ONE MORE TRY

Chapter 7

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 what 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?"

Want you weren't the words I wanted to say, but it was too soon.

Alessandra watched me for a long moment, and I saw something shift in her eyes when she held my hands with hers, pulling them away from her face. She leaned forward, holding my gaze to the last moment, then pressed her lips to mine in a gentle kiss.

"Joshua," she whispered, and I shuddered. "I want you."

I groaned. The words went down to my c**k. We'd barely done anything, and I was half hard from a kiss and some words that were nice to hear.

Alessandra didn't wait for me to take the initiative, wrapping her arms around my neck as she kissed me again. Her body pressed against mine, and I wrapped my arms tightly around her as the passion built between us.

I'd given the driver instructions to drive us around until I gave him directions, either to take Alessandra home or drop her off at a place of her choosing. So, as long as I said nothing, he'd drive around in circles.

Right then, I didn't mind driving around in circles for the rest of the night. The driver wouldn't care, either. He was under my family's employment, and I was giving him a huge bonus for helping me out tonight, and keep the information from my mom.

I felt Alessandra's hands push against my blazer, and I shrugged it off. Then, I reached around to her back, catching her zipper and tugging it down. She pulled away from me to gasp for breath, but I couldn't stop kissing her. My lips moved all over her face, then down to lick and nip at her neck.

"f**k, Alessandra," I moaned against her skin.

She chuckled, though it broke off in a gasp when I took her skin between my teeth and sucked.

"I was kinda hoping that's where this is going," she teased, sounding breathless.

I froze for a sec, then bit down a little harder on her skin. She moaned, and I released her before I could leave a mark that wouldn't fade for a while. She was staying with her parents, after all, and I didn't want to make things awkward for her.

"It's definitely what I intend to do," I said in a promise. I met her gaze, and deliberately asked, "Alessandra, do you want me?"

She grinned. "I want you to f**k me, Joshua."

I let out a breath and dropped my forehead to her collarbone. I was aching in my slacks, and if I wasn't careful, I'd get myself dirty. Not that it mattered since I lived alone. Still, it would be embarrassing to come so quickly.

Once I got ahold of myself, I pulled away, just far enough to ease the top of Alessandra's dress down to reveal her shoulders and the upper part of her chest. I pressed a kiss and a light nibble to her collarbone and felt her body tremble in my arms.

I grinned up at her. "With pleasure, my lady."

"With so much f*****g pleasure!"