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hasn’t called me.”
    “Maybe she wants you to make the next move, Wes. A woman will only do so much chasing before she decides it’s time to see how much interest is reciprocated.”
    “So, you’re saying she wants me to call her.”
    “Could be. Or maybe she’s just busy. Or, perish the thought, maybe you were just great sex and she doesn’t want a relationship.”
    “Well, fuck, Gracie, I don’t want to get married. Who said anything about a relationship?”
    She laughed again. “I can hear the panic in your voice. Chill out and call her. You obviously want to see her again, right? Is it going to kill you to make the first move this time?”
    “So I should go to her and not make her come to me.”
    “Well, if I was her, I wouldn’t keep chasing after you. I’d bait the trap and wait for you to come to me.”
    “You women are evil. Evellle.”
    Gracie snorted. “And you men are just stupid. Get off the phone and call her.”
    Wes grinned. “I love you, Gracie girl.”
    She chuckled. “Love you too, knucklehead.”
    He hung up and stared at his phone gripped tight in his hand. Then he fished his wallet out of his pocket with the other hand. He pulled out the piece of paper she’d written her cell phone number on and punched it in.
    After three rings, her husky voice filtered over the line.
    “Hello?”
    “Hey Payton, it’s Wes.”
    “Oh, hi, how are you?”
    He hated these awkward, stilted conversations. He didn’t want to fuck around with pleasantries all goddamn night.
    “I want to see you this weekend.”
    There was a long pause. “I’d love to but I don’t think I can make it over. I have an open house on Sunday.”
    “Actually I was thinking about coming to Houston.” Where the hell had that come from? He was impressed with how smoothly that improvisation had come off. “I’m off Saturday,” he continued. “We could have dinner Friday night and spend Saturday together if you’re interested.”
    Another small pause. “I’m interested.”
    He had to physically restrain himself from pumping his fist and muttering, “Yeah.”
    “Okay, so I’ll call you when I get into Houston Friday evening. I can swing by and get you.”
    “That sounds great. I’ll look forward to seeing you then.”
    They said their goodbyes and Wes hung up, exhilarated over the idea of seeing her the next night. A perplexed feeling fell over him. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Was Gracie right? Was he falling for Payton?
    He shook his head. It was just sex. Great sex, mind you, but just sex all the same. It wasn’t every day you got to go back and correct past mistakes, and his first encounter with Payton had certainly constituted one of his bigger fuck ups.
    Now he had to find a hotel room in Houston. Oh, and he’d have to get back with Gracie for some advice. He wanted Friday night to be special. A night Payton wouldn’t forget. A night like she’d deserved twelve years ago. He wanted to do it right this time.
    * * *
    Wes hit the 610 loop on the tail end of rush hour traffic and was gratified that the line of cars moved at a steady pace. Beside him in the cab sat four sacks of shit Gracie had been all too happy to foist on him. Damn woman must have shopped for hours for all the shit, but when she’d outlined her idea, he had to admit, it rocked. Well, at least in theory.
    He found himself looking forward to seeing Payton again. At first, he’d focused on the promise of great sex, but in reality what had stayed on his mind was the time he’d spent lying in bed, after the great sex, Payton curled in his arms, the time they’d spent talking.
    The thought made him vaguely uncomfortable. He knew he shouldn’t admit to liking cuddle time and pillow talk. For God’s sake, that was shit all his married buddies got into.
    Yeah, he wanted tonight to be perfect, but it just meant he was a considerate guy. It didn’t mean he was going to start wearing a pussy label on his forehead.
    As he neared