  The Neptune desert is a feature seen in the radius-mass-period plane, whereby
a notable dearth of short period, Neptune-like planets is found. Here we report
the {\it TESS} discovery of a new short-period planet in the Neptune desert,
orbiting the G-type dwarf TYC\,8003-1117-1 (TOI-132). {\it TESS} photometry
shows transit-like dips at the level of $\sim$1400 ppm occurring every
$\sim$2.11 days. High-precision radial velocity follow-up with HARPS confirmed
the planetary nature of the transit signal and provided a semi-amplitude radial
velocity variation of $\sim$11.5 m s$^{-1}$, which, when combined with the
stellar mass of $0.97\pm0.06$ $M_{\odot}$, provides a planetary mass of
22.83$^{+1.81}_{-1.80}$ $M_{\oplus}$. Modeling the {\it TESS} high-quality
light curve returns a planet radius of 3.43$^{+0.13}_{-0.14}$ $R_{\oplus}$, and
therefore the planet bulk density is found to be 3.11$^{+0.44}_{-0.450}$ g
cm$^{-3}$. Planet structure models suggest that the bulk of the planet mass is
in the form of a rocky core, with an atmospheric mass fraction of
4.3$^{+1.2}_{-2.3}$\%. TOI-132 b is a {\it TESS} Level 1 Science Requirement
candidate, and therefore priority follow-up will allow the search for
additional planets in the system, whilst helping to constrain low-mass planet
formation and evolution models, particularly valuable for better understanding
the Neptune desert.
