The walk of shame. Is there anything worse? Not for me. Not when I’m trying to put my career together as an engineer at one of Chicago’s premier engineering and architectural firms.

What is the walk of shame? When you’re escorted out of the building by two beefy armed security men with nothing but the clothes on my back and a box of things I brought with me, thinking this job would last more than five minutes.

“I don’t suppose it would do any good to tell you I didn’t do it?” I asked Mr. Furming, the HR director who informed me of my firing at the same time the aforementioned security guards barged into my office. It was humiliating to pack up my small box while they examined everything I put in, making sure I wasn’t stealing. Like I was some kid working at an electronics store.

He shook his head. Furming dressed like his mom shopped for him. His pasty face and comb-over did nothing to help the JC Penny blue-light special he wore. Brown jacket, slacks, tie, and shoes. The only thing not brown was his shirt.

“Mr. Spencer, you accessed the client database after hours. We have footage of you doing so. You’ll be hearing from our lawyers,” Furming said. “We take security violations seriously.”

That’s the thing. They had footage of me using a computer in my office. Not accessing the database but playing War for Mystaria, the premier VR experience for fantasy role-playing games. The only reason I’d stayed late was for one more dungeon. That’s the whole key to the game, one more epic experience.

I shook my head. No one was even supposed to know I was in my office. The buildings computers are so much better than mine and there were no rules against using office computer after hours for gaming... I didn’t think anyone would notice or care. But someone cared enough to set me up to take a fall.

“That’s too bad, Spencer,” Marty Tannin said as I walked by the cubicle where he worked. Tannin stood at just under five-seven and was a real pain in my butt. He wasn’t an engineer or an architect, he worked for building maintenance and as such thought he owned the whole building. We tangled from day one when I requested an ergonomic keyboard and he did everything he could to make me jump through hoops. I had no idea if he didn’t like me or whether he thought he was smarter than everyone else. After I did an end run to his boss for the stupid keyboard our feud was on.

Upon seeing his smug face, everything clicked into place.

“Tell me, Marty, how did you know I was in my office? I had the privacy screens up,” I asked him.

The glee in his eyes reflected how eager he was to rub my face in his superior intellect and share his master plan. He was sure, so sure, that I was fired he didn’t bother to hide it. “Next time you login to the database, make sure there isn’t a key-logger in your fancy keyboard.”

Son of a—I jerked toward him like I was going to throw a punch and he leaped back, falling over his chair and landing on his butt. Of course, I wasn’t going to hit him. He was just high-strung and convinced I was a violent person since I graduated from West Point and did six years as an officer in the US Army Combat Engineers.

I mean, I’m not-not a violent person, I’m just smart enough to avoid cameras.

“Jerk, you’ll get yours,” he said as we continued our march to the elevator.

“I hope you heard that Mr. Furming, sir,” I said as we waited for the lift.

He looked up at me. Most people had to since I was six-three. “I did, son, and I’m sorry it was you that got the shaft here.” He nodded to one of the security guards. “Go to Mr. Spencer’s former office and confiscate his keyboard, please.”

The big man nodded and jogged off down the aisle. I glimpsed Tannin turning three shades of white before scrambling to beat the security guard to my old office.

“I’m afraid you can’t have your job back until this is sorted out. It might be months,” Furming said to me. “Your password was used and according to the contract, regardless of who physically accessed the database, the person with the password is responsible.”

I nodded. It wasn’t great, but at least that a-hole would get a reckoning.

Just like that, I was out in the cold, exiting the building and walking through the snow to the train station.

Winter in Chicago was no joke. Snow dumped out of the sky in feet, not inches. When I’d gotten to work four hours before, there was a foot on the ground, now it was almost double.

“Damn,” I muttered as I stomped my feet, trying to keep warm waiting for the train. I wasn’t used to leaving in the middle of the day and I had no idea how long I’d have to wait in the middle of a frigging blizzard. I checked the CTA app on my phone and it said there was a big delay because of weather.

A slow grin spread across my face. I knew exactly where to go. I ditched the box in the trash since it wasn’t anything irreplaceable and I needed to keep my hands warm more than I needed a red Swingline stapler.

Stuffing my hands deep into my down coat pockets and hunching down to keep as much as I could out of the wind, I trotted toward Dragon’s Lair. My favorite place to play games and spend money I didn’t have. Hell, one perk of the engineering job was the gaming den’s proximity. It helped that a friend of mine owned the place. At least I knew my money was going to a good cause.

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Five minutes later I stomped inside the VR palace, letting out a big sigh as warm air revitalized my freezing limbs. I didn’t even care that it was smelly warm air. It wasn’t like VR gamers were known for their good hygiene.

“Heya Nick,” Ines said from behind the counter. She was in her early twenties, stupid amounts of hot, and dressed like she just finished Yoga. Unlike a lot of women walking around in Yoga pants, Ines made them look good. She was a solid hire for my old Army buddy. Trustworthy, effortlessly engaging, and charming. She was everything he needed at the front desk. Gamer geeks drooled over her and they paid by the hour to play at Dragon’s Lair, in part, because of her.

“Heya, Ines. Lamar around?” I asked, giving her eyes my full attention.

“Yeah, he’s in the back, with someone from OtherWorld Games. I’ll buzz you in.”

OtherWorld Games? They made War for Mystaria... I knew Lamar’s place made buckets of money with its thirty regular VR hookups and twenty immersion pods... but to have someone from the company... very cool.

I walked through the gate behind the counter and made my way back to his office. The front counter ran from the door to the back of the building. A large security gate kept the front secure. Even if someone came in looking for trouble, they couldn’t access the main room through the steel gate. All Ines would have to do was dive behind the counter and she would be safe. Security was a big deal when people sealed themselves inside VR pods. No one wanted to wake up to a gun pointed at their face.

The back office was both a store room and Lamar’s work space. As the manager and owner, he spent most of his time dealing with the business. He had a couple of full-time employees for the tech work and customer service.

I heard him talking to someone as I came up to the door. I rapped on the frame twice before I walked in. He turned, annoyance clear on his face from the interruption. However, it cleared up when he saw me.

“Well, well, what a coincidence. We were just talking about you,” Lamar said. He was a big black man, with broad shoulders and arms the size of tree trunks. I’d first met Lamar in the Army when his infantry platoon was watching our backs while we fixed a well in some Afghan village with a name I couldn’t pronounce. It wasn’t our finest hour, but lifelong friends are often formed in the most dangerous situations.

“Why the heck would you be talking abou—” The word died in my throat as he stepped aside to reveal who he was talking to.

If Ines was hot, this woman was on fire. Not just sexy... something else, something incredible. She had long blonde hair in wavy curls that framed her heart-shaped face. Full, red lips that I could stare at forever, and that was just her face. I did my very best to only glance at the rest of her.

She wore a dark red dress that scooped her breasts and clung to the curve of her waist and hips. The hem ended just above her knees and she wore a strappy pair of heals that had to be four inches. She couldn’t be from around here, dressed like that, not with the winter blizzard going on outside.

The thing about her, the best things about her, were her eyes. They practically glowed green and when she smiled, it lit up the whole room.

“For some reason, she really wanted to meet you, Nick. I tried to tell her you’re a useless ex-officer and nothing you do will ever amount to what areal soldier could do,” he said with a smile. Lamar was a Sergeant First Class back when I met him, and like most sergeants, he didn’t take kindly to First Lieutenant Nick Spencer telling him what to do. Not that I ever really did. More like “suggestions” to be honest. Smart young officers didn’t order veteran NCOs around if they knew what was good for them.

“Are you kidding me?” she said with breathless glee. “He’s who I want, without a doubt.” She didn’t seem to catch the double meaning in her words. She just lunged past Lamar with her hand out. Unfortunately, his floor had its share of obstacles, cables, discarded boxes, and whatnot, since it doubled as his storage space.

Her strappy heel caught on one and she floundered forward, arms pinwheeling in the air. Both Lamar and I sprung into action to catch her. Despite how close he was, he missed. I managed to make it in front of her and she collided with me, knocking us both down. I put myself between her and the floor, and I made sure my hands were out wide to keep from touching something I shouldn’t. It was awkward for me, and I felt it when we landed.

We hit hard. She landed full on my chest and if I hadn’t exhaled, it would have knocked the wind from me, instead of just hurting like a punch to the gut.

She put her delicate hands on my chest and pushed off me enough to look up at me with a wicked smile. “Well, I don’t normally jump a guy this quick...”

I looked down and realized the angle she was at. Her legs were on either side of me and I felt her warmth. Even with the fall, my arousal had to be obvious. I had a really great look at her large cleavage and felt them against my chest. I dragged my eyes away.

“Ha, women are always falling for Nick,” Lamar said as he helped her up. I didn’t even know her name, but my heart was writing checks my body wasn’t going to cash. To say I’d had a dry spell of girlfriends was a huge understatement and here was this unbelievably attractive woman flirting with me...

I picked myself up, trying to wipe the stupid grin off my face. Again, she didn’t seem to mind. As soon as I was standing, she took my hand and shook it.

“I’m April Phule, please no jokes, I’ve heard them all,” she said as she continued to hold my hand. Her touch was warm and pleasing, and I wasn’t eager to let it go either. Instead, I let her decide when enough was enough and just looked into those amazing green eyes and smiled.

“No jokes, I promise. April...”

Oh my god. She’s the CEO...

“Yes,” she said with a smile, still holding onto my hand. “I created War for Mystaria.Believe me, I get that reaction a lot.”

I snapped my mouth shut as she giggled at me.Giggled!Was it possible to be in love after meeting someone for thirty seconds? Because I was.

After a long minute of us staring into each other's eyes, Lamar politely coughed to get our attention.

“Seriously, Nick, she really is here to see you. Something about the dungeon you raided last night?”

Oh, right? The raid that got me fired. I sighed as she removed her hand from mine and straightened her skirt, running her hands down her hips before turning away to grab her tablet.

“It’s not just that, it’s everything you’ve done since you started playing two years ago. I have some questions. Maybe we could get something to eat?” she asked as she turned around and smiled up at me.

“No offense, Lamar, but your food sucks,” I said to my friend.

“None taken. It’s better than the crap they shoved on us at Kandahar, though. It ain’t cheap to feed hungry gamers and it isn’t like they are connoisseurs of fine cuisine,” he said with a laugh.

“There’s a blizzard outside, though. Maybe we can make it someplace nearby?” I asked.

She smiled and pointed at the delivery door. “I’ve got an SUV right outside and the Waldorf has a great restaurant. Plus, I’m staying there, so I know where it is.”

She was staying at the Waldorf, and she wanted to have lunch with me? I spent a second looking around the room for cameras, but when I found none, I decided this was just my lucky day.

“Sounds great. Lead the way?”

She did, just not where I expected.