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“Sally, I’m not kidding, you are my favorite author! When I heard that you were going to be on Amy’s show, I got so excited.”

Sally started panicking a bit. She didn’t have Max feeding her lines this time which meant she was going to have to come up with how to pretend to be a famous writer all on her own.

“I’m…I’m so glad you enjoy my work,” she said, feeling rather pleased. That sounded like something a famous writer would say.

“Like it? I love it! My god, you have no idea! Reading is my favorite way to unwind after a long day at the hospital. And your books are the best. I’ve read The Fordham Road Fling six times now.”

“Oh my god, me too!” Sally enthused.

Shit!

“I mean,” she started her backtracking, “I…um…I re-read it six times while I was…editing it?” She smiled. She was going to have to remember all this great stuff to tell Max later so he could know what a great job she did. He’d be so proud of her.

Ainsley nodded.

“It shows,” she complimented. “Your books don’t have a lot of the silly mistakes other books have.”

The server with the chiseled face returned then with their drinks. Sally was glad for the interruption. Maybe now they’d stop talking about what a great writer she was.

But no such luck.

After clinking their glasses, Ainsley leaned forward and said, “So, my meddling mother didn’t tell me I was going on a blind date with a famous writer.”

“Oh! Well, um…that’s because your meddling mother doesn’t know I’m a famous writer and that’s because my meddling mother doesn’t know I’m a famous writer.”

Inwardly, she groaned because she knew that she had just started them down a rabbit hole of conversation. She knew—just knew!—Ainsley would then ask why Sally’s mother didn’t know about her writing. And sure enough, Ainsley asked that very question. Sally then had to come up with some balderdash about how she wasn’t sure how her very image-conscious mother would react to learning her daughter was writing lesbian fiction books.

When she was done, Sally was amazed at herself. She was actually getting quite good at making shit up on her own!

And the best part was that Ainsley bought it!

“I totally understand,” Ainsley said. “But, really, by now, I would think that Dr. Lassiter would be so proud of what you’ve accomplished. Your books do really well, don’t they?”

Sally nodded.

“Yep. Really well.”

It was when Ainsley’s leg inadvertently brushed against hers under the table and Sally realized how much it thrilled her that she realized she needed to change the topic.

“Listen, Ainsley, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Go right ahead,” Ainsley replied, and Sally was certain her voice had a touch of a lascivious purr to it.

“Turns out that Amy—the host of the podcast, you know—and I really hit it off and, well, we started dating.”

“Oh!”

Ainsley’s face registered her disappointment.

“I’m so sorry!” Sally added. “It literally just happened last night! Our first date, I mean…”

And first orgasms together.

Smiling—and she really did have a devastatingly beautiful smile, Sally considered—Ainsley said, “No worries. We did agree to just meet up in order to get our mothers off our backs.”

“Yeah, but…” Sally hesitated but decided to plow ahead. “Trust me, when I saw you…I was like, wow!”

“Oh god, don’t tell me that!” Ainsley said, pretending to cover