One More Chance

One Kiss

Bryce

There is a realness to Gianna that I love. All throughout dinner it was refreshing to have an honest conversation even if some parts were uncomfortable. She comes from a different world but that doesn't mean she can't belong in mine. She actually fits right in. Her point of view is refreshing and she's one of Holden designs most promising architects.

But there's more to her than just being a breath of fresh air in my life. Seeing Gianna laugh does things to me that I don't expect like the tightening of my chest and the fluttering in my belly. It's also the first time I've been on a real date where the goal isn't to get her into my bed.

Tonight, the only thing I want is to get to know her better.

Ah, hell, who am I kidding? I want to pull her into my arms and stroke her thick brown hair. I want to lose myself in her big brown eyes and hear her laughter, throaty and sexy. I'm not going to force the moment either. If she's not interested in me that way, then so be it but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try.

As she excuses herself to go to the ladies' room, I take care of the bill and scroll through my missed calls. There's one from Kieran who wants to see if I'm free to hang out and one from my Mom reminding me of the family reunion in two weeks. The third one is a text message from someone I haven't heard from in a while and for good reason. Alton Camden hates my guts.

Alton: You screwing the help now, I hear. Not surprised.

Aaand I guess he still does.

My rivalry with Alton began when we were kids. While it had started as friendly competition, what with our parents constantly one-upping each other about their children's accomplishments, it finally blew up two years ago when I broke up with his sister. She and I had dated for two years and there'd even been talk of marriage. But I was finishing up my internship then and I had no plans to settle down, not when I'd been looking forward to living in New York after I passed my licensing exams.

When Ingrid accidentally sent me a series of selfies of her in bed with another man, I promptly ended our relationship via text message while promising her I'd never tell anyone what had happened. Our families were close, for crying out loud, and while I wasn't perfect, I wasn't about to air our dirty laundry in public. But Ingrid had no qualms about doing just that, instead claiming that I'd been the one who cheated on her and Alton hasn't forgiven me since.

Our parents still comparing us to each other has only made things worse. Dad mentioning his name after my botched presentation was what led me to come up with the lie about being engaged. But lie or not, Alton's text message is uncalled for. I could easily text back an insult referencing his side piece but that would be lowering myself to his level. I'm straightening my life out, aren't I?

"Everything okay?" Giana asks as she returns to the table.

I put my phone away. "Everything's good. Just work texts. You know how that is."

She chuckles. "Actually I don't. I probably don't get half the number of texts you get in a day."

"Consider yourself lucky then," I say, grinning. "Shall we head out? I was thinking we could take a walk."

"I'd love that. I may have drunk a bit too much wine tonight and I need to walk it off before I get behind the wheel."

We spend the next half hour walking around the section of town that's been taken over by big name brands, their modern shops set up in quaint buildings that would have been razed completely and in its place, a behemoth mall. Instead, the facades of the buildings built during the Gold Rush were maintained and retrofitted with only the structures behind it newly constructed. It's one of the things that has kept Auburn Springs the quaint little town people know it as. We may love the finer things modern life has to offer, but we love our history more.