His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 103: The Other Woman?

Chapter 103: The Other Woman?

** Harper **

"You guys know each other?" Chelsea gasped. "How funny, we were just talking about running into college acquaintances! Company parties are always surprising that way. You went to DU too, right Vanessa?"

The tall woman chuckled. "I did, but that was not how Eli and I met." She placed a hand casually on Eli’s shoulder. "You said you’d be busy this weekend. Why didn’t you tell me it was for the game? I would’ve been so thrilled to hear you’re a Chickadees fan too! And look at this facepaint you did — it’s so adorable."

"Actually, that credit goes to my friend Harper here." Chelsea made a gesture toward Harper. "Apparently I’m the only one who thinks the drawing looks like a chicken," she added jokingly with a shrug.

Vanessa’s gaze darted to Harper, and suddenly the look on her face changed. She narrowed her eyes, studying Harper with an odd scrutiny before turning back to Eli. "Well, now that Chelsea has mentioned it ... I do see a bit of resemblance. Maybe you should consider letting me do it instead next time? Paint and sip style. And I promise I won’t make it look like a chicken." She chuckled again, this time not so humorously.

It wasn’t until then that Harper realized how sweetly and intimately this woman had been speaking to Eli before, utterly different compared to the hostility dripping from her voice right now. The stark contrast was made even more obvious by the fact that Eli hadn’t said a single word since she showed up ... and he seemed to have gone completely stiff in her presence, even more so than during their earlier conversation about his father.

But why? It couldn’t be that Vanessa was ... his girlfriend?

The thought caught Harper off guard. Back when Eli told her about those dates he occasionally went on, the idea of him potentially seeing someone for "real" had bothered her a little. But the vague thought at the time was nothing compared to ... actually seeing the possibility standing right in front of her eyes. And judging from the way this Vanessa looked — tall with sexy curves, blonde hair permed into glam waves, immaculately done makeup with bold red lips and dark eyes — she was just like Eli’s ex from college, a hundred percent his type.

Harper swallowed, her hands growing cold.

"Wait." Chelsea glanced between Eli and Vanessa, obviously catching up on the same clues. "Paint and sip style? Are you guys ... like, dating or something?"

"Yes," Vanessa said.

"No," Eli said at the same time.

"..." Harper and Chelsea both gaped at them.

Vanessa’s head whipped around. "What’s that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

Eli was staring into his drink intently, clutching it tight as if the glass had personally offended him. "There might have been some kind of ... misunderstanding," he said slowly. "I enjoyed our dinner together, Vanessa, but I thought I had been clear about it being a friendly meeting between business acquaintances. I’m very sorry if that has caused any confusion."

Almost instantly, Harper felt as if she could breathe better. Not his girlfriend, then.

Vanessa, on the other hand, looked like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. "That was not what you said! You—" She pointed a finger at Eli in rage, then abruptly cut herself off. "I see ... So Eli Sterling’s reputation is real then, isn’t it? The most sought-after bachelor in Davenshire’s finance circle is just a playboy with nothing but a goodlooking face, fooling around and changing women faster than changing clothes." Her eyes flicked to Harper and narrowed again. "Though I hate to break it to you, your new target looks like such a downgrade compared to—"

"Miss Jones." Eli’s hard voice sliced through Vanessa’s words like a knife. "You can call me whatever you want, but this has nothing to do with my friends here. I would recommend watching your words if you don’t want a perpetually difficult relationship going down in the future between Voyage Bank and Sterling Trust."

... That dramatic turn was ... not the way Harper expected things to go at all.

Vanessa didn’t finish the rest of her insult, though she continued to glare at Eli for what felt like forever. None of them made a sound. At last, she crossed her arms and leveled a cold look on Chelsea. "I hope you’ll be careful with this ’friend’ here, Chelsea. I won’t wish someone like this on my worst enemy." And with that, she stomped away.

Harper darted a surreptitious glance at Eli. But his expression was closed, his eyes still locked on that barely touched Manhattan. It was Chelsea who broke the silence once Vanessa was out of sight.

"Oh freaking hell," she said with a long sigh. "Did I just witness my boss getting dumped? My performance review this quarter is going to suck royally."

... Was it really called "dump" if they weren’t an official couple in the first place? Harper kept the question to herself.

"I’m terribly sorry about that, Chelsea." Eli rose from his seat. "Hopefully she’ll be reasonable enough to not take that fume out on the wrong person ... Will you excuse me for a second?" He strode toward the club exit, out of the same door that Vanessa had just slammed behind her.

"This is ... not going well." Chelsea’s eyes widened as she followed the direction he was going. "He’s not going to go find her, is he? What the heck is going on? Did you know your guy was seeing someone else this whole time behind your back?"

Harper thought she should probably explain that this was much more complicated than "her guy seeing someone else behind her back", but there were more important things on her mind at the moment. "I don’t think he’s going to find your boss." She got up from her seat hastily as well. "Sorry Chelsea, I’ll be right back too. I have to talk to him."

She hurried out the door, pushing her way against the crowd straight for the stadium exit.