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away.
    Mitch joined me at the window. “You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”
    “Very much.” I turned to him and said, “Rex was the third former co-worker of yours we’ve had to terminate for gross unprofessionalism. I’m suspending your authorization to make personnel decisions until further notice. Now, let your friends know they need to get their shit together. The free ride is over.”
    He snarled at me but nodded. “Fine.” He started to walk away.
    “Mitch.” I waited for him to turn around. “From now on, when you’re in the office, wear some goddamn shoes. That’s an order.”
    When I got back to the conference room, Nadia was kneeling next to the stained section of carpet. She looked up and said, “We got lucky. The carpet has some serious stain repellent on it.” She stood up and tied the bag lining the trash can closed. “I’ll toss this into the dumpster and see if the building maintenance has any cotton cloth to finish the table with.” She was out the door before I could say anything.
    She was right about the carpet, though. It wasn’t even damp or discolored. I decided to count myself lucky, until I looked under Mitch’s chair. He’d spilled a latte six months ago, knocking his cup off the table with his damn dirty feet. The stain had resisted a round of steam cleaning, but now the carpet was spotless.
    A few wild ideas jumped to mind, but I waved them away. Property management must have brought in different service with better gear. I tossed the missing stain into the back of my mind.
    When Nadia returned, we got to the business of working out exactly what we’d need in order to have three races, four classes, and three to five playable levels to demonstrate at BuzzCon. She had no problem giving me realistic estimates of required time for programming and testing, but even our best-case scenarios didn’t meet the show deadline.
    Rose swept in the door just before lunch, wearing jingling bells and swirling lengths of bright gauzy silk. “We were victorious,” she announced. “We awed our competition into abject surrender with our magnificence.” She shimmied her way into my arms and kissed me. “I have won the right to collect tribute from slobbering horny men. What have you been doing with your day?”
    “Threatened to fire half of the staff, including Mitch, and actually fired one person so far. There’s another guy who’s wrapping up his workload and turning in his notice, and Mitch is no longer allowed to make personnel changes. I’ll tell you the rest later.”
    “Fine. You can anoint me with wine and chocolate, bathe me with treasure, and regale me with tales of your exploits. Who’s she?”
    I pulled away enough to make introductions. “Rose, this is Nadia Llewellyn. Nadia, this is our CFO and my fiancée, Rose Drake.”
    “Nice to meet you,” Nadia said.
    “I’m sure it is.” Rose sniffed at her and asked, “Are you one of the Llewellyn Industries Llewellyns?”
    “Yes and no. I’m a member of the family, but I don’t work for the company. I’m not a spy, either.” Nadia didn’t look spooked by Rose’s odd behavior, but she gave me a quick glance and a raised eyebrow.
    Rose saw it, too. “Oh, relax. I’m just high on attention right now.” She kissed me and looked at Nadia. “I need to go get changed. Nadia, do you mind seeing me naked?”
    Nadia chortled. “Usually it’s my mother getting lines like that. I’ll help you change if you need a hand, but I’m not on the market.”
    “Perfect. There’s one set of laces I have trouble reaching.” Rose grabbed her gym bag and the two went down the hall. When they came back, Rose was in normal office attire and makeup. She dropped into a chair and asked, “Is all this something we need to order food in for, or can we go out and discuss it?”
    “Order in,” I said. “Indian work for everyone?”
    While we waited for Bengali Tiger to deliver a pile of kormas, masalas, and a Dragon-sized order of