Free Sweetest Surrender by Katie Reus

and vicious word they’d used.
    She sighed. “We’ve caught the guy on video doing it. He managed to sneak in a side door to the garage and avoid the guard. Look, our guards are there to make sure cars aren’t stolen. We’ve never had a vandalism problem. And I don’t think we do now. From the video it’s clear your car was targeted. But I don’t think the message was for you.” There was a slight question in Iris’s voice.
    “Yeah, I don’t either.” But before he discussed anything with Iris he needed to talk to Angel. The vandalism on his car combined with the man asking Mr. Botkin about her was too strange. “Did you get his face on screen?”
    “Not exactly. He was wearing a ball cap and what I’m pretty sure was a wig. But we got part of his face. I didn’t want to plug his face into that scary software program you’ve got though. Figured you could do it when you got back.”
    He was glad Iris hadn’t touched it. She could break a computer simply by looking at it wrong. “What did the cops say?”
    “Not much. We filed a report but they’re chalking it up to random vandalism. Which, I don’t blame them, even if I don’t think that tagging was random. What’s going on with your girl?”
    “She’s not my…I don’t know what’s going on with her.” But he planned to find out. And he really wished she was his girl. But she’d made it plain last night that she didn’t want to be.
    “Is she in trouble? She’s a sweet kid, but she’s kinda skittish. She was all nervous last night, telling me that you’d let her take your car to work. As if she was worried I’d think she’d stolen it.” Iris snorted. “I wonder if she realizes you’d give her the damn thing if she wanted.”
    Vadim gritted his teeth. He adored Iris, but he didn’t want to talk about his personal life with her. He started to respond when Angel strode into the kitchen, fully dressed in jeans and a sweater, carrying her overnight bag and purse.
    Vadim’s heart sank.
    She gave him a stiff smile as she set the bag on the floor. Charlie was tagging along next to her, whining as if she knew Angel was leaving. He understand how the dog felt. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll be in soon though. I’m going to get to the bottom of this problem today.” He disconnected before Iris could respond.
    “Is everything okay?” Angel asked, absently rubbing Charlie’s head. The little traitor was soaking it up.
    He couldn’t believe Charlie had refused his command to come with him last night. Seemed she liked Angel just as much as he did. “Yeah, just has to do with my car. They got the guy who keyed it on video.”
    Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “That’s great news. I hope they catch that jerk.”
    “Yeah…you want some coffee or tea?” He needed her to stay for at least another half an hour until Mr. Botkin’s scheduled phone call.
    She shook her head. “No, I should probably get going. I made the bed because I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to strip the sheets. And I left my dirty towels in the shower since I wasn’t sure where to put them.” As she spoke, she avoided his gaze entirely, glancing anywhere but at him.
    Fuck. He knew he’d screwed up, but it almost seemed like she was pissed at him. That didn’t seem right. Even though she’d said it was a mistake and she wanted to be friends, he didn’t. He couldn’t go back to being friends with her and the truth was, he knew that after she left his place, she’d be putting distance between them. He could already see the walls she’d erected as if they were physical barriers. “Angel, shit, I’m sorry about the way I pulled back from that kiss. I got…” God, he was so bad with women. But especially with Angel. She was sweet, soft and the exact opposite of him. He might not deserve someone like her, but he wanted the chance. He struggled to find a way to explain it to her without sounding like a jackass. “I didn’t want to fuck things up with you and I was ready