Only With Me (With Me 2)

Katerina walked in and started greeting patrons at their tables as I stood there and stared at the foreign desserts.

Leaning closer, I whispered, “Kataifi!”

Sweeping my eyes across I saw baklava, phyllo pastries, kourabiedes, and kariokes.

I turned on my heels and stormed past Katerina who was asking a lady how she liked the baklava.

“It’s delicious, but I thought baklava was Greek?”

Katerina chuckled. “It is.”

“I thought this was an Italian bakery.”

I held my breath as I stopped and faced them.

“You know what they say about Italian cooking. It goes for baking as well. It’s simply Greek food with no taste.”

The older lady’s eyes widened in shock before she giggled.

Ugh! This woman is going to drive me insane!

Max and Charity started walking next to me as we made our way down the hall and to my office. Once in, I slammed the door and glared at them both.

Charity put her hands up in defense. “First off, I’m pregnant and trying to argue with that woman is exhausting. I need to harness all my energy for sex. Have I mentioned how good Cole is in bed?”

Max and I both groaned.

“Seriously. Shut up, Charity.” My eyes shot over to Max. “How? How did she get that food in my bakery?!”

“Stop yelling at me, Gabi! It makes me nervous.”

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath before forcing a smile and looking back at him.

“Max, would you mind telling me how Katerina was able to put at least five different Greek desserts in my bakery.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, she came in about two hours ago.”

“More like an hour and a half,” Charity added.

“And she carried them in, walked around the counter and just kind of . . . well she . . . she kind of . . . she . . .”

“Oh my gosh, just say it!”

“She started putting them in with the other desserts! Charity asked her if you had said she could and all she did was laugh and replied with what do you think, Charity?”

Charity nodded. “And what I really wanted to say was I think she would say fuck to the hell no, but then I got scared.”

I shook my head. “Why did you get scared?”

They both shrugged. “She’s scary,” Charity whispered as Max nodded in agreement.

Pointing to Max, I said, “Take them out.”

“R-right now? With her here?”

“Yes.”

“Why do I have to do it? Make Charity! She’s pregnant and Katerina won’t do anything to her.”

“Ah, hell no, Max. She told you to do it.”

I pulled out my phone and hit Nic’s number.

“Hey, agapiméni.”

“She’s gone too far.”

Nic was silent for a few seconds. “What did she do now?”

“She put Greek desserts in my bakery. My Italian bakery.”

“Wait. She did what?”

I sighed. “She walked into the bakery, went behind the counter and started to put Greek desserts in with mine.”

Max held up his finger. “Oh, she kind of took some of yours out and gave them away to customers.”

If looks could kill, Max would have been on the floor.

“Nic, I’ve got to let you go. I need to throw out some Greek food.”

“Wait! Did she happen to make any kariokes?”

Pulling the phone out, I looked at it before putting it back to my ear.

“I can’t even with you right now, Nic Drivas.”

Hitting End, I pushed past Max.

As I reached for the door and opened it, he softly spoke to Charity. “I think she’s gonna do it. We’ll live to see another day.”

“Ugh!” I cried out.

I knew I was on edge. Hell, anytime Katerina was around she put me on edge. But I had to give a deposition on Monday regarding Dante and the night he shot his father. All I wanted to do was put that life behind me.

Making my way back into the bakery, I watched as Katerina sat down at a table with an older couple.

I shot her a dirty look and wished I had the power to shoot daggers at her.

The bell to the bakery opened and Kilyn walked in. She saw Katerina sitting at a table and her eyes widened in surprise. Then she turned and saw me. Walking up to me, she plastered an everything is okay smile on her face.

“Hey, I see you and Katerina are hanging out.”

Glaring back over at her, I tried not to growl.

“Or maybe not.”

Focusing back on Kilyn, I said, “She put Greek desserts in my bakery.”

She frowned. “Huh?”

I motioned for her to walk to the end of the counter. Leaning down, she gasped.

“Oh. No.”

“Yes. And they are all going in the trash.”

Kilyn jumped up. “What? There is some good stuff in there. I’ll take it home! Don’t throw it away.”

I narrowed my left eye on her and she took a step back. “Or you could throw it all out.”

“Max!” I called out.

“Yep, right here.”

“Will you package all of this up for Kilyn, please.”