Tracy could see all the signs of a schoolgirl crush. Mr. Hayes didn't need to be a psychic to see the same thing. "I'm great, just great. Jenna, meet my girlfriend, Tracy!"
Jenna leaned down and hugged Tracy. "So great to meet you!"
Tracy put on a smile, but her fantastic evening seemed like it might be over. She told herself she wasn't jealous, but this was the exact type of scenario she had been trying to avoid. A younger, beautiful girl who just happens to be the daughter of one of his oldest friends was exactly the type of girl who could steal Mr. Hayes right out from under her.
"Take a shot with us, Jenna," Mr. Hayes said, as he pulled a third shot glass from the arrangement on the table.
"Sounds great!" Jenna said. Tracy made note of the way she set down her purse on one of the chairs. Jenna intended to stay there the rest of the evening, Tracy thought. Mr. Hayes poured three shots and put one down in front of Tracy. He handed the other one to Jenna.
"Thanks, Mr. Hayes!" she said, the girlish charm oozing through.
"Please, call me Paul," he said. He had made the offer many times to Tracy, and she had never taken him up on it, but now she really could feel the jealousy rising within her. It surprised her, but she at least admitted it to herself.
Jenna smiled. "Paul," she said, as if confirming it. "What should we cheers to, Paul?"
"I don't know. Tracy, do you have any ideas?" Mr. Hayes asked.
Tracy shrugged, and Jenna spoke back up. "To seeing old friends."
Mr. Hayes smiled and locked eyes with Jenna. "To old friends," he said, and clinked shot glasses with Jenna. For a moment, Tracy thought they might forget all about her, but Jenna made a point of clinking with her, before Mr. Hayes remembered too. As their eyes met, Tracy smiled.
▪▪▪
The rest of the night was no longer about Tracy, but she didn't exactly feel like she was the third wheel either. Jenna did end up sitting with them, and immediately engaged Tracy in a conversation. She seemed more interested in what Tracy had been up to in the past couple years than Mr. Hayes. In fact, she almost seemed to be ignoring him and concentrating solely on Tracy.
The cynical side of Tracy thought that it was because she could already sense that she had Mr. Hayes wrapped around her little finger. Or maybe it was that she knew that she had to act aloof to get his attention. Either way, Tracy knew that she should feel threatened. After another drink, however, she felt herself intoxicated by Jenna.
She didn't know if it was her bubbly demeanor, the rapt attention with which Jenna listened to her, or the alcohol. All she knew is that her resistance to Jenna hanging out with them was slowly fading away.
Mr. Hayes, apparently tired of being the third wheel on this date, insisted on going and dancing with Jenna. He asked Tracy if it was okay, to which she smiled and said it was. Tracy watched from the balcony as Mr. Hayes danced at least as dirty with Jenna as he had with Tracy. She watched as they stayed out there for two, three, four songs. During the fifth song she finally got tired of watching them and headed down to the dance floor herself. She caught up with the two of them on the dance floor and tapped on Mr. Hayes' shoulder. He looked back and smiled, then immediately broke from Jenna and turned to Tracy.
Jenna said something to Mr. Hayes which Tracy couldn't hear over the music, then disappeared into the crowd. Tracy noticed that Mr. Hayes was covered in sweat from dancing on the hot dance floor. He looked exhausted, and his dancing didn't have quite the energy that it had an hour ago.
"Hey, do you want to have another shot?" he asked in her ear as they danced close.
"Why do you ask? Is Jenna up there waiting for us?" she asked, teasingly.
He looked down for a moment, before making eye contact with her. "I'm sorry if you feel like she's intruding on our date. I can send her away for the rest of the evening if you'd like."
Tracy laughed. "Don't worry about it, I'm having a great time!"
Mr. Hayes pulled her in close. "Just how great a time are you having?"
Tracy leaned into him and whispered, "If you have a question to ask me, why don't you just get to the point?" As Tracy leaned into him, she could feel the bulge in his pants growing.
"Well, what do you think of asking Jenna to join us tonight?" he asked.
There was the question. At least he had got it out. "It looks like she already has joined us tonight. I'm sure she's waiting at our table right now," she said.
"Don't act coy. You know what I mean," he said.
She leaned back and laughed, doing a couple dance moves. He didn't miss a beat, twirling and spinning her before pulling her back again.
She knew that it was a bad idea, and that she would probably regret it later, but between his dancing and his obvious attraction to Jenna, she was finding it difficult to say no. "What are you going to do for me?" she asked.
He smiled broadly. "I don't know. What do you want?"
Tracy had pretty much everything she wanted already. It was nice being the girlfriend of a billionaire. "How about a seat on the company's board of directors?"
Mr. Hayes chuckled. "I want this badly enough to say yes, however, every new member has to get a majority of the current board's votes. I doubt you'd get approved, unfortunately."
Tracy shrugged and smiled, twirling away from him again. She could play hard to get, for sure. Mr. Hayes wanted this to happen way more than she did. He pulled her back in and spun her around, grinding into her backside.
"How about the restaurant you used to work at?" he whispered in her ear.
She stopped cold, right there on the dance floor. She had never told him that she wanted to own the thing, but it had been her dream to own some kind of restaurant for years now. With Mr. Hayes bankrolling the project, she'd make that place the greatest restaurant in the city.
"Are you serious?" she asked.
He nodded.
She thought about it for a moment. It was a dream come true. She had already tipped her hand that it was important to her, so she couldn't easily trade something else for it. She smiled and pulled him close, dancing slowly with him.
"I have three conditions," she finally said.
"I expected that," he said.
"One. The restaurant and a budget for the complete redecoration of it," she said, already thinking of the new décor.
"Agreed," he said.
"Two. This is a one time thing," she said.
He cocked his eyebrows. "You mean you'll never have another woman join us? Ever?" he asked.