Ainsley laughed.
“Did I cause another reaction?”
Blushing, Rachel crossed her legs under her desk.
“No comment,” she stated.
“Full disclosure, though,” Ainsley said. “Yes, using the title ‘Doctor’ when making reservations does help. But at a place like Q, what really helps is when your daddy is the district attorney for San Diego.”
“Fuck! Seriously?” Rachel exclaimed.
“
Did I not mention that?” Ainsley asked teasingly.
“No! So that means I’m friend-dating royalty!”
“You are,” Ainsley answered, chuckling.
“Well, okay…so I am officially impressed with your non-Josh reservation-making skills,” Rachel said. “But what I’m really concerned about is, have you found a place to take care of my flowers? Reservations at Q only gets you so far.”
“And the flowers will get me the rest of the way, huh?” Ainsley asked, the teasing lilt in her tone causing another reaction.
That voice and innuendo.
Rachel was full-on aroused by now.
“Maybe,” she said, wishing she could see Ainsley’s face as she said it. “Anyway, I am hard at work on your chocolates.”
This was true. Since Sunday, when she and Ainsley had agreed to the friend-date on Valentine’s Day, Rachel had done some Google Maps-based research, mostly at home in her pajamas. Turns out there was an extremely well-regarded chocolatier in nearby Vista. Expensive as fuck but Rachel didn’t care. For the first time in a long time she was actually looking forward to Valentine’s Day and Rachel wanted to pull out all the stops on her end to make her friend-date feel special.
“I can’t wait to see if the chocolates match the flowers,” Ainsley said.
“Do I strike you as a woman who disappoints?” Rachel prodded.
Ainsley laughed.
“Not at all,” she assured Rachel.
“Anyway, what time are our reservations that night?” Rachel asked. “I’ll need to factor in drive time.”
“Why?”
Rachel blinked.
“Uh…so I can meet you at the restaurant?”
“Oh my god! You think I would make my date meet me at the restaurant? That’s such a Josh thing to do! No, I’ll pick you up.”
“Ains, are you sure? That’s a lot of driving!”
San Diego north to Carlsbad. Carlsbad back south to La Jolla. La Jolla back north to Carlsbad. Carlsbad back south to San Diego.
Christ! Ainsley would be spending most of the night in her car!
“I don’t mind, really,” Ainsley said.
“Well, I do!” Rachel said. Then, with her heart pounding, she said, “I’ll only agree to it if you stay the night here.”