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Chapter 1

Angel clutched the brown paper bag filled with the boxed up leftover food she’d planned to take hoht It didn’twas stealing So Soarten

In the last two years, however, she’d learned to live in shades of gray, not black and white The world siht it was viewed life with rose-colored glasses Okay, that sounded a little bitter But it was how she was feeling

She hated that she’d gotten to a point where she was actually stealing from one of her employers She paused at the back door of the restaurant that would lead to a long hallway on out to the dumpsters behind The Serafina Hotel No, she just couldn’t do it She turned and headed back to the rab it after she’d clocked out Pretty much no one was left at Cloud 9 this late She’d been the closing server; the bartenders had already gone ho up the kitchen

As she stepped back into the galley of thethere cataloging salad dressing The petite wo black hair pulled into a ponytail; she wore plain clothes, not her normal chef’s jacket Normally she didn’t work on Thursdays and it was after hours so Angel was more than surprised to see her

Sierra glanced up, s out of here?”

Unable to find her voice, she nodded, clutching the bag

Sierra lifted a dark eyebrow, her s “You okay?”

“Yeah,” sheher

“You want“I’ve still got a register open Haven’t gone through the night’s drink reports yet and it’s gonna take forever” She made an annoyed face

Before Angel could respond, Hayden, Sierra’s fiancé and also one of the heads of security at the Serafina, strode in “Hey, sweetheart,” he murmured to Sierra

Without his nor just a T-shirt and jeans he should have looked casual and unintie man with the tattoos always made her feel nervous Both he and his brother did They were nice and Angel knew Sierra wouldn’t be with a loser, but still, in her experience she stayed away fro She knehat fists could do

Sierra gave hiet you now”

“No, it’s okay This isn’t…” Oh God, she didn’t even knohat to say She hated confrontation and always cla her She was just being nice But Angel felt so guilty and it must have shown on her face because Sierra turned to her fiancé

“Can you el alone”

Hayden’s eyebrows rose, but he nodded and left after giving Sierra another quick kiss on the forehead

When Sierra faced her again, she leaned one hip against the metal countertop they put hot plates on for the servers to deliver Right noas buffed and shiny “What’s going on? Is that the throay food?”

Sing hard, Angel nodded “Yeah It expires to to tell Sierra she’d been bringing it back but didn’t think she’d believe her or that it would el had packed it up and had been ready to take it That was dah “I’m sorry”

Instead of condeel feel even crappier “I just need to inventory the loss before we throw it out, but…you can have it You should have asked h” She rubbed a hand over her face “You’ve been such a great employee, but…”

Angel knew that even s fired Especially at a restaurant in a casino If she took so small, as to say she wouldn’t skim elsewhere? Her face heated up with sha green gaze “I know and I’et it” Angel knew the other woman would have to fire her over this and there was no point in trying to convince her not to

“Angel—”

Sierra turned at a slight scuffing sound to find Hayden and Vadialley kitchen What the hell was Vadi here? He was part of the hotel’s security teaht

Right then Angel wanted the floor to open up into a giant hole and s her For a brief moment she met Vadim’s pale blue eyes but quickly looked away To say she had a massive crush on him would be an understatement So many of the wait staff were afraid of hientle and right now she si fired

“Sierra” She tried to keep her voice steady as she dragged the other wohts of the kitchen overhead she felt as if she was under a giant spotlight When her boss looked back, Angel said, “I’o, but I really am sorry Please don’t…” What? Don’t fireVadi after foreven redder and thanks to her Irish coloring, she probably looked like Rudolph’s nose

Sierra took a step forward, closing the distance between them “Let’s just talk about this intoward the back of the kitc

hen

“Is everything okay?” Vadiht trace of his Russian accent was ever present, the delicious sound rolling over her like a war embrace

Angel sed hard “Fine” She gave Sierra a beseeching look She seriously doubted the other wo to el had done For all she knew, the head of security had protocol to follow Setting the bag on the metal countertop, she clutched her purse to her side “Sorry, Sierra,” shea beeline for the exit She oodbye to Vadietaway, but she couldn’t think about that now She just needed to get home and away from here

And figure out her next as but she’d been here n that she’d stayed in one place too long

Vadiel, but needed to find out what the hell was going on first “What’s wrong with Angel?” he asked Sierra

The petite woht it was because of him and he bit back his annoyance At six feet tall, he wasn’t overly large, and he was good looking enough Not hideous at least He simply did not understand omen seemed fearful of hi a fe Hayden nervously