I want You Deeper

“O Jeremy had been out the door all of two minutes, if that, kay, so what’s the deal?”

when Emily turned her full attention to Alyssa. Alyssa responded by heading straight to her workstation. Even though Jeremy had done most of the opening procedure duties, there had to be something left for her to do.

“Did we get new small cups?” Alyssa bent over, checking various cubbies behind the counter. “I looked for them, but I couldn’t find them.”

“You’re changing the subject. What’s going on with you?”

Alyssa flashed her a look, then continued her search. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re being all weird around Jeremy. You don’t want him coming over for dinner? It sounded like you were about to object for a minute there.”

Sighing, Alyssa stood. Maybe it would have been better for all of them if she’d just admitted her crush when they were twelve and let Emily deal with it. But what would have been the point? Jeremy hadn’t returned her feelings, so all it would have done was make things awkward.

Besides, Emily made it clear from a very young age that she didn’t like girls dating her brother. She ended up pretty much hating every girlfriend he ever had. Back then, she’d been worried about losing her BFF over it, and looking back, Alyssa was pretty sure she would have.

“You’re very protective of your brother,” Alyssa commented instead of responding.

“You bet I am. Is this about prom night? Because you two need to clear the air about that.”

Alyssa laughed. “It’s been six years. I think if he were going to apologize, he would have already.”

“It’s been six years.” Emily’s message was clear in the way she leveled her gaze at Alyssa.

Six years. She should’ve gotten over it by now. But it wasn’t just the image of her sitting alone in her fancy gown with her parents trying to console her on what should have been one of the best nights of her life. No, a large part of it was that Jeremy had never apologized for standing her up. Never even explained it. He’d just vanished.

“He was going through his wild phase back then.” Emily shook her head. “I don’t make excuses for it. There are no excuses. But he had to hit rock bottom before he picked himself back up, and then…”

And then their parents died. Which was why she could never, ever tell Jeremy how devastating his treatment of her had been. He’d only asked her to the prom as a favor to his sister, she was pretty sure, but it would have been Alyssa’s one chance to show everyone she wasn’t just a knobby-kneed, awkward girl. She was a woman capable of getting a hottie like Jeremy to escort her to the biggest event of her entire high school existence.

“It’s nothing.” Alyssa shook her head as if to shake off the entire conversation. She’d never be able to tell Jeremy she was angry at him, so she may as well forget the whole thing. No point in holding a grudge if she wasn’t hoping for some sort of resolution.

Emily didn’t look like she believed Alyssa, but she seemed to think better of pushing it further. Instead, they jumped into their work, setting out the new small cups and updating the baked goods in the display case. Soon, the doors were open, and Alyssa was too busy to think about anything else. At least until around midmorning, when business died a little and she got a chance to look at her phone.

Call me, a text read. Dismissing it as spam, she moved to pocket her phone and returned to work when it buzzed in her hand again. It’s Jeremy.

“Your brother’s texting me,” Alyssa said.

Why was she saying that out loud? She’d finally gotten Emily to drop the subject a few hours ago, and now she was opening it back up again. Maybe it was because her heart had leaped at the sight of his name and she wanted to play it off as no big deal to convince herself of it.

Emily was refilling the espresso machine. “What does he want?”

“He wants me to call him.”

“So call him. Put him on speaker.”

That sounded like a much better option than talking to him alone. His sister could serve as a safety barrier between them. She was suddenly very glad she’d mentioned the text to Emily.

“You’re on speaker!” Alyssa blurted as soon as she heard Jeremy pick up on the other end. “Say hi to your sister.”

“Hey, everyone!” Jeremy called out. “I was calling to see if I could borrow Alyssa for a couple of hours.”

Borrow her? What was she, a library book or something?

“That’s up to Alyssa.” Emily looked at her. “Can my brother borrow you for a few hours?”

“Couple,” Jeremy corrected. Alyssa had to ask. “Why?”

“It’s a surprise.”

No. Not.

“I have to know why before I’ll agree to go.” Alyssa looked over at Emily. “It’s my decision, as long as Emily can spare me.”

Emily held up her hands as if in surrender. “Don’t let me get in the way of a good surprise.”

“It has to do with your business.”

Knowing Jeremy as she did, that was as detailed as it would get. Alyssa was torn. The goal was to spend as little time around Jeremy as possible- especially one-on-one time with him-but if she wanted to achieve her dream of starting a marketing firm, she needed to be open to every opportunity that presented itself. Also, she couldn’t help but feel intrigued.

Curiosity won out in the end. “Fine. Where do you want me to meet you?”

“I’m out front.”