I want You Deeper

“T Jeremy smiled at his passenger, who didn’t look at all his seems to have become a pattern,” Alyssa commented.

annoyed by the fact that he’d scooped her up from his sister’s cafe. Part of him wished he was whisking her off to some romantic early dinner. But he had a feeling Alyssa would be far, far happier about where he was taking her.

“Okay, no surprises,” he said. “You’re meeting up with an old friend.”

Alyssa didn’t respond at first, no doubt running through a list of “old friends.” Jeremy, meanwhile, was having second thoughts about calling the person that. It was what he’d been told, but that didn’t mean Alyssa would see the person that way.

“She worked for you,” he rushed to amend.

Now she looked over at him. He saw it out of the corner of his eye while he attempted to navigate his way to the offices where Alyssa had once worked. Jeremy had never been to TravTech, but it was hard not to know someone who had been an employee there at one point or another. It used to be massive. The layoffs had shrunk the staff side considerably, but TravTech was still a legend in this town.

“I’m going to assume she still works here.”

That comment came from Alyssa as they were entering the parking garage. She’d know this place all too well. He assumed she’d even parked here every day during the time she worked here unless she’d taken public transportation.

“Brooke Alexander,” she guessed.

“Bingo!”

He pulled up to the machine that dispensed tickets and pressed the button. This was a personal venture, so he wouldn’t be taking this parking expense back to work, although he did feel like being on good terms with TravTech was a good thing for his company.

Alyssa waited until he’d parked to speak again.

“So what’s the deal?” She’d turned to face him, waiting for his answer.

Yes, he needed to tell her. The last thing she’d want was to go in there without knowing what to expect.

“TravTech has decided not to replace the team they had before. Instead, they’re going to outsource their marketing…and they want your marketing firm.”

“I don’t have a marketing firm.”

“You do. You have a very successful client-Technologia Cafe-and my partner said you’re about to get a call from Mitzi.”

Alyssa’s eyes widened. “The woman with the graphic design firm?”

He nodded. “She’s hiring you. So this will be your third client. They’re all very impressed with what you’ve done for the cafe. You’re on your way.”

The last thing he’d expected was for her to think of this as bad news. But her eyes had glazed over and her half-smile seemed forced. She didn’t want this?

“I thought this was your dream,” he said.

“It’s just…”

Tears were welling in her eyes. All he could think was that he’d put those tears there. It made him want to say whatever it took to make them go away.

“We don’t have to do this.” He reached up and brushed away the tear that had landed on her cheek. “I’ll just tell Justin you’re overloaded with work right now. Or we could say it’s a conflict because you’re working with one of his competitors.” He smiled. “That would be an interesting twist on things.”

She shook her head. “It’s not that. It’s just…opening the cafe, working with your sister. I’m realizing that’s coming to an end, and I love it. Plus-”

He waited for her to continue, but she was quiet for what seemed like an eternity. He relaxed back against his seat to give her the space she needed to speak. It was his way of taking the pressure off.

“We kind of messed up today.”

The words were accompanied by a sheepish expression. She was ashamed of something, and he had no idea what. Who was “we?” Did this have something to do with their kiss last night? No, that wasn’t “today.”

“I’m afraid to look, but there were some bad reviews.” She held up her phone, but the screen was locked. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be seeing here. “A bunch of them. We’ve had a hard time keeping up with the flood of customers coming in.”This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

“Understandable.”

Her brow furrowed. “But bad, bad form. Marketing is only the first part of success. You have to follow through once people buy into what you’re selling.”

“You aren’t a barista. And my sister needs more help. I’ve been telling her that for a while, and now we can afford it.”

By pointing out she wasn’t a barista, he certainly hadn’t planned on offending her. She was a marketing consultant. A business owner. A great friend. She’d done a phenomenal job helping his sister out, and he was pretty confident she’d excel at whatever she tried in life, but if she failed to live up to customer expectations, was it wrong to remind her that this was not some kind of failure?

“Let’s go.”

Alyssa reached for her door handle and opened the door, leaving him with no other choice but to scramble to keep up. She was mad at him? Or just eager to get inside? He couldn’t tell the difference at this point.

“Wait!” he called out as he stepped out of his SUV.

The intention was to try to get her to slow down. Maybe even to chase after her and try to talk his way out of this. But they weren’t alone in the parking garage, not by a long stretch. The elevator had just opened, and people were stepping out of it to start toward their cars. Alyssa rushed to catch the elevator before the doors closed.

She had to wait for him, didn’t she? He supposed she could go up and kick off the meeting without him there, but it would be awkward when he finally did show up. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her standing outside the doors, staring down at her phone screen. The plan was to try to explain his comment about her barista status once they were alone. The only problem was, they weren’t alone. By the time he got to her side, a woman was closing in on them, and there was a man not far behind her.

That left him with his thoughts as they stepped into the elevator and rode up. They didn’t even get a break when a couple of people exited. They had company the whole way up, as well as a group of people waiting outside the elevator doors once they arrived at their floor.

“Alyssa!” he said in an almost whisper as they neared the door that led to the TravTech conference room. On the other side of those big glass doors, he saw both Justin and Brooke seated at the table, waiting for them.

Predictably, Alyssa didn’t stop. She pulled the door open and walked into the conference room as though he hadn’t said her name at all.

All he could hope was he’d somehow redeem himself during this meeting. Maybe whatever Brooke and Justin said would make her so happy, that she’d forget his barista comment.

“Alyssa!” Brooke exclaimed, sounding much more upbeat than his use of her name had been a few seconds earlier. She stood and gave Alyssa a hearty hug.

“Good afternoon.” Justin stood and shook both Jeremy’s and Alyssa’s hands. Then he gestured toward the empty seats across from him. “We hear your marketing firm is on fire. Congratulations.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised.” Brooke gave Alyssa a big smile. “You were such an inspiration. I was shocked when you were part of the downsizing.”