I want You Deeper

Jeremy leaned back against the counter, arms crossed, as his sister posed in front of the sign-out front. This had turned out just the way he’d hoped. A two-hour-long interview followed by a series of pictures for the article. This Ben guy seemed serious about featuring the cafe.

Alyssa, who had been watching alongside him, leaned over to see what he was looking at. “Good job. I’m going upstairs. See you tomorrow.”

“Wait…what?”

At his question, Alyssa paused, her progress toward the door that led to Emily’s apartment completely halted. “It’s my nap time. I always take a nap after we close. Your sister will lock up.”

Then she turned and continued toward the door. He had to stop her. As much as he wanted her to have her nap, they had work to do.

“I want to go over that marketing plan,” he called out.

She stopped again. This time, though, she didn’t freeze in place. She turned and doubled back until she was standing directly in front of him.

“Can’t we do that tomorrow? I’d rather look back over it before I show it to you.”

She wanted to pretty it up. He got it. But he couldn’t sleep well until he helped his sister out. He’d already stopped in to see the landlord and had paid the cafe’s rent in full. Now he needed to find a way to make this place profitable.

And Alyssa’s expertise was necessary to make that happen. “How about if I make you a sundae?”

Her eyes widened. It was subtle, but he saw it. Nothing had changed since her teen years. Alyssa still had a sweet tooth-specifically, a sweet tooth for sundaes.

“With waffles?” she asked.

He laughed. “I can’t promise that. I haven’t checked my sister’s freezer recently. Does she have waffles?”

“Of course!”

“Then, yes, one of my special waffle-and-peanut-butter sundaes.”

Alyssa frowned. “I can’t promise we have peanut butter.”

“Let’s go see.”

Alyssa headed over to the front door and pressed the button on the window next to it that turned the neon “open” sign off. She opened the front door to say something to Emily, who turned and nodded. Probably telling her to close up the shop when she was finished. All the customers were now gone, and Alyssa had finished up the closing duties while Jeremy had responded to various work-related emergencies on his phone. They were free and clear to go up to Emily’s apartment.

Alone.

It hit him then that they’d be together with no one else around. That hadn’t happened yet, not since he’d returned and not where they were assured privacy. Although he supposed in this case, they wouldn’t be assured privacy, either, since his sister would likely return at any moment.

Not that he would do anything with that privacy. He wasn’t going to make a move on Alyssa. At least not until they’d resolved the issue of prom night. He had to at least apologize for that before they could move forward.

That was one of his goals for this afternoon. But Goal Number One? To work out a plan with Alyssa to fill Technologia Cafe with customers. He wanted to see them lined up at the counter every single morning, just as he had seen every day at a certain chain coffee restaurant when he was working overseas.

“I’ll show you my social media posts first.”

Alyssa was talking as they headed toward the elevator. He knew it was wrong of him and hated himself for it, but he was distracted by the firm fit of her jeans across her butt area. Instead of admiring her backside, he should be listening. He had to focus.

“I have everything prescheduled, so if you want any changes starting tomorrow, that can easily be done. We’ll just look over my upcoming posts and figure out ways we can make them more effective.”

“I don’t think it’s about social media posts.”

Jeremy realized he was frowning, and they were in the elevator now so she could see him. He quickly forced a neutral expression to his face.

“We need something bigger,” he rushed to explain. “The article will help, but he made it clear it can take a few days to publish it. Longer if something more urgent comes up. In the meantime, we need to line up the next big thing.”

She was watching him now. He had to admit, he liked the feel of her gaze trained on him. It made him want to figure out what he needed to do to keep her looking at him at all times when they were together.

“Like…?” she finally asked.

Oh, that. He needed to get back on track so he could tell her what he’d been thinking about pretty much nonstop since he’d learned his sister was in trouble. Yeah, having Alyssa around tended to throw his brain off track a little. He was scrambling to find a way to fix things.

“A promotion of some kind.” That had been an idea he’d come up with early that morning while tossing and turning. “Not just a ten percent-off coupon, but something really over the top. Franchise coffee shops do things like mermaid lattes or whatever. We need something that will make people want to take pictures and share them online.”

The idea seemed to spark something in Alyssa. The elevator dinged, indicating they’d reached their floor, and he had to lead the way out because she was so lost in thought, that she wasn’t even moving. He was worried she might stay in there after the doors closed, with the elevator then carrying them back to the first floor, but when he looked back over his shoulder, she was following him down the hallway.

“You have the key.” He stepped back and waited for her to unlock the apartment.

She unlocked it and stepped inside, heading straight for the kitchen. “I’ll pour you some of that punch you like. I think there’s still some left.”