His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 232: Rising to Stardom

** Harper **

Getting a private ride to the office was nice indeed, especially with the car flying through congested highway traffic in the HOV lane. The Mercedes also turned out to be surprisingly comfortable, handling the stop-and-go city red lights so smoothly that Harper didn’t even need to worry about spilling her coffee. Or maybe Justin was just a really good driver.

She would’ve thanked him again for the five star service, if not for the fact that Eli had closed the partition screen first thing after they got in, blocking the back seat completely from the driver.

"You did tell him where to drop me off, right?" she asked when the company logo of her office building was getting close enough for them to see through the window, and she still hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to Justin yet. "The parking lot in the back is easier to get to without traffic, but it’s on a separate one-way street from the front entrance. He’ll have to take a different turn from the main road to get there."

"What makes you think I’m dropping you off in a back alley like some hidden cargo delivery?" Eli gave her a sideways glance, apparently displeased with her assumption. "We’re going to the front entrance, of course. Unless your coworkers still need more mental preparation before seeing you come out of my car in the morning."

Well ... not really, especially not after the lavender field trip and the whole "golden couple of the year" thing that her cubicle mate had started. But was it truly necessary to be so high-key? Now the entire office would know why she was wearing a high collar shirt on one of the hottest days of summer ...

Either way, seeing that she didn’t protest, Eli’s expression quickly brightened again. The car made perfect timing then by rolling to a stop at their destination, and he hopped out immediately, coming around to her side to hold the door open for her.

"Hmm? Who’s that over there? Which team has a new hire that’s so handsome?"

Harper had just gotten one foot out of the car when she heard the familiar sound of admiring gasps.

"Oh come on, did you miss out on the town hall meeting last week?" A different voice hushed the first one quickly. "You’re staring at the investor from Sterling Trust! That’s the leader of our venture partner group, not some random new hire!"

Harper’s eyes followed the direction of the voices, and she found herself looking at a group of five or six girls standing by the building’s entrance, studying the new arrivers with the Mercedes. She didn’t recognize them, though they looked like young college students on their first summer internship.

Catching her gaze, the group waved at her, still seemingly curious.

"Oh, I remember now!" one of them suddenly blurted. "That’s Harper from the product development team, right? We’re looking at the golden couple of the year! The current top contenders on the scoreboard!"

The exclamation shocked everyone out of their daze. "Ohh! That’s right!" Another girl was apparently so excited that her hand flew to her lips. "Wow, I can’t believe I’m witnessing this with my own eyes after missing out on the lavender scene in Hawaii!"

"Umm, keep your voice down though. You realize they can hear everything we’re saying from there ..."

The group glanced back toward the car again and gave the two of them a few awkward smiles.

Harper looked at Eli. Eli, on the other hand, was wearing an immensely interested expression. "Morning, ladies." He greeted the group with a friendly smile. "You all work with Harper?"

The girl at the front blinked, as if unsure what kind of attitude to expect from him. "Yeah ... Well, I mean, we see Harper around the office ... But we are all art interns, and we aren’t involved with her project, so it took us a while to recognize her."

"We just heard yesterday that she’s your girlfriend?" One of the youngest-looking interns in the back poked her head out, obviously less concerned than her friends about offending the big boss with such personal questions.

Luckily for her, Eli seemed more entertained than offended by the question. "Of course she is," he said, lifting his hand, and Harper realized belatedly that their fingers were still laced together from him helping her out of the car.

The small crowd in front of them exploded at the casual declaration of possession.

"Aww, we better go add another fifty points to the board. He’s not just handsome but also so sweet! Look at him holding her hand like that!" freёnovelkiss.com

"And he’s personally sending his girlfriend to work!"

"And they are wearing a couple’s outfit! Even their colors match!"

Hmm? Did they? Harper looked down at her simple black and white dress, then at Eli’s dark gray suit. She supposed they did match ... with a bit of a stretch.

Eli laughed at the speechless look on her face. "I think I’m becoming a fan of your company’s culture." He winked. "What is this golden couple of the year thing? Can I go vote for the two of us? And what do those fifty points added to the board do?"

Harper almost choked on a snort. "Oh ... That’s some sort of celebrity show Lindsey came up with last weekend, and apparently we are rising to stardom much faster than I imagined." She shook her head with a chuckle at the chattering girls in front of them. "Points come from every PDA witnessed by audiences like this, the more creative the better ... Maybe next time when you come in for the investors briefing, I’ll show you our amazing performance on the scoreboard."

"Now I’m definitely intrigued." Eli’s eyes gleamed. "I’ll have to move up the date of the next investor’s meeting just to see that ... And for now, why don’t we shoot for another creative fifty points? Enjoy your last bite of breakfast before I go—"

He reached into the refreshments tray in the back seat, picked up a chocolate covered strawberry, and placed it between his lips. As he bit down on it, he pressed his lips to hers and sent the other half smoothly into her mouth.

A wave of "aww"s sounded from their audience and drowned Harper’s surprised gasp.