I want You Deeper

The words made him smile. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but he liked having someone aside from his sister who knew about his mom’s punch. Without his parents around, there were so few people in his life who knew who he was. Until he’d returned home, he’d felt completely disconnected from that younger version of himself.

“Have you ever heard of latte art?” Alyssa called from the kitchen.

He stepped up to the counter that divided the kitchen from the living room-feeling all too much like they were at the coffee shop. “Those are

the hearts they draw in foamy milk on the top of lattes, right?”

“Right. But it goes beyond hearts. I’ve been practicing.”

“Practicing latte art?”

He didn’t realize that could be a hobby, but he supposed it made sense. There was, after all, a mural that covered the entire cafe. Why couldn’t foamy milk art be something people lined up to see?

“I’ve seen people do animal heads, and I think I’ve gotten that, but it needs to be more.” Alyssa handed him his glass of punch. “Not pandas and giraffes, but something more…Silicon Valley-ish. Maybe computer monitors and smartphones.”

Sipping on his punch, Jeremy thought that over for a moment. “No, something less obvious. Maybe the faces of entrepreneurs.”

“Human faces are tough to do, especially if you want them to be recognizable.” Alyssa breezed past him and headed to the sofa, where her bedding from last night was still all setup. She shoved it to the far end and took the cushion in the middle, pulling her laptop from the coffee table to her lap.

Drink held protectively in front of him, Jeremy headed over to the sofa, tentatively taking the empty cushion next to her. There was no coaster on this side of the sofa, so he settled for holding his drink. His parents had taught them to never set a drinking glass on a table without a coaster, and that message had stuck with him today.

“Technology isn’t quite so literal,” Alyssa said, typing something into a web browser, and pulling up a page full of images. They were symbols. “Social media logos. We could ask them to list their favorite social media site and deliver. I could see a logo in latte art being shared all over the place on the platform where it’s posted.”

“Or how about the Wi-Fi symbol?” Jeremy pointed to one of the images on the screen. “Not only does that represent technology, but half the people who walk through the door want to know the password.”

Alyssa’s jaw dropped and she turned to look at him. “You’re a genius!” “That’s what I always say,” he mumbled to himself.

She pulled up some images and showed him. Turned out, he hadn’t been the first one to come up with that idea. It looked like some people had already been doing Wi-Fi latte art. That didn’t seem to stop Alyssa, though.

“We could even change the logo. Could you imagine? Do you know any graphic designers?”

She turned her attention back to him, and again, he lost his focus. He had to learn to get around that. He couldn’t get this business venture going if he was constantly letting himself be distracted by those light brown eyes.

“I do. We have a graphic design firm we use. They did the current logo.”

“And it’s great, but if you want to push a new promotion, maybe we could tie the logo into it?”

He frowned. As much as he wanted to agree with whatever she said, his business acumen got in the way here. “Starting over with all new branding is pushing it. I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Good point.” She looked down at the screen, thoughtfully chewing on her lip.

The current logo was a coffee cup with steam coming up from it. The cup had nothing to do with technology, but the name of the cafe on the building was in techie-looking font. It had always bothered Jeremy, even though he’d signed off on it at the time. It seemed a little…NôvelDrama.Org content rights.

“Boring.”

Alyssa tilted her head slightly. “Sorry?”

“The current logo. It’s…bleh. Maybe you’re right.”

“You want to change the logo now?”

There was no denying he was being confused. Maybe because he was confused. He decided some things were best not to decide on a whim.

“Let’s shelve that idea for later,” Jeremy finally said. “Instead, we should come up with a plan for the latte art.”

“I’m going to need to practice.” Alyssa frowned at her screen. “I don’t know how easy it’s going to be. The last thing I want is to hand people their coffee with a big blob on top.”

He laughed. “Good point. So…let’s go practice.”

“What about my waffle sundae?”

Jeremy shrugged. “I’ll make it later. Come on.”

The door to the apartment opened just as Jeremy was standing. Emily came to a stop once she saw her brother bounding toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to the cafe. Alyssa needs to practice painting Wi-Fi symbols in foam.”

Yes, he was aware of how bizarre that sounded. He knew his sister, though. She didn’t ask questions. He looked back over his shoulder to see Alyssa giving her best friend a shrug as she passed. Then, over Alyssa’s shoulder, Jeremy saw a smile had spread over Emily’s face.

She was enjoying watching the two of them.