I want You Deeper

Her cellphone alarm began blaring music from across the room, and Alyssa rushed to shut it off before it woke up Emily. She had a big meeting this morning but first, she was going to help Emily get the cafe open. Sure, Emily was hiring helpers, but only to help with the morning rush, not to open the cafe. Alyssa didn’t mind getting things started up early.

What else was she going to do? It wasn’t like she could sleep.

After getting dressed and tiptoeing out of the apartment, Alyssa took the stairs. She was exhausted, but there wasn’t much she could do if her racing mind wouldn’t let her sleep. Hopefully, things would equalize soon, and she’d at least be able to get six hours-

Her thoughts broke off when she saw a light on in the cafe. Had Emily forgotten to turn it off the night before? Alyssa smiled, imagining the number of people who had walked up to that door late last night in search of caffeine, only to find that the “open” sign being off did, indeed, mean they weren’t open.

But as she drew closer, Alyssa realized the light wasn’t the only thing different this morning. She heard sounds coming from the cafe. And she smelled coffee. She should not be smelling coffee this early.

Alyssa knew immediately what was going on here. A criminal hadn’t broken in to make coffee. It was Jeremy.

Reminding herself to stay strong and stand up for herself, Alyssa unlocked the back door and walked in. It did occur to her that she could turn around and go back to bed, but by the time that idea hit her, she’d already pushed the door open. It was as though her body was betraying her, pushing her toward Jeremy.

“Good morning!”

He had the nerve to be loud and cheerful. She winced. Even if she wasn’t angry-no, hurt-right now, she wouldn’t enjoy that type of greeting. She may be an early riser, but it wasn’t by choice. And her lack of sleep meant she was especially irritable first thing in the morning.

“What are you doing?”

She stopped at the end of the counter, one hand on the countertop and the other in her pocket. Yeah, ignoring him could have been the best way to go, but she’d never been a fan of the silent treatment. It was just too uncomfortable. The goal here was to let him know she had this under control and send him back home or to his office or wherever he planned to go after this.

“Getting this place ready to open.” He was standing in front of the latte machine, a cup of coffee in hand. He didn’t look like he was working, but she couldn’t say she hadn’t stood exactly like that many times herself.

“I can handle it.” She moved forward, fully ready to take over. She should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

“I’m not here to open the store.”

He set his cup down, and she knew she was in trouble here. He wasn’t going to just leave, and he wasn’t going to keep it all about business. He wanted to discuss things, and she hadn’t yet come up with a way to articulate what was bothering her.

Turned out, he had. “You felt betrayed. I get that. I didn’t betray you, though. You have to know that. I would never, ever have agreed to a meeting if I’d known-”

“It’s not that,” she interrupted him. She couldn’t let him continue with this assumption that he’d done something wrong. “I just want someone on my side. I thought you were on my side.”

“I couldn’t be more on your side. What do you want me to do? I’ll go kick his butt. Buy out his company? I don’t think I can, though. They have a pretty high valuation now. I could buy his company and fire him, though. Brooke, too.”

Alyssa had to resist the urge to laugh. How could those words not melt the protective layer of ice she’d put around her heart?

Stopping directly in front of her, he took her hands in his. “This is about more than that, though, isn’t it? This is about what happened on prom night.”

“No. I mean, I can’t say that didn’t make me afraid something like that would happen again.”

Was she giving away too much here? If all of this was just a meaningless fling to him, saying she was afraid revealed this was more to her. She cared. She was pretty sure she’d fallen in love.

“There’s a real problem here,” he said.

At those words, she held her breath. So far, the conversation had been fairly positive. Was he about to let her down gently?

But he stepped closer, and the look in his eyes told her it was the opposite. “Seems I’ve fallen in love with you,” he said, moving his right hand to her elbow and nudging her gently toward him. She went willingly. “I never intended to. When I returned home, my goal was to stay single and focus on my business, but you walked back into my life…and it will never be the same.”

“Are you sure?” It was the first thing that came out of her mouth. It was exactly how she felt-scared to believe Jeremy Owens could be in love with her.

“Never been surer. But if you…”

“I thought I was in love with you as a kid.” She was nervous to admit that. “Turns out that was just a crush. I didn’t start falling in love with you until you returned and I took the time to get to know who you are.”

He smiled. “I can see that. You were so much younger than I was-”

“I was closer to being a fan. Like you were a rock star or something.”

His eyebrows arched. “I can say I’ve never had a fan. It’s nice.”

“Well, I’m still your biggest fan, but it’s different now.”This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

“Now, it’s mutual.”

He stepped even closer toward her, wrapping his arms around her waist and settling his hands on the small of her back. She rose on tiptoe and met his kiss, hardly able to believe Jeremy Owens was in love with her.