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“Yes, I spoke to their manager this morning. Everything is in order.”

A smirk pulls at the corner of his lips. “Good job. Seems like we make a pretty good team.”

If I thought I was turned on by his eye fucking, his praising words have my knees going weak. A flush creeps up my neck, and I bite back a smile.

“Well…that’s new,” he whispers as we reach the end of the hallway.

Laughter rumbles from behind the door. We both stop, and Roman shoots me a confused look.

I shrug as if to say, Don’t ask me. If you don’t know what’s going on, I sure as hell don’t.

Bracing himself with a deep breath, he pulls the conference door open, and we are both frozen in shock as Leo’s deep voice fills the air. “It’s about time. Nice of you to join us.”

A wave of panic crashes through me, hoping Leo doesn’t catch a whiff of the illicit pheromones rolling off us.

Roman cuts his eyes to me and back to his brothers. “Leo? What are you doing here?”

Guy and Luka sit on one side, and a petite blonde sits on the other. Ivy, I presume. I’ve never met her, but Roman’s told me all about how they fell in love two years ago while planning the Phantom Festival together. From what I hear, she’s quite the firecracker and completely transformed his workaholic tendencies.

Though, he still looks pretty fucking intimidating if you ask me.

She’s clearly got him wrapped around her finger. His arm is draped across her body, like he can’t stand not to be touching her.

“What's wrong, Roman? You don’t look too happy to see me.”

“Just surprised, that’s all.” Roman straightens his tie. “Everything okay?”

The two seem to exchange a silent, charged look, and I feel the tension in the room begin to rise.

Finally, after an uncomfortable silence, Ivy smacks Leo’s chest. “Will you stop? You’re freaking them out.”

Leo’s lips curl into a smile. “Ivy’s finishing up her internship soon and has some ideas for a product line.” When he looks at her, there’s so much adoration in his eyes, I almost feel like I should look away.

“And…” Ivy adds, her excitement practically vibrating through her body. “Since my schedule is open for the next few weeks, I couldn’t miss out on seeing what Roman’s going to do with this year’s festival.”

“Fuck me then,” Luka says, pretending to get up and leave.

Ivy’s eyes go wide as she realizes how that must’ve sounded. “Luka, I’m so sorry! I wanted to come in for your festival, but I couldn’t get away⁠—”

Grinning, he grabs a cookie from the plate in the center of the table and eats half of it in one bite. “I’m just teasing you. I wouldn’t change a thing about how things worked out for me.” He waves the cookie in the air. “I’ll accept your cookies as a peace offering.”

She seems to relax a little, then turns her attention back to Roman and me. “Well, are you just going to stand there?”

“Oh, of course,” Roman says, taking a seat across from Leo.

Not wanting to appear too comfortable around Roman, I make my way to the other side of the table beside Ivy.

Before I can sit, she jumps up and wraps her arms around me like a boa constrictor. “I’m Ivy, by the way. I’m so excited to finally meet you!” She squeals. She’s stronger than she looks.

“Forgive my manners,” Roman says, shaking his head like he’s still trying to calm down from walking in to find his brother in here. “Kira, this is Leo.”

I smooth my palms over my trousers before offering my hand. “Oh, it’s nice to officially meet you.” I gesture to all of him. “You’re even more…intimidating in person than you are on the big screen.”

Ivy smacks him on the arm. “I thought we talked about smiling more. How do you expect people to do their best work if they’re terrified of you?” She scolds.

But Leo doesn’t even flinch. He just catches her hand and locks their fingers together as he smiles back at her. “I thought that was just with everybody else? I don’t have to put on a show for my brothers. They already know I’m an asshole.” He glances at Luka and Guy, to which they both nod in agreement.

Ivy rolls her eyes like she doesn’t have the energy to argue with him anymore.