His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 166: Another Blonde

** Harper **

"I’m not sure who that is, actually ..." Naomi said to Lindsey, contemplative. "I haven’t seen her in our meetings. Maybe someone on the executive level?"

"That would explain the dress," Harper muttered, taking an unnecessarily large gulp of her cocktail as she continued to train her eyes on the new girl. A tall blonde — again, so predictable — with a confident and shrewd air that definitely befitted a business woman. Naomi was probably right. And from the way that the blonde leaned so naturally toward Eli’s ears to talk over the music, the two of them definitely knew each other well. Probably even close partners at work.

Harper wasn’t exactly sure how to categorize what she felt at that moment. Jealousy was not something she experienced frequently, and it was hard to say if this was it, since whatever it was on her mind didn’t seem ... either that strong or that ugly. But it wasn’t nothing, either. Actually, it was even a bit worse than what she felt at the time when she met Vanessa ... Probably because it was different knowing that these were the people Eli spent most of his days around. Probably also because she was now his not-yet-public girlfriend, a role that came with different and tricky expectations.

Harper sighed silently into her glass, trying to clear her thoughts. Logically, she understood that it was simply impossible for Eli to never work with a female colleague, and getting jealous — or whatever this was — over the sight of him acting familiarly around them wouldn’t be rational. But ...

"Ah, found you Harper! Finally!" A much needed distraction interrupted her musing, in the form of the Future Vision trio sauntering into sight. "And Lindsey too! Apparently we picked the right direction to wander this evening."

A busy exchange of greetings ensued, along with Naomi’s delighted self introduction as the only non-technical team member present who hadn’t yet met the consultants. Conversations started flowing, quickly pulling Harper’s attention away from the fountain.

~ ~

It was hard to keep her mind off of the mysterious blonde, though. Throughout the next half an hour or so, Harper kept darting furtive glances in the same direction, despite all the intriguing chatters and comments she was getting from her own group. She could only hope that no one had noticed her acting so absentminded ... but it was hard to focus with so many questions and speculations in her head, especially when the gathering of ladies slowly started to disperse from Eli’s side, leaving only the blonde in the end.

At some point, Harper did catch the attention of the man she was watching, briefly as he turned to his side to greet the other colleagues passing by. When their eyes met, he smiled with a raise of his glass in a distant greeting, and the blonde next to him followed his gaze, darting over a look that seemed ... thoroughly scrutinizing.

Harper didn’t like that. It seemed like the two of them had been talking forever. Why didn’t Eli come chat with his girlfriend instead? And why did the judging look from that blonde feel so much like the one from Vanessa?

When the music band took a break, prompting the blonde to join the cheers and make a temporary leave for another round of drinks, Harper finally decided to figure out what this was all about. Making a polite excuse about getting her own drink, she slipped away from her little circle and made her way toward the fountain.

Eli was sipping his Manhattan, leaning against the fountain’s flower lattices and looking casually at nowhere in particular. Harper thought that he probably wouldn’t notice her approach at all, but as soon as she was within his reach, the man turned and looped an arm deftly around her waist, almost making her stumble from surprise.

"I’ve been waiting for you all evening," he whispered as he pulled her close to his side, his lips almost brushing her ear. "Should we go for a hug or a kiss? How far is your publicity campaign from getting us to the PDA stage?"

... Well, that wasn’t the type of opening Harper expected in her current, slightly grumpy mood. But strangely, her grumpiness was already fading a little at the familiar lilt of his voice, and the smile she managed to give him turned out more genuine than she expected.

"I didn’t want to come interrupt your conversations," she said, ignoring the question about hugging or kissing — he seemed to be getting enough of both already tonight. "You were quite positively swarmed."

Eli raised an eyebrow. "By swarmed, you mean the group from finance I was talking to earlier?" He groaned with an eyeroll. "I wish I could’ve gotten rid of them faster. There’s a new senior management position that opened up as a result of this joint venture, and every single one of those mid-levels wants it. My ears have been burning from all the analysis and proposals they’re tossing out to try to impress me ... One of the very few days in my life when I wish the annoying CFO were actually here with us."

Oh. So that was what all those butterflies were fighting for his attention for?

Apparently catching up to her thought process now, Eli blinked. "You were not thinking—" Then he groaned again, this time with a completely different tone as he tightened his grip on her waist. "Geez, Harper, did you really think I’d let my own employees flirt with me? I know I haven’t earned a good reputation on the matter, but still, that would just be ... unethical."

He’s got a point. But that little thorn stuck uncomfortably in Harper’s head still refused to go away. "You look close to them though," she shrugged, trying to appear as nonchalant about it as she could. "At least to some of them. I suppose by the end of the social, people will be getting a pretty good idea about whom the promotion is going to."

Wow, that came out so sarcastic and didn’t sound like her at all. Apparently she was not only completely capable of being jealous, but also quite the "nasty jealous" type.

Eli looked ... taken aback, once again. It took him a few moments before his eyes widened in realization. "Ohhh, you’re talking about — her?" He made a gesture at the blonde, who was now chatting with someone else at the bar, and when Harper’s involuntary wince gave away the answer, he ... burst into laughter.

"That’s— I’m so sorry, Harper, I should’ve realized." He turned around, calling out toward the bar, "Cecilia, come back for a sec and meet Harper!"

... Yeah, that tone was definitely too familiar sounding. And why the hell would he want them to meet? That wasn’t what she came over for at all!