Page 14 of Mistletoe in the Mafia

He’s already standing in front of the sink, rolling up his cuffs. I hurriedly rush over.

“No, it’s fine. You cooked, I should do the dishes,” I protest.

He looks at me, a light expression in his eyes that I’m guessing is amusement, before pointing in the direction of something. It’s then that I notice the dishwasher beside the sink.

“Oh, right. Of course you have a dishwasher,” I mutter. I watch him load the plates in awkwardly. “I should probably go.”

He finishes before turning to look at me again. “Go where?”

“As hard as it might be to believe, I do have a home and a bed I sleep in at night,” I reply.

His eyebrows furrow. “Why would I find that hard to believe?”

“It was sarcasm,” I say, waving it off. “Anyway, I really should go home.”

“It’s two o’clock in the morning, Madelyn,” he says.

I shiver at the sound of my name on his lips. He has such a sexy voice. The kind of voice you want whispering dirty, dirty things in your ear.

No… Don’t go there, Maddie.

“I know what time it is,” I murmur, trying to get rid of the X-rated thoughts in my head.

It’s perfectly normal. The man is handsome as hell and I haven’t gotten laid in a while. But it’s not cool to think about stuff like that. There’s no way he’d be interested.

His muscles bulge when he crosses his arms. “Good. Because you’re not leaving.”

My jaw falls open slightly. I hate that even his bossiness is attractive.

“Are you serious? You don’t even know me.”

“You’re right, I don’t. But I’m also not letting you leave by yourself in the middle of the night.”

I roll my eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

“You probably said that to yourself before you walked into an alley and got jumped by three men.”

My lips curve up into a smile at that. “You’re not going to let that go, are you? It was a lapse in judgment.”

“Something tells me you suffer from such lapses frequently.”

Okay, that’s a little insulting. My eyes narrow at him.

“I’m an adult woman and I can leave if I want to.”

He fixes the cuffs of his sleeves, looking completely at ease with the situation.“You’re not going anywhere, Madelyn.”

I grit my teeth. Okay, so maybe the bossiness isn’t as attractive as it was earlier.

“What would you suggest I do in the meantime?”

“Sleep?” he offers. “You can go back into the bedroom I had you in earlier.”

“There’s no way I can fall asleep in a house that’s not mine in a bedroom that’s also not mine.”

It’s hard enough falling asleep without trying to do so with a stranger. Albeit one that makes me feel safe. As inane as that sounds.

He nods like that’s perfectly understandable. “So what would you rather do instead?”

---