His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 181: Paparazzi

** Harper **

One definite benefit of having paparazzi, as Harper soon learned, is that you’ll never have to worry about missing a photo of your favorite moment in life. They’ve got your back a hundred percent on that.

"Harper! Come over here!" Naomi beckoned her over excitedly at the dinner reception a few hours later. It was a rare time of the day when Eli wasn’t around — Harper had finally succeeded in persuading him to tend to some of his real business, apart from "taking care of the VIP guest" — and Naomi was quick to make good use of it.

"I still can’t believe how impossibly photogenic you guys are together," the marketing lead marveled with exaggerated pride as she passed her phone to Harper. "Look at that! I’m so tempted to go auction this picture for a romance book cover!"

Harper almost choked on air before she could even look at the picture. Since when had she gotten herself a fan that saw her as a cover model?

Naomi was right in her market assessment though — the photo was perfect, practically oozing romance from every pixel. A brilliant sky, a verdant valley, a sea of lavender embracing a moonstruck couple at its very center. The girl’s white dress was rippling softly in the wind, and the guy was holding her face so adoringly as he kissed her, the sweet and unmistakable cherishment almost tangible in the air.

"It’s lovely," Harper agreed. "But I’m sure it’s also thanks to the skillful photographer. The lighting and the framing were expertly done!"

"Hey, thanks but don’t try to change the subject." Naomi was too shrewd to be distracted by the flattery, and the gossipy curiosity in her eyes only gleamed brighter. "Do tell, you never mentioned things were moving this fast between you guys the last time we talked about it! Are you—" She paused for a second to lower her voice. "So, are you like, official now? Was that a first kiss? It was so romantic either way, not gonna lie!"

Harper couldn’t help a smitten smile curving her lips. It was so romantic, indeed, and she could still feel the soft warmth of Eli’s lips against hers, etched into her memory alongside that breathtaking landscape ... All the more romantic considering that this was the first public declaration of their relationship. Something that she didn’t need to hide anymore from the present company.

"Yeah, it’s official," she announced. "We—"

"Wait, what’s official?" A somewhat unfamiliar voice joined them. "Oh my goodness, are we talking about the big Romance Show of the Year that happened at the lavender farm earlier?"

A brightly colored margarita plopped down at the table, and Harper looked up to find ... the two next-door neighbors of Eli’s cruise cabin smiling back at her?

Oops.

"Oh I can’t believe I missed out on all this news," the same girl who was talking continued. "I wish I knew sooner — it wouldn’t have been so embarrassing if I did! No wonder he was talking about switching rooms! And Naomi, you should’ve warned us that my idol wasn’t available from the very beginning ..."

She trailed off with a big gulp of her margarita while Naomi stared at her intently, half confused and obviously half intrigued.

"Um, sorry, Zoe is a bit tipsy." The other girl offered a sheepish smile at Harper. "I’m Samantha, by the way, don’t think we’ve officially met yet. Zoe and I are in finance. She keeps talking about how Eli Sterling looks exactly like a movie star that she used to fangirl over as a teen—"

"Not just as a teen! Still am!"

"—Right, that she still fangirls ... and I guess she got a bit too excited when we bumped into him right next door the very first thing on the cruise." Samantha chuckled and nudged her half drunken friend with an elbow. "Though ... Is it true that we just heard about something being official? Is it what we think it is?"

"Hold on, hold on, and what is this ’switching rooms’ deal?" Naomi helpfully chimed in at just the perfect time. "Who was switching rooms with who? Is it what I think it is?"

... The bombardment of gossips came a bit too fast! Who would’ve known that the casual showoff at the flower field would’ve caused such a tsunami of questions so quickly?

Harper wasn’t the best at handling emergency situations like this. She was starting to regret not putting together a coherent story to tell ahead of time when, to top it all off, the drunken Zoe added, "Looks like all of us have been missing bits and pieces of the show. Hey, if I don’t get to have my idol, then at least let us have some cool stories! Tell us, Harper. How long has this been going on? How did it all start? What’s he like in private? My idol of a lifetime is funny and has this amazing six pack that makes every fangirl drool ..."

Harper: "..."

Yeah, that was quite a different kind of response from what she expected to get from Eli’s cruise neighbors. But as Zoe went on to describe with full detail her favorite movie star’s abs and biceps, Harper had this strange feeling that she could relate to this new teammate she had just met. The way they both saw their favorite person with such unreserved admiration was so similar that slowly, she felt as if she was affected.

Maybe it was the kiss in the lavender fields that had gotten to her head. Or maybe it was the fangirl in front of her that reminded her of those teenage years she spent pining over the guy who she could finally call boyfriend now. Either way, Harper suddenly had an urge to share the romantic feelings filling and swelling in her heart. Now that everything was out in the open, she wanted to talk about it — at least the safe for work part of it — the same way her coworker would. The same way any other starry-eyed girl madly in love would.

"Alright," she offered then, generously. "Where do you want the story to begin?"