His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 100: Scrutinizing In-Law’s Judgment

Chapter 100: Scrutinizing In-Law’s Judgment

** Harper **

How could a mere workday lunch feel like a perfect date, so sweet and romantic and make you not want to ever leave?

Harper loved the way Eli always made her laugh. Loved the surprise ice cream. Loved how he looked at her when she hand-fed him those rolls to him ... The short break that was intended to be just a diversion turned out to be such an amazing retreat, and by the time she got back to the office, all the slight unpleasantness over the week felt so trivial that none of them bothered her anymore. In an utterly happy mood, she even accepted the afternoon tea that Wallace brought for both her and Lindsey — why waste time thinking about those awkward consequences when there was so much to enjoy in the precious moment?

She couldn’t wait for the business vacation trip to start, when she’d be able to see Eli like this every day and enjoy so many more precious moments to her heart’s content.

But first, before vacation time, there was still a Saturday evening waiting for them ahead. And this one was a whole different excitement, because it’d be the first time that she gets to introduce Eli to someone else as ... her semi-date.

Well, hopefully she could remove the "semi" in that title soon enough, depending on the outcome of her latest seduction schemes. But for now, "semi-date" sounded better than any other alternative labels she could think of — friend with benefits? Inappropriate business partner? Casual sex teacher? Um, no thanks — so that was what she went with when she arrived at the stadium Saturday afternoon.

Chelsea was already waiting at the entrance, dressed in a Chickadees jersey just like Harper herself. An overly exaggerated grin lit up the girl’s face when she spotted Harper.

"Finally, our precious and popular Harper!" She all but hopped over to give Harper the biggest bear hug. "I hope the fact that you suddenly had no time to see me at all for the past three weeks meant that your love life has seen tremendous progress."

Harper whooped as the hug knocked the air out of her lungs, which she suspected was Chelsea’s way of making a statement about— "Wait, what? Have I really not seen you for three weeks?"

"Definitely not, and it’s making me wonder if you even need that advice you’ve been asking from me anymore. Spill — have you been using all the time you usually spend hanging out with me to seduce this new boyfriend instead? You guys better have gotten to the home base already with all that time."

Apparently Chelsea was extra relentless today in her straight-to-the-point speech, probably as a payback to Harper being a terrible friend and ditching her for Eli. Harper swatted at the insensitive girl, though she wished those jokes were true. "He’s not my boyfriend and there are no home runs! You know that’s exactly why I need your help."

Chelsea tilted her head contemplatively. "Hmm ... So he’s been seeing you for weeks now, stealing all the great time I could’ve had with my best friend, and still not made a move? That first impression isn’t a very good one."

"... Somehow I’m getting an anxious feeling that I’m showing a guy to my mom for the first time, and she’s being extra picky in her judgment."

"She’s being extra protective and helping you weed out unworthy candidates, and she’s just a little pissed that you are disappearing from her life because of some dude who— Oh, is that him??"

Chelsea hadn’t met Eli and wouldn’t know what he looked like, but she was obviously able to tell from the way Harper’s eyes suddenly became fixed at some particular point in the distance. And Harper ... was too zoomed out in her staring to realize that she had mentally ditched her friend for her crush once again.

Yeah, she should probably work on correcting that. But could anyone blame her, when Eli was looking so amazing in a simple, silly Chickadees jersey? The short sleeves showed off those delicious muscles stretching perfectly across his arms, while the logo-covered front tempted her with a vague outline of the rippling planes over his torso. How could this man always manage to look so ready for a fashion photoshoot, no matter if he was on a last minute call from work or simply showing up to a casual weekend baseball game?

It wasn’t until Chelsea cleared her throat, darting over a glance that implied a thousand words Harper would never want to hear spoken out loud, that she remembered to collect herself and greet Eli with a not-overtly-moon-eyed hug.

"Look at us, we all match today!" Harper figured that if she couldn’t peel her eyes away from his shirt, she might as well make a comment about it.

"The jersey choice is definitely improving that first impression. Every Chickadees fan is automatically my friend," Chelsea declared, leaning into Harper’s side. Her eyes were doing a head-to-toe sweep of Eli in such an obviously appraising fashion that no one could possibly miss. "Plus, he does look hot in it."

"... Chelsea, you’re not exactly whispering."

"Oops, am I not? Sowwy." Chelsea, being extremely Chelsea-like at this moment, grinned unapologetically and held out her arms toward Eli. "Great to finally meet you. I’ll go with a hug too?"

Thankfully, Eli didn’t seem at all ruffled by the unique introduction that was Chelsea. He flashed her a friendly smile as the two exchanged a light hug. "Right, Harper keeps talking about you — funny to think that it was you who gave her my phone number weeks ago, yet here we are, getting her to introduce us."

"Oh, I’ll happily take all the credit for hooking up the right person for Harper— Harper’s web novel, I mean." Chelsea darted a meaningful glance in Harper’s direction. "And I’m sure she appreciated your — um, guidance — much more than she would’ve with May, so it turned out even better than any of us could’ve expected, right?"

... Uh oh. Chelsea in her normal insensitive mood might be relentless, but Chelsea in her puns and innuendos mood ...

This evening might just get really interesting.