Ripley hurried after me. “Wait.”
“I got it.”
“I’m sure you do, but let’s not dump the cake out?—”
He cut off as a trio of cars zoomed down the road and my truck shuddered. The case started rolling forward and he caught it, his arms around me as his big hands gripped the corners of the case to push it back in on the track.
My whole body froze at the wall of warmth caging me in.
“Where’s your damn coat?” His voice was so close to my ear.
“I didn’t need it in my warm truck,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Is it locked?”
“Huh?”
“The case?”
“Oh, yes. You can let go.”His arms slid away from me and I blew out a breath. “Let’s get this in the car before another car blows us off the freaking road.”
He stepped back and my heart rate stuttered back into its usual rhythm. “How many pieces is this thing in?” His voice was even gruffer than it had been a minute ago.
“Three. I have the sheet cake part for the guests and then this.” I unlocked the front door of the case and swung it open. The six tiers were perfect save for a little crack in the bottom one. Luckily it wasn’t a lace tier so I could just fix it with a bit of icing from my emergency kit. The groom’s cake was on its own shelf at the top.
He whistled. “Damn, Mercy.”
“Yeah.”
He held his hand and arm to the side of the case as if measuring then ran back to the Cadillac. When his head bowed, I knew the case was too big.
I’d had this truck made to fit the case, rather than the other way around. The problem was, I’d never been one to go small in any way. I’d been slowly building up my talents with a fewspecialty orders on the side for birthdays and baby showers, but this was definitely my most ambitious job to date.
He returned to me. “You’re going to have to hold it on your lap.”
“Crap.”
“Yeah. Think we can strap down the sheet cake in my front seat?”
I nodded. “I hope so.”
“I can protect the smaller cake in the trunk since it’s in a box.”
At this point if one cake had to be sacrificed, the groom’s cake wouldn’t be missed. Shannon did an amazing job, but only one was the big show.
It took a little swearing, stacking of blankets, and inventive use of his seatbelt. Thankfully, the passenger seat went back. It took up half the back seat, but laid flat enough for us to make it work. The tray was jammed against the glovebox so it wouldn’t slide away.
“Okay, climb in.”
“You are not moving that cake without me.”
“And how do you think you’re going to climb in there holding it?”
“Same way I did to get it in my case.” I stalked back to the truck.
“Mercy, you’re going to have to trust me,” he called after me.
“I should have called one of my damn brothers,” I muttered.
