He’s in jeans and a white T-shirt?
No. Absolutely not. The man who purposefully wears woolen three-piece suits in Orlando does not own denim. Nor would he ever dress so casually. There’s no way. I lean back for a better look, misjudge the angle, and my chair shoots out from under me. Down I go.
“Kaori!” Anya exclaims.
“I’m fine,” I blurt out, scrambling upright and scooping my papers off the floor, popping back up like a malfunctioning jack-in-the-box.
“That’s good,” Theo’s voice says mildly, “because we don’t have collision insurance.”
I freeze.
He’s standing in the doorway now, one hand hooked around the strap of his leather suitcase, the other holding a coffee.
“Welcome back, Riverton,” Anya says. “Are you going to behave yourself today?”
“Yes. I’m heading home right after the morning huddle.” He sets his things down at the head of the table.
Anya shifts over to her normal spot to his right. “I can start without you if you want a moment to stop by your office to drop off your things and check a couple emails,” she offers.
“Not necessary,” he says. “I’ve got what I need. I can do it all after.”
Leon’s gaze drops to the brown paper bag next to Theo’s coffee. His eyes light up. “Are those, by any chance, fresh cornetti from Lina’s?”
Leave it to Leon to laser in on the food.
Theo slides the bag a fraction closer to himself. “They are. And they’re mine.”
Groans and a few snickers ripple around the table.
“You can’t bring Lina’s into the office and not share,” Leon says.
Theo pauses, takes a sip of coffee, then says, “Yes I can.” He sits. “You lot never share your lunches with me.”
“We have potlucks every Friday.” Anya lightly elbows him. “Whose fault is it if a certain person doesn’t choose to participate?”
“Touché.” He takes another sip of his coffee.
“I don’t think I’ve ever tried a cornetti before,” I say to Leon. “Remind me to order one next time we’re at Mamma Lina’s.”
“I’ll do you one better. You can try one now.” Theo smirks.
“Hey, how come she gets special treatment?” Leon teases.
“No special treatment.” He takes another long, drawn-out sip. “Because I’m aniceboss, I ordered ten boxes for the office. Katie’s baking them now and will drop by with them shortly.”
The room breaks out into applause and a few cheers.
I lean over and whisper to Leon, “Has he ever willingly left after the morning meeting?”
“No, this is a world record.”
I nod, turning my attention to the boss. There’s a looseness to his shoulders that I’ve never seen, a softening of the permanent crease between his eyebrows. Logically, he should be volatile, as he always is after a trip, but he looks... relaxed. Something’s put him in a good mood. And I’m dying to know what it is.
Theo lets it go for exactly five seconds before clearinghis throat. The noise dies instantly. “All right, enough. Let’s get started.”
The atmosphere shifts back to professional, and the meeting begins. “Sharma, let’s start with a recap of where we are with Medusa’s Fury,” he says.
Anya clicks to the first slide of her presentation. “Here’s a quick timeline check before we dive in. Track delivery is confirmed for the end of the month. The on-site construction is on schedule as long as we sign off on the secondary assembly by Friday. That gives us a narrow window to flag anything that could slow installation. Any questions so far?”
