Then the next day, another delivery arrives at the house after I return home from the port.
This time it's a different kind of gift basket—gourmet snacks, fancy chocolates, artisanal crackers, the kind of thing you'd eat while binge-watching TV.
Another card.
"For your next reality TV marathon. P.S. You were right about Madison. -S"
I stare at the card, reading it three times to make sure I'm seeing it correctly.
He watched the show. He actually sat down and watched the episode I rambled about. When I was eating his steak and going on and on about Brittany and Madison and Tyler.
He watched it. He actually watched it.
"What is that?" Gia asks from my doorway, making me jump.
"Nothing."
"That's not nothing." She walks over with purpose and picks up the card, reading it. "Oh my God. He watched the show?"
"Apparently so."
"Liana." She sits on the edge of my desk, studying my face. "What is happening here?"
"I honestly don't know. He hasn’t contacted me."
"He sent you a steak dinner yesterday. Now snacks. What's next?"
"I have absolutely no idea."
I'm smiling. I can't help it, can't stop the grin spreading across my face.
Gia notices immediately. "You're falling for this. He’s getting to you. Sly devil."
"I'm not—"
"You are." She grins back at me. "He's wooing you. And it's working."
"It's not working."
"Liar." She stands and heads for the door. "But for the record? I think it's sweet. In a completely bizarre, only-Santino-would-do-this kind of way. I’m impressed. Think about giving him another chance."
I look at the snack basket, at the card I'm still holding.
What is he trying to tell me?
The next morning, I’m at the port office reviewing contracts when Alessandro walks in, trying very hard not to smile. "Another delivery." He sets down a box on my desk, his lips twitching.
I open it slowly. Inside is a water gun. Bright blue. Child-sized. Completely ridiculous.
The card:"Safer for my crew. -S"
I burst out laughing again at his silliness.
The gun incident. When I grabbed his weapon in his office and waved it around like I didn't know what I was doing, like I'd never held a gun before.
He's making fun of himself. Of the fact that I completely fooled him.
Alessandro is definitely smiling now. "A water gun?"
