I want You Deeper

He couldn’t possibly be serious. Alyssa rose on tiptoe-a highly unnecessary move-and peered out the front windows. She didn’t know what she was trying to see. It wasn’t like she could identify Jeremy’s car.

“I’ll be right out,” Alyssa said. What else could she say? She had to see what happened next.

“Have fun!” Emily waved to Alyssa with a big smile. “And make sure you’re both home in time for dinner.”

Emily sounded like her mom-a thought that hit Alyssa like a freight train. She knew the consensus was that everyone took on their parents’ personality traits, but that had to be especially difficult when you lost those parents at such a young age. When Emily had children someday, she’d be so much like her mom. Sadly, her mom wouldn’t be there to see it.

There was a Range Rover outside the front door to the cafe, and it looked pretty darn new. When she climbed in and was immediately assaulted by the new car smell, Alyssa looked over at him. “Have you bought a new car since arriving home?”

That was the question Alyssa wasn’t prepared to answer. When she’d worked with TravTech, her goal was to promote one client: the company. But she’d certainly created her share of marketing plans, which she’d had to present to the powers that be. This couldn’t be that much different, right?

Alyssa jumped right in. “I’d just need to sit down with you and learn about your business. Your branding, what your goals are. Then, once I’ve gathered all the information, I’ll prepare a preliminary marketing plan for you to review. You would make tweaks to it or add things-whatever you come up with. Often, clients find that the marketing plan gets the gears going and they come up with all kinds of great ideas and strategies.”

Wow. Who would have thought the lessons she’d learned in college would help her out so much today? She remembered doing mock presentations and discussing these very things. Even though she’d done this sort of work when she was with TravTech, pitching external clients was completely different than sitting in a meeting with your bosses to discuss upcoming marketing campaigns.

“Then we’d sign a contract?” Mitzi looked more bright-eyed than ever if that were possible. “How soon could you get started?”

“This afternoon?”

Alyssa looked over at Jeremy. He’d driven her here, but she certainly wouldn’t expect him to wait around while she went over everything in detail with Mitzi.

“We’ll do it while we eat.”

Mitzi opened her menu and started studying its contents. The server returned and they ordered, with Alyssa taking Mitzi’s lead to ask for a salad. She’d learned to take the client’s lead when ordering early in her career, although she still wasn’t sure about the logic of that. She was playing it safe this time, though.

“So how do you two know each other?” Mitzi asked. She pointed to Alyssa and then Jeremy. “Are you…?”

Alyssa nearly choked on the mouthful of water she’d just swallowed at the brusque question. How did she even answer that? She looked over at Jeremy.

“Childhood friends,” Jeremy answered.

No surprise. At least he hadn’t responded to the question with disgust at the unspoken implication that they might be a couple. Even though they weren’t, that would have been painful to hear.

“His sister and I are best friends.” Alyssa took another sip of her water, now that the choking hazard had passed. “Have been since second grade.”

“That’s so awesome.” Mitzi lent her usual enthusiasm to those three words. “I don’t have any friends from high school, even. We all lost touch during college.”

“It helps that we both still live in the town we grew up in. Plus,

Jeremy’s sister owns a coffee shop. I’m doing her marketing.”

A big smile covered Mitzi’s face. “Which coffee shop? I love coffee.” “Technologia Cafe,” Alyssa answered.

Mitzi frowned. “I haven’t heard of that one.”

“You will soon. She just hired me to get things going. You’ll have to come check it out.”

Only, if she did, she’d see Alyssa working there and wonder just how much a marketing firm owner she was. There had to be some way to get ahead of that.

“Right now, Alyssa is getting some hands-on experience there.” Jeremy looked over at her. “My sister needed some help, and Alyssa pitched right in. What better way is there to learn about a business than to spend some time as an employee?”

Alyssa returned Jeremy’s stare. He was looking at her appreciatively, and it gave her stomach those butterflies that reminded her of her teen years. And he was sitting by her side as she worked to achieve her dream. That was a true hero, in her mind.

“I would say you could come to work with me for a while, but unless you know your way around design tools, I’m afraid you’d be just watching me work.”

Alyssa smiled. “I can do that for half an hour or so after we finish up here.”

As if on cue, the server showed up with their meals, setting them down in front of them. Jeremy, having missed the message that you should match your order to the client’s, was enjoying a big, juicy ribeye with a baked potato.

Although he had to have been bored throughout the meal, Jeremy ate quietly while Mitzi filled Alyssa in on all the details of her business. The more Mitzi talked, the more excited Alyssa was. They’d have to agree on pricing, and of course, Mitzi would have to like her marketing plan, but for the first time, she saw the possibility of achieving her dream of running her marketing agency.