His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 57: A Good Candidate

Chapter 57: A Good Candidate

** Harper **

Chelsea appeared to have frozen for a moment. The taco in her hand hung still, and she stared at Harper as if the words that just came out of her mouth made completely no sense.

"You ... what?" she asked at last. "Is this a hypothetical situation or ... some kind of a real guy?"

"... Um, real, of course?" Harper hadn’t expected that reaction. "How would a hypothetical situation help with my writing dilemma?"

Chelsea continued to look thoughtful as she finished the rest of her taco. Then her eyes widened in sudden realization. "Holy shit. This is about that Eli guy, isn’t it?"

"..." Right, this was the problem with having best friends — they know you so well that you really can’t keep a single secret from them, because it was simply too easy to guess it from the smallest signs. "I didn’t say that." Harper gave it a feeble attempt to talk around the truth.

But it was too late. Chelsea had already seen through the cover story. "No, you didn’t say that," she grinned, "but we already know you’ve gotten much better at certain hot scenes in your web novel ever since he started helping you, and you just admitted that I was right in saying you need better personal experience to write better romance. So ..." She let out an incredulous gasp. "Wow, Harper! You know I was only joking when I asked if he was good in bed, right? I didn’t think you’d actually—"

"Ok, ok, you’ve made your point." Harper hurried to cut her off before more embarrassing words slipped out. "Geez, Chelsea, it’s not like that! I’m not sleeping with him!" She lowered her voice on the last part so that no one else would hear them.

Chelsea only looked back with a "yeah, yeah, sure" face.

Harper sighed. "Anyway ... so you’ll help me with this?" At least they could get back to the issue without disguises now that the cat was out of the bag. "It was part of your suggestions the other day too, if you still remember. You said I should take good advantage of our history as childhood sweethearts ... and I’m liking that idea now." She paused for a second, feeling the anxious thrill of letting the truth out. "I want to date him."

"Aww." Chelsea sipped her drink with a dramatic batting of her eyes. "That sounds so sweet ... But, nope, to your question. I’ve changed my mind about that part of the suggestion."

"... What?"

She shrugged. "From what May had to say about him, he sounds a hundred percent like a dandy playboy. I’m not sure if I’d consider him a good candidate for dating."

That change of opinion came so abruptly that Harper found it hard to process. "Hang on. You, the queen of casual play, are telling me that a playboy is not a good candidate for dating?"

Chelsea snorted. "I am the queen of casual play because it’s fun and I like it. You are looking for a relationship. There’s a big difference! Just because a man is good at pleasing you and whispering sweet things into your ears doesn’t mean you can trust him with your heart. Judging from what May said, that flirt is definitely not the type of guy for anything serious."

There was probably some truth in that. Chelsea was always good at reading people. But the first reaction that came to Harper’s mind was an automatic defense instead. "He’s not a flirt!" she argued indignantly. "At least, not when he’s with me. He didn’t even start saying things like that to me until—" Until I asked him to, though Harper decided against sharing those details. "Anyway, he’s not an irresponsible person or anything. I’ve known him for long enough to figure that much."

The look on Chelsea’s face turned a little thoughtful again. "Hmm, so you’re already smitten enough with him to see the need to defend his reputation ... That is slightly concerning." She threw over a dubious look. "How did he manage to get your guard down so quickly? We’re talking about Harper McKenzie, who complained that her last boyfriend had ’ulterior motives’ just because he invited her to his place for dinner. But now she actually wants to date a guy after hooking up with him for a couple of weeks?"

"... I didn’t hook up with him!" Harper wanted to facepalm. "It’s ... complicated. But in any case, that’s not what this is about. He is genuinely nice to me, in many other ways. I even had this project at work that he helped me with, and—" Her heart suddenly did a strange flip at the thought of all those semi-dates they went on together, and she hoped it didn’t show. "Well, I just like spending time with him, and I want it to be more than the ’friends’ thing we currently have."

There was a beat of silence. Then Chelsea turned back to her plate and started pouring sauce on her next taco.

Great, there went the expert advice Harper was hoping for. It was actually quite a bit disappointing that the very first person she let in on this secret with Eli didn’t seem to be taking her side at all.

"Maybe I should meet him," Chelsea said casually just as Harper decided to give up and get to her own food. "As your best friend and apparently your most trusted relationship advisor, I should probably see for myself if this guy really is as good as you say. People could have hidden sides, after all. If he turns out to be one of those redeemable ones, I’ll give you all the best advice on how to seduce him. How does that sound?"

"Hmm?" Harper blinked. "Um ... I mean, yeah, sure, it’d be fun for you guys to meet, but ..." She blinked again. "Why is this sounding suspiciously like an in-law interview?"

Chelsea burst into laughter at that. "What, you didn’t know I’ve always had a motherly instinct in me?" She tossed her hair back with an exaggerated air. "I’m going to watch out for you, Harper. As a seasoned player on the dating market, I feel the responsibility to help you protect yourself from unnecessary heartaches. So be prepared — if this dude turns out to be the type that’s guaranteed to let you down in the end, I’ll show him just how protective a good in-law can get."

She dug back into her plate, and Harper was suddenly left with a feeling of doubt that this whole thing might turn out ... very differently from what she had in mind.

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