His Naughty Lessons

** Harper **

How could a mere workday lunch feel like a perfect date, so sweet and romantic and make you not want to ever leave?

Harper loved the way Eli always made her laugh. Loved the surprise ice cream. Loved how he looked at her when she hand-fed him those rolls to him ... The short break that was intended to be just a diversion turned out to be such an amazing retreat, and by the time she got back to the office, all the slight unpleasantness over the week felt so trivial that none of them bothered her anymore. In an utterly happy mood, she even accepted the afternoon tea that Wallace brought for both her and Lindsey — why waste time thinking about those awkward consequences when there was so much to enjoy in the precious moment?

She couldn’t wait for the business vacation trip to start, when she’d be able to see Eli like this every day and enjoy so many more precious moments to her heart’s content.

But first, before vacation time, there was still a Saturday evening waiting for them ahead. And this one was a whole different excitement, because it’d be the first time that she gets to introduce Eli to someone else as ... her semi-date.

Well, hopefully she could remove the "semi" in that title soon enough, depending on the outcome of her latest seduction schemes. But for now, "semi-date" sounded better than any other alternative labels she could think of — friend with benefits? Inappropriate business partner? Casual sex teacher? Um, no thanks — so that was what she went with when she arrived at the stadium Saturday afternoon.

Chelsea was already waiting at the entrance, dressed in a Chickadees jersey just like Harper herself. An overly exaggerated grin lit up the girl’s face when she spotted Harper.

"Finally, our precious and popular Harper!" She all but hopped over to give Harper the biggest bear hug. "I hope the fact that you suddenly had no time to see me at all for the past three weeks meant that your love life has seen tremendous progress."

Harper whooped as the hug knocked the air out of her lungs, which she suspected was Chelsea’s way of making a statement about— "Wait, what? Have I really not seen you for three weeks?"

"Definitely not, and it’s making me wonder if you even need that advice you’ve been asking from me anymore. Spill — have you been using all the time you usually spend hanging out with me to seduce this new boyfriend instead? You guys better have gotten to the home base already with all that time."

Apparently Chelsea was extra relentless today in her straight-to-the-point speech, probably as a payback to Harper being a terrible friend and ditching her for Eli. Harper swatted at the insensitive girl, though she wished those jokes were true. "He’s not my boyfriend and there are no home runs! You know that’s exactly why I need your help."

Chelsea tilted her head contemplatively. "Hmm ... So he’s been seeing you for weeks now, stealing all the great time I could’ve had with my best friend, and still not made a move? That first impression isn’t a very good one."