“Nothing but a big tease.” Hailey humphed to herself as she cleared the breakfast dishes away. The crockery clinked with more force than was good for them.

Contrary to what she’d expected after that melt-your-panties speech and the promise that heated his eyes to smoldering amber, Ryder had done nothing more than kiss her again—her hands all over those abs she had yet to see but felt spectacular—before he’d left with the promise he’d pick her up for something “fun” later.

Now that she’d made the decision, she’d sooner have shown him something “fun” that they could do without even leaving the apartment, but apparently the Genie was making sure she’d thought it through.

Damn it, why did that make him so much sexier? Hard enough to resist him as it was.

Except now she didn’t have to.

Ryder Wood was going to be her lover.

A little squeal shot past her closed lips. If there was ever a time to squeal, now was the time. Finally, she would feel good about herself as a woman again. She would feel attractive and sexy—already Ryder had left her with a glow of anticipation, a pleasurable tingle in her belly. He made her feel good.

And he was going to be her lover. That couldn’t be overstated.

Hailey did the rest of her Sunday morning chores with a bounce in her step, the cursed Shania Twain replaced with a medley of upbeat housework songs. And all the while she dusted and vacuumed, she let her imagination run wild with what Ryder would do with her, what would happen when he showed up.

She leaned against the broom she used to do the bathroom floor and closed her eyes. She pictured her living room awash with candles, more than she owned because what good was a fantasy if it had any place in reality, a little soft jazz on her music system. She threw a couple of glasses of wine in there for good measure, not that she anticipated drinking.

Although it had been a while since she’d had sex, maybe she would need some courage, but he’d already seen her drunk once and it wasn’t a good idea to use alcohol as a crutch, and her dad always said—

Lawson. You had a fantasy happening. Your dad? Not welcome.

Hailey cleared her mind of rambling and returned to the vision, only now Ryder was there with her. Shirtless, of course, all tanned, buff torso, rippling with muscle. His eyes glowed in the light from the candles as he reached for her.

His kiss would be hungry, starving, his hands equal to the fervor, in no time at all stripping her of a very nice silk negligee she’d seen in Victoria’s Secret the other day.

“God, I could devour you,” he’d purr before plundering her mouth again. His hands would move lower, lower, lower . . .

BBbbbrrrriiiiinnnnngggggg.

The broom clattered to the bathroom floor as Hailey jolted out of her daydream. A little hot, a lot turned on, she pushed a hand haphazardly through her hair and went to get the phone.

“Ah, hello?” she said after she’d picked it up. She cleared her throat of the fuzz. “Hello?”

“Young lady, I want you to explain yourself right now.”

At the sound of her dad’s rumble, she was instantly a teenager again, frozen in the act of stuffing her bra. “Dad?”

“Don’t ‘dad’ me. I want an explanation, Hailey May, and I want it—no, Sara, I told you I’d handle—”

Hailey heard the sounds of a scuffle before her mom’s voice came on the line. “Hi, darling.”

“Mom,” she said with extreme caution.

“How are you?”

“Up till about two minutes ago, okay.” Apart from the whole Ethan wedding. Which she was going to tell her parents about. Eventually. When she made sure she’d hid her dad’s gun. “What’s got Dad so wired?”

“You know he gets grumpy sometimes.”

“Naval officers do not get grumpy, Sara,” Hailey heard her dad state in the background. “Give me the phone.”

There was a pause where Hailey assumed her mom held her hand over the speaker. Then, “That’s better. We can’t have a proper woman-to-woman chat with Dad breathing down our necks.”

A bad feeling curdled in Hailey’s belly. “Woman to woman?”

“Mmm,” her mom confirmed. “Darling, do you have something to tell me?”

“Ah . . .” She considered fobbing her mom off, but there was no use. If Sara Lawson had the scent of a secret, she was harder to shake than a spaniel off a ball. She exhaled. “What do you know?”

“I saw you and your new boyfriend on Lisette’s Hour.” Hailey heard the coy smile in her mom’s voice. “He’s a dishy sort, isn’t he?”

That made Hailey grin. Dishy. Ryder was a dish, all right, one to be consumed in small bites. “He’s attractive, I suppose. But he’s not my boyfriend.” Too late, she remembered she wasn’t supposed to admit that.

Not that her mom believed her anyway. “I saw the show, Hailey. Don’t be thinking you can run circles around me. There was enough sexual tension between you to light a small bonfire.”

“Mom.” Hailey settled on the arm of the couch. “Please.”

“You don’t think your dad and I have sex?”

“Blah.” Hailey wrinkled her nose and made a face. “I prefer to think I flew in with the stork.”

Her mom laughed. “Enough stalling. When were you going to tell us about your new boyfriend?”

“It’s complicated.” Hailey paused in her fumbling, realization dawning. “Dad didn’t see the show, did he?”

“Well, of course. We always watch Lisette’s Hour together.”

Damn. Hailey should’ve known.

“He was surprised,” her mom continued with a chiding tone, “to say the least, to see you sitting there, sizzling with a big-time Genie. Disappointed, too. He’d been hoping to set you up with Liam Fabray.”

“The navy kid who pretended to catch his own farts in jars?”

“He has grown up, Hailey.”

“Not enough to get away from that.” Hailey shuddered. “Never. And tell Dad that, too.”

“No need now that you’ve caught yourself a Genie.”

“Yeah, about that. How did Dad react when he saw the show? You didn’t share your ‘sizzling’ observations, right?”

“The lieutenant commander has eyes of his own to see the obvious.”

Hailey winced, knowing what was coming. “Please tell me you talked him out of driving up. The last thing I need is Dad swooping in to interrogate Ryder like he’s a POW.”

“Jack is concerned, as any father would be, that your head is turned by this Genie.”

“Turned?” Hailey grinned.

“We Googled him and saw those photos in Rome, missy. That isn’t a typical man and it would be easy for him to break your heart again, like Ethan did.”

The mention wiped out her smile. “Ryder’s not like that, Mom. We’re not like that.”

“Not like what?”

“In a . . . proper relationship.”

“From what I saw on the show—”

She couldn’t outright lie to her mom. So she said the closest thing to the truth. “It’s casual.”

A beat before her mom made a knowing noise. “I see. Good. I think it’s about time.”

Hailey almost fell off the couch. “Excuse me?”

“Hailey, you’ve been moping about whatever happened between you and Ethan when you broke up for the last six months and frankly, I was getting worried about depression and suicide.”

“Jesus.”

“If this Ryder is making you relax, letting you be a little less . . . disciplined, you have my blessing. Every woman should do casual at least once.”

She couldn’t even begin to express how much the conversation was making her cringe. “Gee, thanks. I’m sure that’ll be a turn-on when I tell him.”

Her mom laughed, the same husky giggle that made all the officers her dad brought round fall in love with her. “I was young once, too. In fact, your dad and I—”

“I really don’t need to know the end of that sentence.” Hailey fiddled with the cord of the phone. “You’re not disappointed I’m being so irresponsible?”

“Hale Bale, when was the last time you were irresponsible?”

At the childhood nickname, Hailey’s lips curved upward. “The last week of never.”

“You are your father’s daughter, which is good for your career but bad for your social life.” Her mom sighed. “I think passion is just the thing you need.”

The word echoed inside Hailey’s mind, the candle-lit fantasy whirling in and out. She had that with Ryder, if nothing else. She cleared her throat, winding the phone cord around her finger. “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t tell Dad.”

“Darling, your dad is a brilliant, caring, loving man, but he is also an absolute nutcase when it comes to you.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Now.” Her mom sounded as if she was settling in. “I want to hear all the details.”

With some heavy editing. “Okay. But first there’s something I need to tell you about work . . .”