His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 168: Men’s Talk

** Eli **

Harper looked absolutely scandalized by the suggestion. "People might hear that!" she gasped, darting a startled look around them, apparently forgetting completely that Eli had whispered the words out of everyone’s earshot.

Eli chuckled at the false alarm. "So? Would you expect anyone to be shocked out of their mind, given that they’ve already seen me holding you so close?" He squeezed her waist in demonstration, reminding her that the position they were currently standing in next to each other was quite far from innocent.

Harper looked down at his hand, as if just realizing that the gesture she was already getting so used to wasn’t actually supposed to be appropriate right now. "Ugh ..." Something like a muffled curse escaped her lips. "I thought we were going to break the news ... slowly."

"We are," Eli agreed. "This is only a hint for the speculators, in case anyone misinterpreted Cecilia’s presence the same way you did. Or unintentionally overheard unexplainable noises coming out of my window in the middle of the night."

"..."

Harper shot him a plaintive glare, which only made him chuckle louder.

But then that chuckle died when, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a familiar face wandering into their vicinity. The suitcase guy.

Damn it. Was this evening the time to test everyone’s jealousy? He hadn’t had enough fun enjoying Harper’s little grumpy show yet, and now it was already his turn?

"Oh, hey Harper!" The suitcase guy sauntered over with the same old shameless smile that Eli had long learned to hate. "Haven’t seen you here for the past couple of evenings! How hav—"

He hushed when his eyes landed on Eli’s arm still wrapped behind Harper’s back, and the jackass had the audacity to widen his eyes.

"Oh ... So it really is you!" Jackass exclaimed, in a tone that seemed genuinely surprised and ... full of gossipy curiosity? ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

Eli raised an eyebrow. Having heard only secondhand parts of Harper’s previous conversation with Jackass about her web novel, he wasn’t exactly sure what the reference was about. But he didn’t need to know to dislike what he heard. "Walter, right?" he drawled casually, picking another random name that he knew wasn’t Jackass’s real name. He simply refused to remember the right one. "Why wouldn’t it be me? Did you somehow just meet someone that looks suspiciously like my twin?"

"Um, it’s Wallace." Jackass had the sense to look a little awkward now. "And ... no, I didn’t meet your twin or anything. I was talking about— about— Ah, that your voice sounded so familiar when I was coming up behind you!"

... Could anyone be any worse at making up dumb lies? This guy really was pathetic, to be completely and objectively honest.

Eli didn’t feel bad at all for rolling his eyes. An expression that probably didn’t escape Harper’s attention, because he felt her shifting a little against him, clearly ready to say or do something to defuse a potentially flammable situation. But that reaction only annoyed him further, making him tighten his arm around her and pulling her closer.

"I’m not surprised that you thought you were hearing things," he said to Jackass sarcastically. "After all, it must be a lot to sit in on that afternoon meeting and listen to all our long presentations."

"Wait. You guys had a shared meeting today?" Harper asked, and Eli had a guilty moment of pleasure noticing her crystal-clear disappointment of not being in the same meeting. Apparently he was enough of an ass himself to find her jealous attention so enjoyable.

"Ah, technically I wasn’t part of that meeting ... But Naomi had an updated presentation for Sterling Trust’s executive team, so the rest of marketing was invited to sit in and listen to it," Jackass explained to Harper while looking at Eli in amazement. "But wow, I didn’t think anyone else would’ve noticed me being there. I’m honored you remembered me!"

... Maybe someone should pause for a second to consider that it wasn’t always a compliment for someone to remember him so unfondly.

Eli gave out one of the fakest smiles he had ever attempted, deciding to do this guy a favor and spell everything out. "I remembered the questions you asked during Q&A, to be more precise. You talked about thoroughly studying the market interest, availability, and achievability before launching new product campaigns, yes?"

Jackass’s eyes lit up, looking increasingly flattered. "Yes! I thought those would be the necessary things to consider before choosing a marketing strategy, to give us more confidence and guide us in the right directions. Do you agree?"

"Oh, absolutely." Eli felt a questioning glance darted his way from Harper’s direction, to which he replied silently with a light squeeze of her waist. "I might not specialize in marketing," he continued, "but even I know that the same basic idea applies to many other fields of business as well. Even in certain aspects of everyday life — it’s always wise to think about interest, availability, and achievability before marking any targets or making any goals for yourself, don’t you think?"

One of Harper’s pretty eyebrows lifted. The smart girl was immediately catching on to his jab, and an expression of amusement mixed with mild annoyance graced her features. "Eli!" she chided softly.

Sadly, it took Jackass way longer than that to get it. Though when he finally did, Eli had the satisfaction of seeing his cheeks turning unmistakably red.

"Um," — the guy cleared his throat uncomfortably into his tiki mug — "right, thanks for the life lesson ... And oh, unfortunately I think this drink is ... starting to get to me a bit. I wonder what strong stuff they put in here!" He laughed dryly to himself. "If you guys will excuse me, maybe I should go— um, grab a lighter drink instead ..."

Then he all but scurried away with his tail tucked between his legs.

Eli smirked as the guy disappeared into the crowd. Though he didn’t get to gloat for long before an elbow stabbed into his waist. "Eli!" Harper chided again. "You are so savage!"