His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 58: New Tactics

Chapter 58: New Tactics

** Harper **

With Chelsea’s help on hold until she could complete a proper assessment of Eli, Harper was left on her own to figure out how to proceed with her mission of seduction.

It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world — given her lack of personal experience, most of Harper’s knowledge regarding relationships came from the romance books she read, and "friends to lovers" wasn’t the trope she was most familiar with. The stories she typically liked to read were about enemies to lovers, forbidden desires, revenge and betrayal ... none of which seemed relevant in this case. How would one go about seducing a guy who already knows almost everything about you?

She spent the next couple of hours googling "how to go on a date with a friend" and "how to move from friendship to relationship" and various other versions of the same question. Noting down all the answers, she made a list of ideas based on the internet’s suggestions:

1. Be honest and confess your feelings.

2. Plan thoughtful hangouts for more one-on-one time.

3. Move out of the friend zone: don’t be his go-to text buddy, don’t entertain conversations regarding his relationship drama or opinions of other women, etc.

4. Build physical attraction and sexual tension: dress boldly, flirt with him, touch him, etc.

...

Harper stared at the list and decided that it was a bunch of BS.

First, there was no way that she would simply "confess her feelings". She’d probably have better luck with that five or six years ago, if she had been brave enough to do it. But now? When they were both clear on the multiple rules they’d made against dating before all this started? Nope. Trying to change the game at the wrong time would mean an utter disaster, and she wasn’t stupid enough to risk it.

"Casual hangouts" she could do, but there had already been plenty of those between them recently. If it had any effect moving their relationship in the direction she preferred, she didn’t notice the slightest bit.

So, "moving out of the friend zone" then ... According to Chelsea’s assessment weeks ago, this was what defined Harper’s current dilemma. But upon closer examination and judging from the internet’s examples of actual strategies to follow, it seemed that their situation barely fit the classic assumptions of "friendzoning". Eli had always been close to her, but he had never talked to her about his dating life, or made a habit out of texting her for "emotional support", or even called her his "best friend". He’d only ever said that she was family and different from everyone else.

Harper wasn’t sure what this meant. Maybe their friendship had moved too far into the family territory for the typical traits of the third bullet to even apply?

And the fourth bullet was even worse. Flirts and touches ... Was what they did last night not enough? Being physical was definitely not among the things lacking between them, and as much as she could tell, it didn’t seem to have increased any sort of tension so far ...

Harper slumped back in her chair. She had apparently gotten herself into such a peculiar relationship with a guy that she didn’t even know how to define it, let alone get out of it. What should she do then, if none of the standard strategies looked promising?

She glanced over the list again, wondering how she could tweak it to make things fit her own situation. "Moving out of the family zone" might be beyond her skill set, but maybe there could still be something figure-outable about the last bullet ...

An idea came to her. What if she could let the vibe of their Saturday "lessons" seep more into everyday life instead? They flirt and touch plenty already, but since none of it had ever happened outside the boundaries of their "arrangement", it couldn’t truly count as real ... So what if she started changing things up a little and acted a bit differently while they went out together? Would that prompt him to consider the possibilities of how differently things could be between them, without the pretense of "practice sessions"?

Harper’s spirits brightened at that thought. Yes, that would be a good direction to go, and the book fest this afternoon would be a great time to start testing out her new tactics. She got up from her seat, strode to her wardrobe, and started to plan.

~ ~

The afternoon turned out sunny and hot, which made it perfect for a beachy mini dress. Harper stood in the shade of the big banner that read "Third Annual Davenshire Book Fest" and waited a bit nervously for Eli to show up.

She had turned down a ride from him, mostly because she wanted to offer a proper greeting and a pretty first impression without having to cram into a car. She’d taken more time than usual with her makeup today, dabbing on her seldomly used bronzers and shadows for the perfect sun-kissed look, pairing it with soft coral lips and just a hint of glitter over her eyelids. Her hair was done in a casual but tasteful bun, leaving a couple of stray strands to dangle alongside seashell-shaped earrings, and a wide-brimmed sun hat perched on top of it all — she had picked the hat instead of sunglasses on purpose, leaving her eyes easy to see, so that she could give the man plenty of looks that he’d hopefully pick up something from.

Fifteen minutes before their agreed meeting time, she saw Eli’s figure appear in the crowds. And wow, he looked delicious in shorts and a simple graphic tee, relentlessly showing off the hard lines of his lean muscles.

"Over here!" Harper waved to him as he looked around the crowd.

Surprise flashed across his face when he saw her. It gave her a moment of excitement — was he noticing the little touches she put on already? Did he like it?

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Eli caught up to her and said. "I didn’t know you were here already."

Oh ... so he was only surprised that she had arrived so early. Maybe he wasn’t even paying attention to her looks.

It was ok though. Harper was high in morale, and she brushed off the slight letdown with a radiant smile. "I was excited for this, so I got here a bit early." She gave him a hug. "This looks like such a fun festival!"

They closed their arms around each other, but just before he could pull back to end that simple gesture of greeting, she did something she’d never done before. "Thank you for coming with me," she said, pressing a light kiss to his cheek.