I want You Deeper

The plan was to go straight to work. No stopping at the cafe, no matter what. If he stopped by, he wouldn’t want to leave. He was already still fuzzy-brained from having dinner with Alyssa the previous night.

But Jeremy couldn’t stay away. He found himself taking a right turn when he should have been going straight. There wasn’t a line in front of the store. He saw that as he approached and wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad sign. On one hand, he wanted the cafe to have the business, but on the other, a crowd like yesterday could overload his sister and Alyssa, leading to shortages in…well, everything. Plus, one of the first things his sister had told him when she’d mentioned Alyssa helping out was that it was just temporary. The plan was to hire someone full-time, relieving his sister while also letting Alyssa focus on her new marketing firm.

At this point, she wouldn’t be around as much.

Jeremy pulled into a parking space several blocks away-the closest he could find-and smiled to himself at the thought of seeing Alyssa again. Last night had been…frustrating. As he’d sat across from her at that table, in a setting meant for couples, he’d wanted so much more. It had been a work of sheer will to keep himself from reaching out to take her hand.

As they’d chitchatted about the cafe and tried to make this as casual as possible, all he’d been able to think about was kissing her at the end of the evening. But when they’d left the restaurant, she’d said she wanted to get home and sleep, which he’d taken as a sign he shouldn’t ask her to go for a walk. His vehicle had barely rolled to a stop in front of the cafe when her door opened and she climbed out with a hasty, “Goodnight. Thanks for everything.”

So much for kissing her goodnight.

Not that he would have tried, anyway. He wasn’t even sure he had the green light. Every time he tried to get a little romantic, she seemed to shut him down. Even when he’d tried to tell her she’d looked nice, she’d quickly dismissed him. But it seemed they were sharing long, meaningful glances more often lately. At least they meant something on his end.

Jeremy was so caught up in his thoughts, that he didn’t immediately notice things were unusual on the other side of the big windows he was passing. Only when he arrived at the door and reached for the handle to open it did he see the crowd gathered inside. And a small group of people was approaching to his left, waiting for him to enter.

This place was beyond busy. There wasn’t a line out the door, granted, but there was at least one person seated at every table, a large group of people gathered around the area where Alyssa was doing her latte art, and a line at the cash register, placing orders. This was how it was every day when they first opened. But back then there were four people behind the counter to keep up with demand.

As usual, he rushed behind the counter to help out. He had an eight-a. m. meeting, but he could just help for a few minutes…

“Hey!” Emily called out when she glimpsed Jeremy sliding in next to Alyssa. Odd how he went straight to her side rather than asking his sister what she needed. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“Just stopping in for some coffee.” He glanced at the clock above the door. “I’m sure I can help out for a little while, though.”

What he needed to do was get to his office and go over that report he’d stayed up until midnight prepping. He was existing on far too little sleep and far too much coffee these days.

And far too much thinking about Alyssa.

“Hi.” Alyssa looked over at him, speaking in a sweet, slightly dazed tone. Yes, she was looking at him in a way that anyone with decent eyesight would say was interesting. He wasn’t imagining that, was he?

“Hi,” he replied in a tone similar to hers. He couldn’t seem to pull his gaze away from her.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Could you two lovebirds stop staring at each other? I’m running late.”

That did it. A customer standing right in front of them had drawn attention to Jeremy and Alyssa. The man hadn’t even said it in a normal tone. It had been shouted, for the benefit of everyone standing nearby, Jeremy assumed.

Before he could figure out what to do about it, though, a raucous near the front door drew his attention. Even the customers who had been staring at Jeremy and Alyssa curiously turned to see what was happening.

Equipment. That was the first thing he saw. A guy was holding a camera up by his shoulder and a woman rushing in behind him. That woman looked familiar-

“Renee Forrester!” someone shouted. He realized the shouter was his sister. She’d frozen, receipt in midair, and was gaping at the scene in front of all of them.

“Excuse me.” The dude with the camera pushed his way toward the counter. People began to step aside to make way for him, but he still had to sweep through a few of them. He was headed straight back here.

“This area’s employees only,” Jeremy blurted without even realizing he’d said the words out loud. Why was he suddenly feeling territorial about his sister’s store?

“Hi.” The reporter had walked straight up to the counter and was looking at his sister. “I’m Renee Forrester, KSFT News. We tried to call ahead but your number appears to have been disconnected.”

Their number had been disconnected? Jeremy looked at his sister, eyes wide. She just kept her attention focused straight ahead on the reporter. The message was clear there. Either his sister was fully aware the cafe’s phone number had been disconnected or she was putting on a neutral face for the reporter.

Renee kept talking. “I thought we’d do some shots from here this morning. We have the truck out front, and we’re going to go live, but I wanted to get some footage from inside to run later in the morning. Just pretend we aren’t here. Maybe I can interview you in a little while?”

This crowd wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. For his sister to do the interview, she’d have to leave the counter shorthanded. Jeremy could not miss his meeting, not with it being the first meeting with his entire team since his return. He thought about it for a second before his problem-solving skills kicked in.

“Maybe do the interview now.”

Both Renee and Alyssa turned to look at him. Renee’s expression immediately changed. She shifted slightly and her gaze ran the length of Jeremy. Hmm. Maybe he could work with that.

“I’ll watch the register.” Jeremy stepped into place in front of it, at which point his sister automatically moved out of the way. “You do this, and when you come back, I can run off to work.”

“You’re leaving?”