Liam Payne shares and deletes near-nude photo

Pop star Liam Payne sent temperatures soaring on Thursday (14Dec17) by briefly posting a sexy photo of himself in bed on social media.

The One Direction hunk, who is currently on tour in the U.S., took to Instagram to bid fans goodnight, uploading what appeared to be a near-naked snap of himself reclining in bed as he showed off his impeccable abs.

Liam, who is dating British singer Cheryl, the mother of his baby son Bear, didn't appear to be wearing any underwear, although he used his quilt to cover his nether regions.

"Night Chicago," he captioned the sultry image, which was posted to his Instagram Story.

Fans were sent into a spin by the saucy picture, but Liam appeared to have second thoughts about sharing the photo as it was soon deleted from his timeline, although followers had already saved screenshots of the moment and gushed about his physique online.

Liam is currently on the road for the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour, which made a stop in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday (13Dec17).