Leeza stumbled around her house, the coffee not quite waking her up. Late last night, Marge had sent her a text with Sir Liam’s phone number in it, including a note that he was a night person, so she could call him anytime in the evening.

And she’d called. Maybe it was the wine that made her do it. Maybe the romantic movie she watched where the gal called the guy and he actually was interested…

Who knows what made her do it. Except that, even as weird as he had been, he still made her heart strum.

Too bad when she called she got some guy who promised to relay a message to him since he wasn’t around.

Now she was on that crazy girl-thing of waiting, and she just hated it.

Especially since she didn’t know if she could come up with an excuse for her late night call. It was Saturday, she wouldn’t be in the office to do work, so she had nothing there, and he’d left with her, so it’s not like she could pretend she went back to work or something.

“God, I’m pathetic,” she said as she took a whiff of coffee before sipping more of the warm liquid. “If he calls, and I stress if, I’ll just tell him I…I thought he was cute and wondered if he’d want to go to dinner sometime. Or lunch, if he’d prefer something less date-like.”

True enough—she did think he was cute. Though cute seemed, well, not right exactly. He wasn’t cute. He was… He flashed through her mind—dark hair, tight jeans, ass that wouldn’t quit. Yeah. Bad boy to the max.

Probably why he was on her mind—she was a sucker for that sexy bad boy look. And Sir Liam had it in spades.

She walked through her house to the back porch and opened her sliding glass door. Outside, the deck was quiet. The only sounds this early in the morning were the chirping birds and a gentle morning breeze rattling the treetops.

It was chilly. The morning sun hadn’t yet warmed everything, and dew glistened on the grass and the budding blooms of flowers.

Everything was so peaceful and quiet. The trees framed out her yard as well as the neighbor’s, blocking most of the noise from the street, making her back yard a peaceful getaway. She let her head rest against the back of the chair and closed her eyes.

The rising sun made her eyelids glow and she let the rays that snuck through the trees wake and warm her.

Until everything shadowed.

She flicked her eyes open, expecting to see a cloud had passed over the sun.

There was no cloud.

Leeza screamed.

Sir Liam stood before her, arms crossed over his chest, and he glared down at her. God, did he ever have a look that wasn’t a mean-ass glare?

“What in the world are you doing here?”

“You called me.”

She blinked. “That didn’t mean I wanted you to come over!”

“Then what did you want?”

She jumped up. “And how did you find my house?”

He raised an eyebrow at her. The expression said a mouthful. She wasn’t really crazy about that look.

“What did you want?”

“I didn’t want you to come to my house!” She reached out, pointing a finger at him. “And this is my backyard. You don’t just come walking into someone’s backyard. You’re lucky I didn’t pull out a baseball bat and hit you or something.”

“I would have caught it.”

“Who are you?” she asked, her chest heaving. His eyes wandered down her body.

She was in her pajamas and robe! The silky pajamas that barely covered anything. She pulled the robe tighter around herself, trying to cover up her body. Hard to do with a robe that was pretty much transparent.

When she met Liam’s gaze, his eyes were dark and feral.

Her whole body responded with its own shiver and she looked down him. He wore a black t-shirt, a small red cross on his left pec.

And what a pectoral muscle it was. Not realizing what she was doing, she took a step toward him. Her robe fell open as she stepped into his space, but she didn’t care. She reached for him, meeting the fabric, then the hard muscle of his pec.

His face tensed, his eyes pinching shut.

She let the hand run down the broad muscle.

Liam’s eyes opened, and his hand snapped up, grabbing her wrist. “Do not touch me.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, pulling her hand back. It felt charred from the contact. She cradled her wrist in her hand.

“Do you need assistance?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m fine.” She held up her wrist, showing him that it worked just fine.

He crossed his arms again. “You should not call unless you need assistance.”

Leeza blinked. “Assistance? What if I just wanted to talk to you? Take you to dinner or something?”

He closed his eyes and opened them, like a forced blink. “I do not date. I do not socialize.” He turned to walk away. “Do not contact me again.”

She stared as he stepped off her deck and walked down the little path to the gate. “Maybe you should date,” she muttered. “Then you wouldn’t be such a grump.”

He froze, snapping to face her, his dark eyes glaring at her. “I am not a grump.”

Leeza’s mouth gaped open from shock, partially that he heard her, but mostly that he didn’t think he was a grump. “If you’re not a grump, then I’m friggin’ President of the United States.”