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Italian."
    "Because Pink Door is an Italian
Restaurant."
    "You look exotic. I thought--Oh, don't smile. I
assure you when I said exotic I wasn't complimenting you."
    The
man gave her a whatever-you-say shrug.
    "How would I--wait, you know my name?"
    "Yes." He looked at her feet and
then met Angel's eyes again.
    "How?"
    "Manfred. Did you crawl all the way
here?"
    "I was close to crawling."
    "You're bleeding."
    Angel looked at her knees. Sure enough , blood ran down her shins. "God, I hate blood."
    "What happened?"
    "No-ingles cab driver said streets are closed because of some
centennial celebration. He dropped me off some blocks away from here. So I
walked."
    "On your knees."
    Angel rolled her eyes. "I was dreaming about Frappuccino when
I tripped and landed on my knees. It was a nice dream, too." She looked at
her palms and saw that they were scraped, but not as badly.
    The man stood up and went behind the counter.
"I say you really pissed the driver off."
    "I know."
    "I'm surprised. With a face like yours,
any man would scramble to his feet to serve you."
    A face like mine? He said the words while looking deep into her eyes as
if trying to see something more from her. She could tell he was used to staring
at women. It was his way of making them squirm. She felt like squirming
herself. What a topnotch flirt.
    The man grinned. He had straight white
teeth, which added to his almost perfect image. Wow. She decided not to acknowledge
the compliment. "Like you said, I pissed him off. Anyway, you know
Manfred?"
    "Yup. You're the granddaughter he told
me about."
    "Oh, God . Please don't tell me I am in the right Pink Door."
    "You're in the right place. This is
Pink Door you are looking for."
    "Drat. Manfred's getting even with me
for being a pain. He said condo not a restaurant."
    "Upstairs is the condo part."
    "You're joking."
    "No."
    "And what are you supposed to be? The
bellboy?"
    "No. I'm Dylan Band. Your guide."

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
    He could not fucking believe it. When Angel
walked in, he thought a real angel minus the white wings came down from heaven to
visit him. He would have fallen off the barstool if he hadn't hung on to it. Mesmerized,
he listened to her babble on while thinking about good warm thoughts, enjoying
himself as he stared at her whole package until she mentioned Manfred's name.
    Dylan stared at Angel. Manfred described her
as a great beauty any man on earth should have a chance to see. He was right.
Angel had a face a man could stare at and never tire of it. But Manfred didn't
tell him she was bit high-strung. Angel reminded him of the fish vendor, Asha--a
chatterbox. He was about to say something, but she prattled on. Funny thing
was, he enjoyed listening to her. He especially liked it when she said
something about making love to him.
    He'd met Manfred a year ago when they both checked
the restaurant and the rooms upstairs during its open house. Nice man. No air
and hides in his plaid shirt and old corduroys. They chatted and had come to an
agreement--Manfred would get the upstairs and he the restaurant. Dylan could
use the room upstairs in exchange of free meals. Manfred loved the area and
didn't need the whole building to himself. Of course, Dylan never mentioned why
he wanted the restaurant and Manfred never pried.
    Last spring, when Manfred stayed here, he
talked about Angel all the time. Dylan had never met anyone whose life revolved
around his granddaughter. Manfred made him think that Angel was his breath, his
life.
    Angel grew up around Manfred and his sister Minnie.
The McCreadys belonged to a very very small family. One of the self-made
richest men in North Carolina--this he learned through searching the Internet--Manfred
was a down-to-earth man and protective of Angel. He also expressed his disapproval
to Angel's engagement with her fiancé and wished that Angel was engaged to him
instead of the scumbag. Why Manfred made that wish, since they'd met only a
couple