I want You Deeper

Too late, he realized he’d zoned out while she was talking. Now she was asking him a question. He felt like a complete jerk that he’d been thinking about how attractive she was when they were having a serious conversation.

Before he could say anything, a scream pierced the relative silence of the cafe. He hadn’t even noticed the back door opening, and if Alyssa had, she hadn’t mentioned it. She looked just as startled as he did.

When he turned to look, his sister was rushing toward him.

It was just the reception he’d been expecting. He had to admit, he’d sort of assumed Alyssa would welcome him similarly. But in seconds, he was getting the welcome-home hug he’d been craving since walking through the door to the coffee shop more than an hour earlier.

“Yay!” Emily squealed. “You didn’t tell me you were back.”

“I came a few days early. I couldn’t wait to see you.”

In truth, her situation had sounded pretty dire on the phone. As her big brother, he’d felt compelled to get here sooner than he’d originally planned. There wasn’t much he could do to help out-especially now that he knew just how much Alyssa had done-but he felt better being close by.

“He opened the store.” Alyssa was standing just behind him now, hands in her back pockets. “I checked. We’re all ready to go.”

“Just like old times, huh?” Emily punched her brother in the arm playfully. “Big brother coming to my rescue.”

“And just like old times, you’re handling things pretty well on your own.”

“Not on my own.” Emily pointed to Alyssa. “My right-hand woman here has been a huge help.”

Alyssa stepped up to stand next to Jeremy. “I haven’t even gotten started yet. I got everything set up on social media, and I’ve also been scheduling posts to go out every day, as well as engaging in community groups. It’s all about building brand awareness.”

Emily looked at her brother. “See? Right-hand woman. Come on, and I’ll show you some changes we’ve made.”

Alyssa chose to stay in the dining room, letting Jeremy follow Emily to the back area of the restaurant. Oddly, he missed Alyssa. How could he miss her when he’d barely given her a second thought before three a. m. that morning?

“Who would have thought we’d all end up right back here where we started?” Jeremy asked.

They’d grown up only twenty minutes from here, where they’d also gone to school. Alyssa had lived in the same neighborhood, but they hadn’t gotten to know her until she’d befriended Emily in second grade. From that point on, they’d been inseparable.

Emily had been showing him the new shelving they’d bought, but his words caused her to stop and flip around to face him. “She’s been amazing, Jer. Even before she lost her job, she was always checking in on me, and she worked some long hours at that other job. I snatched her up as soon as she was out of work. She gave her apartment up and moved here, where she’s been staying and working around the clock since.”

Something was suddenly very clear to Jeremy as he listened to his sister talk. It didn’t surprise him at all. Years of watching Alyssa help out his mom and sister rolled through his mind. If they had a yard sale, Alyssa was right there, alongside his family, and she did the same for her own family.

She was a real trooper.

“I’ll have to thank her for taking care of my sister,” he said.

“I take care of myself. But, yeah, she’s pretty great. So how long will you be here?”

“Indefinitely.” He opened the fridge, noting the various types of creamers and milks lined up neatly inside. “Nice.” He closed the door and turned back to face her. “I may have to travel some, but I’m officially a northern California resident again.”

“I meant today, although that’s nice to know.” She turned and walked him toward a wall with a big bulletin board covered in announcements. Wasn’t that sort of thing all done online now?

“I have to get to work, unfortunately.” He meant every syllable of that “unfortunately,” too. The last thing he wanted was to drag himself away from here. Not just because he’d been enjoying his morning with Alyssa so much, but also because he’d just reconnected with his sister after being gone for two solid years.

“Come back after work,” Emily called out as he headed out of the backroom and toward the front door of the cafe.

“The shop closes at two, or did you forget?” He pointed to the hours, clearly posted on the door.

“I mean to our apartment, silly. I’ll make dinner for the three of us.”

“Oh, I don’t-” Alyssa started, standing near the table, her coffee cup forgotten behind her. She was trying to find a way out of having dinner with him? Just when he’d thought they’d gotten on somewhat solid ground, she was being all weird again.

“I don’t bite.”

Jeremy wasn’t sure what possessed him to say those words. If she was feeling skittish about him, he probably should lay off the teasing for a while. But he couldn’t seem to shut off the instinct to go right back to the way he’d interacted with her when they were kids.

“I hope not,” Alyssa said.

Their gazes connected and held. He felt something he never would have imagined feeling for his little sister’s best friend. A spark. More than a spark…fireworks.

Did she feel it, too? Was that why she was being so weird?

Or maybe she’d felt it all along.

Emily’s voice sliced right into the moment, forcing Alyssa to nervously avert her gaze. “You’re coming for dinner if I have to drive over to your office and drag you here.”

He saluted his sister. “You’ve got it. Meanwhile, get to work!”

Smiling at his sister, then nodding at Alyssa, he headed out the door, eager to get away from Alyssa so he could figure out what was going on inside his head.