A/N: Thank you all for your continued love and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 6: Coffee and Cake
That evening, after Kate and Mia headed home and Ana went up to her little apartment above the bakery, she wanted more than anything to just collapse on her bed and sleep for twelve hours straight. However, there was still a lot of work to do before tomorrow: most importantly, she had to double check her inventory list and make sure the truck coming tomorrow would have everything she needed. She also needed to check the online orders she had gotten so far and see which ones she could get started on tomorrow. And for the customers, she wanted to create a printed sign with a QR code to place on the front of her bakery offering 10% off any item once they reopened.
Needless to say, she had far too much to do before she could sleep.
Due to all these tasks Ana had to finish before tomorrow, she didn't get to bed until after midnight, and she practically collapsed onto her comforter before passing out from sheer exhaustion.
She slept soundly until she woke up at 6AM the following morning – considering the fact that she woke up at 4:30AM most mornings, before the sun was even up, this felt like a particular luxury. Feeling very well-rested, Ana showered and dressed for the day before heading downstairs to the bakery, eager for the truck to arrive and for all of them to get started for the day.
Unfortunately, there were a couple customers hanging around outside already this morning, clearly waiting for when the bakery would open. Feeling a bit awkward, Ana had to open the front doors to let them know that The Royal Treatment was going to be closed all day today to restock ingredients, but they were going to be up-and-running by tomorrow. She showed them the sign she made offering a 10% off discount on any item, and while the customers looked a bit peeved that they had come out here for nothing, they seemed understanding about it. Ana posted her sign to the door, and the customers scanned the QR code with their phones before leaving.
She honestly hoped they weren't too pissed off, but the thought of not having to deal with massive hordes of customers today was a welcome one.
Ana closed and locked the door before texting Kate and Mia to let them know they could come by whenever; Ana had made sure to get Mia's phone number before leaving the cafe last night. She didn't have Christian and Elliot's phone numbers, but she supposed they were both going to arrive with Mia.
Her mind lingered on the Grey siblings… namely, on Christian. Her heart pounded at the idea of seeing him again, although she mentally scolded herself for it. He might have been a gorgeous billionaire who had genuinely liked her baked goods, but he was way out of her league. Not to mention engaged to another woman.
Get thoughts of him out of your head, Steele.
Ana was busy wiping down the front counter when she heard someone knocking on the front door. Thinking it was more customers, she glanced up to see Mia standing there with Christian and Elliot, holding a tray of coffees in one hand while waving with her other. Just like how Ana had imagined him a few moments ago, Christian Grey looked extremely handsome this morning in casual jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt. They locked eyes and he smiled at her, lifting a hand to wave at her.
Trying to quell her pounding heartbeat, Ana hurried over and unlocked the front door so they could enter.
"Hi Ana!" Mia grinned, moving over and giving Ana a big one-armed hug as if they were the best of friends. Ana couldn't help but giggle and hug her back.
"Hey Mia. Thanks again for agreeing to come by so early," she said gratefully as they broke apart.
"Oh it's no problem at all. I'm sure you usually have to be up and working here much earlier most days," she said, waving it off. "Anyway, these are my brothers – this is Elliot, and you've already met Christian."
"Hi, nice to officially meet you, Ana. Even at this ungodly hour," Elliot grinned, reaching forward to shake her hand. Just like when she saw him over FaceTime yesterday, Elliot Grey was blonde and had a broad handsome face, reminding her of the cute jocks she knew in high school. Ana could completely understand why Kate was already so taken with him.
"I appreciate you both being here," Ana smiled at Elliot before turning to Christian. He was gazing into her eyes with an unreadable expression on his handsome face, and he gave her a small smile once again as he reached forward to take her hand. Ana felt tingles shoot up her arm as soon as they touched.
"It's my pleasure. I'm usually up this early anyway," Christian admitted, his eyes soft as he gazed at Ana, who blushed. They finally let go of each other's hands.
"I can imagine. Being a CEO and all," Ana said, smiling a bit nervously as she glanced down at her hands.
"I guess you and Chris are just built different because I had to practically drag myself out of bed this morning," Elliot stated, suppressing a yawn with his hand. "Mia, give me one of those coffees, will you? I need to wake up more."
"Here you go," Mia handed him one. "I bought coffees for everyone, Ana, in case you wanted to wake up a bit more before the truck comes."
"Oh, thanks Mia. That was sweet of you," Ana smiled.
Suddenly, there was another knock on the front door, and everyone turned to see Kate standing there, wearing a t-shirt and jeans with her blonde hair thrown up in a ponytail. She smiled at all of them before turning and pointing behind her: a white dry van had just turned onto their street, headlights flashing in the dim early morning light as it pulled up to their curb.
"Sweet. Looks like the truck's here," Mia said, moving to place the coffee tray down on the counter. "Let's get this show on the road."
"Sounds good," Elliot grinned, taking a swig of his coffee before setting the cup down next to the tray. "Let's do this."
Ana and Christian's eyes briefly met once again before they followed Mia and Elliot out the front door.
~/~
Ana and Kate had unloaded inventory for the bakery countless times before, but this was by far the most product Ana had ever bought in one go. There were boxes upon boxes of flour, sugar, brown sugar, spices, salt, heavy cream, eggs, and milk that they had to unload. Ana had also decided to purchase a couple new baking pan trolleys, a new immersion blender, a set of new utensils, and a new chalkboard sign to place out on the sidewalk. It was all a lot more money than she was used to spending in one go, but she had to remind herself that with all the money the bakery had made in the past few days, and would hopefully continue to make in the coming days, this haul wouldn't break her budget too much.
Luckily, the truck had a dolly they could use to load up at least four or five boxes at a time, and the girls ended up utilizing that quite a bit. Elliot and Christian, on the other hand, were perfectly comfortable lifting two or three heavy boxes at a time in their muscled arms and carrying them into the bakery themselves. Ana and Kate couldn't seem to take their eyes off of them.
"Would it be weird if I kissed Mia as a thank you for introducing me to her brother?" Kate asked Ana as she watched Elliot lug a couple heavy boxes of sugar into the bakery, his muscled arms flexing as he walked.
"Yes, it would be rather weird," Ana snickered, picking up a box of flour and loading it on the dolly. "Is he single, do you know?"
"We were chatting earlier, and he implied that he is," Kate said, moving to help Ana load more boxes onto the dolly. "But, I dunno… I get the sense that he's just a player who makes women swoon all over him without committing to any of them."
"Are you looking for a commitment from him?" Ana couldn't help but ask, surprised. Kate had always insisted that she never wanted to be tied down by a man, so this statement from her was rather surprising.
"More like I don't want to be confronted by his angry secret girlfriend," Kate said glibly. The two of them pushed the dolly down the ramp and onto the sidewalk. "Are these the last boxes?"
"Looks like it," Ana said, glancing behind her toward the now-empty truck. "I was starting to think it would never happen."
"You really went on a shopping spree this week, girl," Kate joked, and Ana laughed. They pushed the dolly into the bakery, where they saw Christian and Elliot unloading some of the boxes near the front counter.
"The truck is finally empty," Ana announced, and the guys looked up at them.
"Awesome," Elliot smiled brightly. "Now all we have to do is unpack every single box that we just unloaded."
"Great. That should only take another four hours," Kate groaned.
"It shouldn't be that bad," Christian said, glancing around at all the boxes. "We made sure all the perishable food items were placed in the walk-in – milk, eggs, cream, etc. Everything else we placed in the main kitchen or out here in the lobby."
"That's perfect. Thank you," Ana smiled at him. "Unpacking everything might take awhile, but I think we can take a short break right now. If you guys are hungry, I can bring out some cinnamon coffee cake I baked yesterday. It was the one baked good I managed not to sell out of completely."
"Oh my God – yes!" Mia exclaimed, suddenly bursting out from the kitchen and gazing at Ana with a delighted grin on her face. "I adore coffee cake, and I definitely want to taste yours!"
The others chuckled. "Sounds good, Mia," Ana smiled.
"Mimi and Chris have been singing the praises of your baked goods for days now, Ana. I feel like I have to try something of yours now," Elliot grinned. "But fair warning – I'm an extremely harsh critic."
Mia and Christian both laughed at that ridiculous statement. "Elliot Grey, I have watched you eat a half-finished burrito from the goddamn trash," Mia said. "You are such a liar."
The others laughed as Ana headed into the kitchen to take the tray of leftover coffee cake out of the walk-in and bring it back out to the front. "I don't want your guys' expectations to be too high," she said modestly, setting the tray on a nearby table and peeling off the saran wrap cover. "It's not fresh-baked, but it should still be good. If you'd like it warmed up, too, I can just pop it in the toaster oven."
The others insisted that it was perfectly fine the way it was, and they each grabbed a stoneware plate and accepted a piece of coffee cake before moving to sit at a nearby table. They each took a bite and practically moaned in delight.
"Oh my God. Ana, this is incredible," Mia said, her mouth full of cake as she shook her head. "Wow."
"Wow is right," Elliot insisted, taking a second, even bigger bite of coffee cake. "This is delicious."
"It is very good," Christian said sincerely to Ana, looking at her and smiling. She smiled back, blushing.
"Thanks everyone," Ana said, taking a bite of her own piece. To her, it tasted like all the other coffee cakes she'd made in the past, but she was happy the others seemed to enjoy it.
"I swear, I have to be so careful working here," Kate said, taking a bite of her own coffee cake. "I can't let myself eat too much of what Ana bakes or else I'd be as big as a house."
"You could never be as big as a house," Elliot said sweetly to her. "And if you were, I'm sure you'd still be cute."
Kate gave him a disparaging look, but didn't respond as Ana fought not to laugh.
"It's probably gonna be tough finding another baker who's as good as you, Ana," Mia said thoughtfully, chewing on another bite of cake. "You said you wanted to hire another baker, and pretty soon too."
"Yeah, I know," Ana said, thinking with some dread about how much she still needed to do for the bakery in the coming weeks.
"Why can't you do it, Mimi?" Elliot asked his sister. "I mean, you're not exactly Ana Steele, but you're not half-bad as a baker."
"Gee, thanks Elliot," Mia said sarcastically.
"Even if she wanted to, she couldn't," Christian piped up, and the others looked at him. "Mia's an established food critic, and she already wrote a glowing review of The Royal Treatment. It would be unethical if she were to begin working here in an official capacity."
"Yeah, that's true," Mia nodded at her brother, grimacing. "It would look like I was being paid by you guys to say those nice things."
"So I guess it's back to square one," Kate said, glancing at Ana. "We can put a job posting online or something."
"I know some people, actually," Mia said, looking thoughtful. "There are some pastry chefs I went to school with but I'm not professionally affiliated with. There's Margaret Chang, but she's based out in New York now. Paolo Perez is also very good, but he and his husband just moved to France…"
Mia thought for another moment or two before her eyes widened in excitement. She whipped around to face Christian. "Oh! Who's the girl making your wedding cake again? She's based in Seattle, I think."
Christian blinked, looking almost like a deer in the headlights. "Oh. Um… I-I don't…"
"Claire!" Mia announced, turning back to Ana with a grin. "Claire Mathieson. A friend of mine worked with her, and she's supposed to be really good. I'm pretty sure she just works for herself at the moment, making cakes for weddings and big events and stuff, but she might be interested in working for you guys."
"Oh," Ana said, unsure of what to say about that. This Claire woman might have been a good fit, but Ana wasn't sure about working with the woman who was apparently making Christian's wedding cake. She glanced at Christian, and he was starting determinedly down at his coffee cake. "I mean… yeah, we could consider her. If Christian's okay with it."
"I'm sure it'll be fine. Christian's wedding isn't for months," Mia waved off, plucking up her phone and typing on it. "I'll find Claire's contact info for you and see if she'd be interested."
Ana gave a small, forced smile. "Thanks Mia," she said. She avoided Christian's gaze as she looked down at her coffee cake, suddenly not feeling very hungry anymore.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next up, we may see a bit more Christian/Ana cuteness :)
If you enjoyed this chapter, please review! And be sure to find me on Amazon – I go by the author name Rae Trescott.