I want You Deeper

How in the heck was it possible that Alyssa Kennedy was now a woman?

He’d seen her over the years, most memorably at his sister’s

college graduation. She’d been wearing one of those oversized graduation gowns, though, and a cap on her head. Before that, when he’d run into her, he’d still looked at her as the same shy, giggly teenage girl who never seemed to have a straight face when he was around.

Now she was serious. Dead serious. When he’d asked her to hug him, she’d looked at him as though he was some smarmy type with grabby hands. He had not liked the way that made him feel.

But what he liked was the way she looked in that oversized T-shirt. It had come to mid-thigh, so it wasn’t like it revealed much more than a pair of shorts or miniskirt would. Her long, chestnut, wavy hair had been just mussed enough to reveal she’d recently climbed out of bed, and her sleepy eyes had given her a sort of glow.

Man, she’d grown into a stunning woman.

Jeremy fired up equipment and began opening procedures while he waited for things to warm up. What he needed right now was a strong cup of coffee, but in the meantime, may as well make himself productive. It would save his sister sometime when she rolled down here at four a. m. to get started. Maybe he should text her and tell her to take her time.

She deserved to sleep in, as hard as she worked.

No, he’d rather surprise her.

Jeremy had all the opening procedures finished and was seated at a table by the front window, coffee in front of him when he heard the back door open. He turned to see Alyssa, looking completely refreshed and awake in a white T-shirt and jeans. She stopped just inside the doorway.

“You’re still here?”

He patted the table, mostly to indicate the seat across from him. He just hoped that message translated. “Grab a cup of coffee and join me.”

“I have to-”

“It’s all done.” He waved a hand in the air. “Just have to wait for five-thirty”

Alyssa walked behind the counter and began looking things over. Didn’t trust him, huh? He considered teasing her about it. The old Alyssa would have giggled and coyly looked away. He wasn’t so sure how this new Alyssa would handle being picked on.

“I helped her open this place every day for the first few months it was open.”

He stared down at his phone while he spoke. If Alyssa handled opening duties now, it wouldn’t have surprised him. Emily was not a morning person, which made it fairly amusing she’d chosen a line of work that required getting up at the crack of dawn. The only explanation for that choice was the fact that it was a coffee place. Emily had always heavily relied on some type of caffeine to get her eyes open in the morning. She’d drunk heavily-sweetened coffee from their parents’ coffeemaker starting in middle school.

“So you’re helping my sister open the store? That’s nice of you,” he called out to Alyssa as she moved around behind the counter.

It was tough not to monitor what she was doing. It had been so long since he’d opened the shop, that he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d missed something crucial. But he decided to let her do her thing back there while he repeatedly refreshed his news app to make it look like he was reading something on the screen.

Alyssa came from behind the counter, a cup of iced coffee in hand. “She’s paying me an hourly wage, so it’s hardly charity. Her top employee quit around the time I was laid off, so it was a win for both of us. This is just until my business gets going.”

To his surprise, she settled into the chair across from him, like they were just two old friends having a meeting at a coffee shop. A closed coffee shop. This was a little closer to the warm reception he expected from someone who had been like a little sister to him.

“How long did you work there?” he asked.

She looked up at him as she took a sip from her straw, and then set the cup down. “At TravTech? Just a couple of years. I did that internship in college at that tech startup, though, and they recommended me. I was promoted to director just before the layoffs. They kept one of my employees because her salary was way lower.”

“That sucks.”

She shrugged. “Just part of doing business.”

At first, he didn’t answer. He just looked out the window thoughtfully. Yes, that was part of doing business for some people, and maybe they succeeded that way. Sometimes shareholders and investors push you to make some tough decisions. But he liked to believe if he was ever in that position, he’d find a way to accomplish the goals while still rewarding his most loyal employees somehow.

“I got a severance package,” she said. “But this is my chance. I knew when I was laid off, I could go one of two ways. I could start actively searching for a salaried position or I could start my own business. Silicon Valley is full of companies that need marketing expertise. Most of them can’t afford a full-time person. I’m here to help businesses like that.”

“Like coffee shops.” He gave her a teasing smile, pushing the limits a little. This type of banter would have been fine when they were kids, so why did it feel so weird now? There was distance between them, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he definitely would be considering hitting on her had she been anyone else.

“Mostly tech companies, but I’d love to work with more small businesses like this one. Brick-and-mortar isn’t really where it’s at around here.”

“Maybe it is.”

She frowned at him, and it hit him how different she was now. He was having a hard time seeing her as the girl he’d been so comfortable with just a few years ago. Had he ever really looked at her? Sure, she’d been sixteen when he was nineteen, so just a child, but now she was twenty-four and he was twenty-seven. The age gap wasn’t quite as extreme now.

“All these tech startups around here, they’re pretty much the same.” He waved his hand in the air as if to indicate the whole of Silicon Valley in one gesture. “Businesses like this one-that’s where the heart is. I can bring you into my company and have you blow a bunch of smoke, but when it comes down to it, I don’t think you’d be happy doing that.”

Alyssa narrowed her eyes at him. The move was barely perceptible, but he knew her. Just as knowing her made him fully aware that she wouldn’t be happy promoting the testosterone-fueled dudes who pretty much ran this town.

Jeremy should know. He was one of them.

For seven years, he’d worked his butt off. He’d come to this business-driven town-leaving college early-to make something of his dream to be a techpreneur. In the dark of the night, when he was struggling to fall asleep, he knew he’d been trying to outrun his parents’ sudden death in a car accident. But from that, he’d somehow managed to build one of the most powerful SIM cards-a card that was used in cell phones put out by most of the top manufacturers.

Yet, deep down, also in those dark hours of the night, he knew many people thought of him as that trust fund baby. That kid who had come to Silicon Valley with a bunch of money in his pocket and used those funds to start a business. Of course, it was successful, they’d say. Any entrepreneur could kick off a successful business if he had a bunch of money handed to him.

So he spent his career trying to prove them wrong. And now that he was back in town, that was more apparent to him than it had been the entire two years he’d been away from here.

“I’m going after female-led businesses.” Alyssa took a long sip of her drink, seeming to await his response.

“That’s awesome.”

He wasn’t sure what else to say to that. Mostly, his mind was racing as he tried to think of some colleagues to refer to her. But he was all too aware, during that mind-racing, that he couldn’t think of one.

They were all dudes.

When he looked at her, she was smiling at him. “Yeah, there aren’t many. You’re probably thinking, ‘Good luck with that.’ But that’s the problem. There are a lot of female-led startups around here, but they don’t get the attention…not to mention, the funding. I’m hoping to help with that.”

Jeremy was having a hard time thinking at all if he were honest. He was too busy looking at the dramatic way her lips moved when she spoke, as though she were careful to enunciate every word. Then there was that adorable little nose and those large brown eyes, framed by long, lush lashes. Even when she had been clean-faced earlier, those lashes had stood out. All of this was just an older version of the features she’d had as a kid, but somehow, they now came together to make her a breathtakingly gorgeous woman.

“What do you think?”