well that's one way to get to know someone is by going out with them. Judy told me how it wasn't too long ago that you turned down another handsome man. I never once had a gorgeous guy come in here and ask me out and here you got two after you."

"Judy, I actually would have liked to go out with this one."

"Then why didn't you say yes?"

"I'm way out of his League, that's why."

"What are you talking about?"

"You saw him, he's obviously very wealthy and I'm nothing but a poor waitress. I'm sure he's got dozens of girls at his beck and call."

"If he asked you out I'm sure he doesn't care that you're just a waitress. He couldn't take his eyes off you the whole time he was here. You really should think about giving a guy, any guy a chance. I've known you for over a year and never heard you say you've gone on a date."

"Well, it's too late now anyways, he's gone."

Two days later Leone went back to the restaurant and when he got there he found out she had the day off. It was an older woman that was serving him this time and he tried to get her to tell him where he might find her.

"I have no idea what she does on her day off."

"Ma'am, I just need to talk to her and you would be doing me a great favor if you could give me any information as to where I might be able to find her." He used his charms to win her over, giving her a smile that usually made the women swoon.

"I hear that sometimes she likes to go to the park or the market."

"Thank you, you are a doll," he said, giving her a fifty dollar tip when he left. He was determined to find her so the first place he went to was the park. He walked around for over an hour and when he couldn't find her he decided to go to the market. He was just about to give up when he saw her over at one of the fruit stands picking out some fruit so he slowly walked over there. Not wanting her to think he was stalking her he grabbed one of the bags and started filling it up with apples and bananas as he stood next to her and waited for her to notice he was there.

While she was checking out the avocados she could smell a familiar cologne. She turned her head and saw that it was the man, Leone that she had met at the restaurant.

When she noticed him he turned his head and smiled at her. "Well, now what are the chances of us meeting here?"

She took a look at what he was wearing before answering. "Pretty rare I would think and I almost didn't recognize you."

"So I guess I didn't make much of an impression on you the other day."

"No, it's just that you're dressed so casually today whereas the last time you were wearing a tie and suit.

"Well, I thought I would stand out too much in the market if I put on my suit. This way I can walk around without everyone staring at me. So you're not working today?" He knew darn well that she wasn't working, but he didn't want her to know that.

"No, it's my day off."

"Lucky for me."

"Why is that?"

"Since it's your day off and my day off we could go have a late lunch, my treat."

"You're very persistent aren't you?"

"I am when I see something I want. God I'm so sorry, that didn't come out right. What I should have said is that I find you interesting and I would like to get to know you a little better."

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to have lunch together."

"We could go now if you like and is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

"There's a vendor over there that sells hot dogs and onion rings. Will that be okay with you or were you wanting to go somewhere else?" She thought for sure he would say he didn't want to eat on a picnic table with food from a food cart. But she was very surprised when he said yes and with the bags of fruit in their arms they walked over to where the truck was.

After ordering two hot dogs and an order of onion rings to split between them they found an empty picnic table and sat down.

He looked at her when she started giggling. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No, you don't."

"Then why are you laughing at me?"

"I'm not really laughing at you. I just don't picture you as a hot dog and onion ring type of guy. I picture you more inside of a very exquisite restaurant drinking champagne and eating steak and lobster."

"You would be right about that. But occasionally I do like to indulge in what you would call junk food. It's not always about the food, it's more about the company you're with."

She liked his honesty, and it didn't hurt that he knew all the right words to say. "I've never seen you in my restaurant before."

"I and my friend were just passing through so we decided to stop and have something to eat. I'm so glad we did."

She couldn't help blushing and lowered her head. It was so obvious as to what he was insinuating, and to be honest she was glad that he had stopped in. "I should be going home now."

"Let me drive you."

"No, I just live a couple of blocks away. But thank you for lunch and it was nice bumping into you."

"The pleasure was all mine and I'm sure we will be seeing more of each other," he said, taking her hand he lightly kissed over the knuckles.

She started breathing heavily when his lips touched her knuckles. It was such a simple gesture but it was enough to get her heart racing and her panties damp. "Goodbye," she said quickly as she picked up her bag of fruit and took off.

He watched with a smile on his face as she hurried away, her hair that was done up in a ponytail bounced as she walked. She wore jeans that were snug on her and showed off her curves. She had on a pink top with a couple of buttons undone which showed just a tiny bit of her cleavage. When they were eating he would every now and then watch as she took a bite of her hot dog and being a man he couldn't help getting a little bit turned on.

He arrived home happier than a pig in shit, that was until he saw the look on William's face. "What's up with you, why the miserable look on your face?"

"Leone, you can't keep taking off like that on your own. Why didn't you tell me you were going somewhere and I would have gone with you?"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you coming with me."

"A man in your position needs to have security with you at all times. What if one of your enemies saw you and confronted you or try to take you out?"

"I can take care of myself."

"Damn it, Leone, your safety is my responsibility and I cannot do it if I don't know where you are at all times."

"Are you forgetting who's the boss?"

He knew that Leone was getting mad and that he had overstepped. "I'm sorry, but you are paying me to protect you and I cannot do my job if I don't have your cooperation."

"I think you know me well enough by now that I am not a stupid man and my eyes are always open to my surroundings. But you are right, I should have let you know where I was going. I was with the girl from the restaurant and I had to go alone because if she had seen me with you and any of the others it would have scared her away."

"You really like her don't you?"

"Yes and she is going to someday be my wife. So this is what we're going to do. When I am with her I will allow you or one of the other guys to be around. But, and I cannot express this enough, you or the others must stay out of sight so that she does not know you are around."

"So she doesn't know who you are?"

"No she doesn't, but I will tell her when the time is right."

"Okay, promise me that you won't take off like you did today without your security there to protect you."

"Okay, God you are such a worry wart. But now I am going to go look at a piece of property I want to buy so you can come with me."

When they got in the car William asked him what property he was interested in.

"It's in a very remote area with no neighbours and a lot of space. I'm thinking of building a house there to live in."

This was the first that William had heard of his boss wanting to build a house and figured it had to do with the young waitress. He could already tell that Leone was crazy about the girl and he hoped that she would someday feel the same way about him. He wanted to see his boss happy, and this was the first woman he had ever really been interested in.