«The Feasting Virgin» by Georgia Kolias

Like a sublime spanakopita, Xeni’s outer layer appears perfectly golden delicious, but underneath she is a jumble of emotions, bitter like wild greens and salty as creamy feta. Xeni knows the right ingredients to make any Greek dish delectable, but the one recipe she yearns for and can’t perfect is how to make a baby. But not just any baby, Xeni desperately wants God to bless her with a virgin birth.

Callie is determined to give her son, Manny the stable loving home she never had, and she’s willing to learn every Greek recipe in existence if that’s what it will take to please the father's very orthodox mother. But when she shows up at the grocery store to buy ingredients to make Spanakopita, she realizes just how little she knows.

Xeni’s resolve to stay pure of thought is tested from the first moment she sees Callie in the produce aisle, with her cerulean blue eyes and plump juicy baby. Xeni finds herself unfurling where she was once tightly bound, finding unexpected pleasure in teaching Callie to prepare mouth-watering Greek meals. From the beginning, she is inexplicably drawn to Callie and yet conflicted by her desires. Surely God would never approve of the stirrings Callie caused in Xeni’s heart and body—and the heat from the kitchen translates into an intimate encounter from which there is no turning back.

But when little Manny's very orthodox Greek grandmother blows into town, she declares that Xeni would be the perfect Greek wife for her son, and enlists every bit of Greek magic and trickery she can conjure up to make it happen. From love potions to rigged elevators, to manipulated romantic nights on the town Hurricane Horiatis pulls out all the stops to bring Gus and Xeni together. The only problem is that neither Gus nor Xeni wants each other. And when one drunken dinner goes awry, Callie figures out a way to declare her love and give Xeni the virgin birth she's always wanted.