Leo didn’t bother with the stupid games most men played, like making me wait a certain number of days before calling me. Instead, it was barely a few hours later, shortly after he’d put Lynn to bed, when my phone rang. We only had the chance to talk for about ten minutes before she came out of her room and asked him for a drink of water. But then he called again the next night. And the one after that too. So when we met for dinner on Monday night, most of the first date awkwardness was gone since we’d already started to get to know each other over the phone. But no amount of talking would have gotten rid of my nervousness, not with the pull I felt towards him. It was beyond magnetic.

When I spotted him in front of the hostess stand after I walked into the restaurant where we were meeting, it felt like butterflies took flight in my stomach. He was wearing a pair of khaki pants that cupped his ass like it was their job. The material of his long-sleeved, blue shirt that was a close match for the color of his eyes was stretched taut along his broad shoulders and back. He looked insanely hot from behind, and it only got better when he turned to face me.

I almost tripped over my own feet at the punch to my gut I felt seeing the intensity in his eyes when they scanned me from head to toe. I was fascinated by how the blue seemed to deepen a shade...and by the heat in his gaze as he stalked forward to wrap me up in a hug.

“It’s damn good to see you,” he rasped before I felt his lips press against the top of my head. His masculine scent filled my nostrils, going straight to my head…and my panties. Dear lord, the man was a force to be reckoned with, and that was without even trying.

“I’m happy to see you, too.” I stepped out of his embrace and tipped my head back to smile up at him. “Although I’ve got to admit I’m surprised you beat me here.”

“I might be a Southern man who usually has a laidback approach to being on time”—he laced his fingers with mine and led me towards the hostess who was holding two menus while she waited for us— “but not when I have the right motivation.”

I waited until we were seated at our table to respond. “Can I assume I’m the motivation that got you to show up early early instead of Southern early?”

The sexy grin he flashed me got those butterflies swirling in my belly again. “Yeah, you’re safe to assume that.”

“Wow,” I breathed.

Just wow.

I must’ve done something right in my life to have found myself sitting across from a super-hot guy like Leo who had no problem letting me know exactly how interested he was in me. I wished I knew what it was because I’d sure as heck keep it up if this is what I got for whatever it was.

“Not sure why you sound so shocked by that, darlin’.” He reached out and slid his palm against mine, his fingertips sending tingles along my skin where they glided against it. “Any guy worth spending time with you damn well should give you the respect you deserve by getting his ass to a restaurant when he’s supposed to be there. A woman like you should never have to wait on a man. If anything, it should be the other way around.”

“That’s sweet,” I sighed. And oh-so flattering. “But I hope I didn’t make you wait too long.”

Not just because it was rude, but also since only an insane woman would leave a guy like Leo waiting on her. If I left him waiting around for too long, someone else was bound to snap him right up out from under me. I had no doubt that he got hit on by women all the time, and just the thought of it had me grinding my teeth...as ridiculous as that reaction was considering I’d only known him for three days and this was our first date.

“I barely made it here before you.” He gently squeezed my hand before letting it go to pick up his menu. “I’d just checked in with the hostess on our reservation, turned around, and there you were. Looking so fucking gorgeous, I wished we weren’t in such a public place.”

I tugged at the collar of my shirt and cursed myself for choosing my favorite long-sleeved top, even though it made my boobs look fantastic. “Is it suddenly super-hot in here?”

His lips tilted up in a sexy smirk. “Don’t you know, darlin’? The temperature notched up a few extra degrees the second you walked through the door.”

“Whew!” I fanned myself with my menu. “And you just keep on ratcheting it up even more.”

“What can I say? I like to bring the heat.”

“Wow,” I breathed. Again. Because the thought of him and all the heat he’d bring to bed left me speechless and squirming in my seat.

“Too much? You need me to tone it down a bit?”

“Yes.” I thought about it for a second. “Maybe.” Then after another moment. “No. Definitely not.”

“I’m going with your last answer since it’s the one I like the most.”

“That works for me.” I wiggled my menu. “But maybe tone it down a tiny bit so I have enough brain power to figure out what I want to order.”

“Sure, I can do that.” His gaze dropped to my boobs. “But there’s nothing you can do to tone it down, so let’s hope I have enough brain power to find something too.”

My cheeks filled with color, but it was more of a flush than a blush. And it quickly spread across my entire body. I lifted my menu up and opened it, hiding myself from Leo’s view. “There. Problem solved for both of us.”

“I’m a lucky man.”

“How so?” I asked as I scanned the menu and noticed they had one of my favorites, chicken marsala.

“Because you’re beautiful, kind, and smart.” He dropped his menu onto the tabletop at the same moment I did. “And you crashed into me on Friday night, instead of some other guy.”

“I wouldn’t call it crashing exactly,” I argued.

“You’re a tiny thing, but you almost knocked me off my feet.”

“I’m not tiny!” I huffed. “I’m five foot five.”

He quirked one dark eyebrow at me. “Hate to disagree with you, darlin’, but to me that’s tiny.”

“Whatever.”

The waiter walked up as I sighed in frustration, and Leo chuckled softly. But his good humor soon disappeared when the waiter didn’t seem able to lift his gaze from my boobs while I ordered. When Leo loudly cleared his throat, the waiter jerked his head up and took a step back when he looked in Leo’s direction. I quickly understood why when I caught the muscle jumping in his jaw and the pissed off look in his eyes as he glared at the guy. I stifled a laugh of my own as he gritted out his order and the waiter scurried away as quickly as possible.

“Single dads. Waiters,” he sighed. “You’re gonna keep me on my toes everywhere we go, aren’t you?”

“Possibly.” I set my elbow on the edge of the table, rested my chin on my palm, and leaned forward. “I caught what the waiter did to piss you off, but I’m not sure what you mean by the single dads thing.”

“That’s fine by me. No need for you to get it because I’ll be around to handle them if we run into the same issue again.” His lips kicked up in another smug grin.

I tilted my head to the side and tried to level him with a glare, but the giggle that slipped out ruined the effect.

“You never did say, what gave you the idea for the daddy daughter hair classes?”

I narrowed my eyes at him, shook my head, and then waited while the waiter dropped off our drinks before I answered, “You know how I mentioned that my dad is my favorite guy in the world?”

“You mean when you left me hanging while I thought you were talking about you having a guy in your life?”

“For like half a second, you big baby,” I laughed. “Anyway, he raised me on his own after my mom walked out on us when I was two. It didn’t take long for him to realize how bad he was with my hair, so he took me to get it cut anytime it grew past my shoulders. But when I turned six, I put my foot down and refused to let them anywhere near my hair with a pair of scissors.”

Leo took a sip of a drink as he nodded. “I can see that happening with Lynn if I tried to keep her hair shorter than she likes.”

“My dad didn’t put up much of a fight, but it meant he had to figure out how to do my hair in the mornings so it didn’t look like a rat’s nest after I slept on it. One of the ladies at the salon where he finally broke down to take me took pity on him and scheduled me for her last appointment of the day. After cutting my hair, she spent about an hour showing him how to do pretty much everything.”

“Nice! I’m sure he appreciated it as much as I did with your class.”

“He sure did,” I snorted.

“It sounds like there’s a story there,” Leo drawled.

Spotting the waiter coming towards us with a tray lifted in the air, I leaned in closer and lowered my voice. “One that’ll have to wait until your favorite person is done dropping off our food. I think you scared him so much that he begged the kitchen to get us out of here as fast as possible.”