One More Try_A Second Chance Romance Read online

  I don’t have anything urgent coming up, and it doesn’t have to be during a weekday, anyway. Don’t you have your job as a nanny?

  I winced. Somehow, I’d forgotten about all of that little lie. And now, since he’d told Wendy about me being a nanny, as far as he knew, I’d be spending some time two days every week at Wendy’s to babysit when I wasn’t with my other employer’s child.

  You’re right. I’m busy all week. Unlike you, it seems.

  It’s not like I’m slacking off, was the immediate, defensive reply. I don’t have anything urgent, and I can delegate just fine. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.

  Then what, I wrote.

  Alessandra. I want to see you again. If you could wear a dress like the one from last time, I don’t care what we do or where we go. I’ll warn you right now, though. If I see you, I might not hold back from kissing you again.

  I gasped at that. Once he mentioned it, my mind went back to that night, and I relieved the sensations of our kiss.

  It had been a little embarrassing when I found the time to think about it. Since we had been right on the street, making out like horny teenagers where everyone could see. People probably had to walk around us because we were obstructing the way, too. Lucky for me, no one I knew ever went to that place, or the news would have somehow made it back to my parents.

  For obvious reasons, the moment I found out I was pregnant, I stopped drinking, though I didn’t do much of it, to begin with. Then throughout the pregnancy, birth, and the first few months of my son’s life, I never thought to drink at home.

  Besides, my parents weren’t precisely drinkers either, so aside from a few bottles of wine, there was no alcohol in the house. But, even if it wasn’t anyone I knew, strangers seeing that still made me feel a little embarrassed.

  Still, it had been hot. When he kissed me, I wanted to drag him home with me. Not to introduce him to his son, but to pull him to my bedroom so I could toss him to the bed and ride him. I could remember the last time we were together before the break-up. I was stressed back then, too, between exams, Joshua’ mom, and Rachel. When we both managed to find free time for each other, we stayed inside for a whole twenty-four hours, barely leaving the bed.

  I wouldn’t mind revisiting those memories, but I had to keep clearheaded. I was pretty good at controlling my impulses when I put my mind to it.

  My phone vibrated with more texts.

  Well? Are you interested? Because you have to know that I am.

  My heart wavered. We could meet, but it didn’t necessarily have to lead to anything, right? I’d already asked him for some time. He hadn't outright said it was okay, but I knew he wouldn’t bother contacting me if he no longer wanted anything to do with me. And of course, because I liked complicating my own life, I’d told him there was someone else without clarifying that I wasn’t interested in another man. Not another grown-up man, anyway.

  I’m busy on weekends too, you know?

  Just one day, he coaxed. It doesn’t even have to be the whole day; even an hour is excellent. If the weekend is more convenient for you, then I’ll go along with whatever works for you.

  I wanted to go and meet him again. The desire hit me hard, and I was typing out my response before I could think too much about it.

  Sure! I can meet you on Saturday, but you’ll have to be responsible for whatever it is we’re going to do, okay?

  Definitely! I’ll see you Saturday.

  After his parting texts, he probably went back to work. I put my phone down and tried to juggle Danny and work again, but my mind was too distracted for me to do both at the same time. So I dropped work, and went to play with my baby instead, already feeling excited for Saturday.

  Chapter Seven

  Joshua

  I woke up early on Saturday. I was too excited, like a teenager going on his first date with his long-time crush. I’d make fun of myself for the over-eagerness if it didn’t remind me so much of our actual first date back in high school.

  Of course, a lot has changed now.

  Back then, we were only kids. The best we could do for a date was going out to a movie, then to a café afterward, and out for a walk, before we both had to go our separate ways. We started dating before I could drive, so at the end of our first date, we had to get picked up by our parents. Though technically, she was picked up by her dad, while I was picked up by one of the family’s drivers.

  Everything had changed since then.

  Well, not everything.

  My feelings for her certainly hadn't changed.

  Since I was so damn early to wake up, I killed some time. I took a long shower, then I made myself breakfast and ate. There was still plenty of time, so I went to find my phone. I didn’t need to, I had a perfectly good memory, but I had everything I wanted to do today in my phone, just in case.

  I had the perfect date planned. One guaranteed to get me the results I wanted, and what I wanted was for Alessandra to give our relationship, and me, another chance.

  Whoever this new person is in her life doesn’t matter. As long as she loves me, it’s fine.

  I thought that, but I was still incredibly anxious. I didn’t know who this person was. Finding out would be a piece of cake, but then I’d have to invade Alessandra’s privacy, and I knew she would hate me for that. It was the one reason that had held me back from hiring a private investigator to find her for me before.

  Luckily, I didn’t, and we met by coincidence, anyway.

  “She should be awake now,” I murmured to myself after some time.

  We hadn't specified when we’d be meeting today, but I planned to take her out early and let her go back home late. If I could, I’d just get her to come back with me, but that would depend on how the day went.

  A couple of hours had passed since I woke up, and I decided to send her a message to let her know we’d be starting early. Sometimes, I did work at the office on weekends, but I’d finished anything important yesterday, and I didn’t need to go in until Monday, so I could enjoy the weekend thoroughly.

  Minutes after texting her good morning, my phone vibrated with a reply.

  I’m up! When are we headed out?

  I grinned to myself and replied.

  How about eleven? No need to bring anything. Dress semi-formal, warm.

  I didn’t have to wait long before she sent her okay.

  I had showered already but put on comfortable clothes. I headed back to my room to get changed and dressed for our date. I wanted her to be dressed warm and semi-formal for tonight, but I couldn’t go out with a full suit. The day was friendly enough, and I’d look ridiculous considering the places I wanted us to go.

  As a compromise, I pulled on a light blue shirt that Wendy had told me complimented my eyes well, and a pair of dark slacks. I picked a dark blue blazer and pulled it on, then went to check myself out in the mirror. I left the top buttons of the shirt undone.

  Dressed, I went to find socks and shoes. I still had time, but I was too eager to keep waiting. Then something occurred to me, and I picked up my phone and fired off a text.

  Text me the address, I wrote.

  Alessandra and I knew a lot about each other, I’d even met her parents before, but I had never been to her new house. I never questioned it back, because it was her business, but I regretted not asking when she walked out on me.

  I’ll meet you, she replied.

  I frowned. It wasn’t the response I wanted, but maybe she didn’t want me to meet her parents. Since she never spoke to me since we parted ways, I had no idea how her parents had taken the whole situation, though I could guess it wasn’t happy.

  All right. Let’s meet in an hour.

  I specified the where, and after a short back and forth, we decided. I went around the room and wasted a bit of time. I tried to style my hair instead of just pushing it back like I always did, but gave up on that quickly. I checked my watch collection and picked one to wear.

  With nothing else to
do, I decided to leave the house. I might as well drive around before I arrived at our meeting spot, and I did just that. The roads were fairly empty, so there wasn’t even traffic to distract me. Every few minutes, I’d keep checking the time and wonder why it didn’t seem to be moving.

  Finally, ten minutes to our meet time, I headed for the agreed spot. We were meeting at the park, not far from the place where we met again just a few weeks ago. I parked the car, then waited.

  I didn’t see her around, so I must have been the first to arrive. I sent her a text to let her know where I was. Not long after, there was a knock on my window that startled me, and when I looked outside, there she was, smiling at me and waving through the glass. Quickly, I opened the door.

  “You came?”

  She arched an eyebrow. “You say that like you didn’t expect me to show up at all.”

  “No, no,” I said quickly. “You don’t play games like that. Should we go?”

  “Lead the way.”

  This park was the only one in town; it was also really big. Our high school had been around the area, but when Alessandra went to college, the school she chose was a little far from home. I had moved with her because it didn’t matter much to me where I went. I’d be doing extracurricular studies meant to prepare me to take on the company, anyway.

  I knew the area very well. It was just that the town was big, or Alessandra and I would have met again a lot earlier. But we were both familiar with the area because we had our first date not too far from the park. I only drove for a few minutes, before we arrived at the same café years ago.

  “Do you remember this place?” I asked, glancing at her.

  Alessandra was smiling, expression nostalgic.

  “Of course I remember, how could I forget? We came here so many times while we were in high school for dates. I missed it when I had to move away for school.”

  I stepped out of the car, and she followed suit. It was warm, but I had plans for later, so I shrugged off my blazer and folded it over my arm. As we walked toward the doors of the café, I finally got a good look at Alessandra. I’d been too dazed before, believing she would arrive for the date, but still surprised and elated when she did.

  She had on a plain black dress that molded to her upper body with short sleeves and a flaring skirt. She was wearing short, black heels, and she carried a dark blue jacket with her. I smiled to myself, thinking we matched in this one thing, at least. Her hair was styled simply, with a bit of a curl and left to fall around her shoulders. Tiny earrings were dangling from her ears.

  I didn’t realize I’d slowed down until she turned her head to look at me. She was smiling happily and held a hand out to beckon me closer.

  “Let’s go inside; I’m a little hungry.”

  My heart felt like it would stop one moment. In the next, I stepped forward and followed her inside. At this time on a Saturday, the place was fairly crowded, almost half full, but Alessandra found us a table. It wasn’t near the large window, like before, but I didn’t miss her eyes going in that direction.

  “What will you be having?” I asked.

  The table had two menus. I picked one up and handed it to her, then took the other for myself. We chatted lightly about what looked good, and by the time a waitress showed up at our table, we both had our orders. She quickly went away, leaving us alone.

  “This place hasn’t changed much,” Alessandra murmured after a bit. “I think they remodeled a little inside, but it’s almost exactly as I remember. Except there are more tables now.”

  I nodded, looking around. “I stopped by here a few times since college. The owner is still the same, but everyone else changed. It has been nearly five years since you were last here, it’s no surprise some things changed.”

  “But the atmosphere still feels the same,” she said.

  Our eyes met for a moment, before the waitress coming back distracted us both. But in her gaze, I had seen what I wanted. Alessandra hadn't forgotten our relationship any more than I had. We were going to take a walk down memory lane today, so I could remind her of everything we had together, everything we were to each other before the breakup. Then, I had a nice surprise for tonight that would show her our future.

  “That order came quickly,” Alessandra said with a chuckle. “Before, it would take ages. Like twenty minutes, at least.”

  I pointed toward the counter. “They upgraded equipment above everything else, and they’ve likely got more people now. If the service was as slow as before, they’d lose quite a few people. A different café opened up not too far from here, which might be part of why they changed things up.”

  Alessandra laughed. “No, that can't be it. I swear the old servers were just lazy. Remember that one guy…?”

  Conversation flowed between us as we reminisced about the past. After eating, we made our way out. It was still fairly early when we left, but there was plenty to do. We ignored the car and walked around, as we had all those years ago. The area had changed quite a bit, of course, and we had fun walking around. We went to a few stores, but we didn’t buy much. As evening drew in, I took us to a restaurant nearby.

  I sent a quick message while we were eating. An hour later, we stepped out of the restaurant and stopped at the curb. There was a light breeze, but the day had gotten colder, and we were both in our jackets.

  “Dinner was surprisingly early,” Alessandra said. “It can't be that you want to get rid of me early, right?”

  “Of course, not. Dinner was early because I have one last surprise for you.” I checked my watch. “I think we’ll make it just in time.”

  She glanced around, then frown at me, confused. “Are we not walking back to the car, then?”

  I chuckled. “I had someone pick it up for me. We’re waiting for a different ride.”

  She eyed me suspiciously. “All right.”

  We didn’t have to wait long before the vehicle arrived. It was growing dark out, and a few people were passing the curb beside us. I heard gasps as the limo pulled up in front of us, and glanced down. Alessandra was staring with wide-eyed surprise.

  “This way, my lady,” I teased.

  I stepped forward and tugged the door open. The driver had stepped out but didn’t try to interfere. Alessandra glanced at me; then at hand, I held out for her. She took it and allowed me to help her into the limo, then I followed her inside. I didn’t release her hand, kissing the back of it, and holding it against my thigh as the car started to move.

  “I hope you like the last surprise for tonight,” I murmured.

  Alessandra just looked at me but didn’t say a thing. I could see the anticipation in her face, though.

  Twenty minutes later, we arrived. I waited until the door was opened for us, then stepped onto the curb and helped her out. She stared at the building in front of us.

  “What are we doing here?” she asked.

  I held my arm out to her, and she wrapped hers around it. I led us inside.

  “This is an opera house,” I explained. “I still remember what you like. They have a nice show on tonight, and I thought it would be something you’d love.”

  I had booked us a private room, and after showing my tickets at the booth, an attendant was called to show us the way.

  The entire show, my eyes were more on Alessandra than what was going on down at the stage. I watched, as her expression changed from curiosity to pleasant surprise, to excitement. I smiled as I lost myself in watching her, occasionally glancing at the stage when I heard clapping from the crowd. But whatever was going on down there wasn’t nearly as interesting as she was.

  When we left, Alessandra was practically bouncing in excitement.

  I laughed. “I’m going to take a guess and say that you like it.”

  “Are you kidding?” she gasped. “I loved it! It kind of reminds me of drama club back in high school, only so much better.”

  I held her hand in mine and squeezed it gently. She met my gaze and seemed to freeze as she realized wh
at she’d just said and came up with her implications. I just smiled and tugged her over to the limo. I let us inside, and the car started moving.

  “To be honest with you, I don’t want to let you go home yet.”

  “Oh?” Her eyebrow shot up. “And what exactly is it that you want to do to me, hmm?”

  “Are you sure you want to know?” I asked, my voice a little darker.

  This was one of the things that changed from all those years ago. I didn’t even dare to kiss her on our first date, but my thoughts for the whole day hadn't been quite as innocent as back then. She was dressed well, the dress had a sensible neckline and fell to her knees. But Alessandra looked so sexy; I knew keeping my hands off her was impossible.

  I had contented myself with holding her hand, but as our gazes met and maintained, the atmosphere between us changed. Slowly, I leaned forward. Alessandra closed her eyes, and I took it as her agreement.

  Our lips met, and I tested the waters. I slid my lips softly against hers, and she sighed into my mouth, her hands coming up to clutch at my coat. I nibbled lightly on her lower lip, and she opened her mouth for me. With a growl, I deepened the kiss, and wrapped an arm around her back, tugging her body closer to mine.

  I didn’t pull away until we both needed to breathe. After a moment of catching our breath, I cursed and released her.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked, breathing heavily.

  I frowned at her. “Alessandra, if you don’t tell me right now to take you home, I don't want to stop. You have to tell me if this is something you want.”

  She didn’t give an immediate answer, hesitating. It broke my heart a little because while it wasn’t a no, it was a sign that she was wavering.

  Carefully, I reached my hands out and cupped her cheeks, turning in the seat so I could face her properly.

  “Alessandra,” I murmured, my eyes searching her expression in the limo’s dim light. “I… I want you. I always have, and that’s something that will never change. Do you feel the same way?”