But of course, everything was not good and perfect.
Her friend Braeden had been sent off on a terribly dangerous mission to Mordor, or wherever it was the fire dragons were hiding. The game she’d invested so much time and energy into would probably sink under their new management in a year or two, and then she’d be without a job.
And as much fun as it was to be the lady of the water, she loved her job. Maybe not this particular job—but she’d always dreamed of working in the gaming industry. Making it through college and getting this job had been hard work. And she’d liked the feeling of making people happy.
“I’m just amused that I ended up with my own ocean dragon. Just when we released our virtual one.” She laughed as she ran her hand down Timothy’s chest.
There was definitely nothing virtual about him.
“Hmm. So how do I compare?”
Liana pretended to think. “I’m not sure how well you’d deal with getting dressed up by hordes of twelve-year-olds,” she said. “So that’s a strike against you.”
Timothy gave her look of mock outrage. “You mean I’m losing to a virtual dragon?”
“You’re pretty handy to have around,” Liana admitted. “Let’s see... You get a point for being useful for beach barbecues. And for bringing me coffee in bed. Oh! And getting a dragon lift into the city wins every time against any Uber driver.”
“Three to one for me,” Timothy said smugly. “I guess I can live with that.”
Liana pulled him close—close enough that she could brush her lips against his mouth and feel the immediate surge of desire as his hands came up to frame her face and he deepened the kiss.
“Plus ten points for being a damn good lover,” she said, laughing breathlessly when she managed to come up again for air. “Or twenty points. No—a hundred.”
“A hundred, huh?” He grinned at her with that intoxicating mix of pride and possessiveness. “In that case, I’d better show myself worthy of that rating some more...”
Epilogue: Liana
Liana stretched in the sunshine, staring out at the calm, blue ocean for a moment before she returned her attention to her laptop.
She’d been in meetings all morning. As the new owner of Dragon Heights Games, people kept asking her questions and wanting answers every day.
At first, it had been daunting. She understood nothing about businesses, after all—she was just a simple geek and a coder who loved dragons.
But when her real life ocean dragon had given her the company as a belated wedding gift, she’d had to learn quickly.
And it wasn’t all bad—there was a lot she had to learn. But she already knew the most important thing, which was what their players wanted from their game.
Some of the decisions she’d made had surprised people. And it was true that Dragon Heights had made less of a profit since Liana had taken over.
But they still made a very nice profit.
Enough of a profit that Liana’d been able to g
ive a raise to not only their coders, but also their customer support people, who did one of the hardest jobs, in her opinion. The memory of having to deal with upset people all day still made Liana feel exhausted. She was determined to show that she appreciated the hard work people put in.
And they were still going make a nice profit even after Liana hired another coder. She wanted someone like herself, a young woman fresh out of college who was desperately trying to break into the gaming industry. Because that had been hard, even with her sister’s support.
After all, what good was it to be your own boss if you couldn’t learn from the mistakes you’d seen others make?
Liana was determined to do better. She loved her virtual dragons—and she was going to make sure that her players would keep having fun, without having to spend ridiculous amounts of money.
And to start off her new reign, she’d made some changes in the code for the new event. Now every player who played for at least a few minutes on their commute every day would receive her beautiful, powerful ocean dragon—without having to pay any real money.
She couldn’t make sure that all the lonely people out there would find a real life dragon of their own. But at least she could make sure that everyone had fun in her own game.
And the rave reviews for their latest update had only proved her right. On the forums, there were even delighted comments from players who’d left during the past year, and who’d decided to give the game another chance after Liana’s changes.
Still, as amazing as it was to see that finally, she could undo some of the damage her former corporate overlords had done, she’d been adamant about one thing.