He immediately answered the door when I knocked, wearing a white button-down and a pair of faded jeans and his feet were bare. There was something unexpectedly charming about seeing him so relaxed that he wasn’t wearing shoes.

He gave me a devastating smile and all I could think was, fuck him for getting to go through life distracting everyone that easily. I bet he’d forgotten what the word no even sounded like.

He gestured for my coat, so I shrugged it off dramatically.

“That looks uncomfortable.” He indicated my cinched waist with a wince. “Can you even breathe all squished up like that?”

Not quite the reaction I’d been expecting.

“I can breathe just fine, thank you,” I took a deep breath, letting my bosom heave at the top of the dress. His eyes dropped for just a second before he blinked and went to set my coat down. Point to me.

I looked around at the massive empty space. It was all basically one room, but said gigantic “room” was at least 3,000 square feet of concrete floors and neutral walls. There was a kitchen area with lots of dark marble and stainless steel appliances where Alex had gone to lay my coat on a counter.

“Would you like a glass of wine?” he asked, returning with a glass of red.

“No, thank you,” I responded, primly, “I don’t drink when I’m working.”

He took a deep gulp before leaving it on a table. Under his breath he said, “Apologies. Didn’t realize I’d hired the fun police.”

“What was that?” I snapped, unable to stop myself.

“Hmm? Nothing. So, how do we do this?”

I nodded towards the only furnished area that had a couch and a few chairs, and he followed me over there. When I perched on the couch, he sat next to me instead of taking the chair like I’d intended. He hadn’t sat closer than was appropriate and yet it felt like he’d violated my space.

I was the one who did the violating around here. I wasn’t going to be cowed by his nearness. I angled towards him, bringing our knees unnecessarily close, but not quite touching.

He glanced at the few-inch gap between us, grinned at me, and made a show of settling comfortably, manspreading until his knee knocked against mine, almost playfully. I refused to knock his back, and wasn’t going to scoot away, so now I was stuck trying to ignore the warmth of him that I could feel through his jeans.

They claimed he was wholesome and inexperienced, but the sonofabitch was giving me every vibe of being one of the most intensely dominant men I’d ever encountered.

“Why do you want this role so badly?” It was a question I’d been pondering ever since I’d found him sprawled on a couch in the penthouse. There was something more to his presence than fame and confidence.

“I’ve never played a part like it and this franchise is going to be huge.”