His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 112: Her Type

Chapter 112: Her Type

** Harper **

Harper was stunned beyond words. What happened to Eli? This kind of rudeness wasn’t like him at all, not to mention the sudden show of it in front of so many coworkers. And that look on his face ...

"What’s his name again?" He asked as they passed the bonfire pit at the center of the lawn. There were no tables nearby, and the crowd was thin with no one else within earshot.

"... Who? The Future Vision consultant?" Harper looked up at him, confused.

"No, the guy that keeps harassing you."

Oh.

Ohh.

It took Harper an embarrassingly long moment to wrap her head around everything. That was why he looked so pissed. The scene of some random guy holding up a coconut bra to her face probably came out much worse to a bystander than it actually was. "Wallace isn’t ... harassing me, not really," she explained quickly. Awkward as she might have felt, workplace harassment was a serious claim, and she didn’t want to throw her coworker under the bus quite yet. "He didn’t say anything inappropriate, he’s just—"

"Harassing you subtly?" Eli finished the sentence for her. His voice wasn’t merely cold now. There was acid dripping from every word. "He kept forcing those coffees on you. He grabbed your luggage even when you clearly didn’t need or want him to. And now he’s what, coaxing you to put on a coconut bra for him?"

Harper winced. The way he phrased it ... did make it sound pretty bad. But still. "It’s not really like that—"

This time, she was the one abruptly cutting herself off. Wait ... Eli had seen the luggage interlude at the airport? And the office coffee story that Naomi mentioned in a fleeting reference ... Had he taken it to heart? Was that why he was staring daggers at Wallace back in the limo?

He was angry ... because of the blatant show of interest she was getting from a coworker?

No way. Eli was jealous!

Harper’s mouth literally fell open. She had never known Eli to be the jealous and possessive type, but more importantly, she had never seen or expected to see him get jealous and possessive about her. The fact that he was reacting like he was ready to murder someone right now, just because she was getting some undue attention that caused her no real harm at all ...

Eli didn’t look back at her as he continued marching forward, so he missed the change of expression on her face that would’ve otherwise betrayed all her thoughts. "Then what is it like?" He carried on the conversation darkly. "Don’t try to convince me he’s simply a friendly coworker who doesn’t understand boundaries. This kind of shameless persistence—" He suddenly paused then, his grip on her hand tightening. "Unless ... Unless I understood it wrong, and you actually like his attention this way?"

... Damn. For him to question both of their judgments like that, he really must be jealous to the point of losing his head.

Despite the seriousness of his words, Harper wanted to laugh. It was absurd to even imagine the possibility that Eli was considering. Did he really have no idea at all whose attention she actually liked and wanted?

And did he have no idea at all that his question had just confirmed to her that she had already gotten it? For almost a month, she had been pulling her hair out trying to "seduce" him and turn their practice sessions into something more. Little did she know that she had already made such tremendous progress. His reaction right now was solid proof that she meant something to him ... Even if it was only the beginning of something vague, it was still a huge deal.

A smile was blooming over Harper’s lips when she felt Eli slow down. She looked up, realizing belatedly that he was studying her, wide-eyed with a stricken expression as if she had punched him in the gut.

... Oh. No no no no no. He couldn’t be interpreting her smile as a shy, smitten one resulting from thinking about Wallace’s attention?!

"I-I just found your question funny," she clarified hastily. "How could you even think that? Shouldn’t you know me well enough to know my type? Wallace is ... not it, at all."

His features visibility relaxed at the words. Then an eyebrow arched up. "I know your type? What might that be?"

Harper chuckled. She’d leave that part as a cliffhanger — with all the surprise news she had just gotten for herself, she’d have to rethink her plan of fixing up everything between them. She’d find a way to make the best use of this drama and slowly reveal the answer to him when the time is right. "You’ll see," she said, giving his hand a squeeze. "And don’t worry, I promise I’ll handle this. The story is a little complicated ... but not for the reasons you’re thinking. I’ll explain when we get some more time to talk, maybe after the Luau?"

As much as she wished to relieve his suspicions right away with the full details about Wallace and her web novel, they were almost at the edge of the lawn now, close to the tables on the other side of the bonfire pit. Their private chatting time was coming to an end.

Probably realizing the same, Eli pursed his lips. Then he looked down at their hands and, as if noticing for the first time that he was still holding hers, frowned. "Right," he said, snatching his hand back. His voice changed again, tight like the way it was at the stadium on Saturday. "You should rest after the Luau though. It’s been a long day, especially with all the traveling and jet lag. I’ll see you tomorrow ... at the meetings."

He was still trying to avoid her. But this time, Harper wasn’t too worried about it anymore. For the second time today, she felt a genuine sense of gratitude for Wallace’s existence — the guy might just become her best sidekick at making everything right very soon.