“I would put money on it,” I told him. “He has been smirking at me all day and he definitely read that text.”
“Well, we have had an idea and we think you will love it.” Todd gave me a wink back. It was nice to see Todd’s more playful side. He was a lot more serious than Chase but I just thought he took a bit longer to warm up to people. “Your carriage awaits, Mademoiselle.” He added, and with that, we left the apartment and made our way to the restaurant.
Leonies was a mid-sized restaurant decorated in black and white with fifties movie posters on the walls and chandeliers hung from the ceilings. Black gloss tables had the obligatory candle on them and the lighting was dimmed and had an orange glow to remove some of the starkness that the monotone color scheme would usually display. Todd pulled out my chair for me, a black leather cushioned back and seat alongside a silver colored frame. Then he and Chase took their own seats opposite mine.
“Oh, it looks like we are interviewing her, I’ll move,” Chase said and he moved to sit to my left.
When the waiter came to take our order, I looked across at Todd. “Todd, if I ordered a half bottle of champagne would you be able to have one glass, only we are celebrating tonight.”
“Yes, one would be okay.” He looked at me waiting for me to elaborate.
“Are we celebrating our threesome?” Chase asked. The waiter’s eyes almost fell out of his head.
“Stop tormenting the wait staff.” Todd chided. The waiter looked at us and laughed as if it was all a big joke.
I saw Chase’s face tighten. I’d never seen him annoyed or angry before. The waiter took our drink order and then gave us some time to peruse the menu.
“I’m not ashamed of who we are, Todd.” Chase spat out.
Todd sighed. “Neither am I, but we aren’t in a threesome, Chase. We are here on a date with a beautiful lady who might be uneasy with how ‘out there’ you are. So just rein it in a little, okay.”
“Fine.” Chase huffed. “You are a beautiful lady, Haley. What are we celebrating, darling.”
“It is totally hush-hush, but I got the King Park deal.” I almost squealed the last three words, my excitement had yet to disperse.
“Oh my God, that is amazing,” Chase said, hugging me, his previous annoyance gone in a flash.
“Congratulations, Haley. Much deserved and we look forward to that holiday.” Todd added.
“Oh my goodness, yes. We can have a vacation after I’ve sold them all, to a place like paradise.” My smile got wider than I thought was physically possible.
Our food orders were taken and we just continued with the same comfortable, cozy conversations like we had back at the apartment. The champagne made me more confident and I brought up the subject that had been on my mind and making me nervous for most of the day.
“Listen, guys, about our potential threesome situation. When we get home can we head to the bedroom? I would like to get that out of the way.” I held up my hand. “I know that sounds completely unromantic but I’m nervous, you know my inexperience and well, basically, if I can’t be who you want me to be, then its best we know straight off, you know, whether or not we are compatible.”
“Ah, Hales,” Chase said, adopting the nickname my friends gave me. “We will absolutely take you to bed when we get home, but do not have any worries, we are going to teach you how to do the sexy stuff until you are so good you could hire yourself out.”
“Yes, Chase. Mr. Romantic there. Haley, it is not our intention to teach you how to be a prostitute. We will go back, head into the bedroom and see how it goes. Just know we are both nervous too. It is a huge step.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, guys.”
“Haley.” The voice I expected came from behind me. “Imagine meeting you here.”
“Malcolm. Wow, what a coincidence. What brings you here tonight?”
Malcolm’s eyes flitted over the table. “I just popped in to make a reservation for a date. You know, I like this place. I was passing bye so I thought I’d book in person rather than calling.” He looked at Todd and Chase. “Oh, sorry, I apologize. Am I interrupting something?”
Chase leaned over offering out his hand. “Chase Collins and this is Todd Ross.”
Malcolm moved over to shake Todd’s hand. “We’ve just invited Haley out for dinner. We’re part of King enterprises. I don’t know if you’ve heard of us? We are negotiating on behalf o
f Mr. King.”
“Oh, absolutely.” Malcolm was almost fawning. I was surprised he hadn’t dropped to his knees. “Your development is one of the most exciting concepts I’ve seen in a long time. Haley and I have been working closely on forming the best plans in taking your development forward, haven’t we Haley?”
If this had been a real business meeting I’m not sure what I would have done at his underhanded tactics. I was a quiet woman, and confrontation was not my thing. Malcolm had completely taken advantage of that fact.
“Really, well, would you like to join us? We have just eaten our main meal but perhaps we could interest you in dessert and a glass of wine?” Todd asked.