His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 169: Savage

** Harper **

Harper meant to give the savage man a serious and disapproving glare. After all, it seemed unprofessional and unnice to make such a ruthless comment in public to someone’s face, and she felt a little bad for what her coworker had to stomach. But on the other hand, it was simply too entertaining to see Wallace on the other side of that "getting embarrassed" table, and she honestly couldn’t feel guilty for enjoying it. So in the end, her glare turned out to be ... more approving than judging.

"How was I savage?" Eli asked with a perfectly innocent face while she continued to give him the not-much-of-a-glare. "I was only talking about his own ideas that he brought up during the meeting. That’s definitely no more savage than him dropping hints about your web novel all over your office."

Ah, someone was truly out for blood then, to go as far as put in the effort to pay his enemy back in their own style. freēnovelkiss.com

"Well ... I would rather call his version of hint-dropping ’dumb’, instead of savage." Harper chuckled at the reference to that awkward meeting a while ago about team building. "You, on the contrary, are just cleverly mean."

Eli snorted, as if being compared to Wallace was a thought completely beneath him. "Sure, I’m mean." He didn’t argue with that part though, and his arm tightened around her. "I admit that I don’t have the kind of all-forgiving calmness you showed when you saw me talking to Cecilia. I see red every time this shameless guy dares to lay his eyes on you!"

That admittance gave Harper pause.

The slight tinge of bitterness she felt while watching Eli and Cecilia chat was still fresh on her mind. She had learned the hard way today what jealousy was like, and she was lucky that Cecilia turned out to be only an imaginary threat. But in Eli’s case, how much worse must it be to watch Wallace hang around her all day — sharing meetings and work conversations that Eli himself couldn’t share with her — all the while knowing that "the suitcase jackass" was indeed someone with questionable motives?

Back when she first discovered this little vendetta between the men, Harper had thought that Eli looked adorable when he was jealous. But now that she could relate to the feeling ... she realized that there was a lot more to it than just something to joke about. Her heart grew a little softer for him, and a little fonder.

"I’ll walk around Wallace next time then," she offered. "Unless I have to talk to him about work."

"Hmm, I have a feeling that he’s going to do the exact same from now on." Eli smirked. "Especially when I am present. That was the goal, after all."

... Right, savage indeed. Harper chuckled again.

As much as she enjoyed seeing the jealous and possessive side of Eli, though, she didn’t want him to get too hung up on the idea of anyone being a potential threat. So she drank up the last of her cocktail and set down the empty glass on the fountain rim. "Now, if we’re quite done with being jealous," she whispered close to his ears, "should we go back to our rooms? It was such a busy evening, with so many unexpected people to run into and talk to. I would very much like an opportunity to— unwind a little."

She didn’t need to see Eli’s face to know the expression he was wearing now. "Oh? Color me surprised," he whispered back. "Who was it that kept reminding me ’people are watching’ mere minutes ago? Not concerned anymore about the potential consequences when you seduce me so blatantly?"

Harper replied with a smirk that matched his own.

He was right. Only about an hour ago, she was still feeling uncertain about being seen with his arm wrapped around her, or leaning so close into her ears as they spoke. But now, after all the jealousy shows, she had convinced herself that both of them deserved the reassurance of some private quality time ... And as to what the bystanders might think? Well, if anyone was watching, they would’ve already figured everything out anyway by simply looking at Wallace’s face when he walked away.

"I’ve decided that we earned the first level-up in our PDA," Harper declared. "Baby steps though. We can start with—"

"Me scooping you up and carrying you out of the atrium?"

"..." What part of that was a baby step? "No. We can start with holding hands."

Eli let out a disappointed sigh. Though he didn’t waste more than a breath before quickly claiming the new rights he just received, releasing her from his arm and lacing their fingers together instead. Hand in hand, he took her sauntering casually out the entrance.

Harper smiled to herself as they passed a few small crowds on the way. Some people glanced at them curiously, whereas some pretended to be deep in conversations while glancing equally curiously. There was no doubt that new gossips would be flying around the resort before the evening was over ... but this time, she actually found the thought satisfyingly intriguing and exciting.

The two of them kept a brisk pace winding through the torch-lit garden, fingers laced the entire time. Despite the crowds thinning as they strayed farther and farther from the atrium, Eli’s hold on her was growing tighter by the minute, and when they were finally at the door to his suite, Harper observed him with amusement as he kept clutching her fingers, waving his badge inconveniently with his other hand to let them in.

"You know it’s not a PDA anymore when no one is around to watch, right?" she teased him when the door finally beeped after three tries. "You could probably—"

He pulled her in, and the door slammed shut behind her the moment she was inside. The next second, she was pressed against it, and he swallowed the rest of her words with a savage kiss.