Ablaze (6 page)

"He charms the ladies into coming back
here," Tony answered.

"Is that right? Well, he needs to work
harder to gain the title Lady Charmer."

"You think so?"

"I believe so."

"Yeah, yeah. Pretend I'm not here."

Angel looked at Dylan. "Oh, hey. Sorry.
I forgot you're there."

A loud hoot from Tony echoed in the room. "Man,
I like you. A lot. Anyone who would put down a Band is a friend of mine."

"Very funny, Miss McCready. And you,
Tony, go suck your balls."

"Now, now, Dylan. Don't be testy."

"I'm not testy. And just so you know,
if I'm interested in a woman, charming her is not necessary."

"Why?" Angel pumped her straw in
and out of the lid's tiny hole.

If he were to make a guess, Angel never let
the day go by without having a cup of frappuccino. He wouldn't be surprised if
she suffered from heart palpitations. Manfred said Angel couldn't sleep. Well,
the answer was right there--caffeine. "Because I'm a Band."

"And that's supposed to mean something?"

"It means that I was born with charm
and sex appeal."

"With that kind of attitude, no wonder
you're not charming."

"You know, I'm having a hard time
believing that."

"I'm telling the truth, Dylan. You're
not charming."

"Say whatever you want. But I know my
history with women."

"Interesting history, I might add,"
Tony piped in.

"Shut the hell up, Tony."

Tony laughed deeply. "Just saying."

"By the way, my brothers will be here
this afternoon. You'll get to meet them, too."

"Are they as arrogant as you?"

"Let's just say that you wouldn't doubt
that we're all brothers." Tony leaned toward Angel. In a conspiratorial
loud whisper, he said, "They all know how to give good rub and love."

"Dear me. God help us all females."
A flash of humor crossed her face.

"They are dangerous. They could charm
the female customers into coming back here and leave their generous tips."

"Hmm. Are you sure you're not running
some kind of a brothel here and disguising it as a restaurant?" Angel looked
at Dylan, then at Tony.

Tony tapped his fingers on the table as if
he was playing on a piano's keyboard. "Brothel is not a bad idea. It would
bring in more dough, but Dylan has enough coming in his bank as often as it
rains in Seattle. So, we'll stay as a restaurant. We'll survive even if this
place sinks."

Dylan sighed. If Tony started talking about
his books, he'd really punch him.

"Do you own more restaurants, Dylan?"

Dylan replied with a shake of his head. What
he really wanted to do was tackle Tony to the ground. "Tony has a penchant
for exaggeration. He's like an old woman who likes to spread gossip around
town. Attention deprived. And he suffers from acute testicular inflammation so
he tries to ignore the condition by talking too much. Isn't that right, Tone?"

"Go screw yourself, pussy."

A whimpering sound stopped Dylan from
throwing the towel at Tony. He looked at Angel who covered her mouth with her
hands, obviously trying her might not to laugh. She lost. Her face split into a
wide grin before she let out a full-blown laugh. He felt like laughing with
her. Nice. He liked a woman with a good sense of humor.

"Don't believe him, Angel. He's just
jealous because my jewels--"

Dylan balled the towel and threw it at Tony,
hitting him square in the nose. "You're all bullshit."

"Kiss my ass."

"And suffocate from your crab infested
hairy ass?"

"Been looking at my ass lately?"

Dylan shook his head, then looked at Angel
who stopped sipping her drink but watched him and Tony with her eyes as big as
saucers. Her teeth were buried deep in her lower lip. It was obvious that she
was trying not to laugh. "Sorry, Angel. One thing you should know about us,
we don't know how to pretend to be polite. What you see is what you get."

"I like it when people show me their
true color instead of hiding it. If you meet my Aunt Minnie, you'll like her.
She doesn't know how to pretend. If she's mad, you'll know. She doesn't mince
words. I bet she could make you guys blush. I also know a man who is so refined
and yet…he's evil." Angel's smile wavered, but only for a brief second. "So
Manfred owns the upstairs and you own this part. Manfred didn't mention
anything about the restaurant. All I know is that he owns a condo called Pink
Door."

"We made an agreement. I can use a room
upstairs and he can have free meals when he's here."

"Pretty good deal. How's the business?"

"Pretty good."

"How come you're closed?"

"We are only open for dinner. It starts
at six."

"I see. Grandpa told me he purchased
the best place to hangout here in Seattle. I didn't expect this."

"Man, this is the best place,"
Tony said.

"He stayed here last spring. We hiked
everywhere. He's a tough one. You could do that to. Since I am your designated tour
guide, I made plans already."

"Oh, that's not necessary. You have a
business to run and I don't want to be an inconvenience. Promise I won't be in your
way. I will hang out here only to eat until I gained two hundred pounds so I
won't be recognizable when I go back to North Carolina. I checked the internet
for the places I could visit while I'm here. I want to see the boathouse where
Sleepless
in Seattle
was filmed
and the flying fish at the market. I'll be in
and out and make sure you don't notice me around."

Dylan bowed his head and murmured, "That
would be impossible,"

"I'm sorry?"

"What cuz is saying is that you're too
beautiful not to be noticed."

"I'm not."

"You are. Isn't she, Dylan?"

"Yup." What could he say? No?

"As for gaining two hundred pounds, don't
worry about that. We'll feed you great food and before you know it, you'll be
as fat as Cartman of Southpark."

"I like Cartman. He loves chicken skin
and he looked great as a ginger."

"Man, you're my bff now. Any chick who
watches Southpark is cool."

Dylan was glad Angel turned her attention to
Tony. Touching Angel's sexy soft feet had an embarrassing effect on him. He
hoped his cousin wouldn't notice his boner. He ran his thumb along the length
of Angel's foot's arch. Her bedroom sigh served as a lick on his now rock hard
dick. "Damn it."

"Did I--"

"No." Dylan held on to Angel's
foot when she tried to pull it off his lap. "I just remembered something."
Through his peripheral view, he could see Tony grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Fuck. Tony knew. Slowly, he looked at his cousin and gave him a silent warning.
The silly ass laughed.

"As your guide, it is also my job to
make sure you don't hibernate in your room."

"Grandpa told you that?"

"Kind of."

"Manfred is still worried about me. I
already told him that I would not kill myself over my humiliation. I'm not that
weak. He can't protect me forever."

"No. But he will try anyway."

"Hey, Angel. Want us to teach your
boyfriend a lesson?"

"He is not my boyfriend. At least not
anymore. And no thank you. You don't have to get involved. My friend Bianca has
already put a curse on him."

"What curse?"

"Shrinkage."

Dylan and Tony both snorted.

"Angel, that's not a curse. Shrinkage
happens when it's cold or if a man's afraid or something."

"Really? It's always cold here in
Seattle. Raining all the time. So you two--"

"Hell, no!"

"Fuck, no!"

Tony and Dylan said simultaneously.

Angel's delicious slim body shook from
laughing.

Time to change the subject. If this dick
topic went on for another minute, he'd really put himself in a more
embarrassing situation. As it was, he was having a hard time shrinking his
throbbing dick. "Aren't you going to eat your cake?"

"Your hands made me forget about the
cake."

"Told you he's a charmer. He's also
good in using his--"

"Shut the fuck up, Tony. Aren't you supposed
to start preparing lunch?"

Dylan tossed the wet towel in the bucket. "I
was just telling Angel that you are quite an expert in--"

"Get up, toad, or you'd rather I glue
your ass on that chair."

"Yeah, yeah. Excuse me, Angel. Boss
wants me to go back to work."

"Thanks for the frappuccino and cake.
How much do I owe you?"

"Three kisses."

"Okay. Put it on my tab."

"I will, kitten."

Angel laughed. However, as soon as Tony
disappeared behind the kitchen door, Angel's laughter disappeared, too. She
just stared at Dylan as she sipped her drink. "Listening to you and Tony
talk is like watching Robert De Niro's mafia movie."

"Did we offend you?"

"No. I like De Niro." She put her
drink down and took the small see-through plastic box. "I shouldn't eat
this."

"Why?"

"It's rude. I'm the only one with a
cake. Wait, we can share. Here." She opened the box and forked a big piece
of cake. "You take a bite first."

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"I don't have cooties and I brush and
floss my teeth three times a day. No cavities, no plaque, or tartar. No Hepatitis
B. You're safe with me." She offered the cake to him with her brows
wiggling. "Come on."

Dylan smiled. Angel, he figured, would say
whatever she had in mind. What was up with this woman and trusting people?
Fine, she had a clean mouth, but how could she be sure that he was clean? Did
it ever occur to her that he might be a Hepatitis B carrier?

"What's up with the intense stare?"

"You just walked in not even an hour
ago, openly expressed your dislike about me, and now you want to share your
cake with me?"

"You want a different fork?"

Dylan shook his head. "Sharing a fork
is fine. But why? You don't even like me." No, sharing a fork would be as
close as kissing. They'd be sharing saliva, for God's sakes.

"Well if you are going to be my guide
for a month, we need to get along, don't you think?"

"Right."

"So, no problem then. Besides, you're
Manfred's friend. He wouldn't send me here if you couldn't be trusted."

"You're not afraid if I have
tuberculosis or Aids?"

"You need health clearance to run a
place like this, right? So you're clean. Just take the bite."

"Angel," he sighed her name.

"Dylan," she mimicked, smiling.

Good fucking God.
Dylan couldn't smile back. His dick just got harder and
screaming to get out of his pants. "This is unusually weird. You don't
know me. At all."

"You know, my friend Bianca said that if you spit
in your dog's mouth, he or she will be loyal to you forever."

"So?"

"If we share this cake, we'll be good friends."

"You're friend a loony or something."

"No. She's superstitious and believes in oldwives
tales."

"Well, what you just said about spitting is just
that. An oldwives tale."

Dylan
stared at Angel. What an interesting woman. "Just one."

"Okie dokie."

Without taking his eyes off Angel, he opened
his mouth and took the bite. "Zhaanks," he said.

"You're welcome."

One bite turned into two and then three
until they finished the slice of cake. The weird thing was, he wished the cake
was as big as the moon so Angel would keep on feeding him.

What the hell. This woman is dangerous!

He rubbed the ball of her feet before
lowering them on the floor. "Feel better?"

"Yes. Thank you. You can clean wounds,
massage feet. Anything you can't do?"

"Lots of things."

"Such as?"

"I can't fly."

"You're silly. Come on…you can't do,
what?"

"You're nosy." Dylan leaned back
on his chair and crossed his arms against his chest.

"I know. Just give me one thing that
you can't do and I'll leave you alone."

"I can't watch a movie without falling
asleep."

"Wow. You're like Manfred. A lousy
movie date."

A lousy date, my ass.
Dylan leaned forward, his forearms resting on his
thighs. "Miss Angel McCready, I am anything but a lousy date."