Page 55 of Mistletoe in the Mafia

“No,” Madelyn says firmly, taking a step back. “You’re not kissing me again until we talk.”

My hand twitches and the urge to drag her back into my hold consumes me. But I stay put.

“I’m listening, Flowers,” I tell her, reaching for the hot chocolate she’s prepared.

I take a big sip and find that it’s surprisingly really good, better than any I’ve ever tasted. Her mom taught her well.

“Let’s get one thing straight, Dominic. I’m not a toy. You can’t just do what you did earlier and you can’t kiss me like that in front of everyone just to stake your claim. This isn’t the 1800s.”

“I’m pretty sure it would be highly frowned upon if we’d done what we did earlier in the 1800s,” I point out with a smirk. Her eyes narrow and she’s clearly not amused. “You kissed me back, Flowers. Stop acting like you didn’t.”

“That’s because…” she splutters, runs a hand through her hair before pointing at me with a glare. “My obvious lack of control aside, you can’t do that again.”

“Okay,” I say easily.

“Okay?” she asks, clearly suspicious.

“Yeah, I won’t do anything like that again. As long as you promise to lose control like that around me more often.”

She blinks. “What?”

I place my cup on the island and walking toward her, stopping only when there’s a hair’s breadth of space between us. She doesn’t shift back, instead looking up to meet my gaze. I place a hand on her nape, keeping those fiery green eyes on me.

“You heard me, Madelyn. I don’t want you to hide when you’re around me. I know better than anyone just how much armor you wear. All I’m asking is that you try to take it off, a little bit at a time.”

Her eyes soften, her expression growing warmer. “Why?” she breathes.

“Because I want to get to know you. And I know you want to get to know me, too,” I reply. “It’s pretty simple, baby.”

CHAPTER 14

Madelyn

In all my twenty-nine years of life, I don’t think I’ve ever trusted anyone, except my mother. And then she died, leaving me alone. In every sense of the word, because I was suddenly in a world in which I had no one to turn to. No father, no relatives—I only had myself to depend on. That realization was the driving force in making me who I am today.

A flower. A rose with thorns. Outwardly, I’m a friendly, cheerful woman, but I never let anyone in. No one really gets to see who I am.

Right now, though, as I’m standing in front of the man who’s managed to overturn my entire life in such a short time, I realize I want Dominic to see who I am. For the first time in years, I feel a flicker of trust—a fragile, trembling thing. Dominic might just be the one to catch me when I fall.

“Okay,” I say softly.

His eyebrows rise in surprise. “Okay?”

“Yeah, you can be the MJ to my Spiderman,” I tell him with a smile.

Dominic grins. “I think you’ve got that flipped.”

“No,” I correct. “I’ll do all the saving for both of us. All you need to do is stand there and look pretty.”

“And how do you plan to do all thissaving?” he questions, pulling me in by the waist.

“Easy. With my fists,” I state. Then, in a surprise attack, I swipe some whipped cream off my cup of hot chocolate and flick it over his face. He splutters in confusion and the look on his face has me cracking up.

His eyes narrow into a playful glare.

“Oh, shit,” I say between laughs, and then I’m running away in the direction of the living room.

He catches up to me in no time, pushing me against the wall. His hand grips me by the hip and my heart rate reaches maximum speed as I stare into his gray eyes.

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