Page 36 of Mistletoe in the Mafia

I simply sigh before falling into my chair. She’s still in the office when I look up.

“Can I help you with anything else?” I question.

She nods. “Yeah, I’m waiting so we can go to the morning debrief together.”

“I’m not interested,” I say blandly. Anything of importance can be relayed to me by Joshua later.

“Come on, Dominic. I know you’re best friends with Joshua and all, but you could at least put in some effort into interacting with your other coworkers.”

I shoot her an inquisitive look. “Why?”

“Because,” she flounders for a response for a couple of seconds before saying, “it’s nice.”

“If I’ve ever given you the impression that I care about being nice, then I fully apologize. My bad.”

“Okay, good point. You’re an asshole,” she says in agreement. “But you’re also coming to the meeting with me. It’s fun. There’ll be donuts after.”

“I don’t like donuts.”

She gasps like I just threatened to kill her puppy. “Donuts are an essential part of the job. Are you sure you’re even FBI?”

“Madelyn, you’re bothering me. Shoo,” I say with a wave of my hand.

“Why don’t you like donuts?” she questions, focusing on that little tidbit for some reason.

“I’m not a fan of sugary things.”

She blinks, then says without skipping a beat, “But it’s scientific, Dominic. Sugar solves approximately ninety percent of stress-related issues. The other ten percent? Punching someone in the face.”

I nod in agreement. “The other ten percent works well enough for me, thanks.”

She just stares at me like I’m an alien for several moments before rounding the desk to grab my arm. Her hands wrap around it and despite the layer of clothing, it’s impossible to ignore the current of electricity that rolls through me at her touch. And she must feel it too, because her grip slackens and then she lets me go all together.

“Just come to the meeting with me,” she murmurs, avoiding my gaze.

I sigh. I thought Joshua and Carly were bad, but Madelyn is definitely the most infuriating person I’ve ever met.

“Fine,” I mutter, getting to my feet. “Let’s go to your stupid meeting.”

Her eyes brighten with triumph and she leads the way out of my office. We’re the last ones to arrive for the debrief. It would seem they were waiting for us, actually. Or at least waiting for her since she’s the one that usually attends the meeting. Madelyn offers Joshua an apologetic smile before we take our seats.

“Now that our wonderful intelligence analysts are here, we can begin,” Joshua says.

They start by talking about a recovery operation slated for later that day. I tune out the conversation, seeing as I am not afield agent and it doesn’t concern me. They’ll need surveillance for the operation, but I’m sure Madelyn’s got that.

Soon after, Joshua’s attention turns to us both.

“Hale, Flores, please tell me you’ve had some sort of breakthrough on the Torres case,” he prompts.

I speak up before Madelyn can. “I’ve been working to recover the doctored footage. So far, I think I can narrow down the possible locations for his hideout. I’m sure we’ll smoke him out soon enough.”

Joshua smiles, offering me a small nod. As soon as he’s turned away, Madelyn leans in closer to whisper.

“Is it just me, or is someone trying awfully hard to be the teacher’s pet?”

“Or maybe someone’s focusing on the job instead of… tinsel arrangements.”

She wrinkles her nose. “We’ll see who saves the world faster, won’t we?”

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