Takes the Cake by Lynn Chantale Page B

was defending myself.”
    “I don’t care!” she shouted. “You didn’t like the cake in the first place, and this is your way of making sure it doesn’t happen.”
    He held his hands out, palms up. “We didn’t mean for this to happen.”
    “You hit him with the cake!”
    Keegan looked away. “Well, I—”
    “Out!” She lifted her arm and stabbed a finger toward the swinging doors. “If you are not on staff as a caterer, get out of my kitchen.”
    People scrambled to leave while her staff slowly dragged trash cans and brooms toward the chaos created. A few of the onlookers carefully helped David to his feet. If she weren’t so angry, Liz would’ve laughed at the cake-covered man.
    “At least let a few of us help you clean up,” Keegan offered.
    She glared at him. “Your help has put us twelve hours behind schedule.” She blinked to clear the angry tears blurring her vision. The only way she was going to get things done was to work through the night. They would all have to work through the night. Then a thought struck her. There may not even be a wedding now.
    “I think you’re being unreasonable.”
    For one long moment, she stared at him, silently cursing him to hell and back. She spun on her heel and stalked away. If she stayed, she’d be tempted to slap him silly.
    “Liz.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her to a halt.
    She jerked away from him. “Keep your hands to yourself, buddy.”
    “You have to know I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
    “You got your wish. The cake has been destroyed, and so has any chance you had with me.”

Chapter Five
    Keegan stared after her, not sure if he should follow or stay put. He retrieved his shirt from the floor and tugged it over his head. He glanced around and realized all the workers were staring at him with a mixture of disdain and pity. Quite frankly, he didn’t blame them as he surveyed the kitchen.
    Pans of food dotted the tile like a bad game of dodgeball, while small lakes of what appeared to be gravy, marinara, and oil collided to form a river of sorts and stretched toward the drain in the middle of the floor. Worst of all was the wedding cake. The dark brown, almost black innards spilled over the once pristine icing to litter the floor like a macabre outline. Not even the pillars that had been placed between the tiers remained intact. The broken shards rose like spindly bones from the crumbs. Nothing from the creation was salvageable.
    He shook his head and trudged through the double doors, head bowed and shoulders slumped. Maybe the wedding wouldn’t go forth as planned. It couldn’t now that Caroline knew about David and Sandra. Surely his sister wasn’t going to still marry that two-timing louse.
    Keegan dragged a hand through his hair, then lowered his arm to inspect the abraded flesh on his knuckles. Nothing a little antiseptic wouldn’t help. He had only been defending his person. David had thrown the first punch, and well, one thing led to another until…until they’d managed to destroy a wedding cake and whatever chance Keegan had with Liz.
    He exhaled and leaned against a nearby wall. The coolness of the plaster seeped into his back, rivaling the ice forming around his heart. What had he been thinking grabbing that cake? That was the thing—he hadn’t been thinking. He just reacted. Both the cake and David went down.
    There had to be a way to placate Liz. He couldn’t lose her now. Not over something as trivial as a fist fight. Even though he hadn’t agreed with the design, he respected the work and time she’d invested in the project. And the thing had been very beautiful in its simplicity. He was sorry it had been destroyed, but worse was thinking he’d ruined everything with Liz. Again.
    “I can’t believe you got in a fist fight with the ex-groom,” Christian said.
    Keegan peeled one lid back and stared at the best man. “Yeah. Well. He started it.”
    The other man laughed. “What are you? Four? That excuse