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Finally, she laughed.

“There she is. Mornin’.”

“Good mornin’. I’m sorry I didn’t text back. I’ll be honest with you. I had no idea how to respond, and I don’t really know what to say to you now either. I-I think I’m… embarrassed.”

I hummed my pleasure into my phone, and instantly, I was hard. This woman! What was she doing to me?

“Can’t stop thinkin’ about last night either?”

“No,” she responded breathlessly. “I don’t… I just— I don’t know how to talk to you now that we, you know, did… that.”

“Mm. Shook ya real good, didn’t I?”

“Rye, quit with the playboy crap, okay? Just talk to me like a normal person.”

“Okay, then you do the same.”

“Fine,” she said.

“Good. What time am I pickin’ you up Saturday?”

“Huh?”

“Our date,” I said. Had she already forgotten? Maybe I hadn’t rocked her world as hard as I thought I had.

“What date?”

“I told you we need to go out and get to know each other before the cattle drive in a few weeks. You think you’re gonna fool my mama if you don’t know the first thing about me?”

“Oh, I know plenty about you.”

“The size of my dick, sure, but don’t you think you should know somethin’ about my personality before we put this whole thing to the test?”

I could almost hear her rolling her eyes, but I was right.

“Fine,” she said. “Seven. Wait. What are we doin’ on this date?”

“There’s a new Thor movie out, or maybe it’s not Thor, but it’s one of those guys.”

“Oh,” she said, probably surprised we had that in common, but the last time I was in town, I’d heard her talking to one of her book-club friends about the previous movie when they walked past Red’s store. “I actually love superhero movies.”

“Yeah?”

“Show me a woman who says she doesn’t wanna watch that hunk of a man on the big screen, and I’ll show you a liar.”

I chuckled. “Should I be jealous?”

“Very.”

“Where are you headed off to?”my mama asked as I put a foot in my truck Saturday afternoon.

I’d showered and trimmed my beard, and my hair was as combed as it was going to get.

“Town.”

“You better be back early,” my dad added. “We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.”

“Yeah. I know we do. I’ll be here.”