The ride to the sixth floor was filled with tension. Asher bounced on his toes and drummed his fingers against his thigh. I worked at calming my racing heart and ordering my runaway thoughts. When I was nervous, I tended to ramble, and that was the last thing I wanted to do.

Outside room 608, we paused, shoulder to shoulder as we stared at the black numbers on the door. “Don’t act stupid, or you’ll fuck your chances,” Asher warned.

“I know. I shouldn’t talk at all.”

“This is your gig, you’d better do the talking. Just … don’t ramble or go on a tangent.”

“I’ll do my best. I spent the last two nights practicing in my head, imagining all the things she might ask and coming up with answers. But, what if she’s all, ‘Get naked, and show me what you’ve got.’ We haven’t talked about what we’ll do. Is she gonna expect a runway model walk thing from one side of the room to the other? I can’t walk like that. I tried. My legs do this weird thing where they look like I’m half-octopus. Maybe it’s easier in heels, but I don’t own heels. I mean, I’ve seen male models do the runway thing, and I guess they don’t wear—”

“Atticus?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re rambling.”

“Fuck. Okay. Dammit. I’m nervous.”

“Me too. Are we leaving?”

“No.”

I knocked before I threw up or ran away.

There was no more time to think. The door opened a crack, and a tall, incredibly good-looking guy in his early or midthirties peered out at us. Seriously, there should be laws about how flawlessly gorgeous a person can be. Limits. Like, you get this much hotness, and then you have to share. No hogging. Spread the wealth. This guy was clearly a hotness hoarder.

I was rambling, albeit in my head, but rambling nonetheless.

Dammit.

The man on the other side of the door was impeccably dressed in a pressed pair of tailored black slacks that hugged his trim waist and a white button-up shirt that was open at the collar, showing off a smooth and defined chest.

Bastard.

His sleeves were rolled to the middle of his forearms. His silky, black hair was styled in that windblown sexy look I could never pull off or figure out how to emulate. His eyes were sharp and assessing, pale blue and lovely, and his mouth was framed by thin but shapely lips I couldn’t stop staring at.

I legit couldn’t tear my eyes off them.

Asher nudged me in the ribs. I’d been so busy absorbing the guy’s attractiveness, I didn’t realize he’d spoken until I registered his quirked brow.

“You are so hot,” I said, my brain to mouth filter deciding to fail me.