Dimitri (8 page)

Putting a hand on Benny's shoulder, Dimitri
silently instructed her to stay put. He shadowed Carl to the door
and deliberately knocked into him as he started down the steps. The
man stumbled forward and only narrowly escaped a meeting with the
pavement.

Spinning around, Carl glared but Dimitri put a
finger to his own lips, warning the man to keep his mouth shut.
Like Nikolai, Dimitri had mastered the art of striking fear into a
person with one cold look. Carl wasn't as stupid as he looked and
kept his trap shut.

"Don't show your face around here again."
Dimitri raised a warning finger and pointed it at him. "If your
boss has business with Benny, you tell him to pick up the phone to
schedule an appointment with her. Understood?"

Carl gave a stiff nod and stormed to the black
car waiting in the alley. Dimitri made sure to memorize the license
plate. He had a feeling this wouldn't be the last he'd see of
Carl.

Shutting the side door behind him, Dimitri
returned to the kitchen. Benny had swept up the mess and stood at
the sink washing her hands. Their gazes clashed across the kitchen.
He read the anxiety all over her face. Hating to see her so upset,
he opened his arms. "Come here."

She rushed into his arms and pressed her cheek
to his chest. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back.
"God, he scared me!"

"He won't be coming back." Dimitri intended to
make that promise a reality. He'd see how Carl liked having someone
show up unexpected and unannounced on his turf.

"Do you think they'll really try to turn Johnny
against me?"

She already knew the answer but she wanted to
hear it from him. Though it killed him to confirm her fears, he
answered honestly. "Yes—and I think Johnny will take their
offer."

"Oh God." Benny tried to pull away from him but
he held tight. "Dimitri, what the hell am I going to
do?"

He placed his hand along her cheek. The glimmer
of tears in her pretty eyes made his gut twist. He made a
split-second decision. "I'm going to make Johnny an offer on his
half of the business."

She reeled back in surprise. "What? No!
Dimitri, you can't."

He snorted softly. "I can do whatever I want,
Benny. It's my money."

"But, Dimitri, if the business fails, you'll
lose your money. Let's not kid ourselves, okay? I'm one bad month
away from having to close the doors." She put her hands on his
chest and shoved just hard enough to free herself from his embrace.
"No."

He snatched her wrist and dragged her back.
"You're not going to shut me out, Benny."

"Dimitri, please…"

He tried to understand her reticence but
couldn't. Trailing his fingers down her cheek, he asked, "What is
so wrong with me helping you?"

Her eyes closed for the briefest of moments.
When they opened, they were filled with such fear. "Because it
changes things, Dimitri."

"Sometimes change is good." He brushed his
mouth against hers. "Last night was very, very good,
yes?"

"Yes." She ran her hands up his arms. "Last
night was amazing, but if we put money between us, it's going to
get complicated very fast—and then what?"

Finally, he understood. "Benny, it wouldn't be
complicated. We could make it work."

"You say that now…"

Dimitri tipped her chin and teased his lips
across hers. He eased into the kiss and waited for her to press up
against him, deepening the gentle mating of their mouths. Tongues
touching now, they clutched at one another. When Dimitri pulled
back, he peered down at her for a moment before speaking. "I want
to be your partner, Benny."

She swallowed. "In business?"

He realized this was one of those moments where
their relationship could surge forward and grow or retreat and
fester. "No, not just in business, Benny. I want you
as—"

"Benny, you already in the kitchen?" Adam
announced his presence mere seconds before stepping into the view.
"There was a nasty wreck on the loop and…"

The older man's eyes widened as he caught sight
of them embracing. Dimitri could only imagine what Adam was
thinking. Naked from the waist up and with his hair still wet,
Dimitri looked anything but innocent right now.

But Dimitri wasn't about to let go of Benny. He
refused to let anyone make him feel shame for comforting the woman
he cared for so deeply. To his surprise, Benny didn't try to jump
away in embarrassment. She stepped into his embrace.

Finally, Adam laughed. "Hey, don't let me
interrupt you two kids." He winked at Dimitri as he headed for the
employee's locker room. "I was young once. I know how this game is
played."

Benny rolled her eyes. "Adam!"

Still chuckling, Adam paused in the doorway and
glanced back at them. "And about damn time too!"

"God," she said with a groan. "The whole bakery
will be talking about us before we even have our first
customer."

Chest constricting, he studied her face. "Does
that bother you?"

She put her hand over his heart. "Not for the
reason you're probably thinking, Dimitri. I spend so much time here
with my bakery family that nothing is ever private." She bit her
lower lip. "I wanted this to be something special, something just
for me."

Feeling a bit playful, he lowered his head
until his breath tickled her ear. "I've got something just for you
and I promise it's very, very special."

"Dimitri!" She hissed with mock outrage but she
couldn't stop smiling. "Will you get out of here?" Blushing, she
glanced at the doorway leading to the locker room. "Adam will hear
you and then I'll really get it from Lupe and Celia!"

He kissed her cheek and reluctantly backed away
from her. "I'm going to get that breakfast I promised
you."

She nodded and got back to work. They still had
so much to discuss but it could wait. After he got her breakfast
squared away, he was going to dig up some information on UpStreet
Properties. If they chose to play dirty with Benny, he was ready to
drag them right into the mud. The kind of information he wanted
wouldn't be easy to find but he knew just where to
go—Yuri.

Chapter
Five

"Benny, Lena is here."

I finished swirling bright white frosting on a
chocolate cupcake and glanced up at Celia. "Tell her I'll be right
there."

She nodded and left but not before
shooting a silly smile my way. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
All morning, I'd been getting strange looks. Just as I'd predicted,
Adam had shared his gossipy discovery with Lupe who then told Celia
who told
everyone
.

It annoyed the crap out of me that I couldn't
even have one day to enjoy my secret all by myself. I also couldn't
shake the worry that things between us wouldn't work out and then
what? I'd have the entire bakery in my business when Dimitri dumped
me? The very thought made my stomach churn.

I finished frosting the tray of cupcakes and
slid them down the line to be spattered with sprinkles. After
tossing my gloves, I untied my apron and hung it on an empty peg. I
caught Marco's attention with a little wave and let him know I was
leaving the kitchen for a short while.

Out in the bakery, I spotted Lena at one of the
tables closest to the door. She looked out of place in the
laid-back atmosphere of the small café. With that bold, deep blue
dress and nude peep-toe pumps, Lena embodied the image of a career
woman on her way to a power lunch. She'd pulled her sleek black
hair up and wore simple earrings. I sort of envied her polished
look and upwardly mobile career path.

I marveled at the way my friend had changed
since we'd known each other in college a few years back. Lena's
drive to be successful, to make something of herself and rise above
her impoverished beginnings in one of Houston's harshest
neighborhoods hadn't lessened any. She'd blossomed with confidence
and had proven herself more than capable at her job.

That blog of hers that chronicled the highs and
lows of the Houston social scene had grown from a silly little
pastime our freshman year to an internet hotspot that allowed her
to earn advertising revenue and build her own personal brand. A
social media maven, she'd recently branched into charging for
tweets broadcast to her thousands of followers. She was careful to
highlight only places she actually endorsed or enjoyed to maintain
the authenticity of her nightlife stamp of approval.

But with that pretty face and knockout figure,
Lena had to work twice as hard to get people to take her seriously.
Graduating with honors and a degree in only three short years had
been a good start. Snagging a job at the top Houston PR firm had
been even better.

"Hey!" Smiling, I slid into the seat across
from her. "How are you today?"

"Great." Lena cocked her head and studied me.
"Something's different about you. Did you cut your
hair?"

I shook my head and self-consciously touched
the tip of the braid dangling over my shoulder. "No."

"Hmm," Lena murmured and continued
to stare at me. "You just…you look
different
."

I swallowed nervously and shrugged.
"Okay."

She narrowed her dark eyes. "You know I'm not
going to let this go, right?"

With a little sigh, I glanced around to make
sure no one would overhear us. Leaning forward, I confessed, "I
sort of spent the night with Dimitri."

"What?" Her hands flew to the table and she
moved closer. With a scandalized expression, she asked, "Why am I
just hearing about this now? You should have texted me this
morning!"

"And said what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you could have spilled
all the incredibly dirty details of your sexy night with the blond
Adonis?" A bit conspiratorial, she asked in a hushed whisper, "How
was it? Like so hot you almost set the bed on fire? How big is his
you-know-what?" She glanced down at her lap. "Huge,
right?"

"Oh God." I couldn't stop laughing as I buried
my red face in my hands. "I'm really not going into specifics
here."

"Then come over tonight," she said. "We'll get
Vivi to cook for us and have Erin bring over a few bottles of
obscenely expensive wine from Ivan's cellar. You can regale us with
all the delicious little details of how it went down."

A few months ago, before crossing paths with
Lena again, I would have said no. to a girls' night out. Dimitri's
voice rattled around in my head. What had he said? That I deserved
to have a life?

"Okay. I'll come over."

"Eight o'clock?"

"Sure but I can't stay too late. We have the
Tasting Houston thing tomorrow."

"Girl, don't I know it!" With a dramatic shake
of her head, she reached into her oversized leather satchel that
she used for business and produced glossy red folders for me. "I've
got everything ready for your station. I stopped by the print shop
on my way over here. They'll make their delivery to you in a couple
of hours. Just bring all the boxes down to the fairgrounds. I'll
sort them out when we set up your spot."

Nodding, I opened one of the folders and
examined the materials. "This is really nice."

We chatted about her plans for
rebranding the bakery. She'd studied all the family-owned bakeries
in Houston and discovered our little
panaderia
was something of a gem. Not
that anyone knew it because we hadn't been out there, hustling to
grow the brand and broadening our customer base. She wanted to
appeal to foodies who sought out the authentic Mexican bakery
experience and to Latinos who wanted a taste of home.

"So I think the goal is to make a splash
tomorrow at Tasting Houston. We do the newspaper interview and you
talk up your family history. Make sure to lay it on thick when it
comes to your grandparents coming here build a new, better life. We
want to play up the opportunities this place has given so many
employees. We want to talk about how it enriched the
neighborhood."

"I hope you're going to give me some note cards
or something because I'm pretty sure I'm going to screw this
up."

Lena laughed. "You won't. And, yes, I'm going
to give you some talking points." She gestured to the window. "We
want to make sure we talk about how this place is standing strong
and fighting to preserve the history of Houston. People like those
kinds of underdog stories."

"I'm not sure if I'll be one of the successful
ones."

Her expression morphed to one of concern. "Why?
What happened?"

"UpStreet Properties sent this guy to talk to
me this morning. He didn't threaten me outright but he insinuated
that this wasn't going to end well if I didn't accept their offer.
He came in through the side door, from the alley, and scared me to
death. I was the only one in the place but Dimitri was upstairs
thankfully."

"Ooh," Lena said, her eyes wide. "Did Dimitri
get physical? Because I've seen how protective Ivan is of Erin. He
wouldn't think twice about socking someone in the face for
threatening her."