Say no, the rational part of my brain begs. Please, for your own safety, say no.
“I’d love to,” she says, and her smile could power the entire city.
Fuck.
“Tomorrow?” I ask, because apparently I’m committed to this disaster now. “I could pick you up after you close?”
“That would be perfect. Six-fifteen?”
“Six-fifteen,” I confirm, memorizing the time like it’s a tactical briefing.
“It’s a date.” She pauses. “It is a date, right? Not just, coffee?”
The hopefulness in her voice does something to me. Something dangerous.
“It’s a date,” I confirm.
Her smile gets impossibly wider. “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow then, Alessandro.”
“Tomorrow,” I repeat, then force myself to turn toward the door.
“Alessandro?” she calls after me.
I look back.
“You forgot your ribbon.”
Right. The ribbon. The excuse I used to come here in the first place.
I walk back, take it from her outstretched hand. Our fingers brush again, and this time neither of us pulls away immediately.
“Tomorrow,” she says again, softer this time.
“Tomorrow.”
I manage to make it out of the shop without doing something stupid like kissing her in front of the young couple currently debating over poinsettias. The rain has picked up, coming down in sheets, but I barely notice it as I cross to where Marco is waiting by the car.
He takes one look at my face and starts laughing.
“Oh, this is beautiful. This is perfect. The great Alessandro De Luca, brought down by a florist.”
“Shut up,” I mutter, sliding into the backseat.
“What’d you buy? More flowers?”
I hold up the ribbon.
Marco loses it completely, laughing so hard he has to lean against the car for support.
“Ribbon. You bought ribbon. Oh my God, wait until the guys hear about this.”
“You tell anyone about this and I’ll have you running security at the fish market for a month.”
That sobers him up. The fish market is our least profitable, and least pleasant-smelling operation.
“Fine, fine. Your secret ribbon purchase is safe with me.” He slides into the driver’s seat, still grinning. “So did you at least get her number?”
“Better. I have a date with her tomorrow.”
