I want You Deeper

Leaving Alyssa’s side was surprisingly hard. But as Jeremy lost himself in the many activities associated with running his business, he knew he’d be seeing her in just a few hours. They were having dinner together at his sister’s apartment.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Can I bring anything?” Jeremy was rushing out the door to his car while talking on the phone to Emily. It was the weirdest thing. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this excited about something, and all he was doing was having dinner with his sister.

And Alyssa.

“Just yourself.”

There was no mistaking the stress in his sister’s voice. She was rushing around, trying to make everything perfect for her big brother who had returned home. But it wasn’t like he’d been at war or anything. He’d been living the life of luxury in a high-rise condo for the past couple of years. Still, nothing beats time with family and friends.

“Seriously, I can stop by the store and grab some dessert or rolls or something. I don’t mind.”

“In this traffic? You’ll do well to get here in time for the lasagna to come out of the oven.”

His mouth immediately began watering at the mention of his favorite childhood dish. His sister had carried on the tradition, making their mother’s recipe for him as often as she could before he left.

“Watch me.”

After hanging up with his sister, he used his mad driving skills to get from his office to his sister’s apartment in record time. There were plenty of obstacles along the way, but his goal was to impress Emily and, especially, Alyssa.

By the time he found a spot on the very tip-top of the parking garage and walked his way down, he wasn’t sure his arrival time was all that impressive. But he knocked on the door with confidence, hoping Alyssa would answer.

What was happening to him?

Emily pulled the door open and gave him a big hug. “I’m just so excited you’re back. Come on in. The lasagna has another half an hour. What can I get you to drink?”

That was a heck of a lot of information at once. Her energy level made him tired. But maybe that was because he’d just descended ten floors via the stairs.

“I don’t suppose you have some of that punch.”

He’d entered the apartment and found himself subconsciously scanning the area for signs of Alyssa. He was one hundred percent aware of her presence-or lack thereof, in this case. He wanted to ask Emily where she was, but he didn’t want to give away the fact that he was excited to see Alyssa again, especially when he didn’t even understand why he was excited.

Emily called back, “I sure do. Made a batch just for you as soon as I got home from work. I’ll pour you a glass.”

Jeremy smiled. In addition to her lasagna recipe, Emily had also adopted their mother’s fruit punch, which had been a party favorite from the time they were young. Emily had turned it into a regular indulgence, though, making small batches of it even when they were just having dinner together. He wasn’t sure what all was in it, but he knew it somehow involved sherbet and pineapple juice.

“Alyssa’s on her way.” Emily emerged from the kitchen and set a glass of punch in front of him. “Things must have gone well with your business meeting.”

“Why do you say that?”

Emily led the way over to the sofa and sat down on one end. Jeremy opted for the big recliner nearby that had once been his father’s. She frowned.

“She never came back. I texted her around mid-afternoon and she responded that she was in a meeting and would get back to me once it was over. The next time I heard from her was about fifteen minutes ago, saying she was grabbing a rideshare and would be here soon.”

After taking a moment to savor the fruit punch he hadn’t realized he missed, Jeremy set the glass down on a coaster on the table next to him. “I left her there after lunch. They were going to go to her office to discuss what Mitzi’s business does. They seemed to be hitting it off.”

“That was nice of you.” Sipping her punch, Emily looked at him over the top of her glass. There was a hint of amusement in her eyes.

Jeremy shrugged. “I’m always eager to help out where I can. I had a lot of help while I was building my business. Besides, she’s your best friend.”

Still, she watched him. He shrugged to make it seem as though it was no big deal. He was just about to change the subject when she spoke again.

“Alyssa’s always had a crush on you, you know.”

Suddenly, the air in the apartment got ridiculously heavy. No, he hadn’t realized that at all. But thinking back on it, she had been a little weird around him, starting around the time she was in middle school. At seventeen, a fourteen-year-old girl with a crush on him would have been flattering, but that was it. At twenty-seven, a twenty-four-year-old woman with a crush on him…

That was a different matter.

“Remember, you were supposed to take her to her senior prom?” Emily asked.

Something he’d avoided thinking about for the past six years hit him all at once. He’d somehow managed to repress that entire thing, probably because when he thought about it, the guilt overwhelmed him.

He’d been a jerk. No, “jerk” wasn’t even a strong enough word for it. At the time, he’d been away at college, trying to establish his independence. He’d thought he was the man, thanks to his status in his fraternity and the fact that he’d somehow come out of his shell to discover women were interested in him. Taking the four-hour drive back home for Alyssa’s prom had been something that had sounded good when his sister had convinced him to ask her because nobody else had, but a couple of weeks later, when prom night happened, he’d done the wrong thing.

And now that he’d been forced to remember it, he felt like a complete, grade-A fool.

“I’m not saying she still has a thing for you or anything, but she did at that time,” Emily said. “Not to mention the fact that she completely missed her senior prom. That kind of sucked.”

“How do I make it up to her?” He picked up his drink and took a generous swig.