His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 179: The Fragile Girl and Her Caregiver

** Harper **

Mere minutes ago, Harper had been prepared to spend the rest of the long cruise in unsteady footing and dizzying nausea. But the break on the deck with Eli — or the so-called dolphin therapy, according to his assistant — turned out to work wonders, and she was soon moving from one end of the ship to another, trying out different spots for the best viewpoint.

Eli followed her like a little puppy the entire time, claiming that the deck was slippery and especially dangerous for someone who was seasick. What if the ship rocked? What if she got dizzy again and fell? With all the justified reasons, he didn’t let her fingers slip away from his clutch for longer than a second, and Harper was certain that the two of them had been spotted by every single person on the ship while they sauntered around hand in hand.

Speaking of the most public PDA.

"I have a feeling that we’ve drawn more attention today than all the dolphins combined," she offered when she noticed the Nth group of coworkers sending hidden glances their way, pretending not to be interested in whatever they were doing but in fact very interested. "Do you think we might be making too fast of a progress in their perspective?"

Not that she was complaining. It was a brand new experience to be with Eli like this, letting everything out in the open, and she didn’t mind it the slightest bit.

"Special circumstances call for special actions." Eli smirked. "You are feeling unwell, remember? How can I possibly leave you on your own?"

Oh, right. That seasickness, which she had long forgotten by now and had to keep being reminded of it to even remember it existed. Harper hid a smile at the thought — maybe she should actually be thankful for the little unpleasant episode then, for bringing her such unexpected attention that made this trip completely different from planned.

~ ~

It soon became obvious that Eli intended to keep his promise of looking after her not only through the entire cruise, but also well into the land tour that followed. When the group arrived at their destination, he still didn’t let go of her hand, tucking her close to his side as everyone filed down the pier.

"Anything in particular that you want to see on this tour?" he asked, waving a hand in the general direction of the new island stretching in front of them. "I happen to have been to this area before. There are some nice scenic sites, plantations, tiki bars ... We can tell the guide to stop wherever that you might be interested in."

Harper was busy admiring the different beach view when the remark caught her by surprise. "Um ... You’re not planning to turn this tour into a private itinerary for me, are you?" She looked back at the long line of coworkers behind them. "Everyone’s just as excited and new to this island as I am! They should get to enjoy it too."

"And they will, by following your lead." Eli smirked again, unashamed, and he kept their hands locked together as they followed the guide’s lead onto a double decker tour bus. Without wasting time to fumble around, he took her straight to the second deck and nudged her into the front seat, taking his own at her side.

Oh. Now this was a view indeed. Unobstructed and high enough to see even the top of the plumeria trees, they could see all the rich layers of the tropical island unfold before them, and a small screen in the corner of the dash helpfully pointed out the direction of every point of interest nearby. Harper studied the list with interest — craters, waterfalls, coffee farms ...

Then she noticed belatedly that a gray-haired man, who she vaguely recognized to be part of Sterling’s senior executive management, standing at the top of the stairs and regarding her with a strange expression.

... Hmm?

"Ah, are you looking for the reserved executive seats by any chance?" Eli’s arm looped from behind her just as she was about to ask what was going on. Pulling her tight into him, he smiled with a suspicious dose of warmth at the newcomer. "Sorry, she’s with me. You might have to move one row further back ... Or two rows, if you’re particularly opposed to us getting too close and blocking your scenic view."

"..." Harper watched speechlessly as the other man took the advice in a heartbeat, moving down the aisle four rows back before taking his seat.

She couldn’t help but wonder if Eli had just painted a big target on her back for his employees. She didn’t exactly need a front row seat ... especially when it meant taking someone else’s reserved spot! Especially when it meant insinuendos about them cuddling in front of the whole bus ...

"Don’t worry about him," Eli whispered in her ear, apparently reading what she was thinking as easily as always. "It’s just another one of my father’s minions who have only started to learn my way of things. I was never going to save him an executive seat in any case. And besides ... you are motion sick. Of course you need a front row seat to feel better on the tour."

"..." This guy! Always had the best excuses ready for every occasion.

"I think once this trip is over, I’ll be unavoidably labeled ’the fragile seasick / carsick girl who needs so much taken care of’." Harper shook her head and chuckled in surrender as the rest of the group made their boarding, each one of them throwing a long glance at the front row before moving past them. Meanwhile, the shameless man next to her was all too eager to take advantage of the opportunity, draping his arm around her possessively as if making a proud statement.

"Oh trust me, there will be more labels than that." That playful smirk started dancing in Eli’s eyes again, turning more mysterious as the bus slowly started moving. "Your caregiver has handpicked the first stop of our tour today just for you ... Take a guess, where do you think we’re heading right now?"

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** Author’s Note **

Dear all, just wanted to drop a quick message here to let everyone know that in case you’ve noticed an increase in spelling errors / slow pacing / etc. in the past few days, it is because author here has been struggling with mono and not quite functioning well at minimal brain capacity >_< My apologies to all my lovely readers, but on a retrospective note, things are getting better in just a couple of Chapters! Thank you for being patient with me, I hope the sweet scenes coming up soon will make it worth it <3