His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 265: Date Strategy

** Eli **

The pasta proved itself to be good indeed. Eli succeeded in coaxing Harper to try the sage butter scallops with house-made gnocchi, and he had quite a few good laughs as the girl stared suspiciously at the creamy white sauce before lifting a dripping bite into her mouth.

At the same time — much to his relief — Tyler didn’t spend the rest of dinner frowning on those laughs, or on any further starry-eyed sips that the two shared over their Lovebirds drink. Between praising his own food in pleasant surprise and dodging Chelsea’s many hilarious comments on both the restaurant and the company at the table, the grumpy guy’s mood visibly lifted over time, and he even deigned to share a toast with Eli without grudging snark involved.

It looked like Harper was truly a genius for setting up this dinner arrangement, making it work out so well to their advantage and successfully easing her meddling brother into the new role of a future brother-in-law.

Eli appreciated the peaceful turnout. Although, silently in his own mind, he wished that the two of them had tried this restaurant themselves before bringing a group of guests along. Because the more they sipped on that Lovebird Duo and shared a beautifully presented tiramisu with a heart drawn across the plate, the more he felt like the restaurant’s subtle yet surely romantic atmosphere was placing a rosy filter over his eyes. It made it harder and harder for him to keep paying attention to the other two people on the table, and he wished Harper was the only one here with him tonight, so that all he had to do for the rest of the evening was to simper at her without any other company present as unnecessary witnesses.

He would have to save that todo item for after they got home though. Along with the leftover pasta that he already had ten thousand plans for.

His girl, meanwhile blissfully unaware of his drifting attention, was getting increasingly intrigued instead by the mysterious dynamics happening between her brother and her bestie. At the end of the evening when her friend left the table briefly for the restroom, she finally couldn’t hold back the curiosity to ask.

"You guys really haven’t met before?" she interrogated her brother once more, eyeing the empty bottle of Sassicaia that the two had shared. "I feel like I’m missing something here. Did you two just happen to like the same wine so much without knowing it ahead of time? And what’s that look Chelsea gave you when you said you work at Sanderson Funds?"

Tyler continued to clean up his dessert plate without looking up. "Well, I was curious about that too," he said casually. "Maybe we should ask your friend instead? I mean, I’d also like to know if it’s just me getting lied to too much these days and getting paranoid, or if it’s your friend actually discovering some interesting story there that I’m not aware of."

He gave Eli a withering look as he said "getting lied to". Eli let out an internal sigh. Oh well, perhaps more dinners like this would be needed to fully get them to that future brother-in-law state.

"Then why don’t you ask her?" Harper, apparently missing that look in her eagerness to set up these two every chance she got, beamed. "Maybe she knows something about your company that she can tell you. Insider secrets are the most precious when you move to a new city! Or maybe she can show you all the nice pubs she knows around town, I’m sure you’ll appreciate her taste in drinks — oh, she’s a big tequila fan too, just like you."

For the Nth time tonight, the expression on Tyler’s face seemed to be turning ... a bit complicated once more.

"Do I hear tequila mentioned?" Chelsea, having returned to the table from behind them at just the right time, asked with obvious interest. "I wouldn’t mind switching to a bar and continuing the welcome party! The night is still young. There is a place I’ve recently discovered, much better than La Cantina. Should we give it a try?"

Eli, being the moon-eyed lovebird who had already mentally switched to post-dinner plans, hesitated. Harper, being the odd one in the group who didn’t like tequila, hesitated as well.

Tyler, being the tequila snob of the bunch, obviously looked tempted, though he cleared his throat and put on a nonchalant face. "Um, I’m stuck with these two." He nodded at his hosts across the table. "My suitcase is in their car. I go wherever they go."

Suddenly, a perfect idea crossed Eli’s mind.

"Harper, didn’t you say you want to check out the park across the street?" He leaned back in his seat with a hinting smile, wrapping his arm behind Harper’s shoulders and giving her a subtle squeeze. "We should probably go before it gets too late. The park is quiet at night, and it might start changing from romantically quiet to spookily quiet at some point."

"We ... what?" Harper blinked up at him. "I didn—"

Then the smart girl quickly picked up what he meant.

"Oh! Right! I’ve almost forgotten! That was why we picked this restaurant in the first place." The spontaneous lie went through her teeth with no effort, and she turned to the rest of their company with a perfectly sheepish smile. "Ah, we’ve actually got a date plan tonight ... But that tequila place sounds interesting. Tyler, you should definitely go! Chelsea has a car too, so she can just drop you off at your hotel whenever you’re done."

It took Eli quite some effort not to laugh, when Tyler suddenly looked equally stunned and undignified, while Chelsea ... paused for a brief second before a knowing grin descended on her face.

"Oh sure, I can fit a suitcase in my car no problem." Chelsea nodded, and the three of them were already pushing Tyler out of the restaurant as she said the words. Then they moved Tyler’s suitcase out of the trunk together with the impressive efficiency of teamwork.

Tyler: "..."

"We’ll see you tomorrow? Or next weekend?" Harper hugged her brother goodbye with a serious face, and Eli tried to hide a laugh again as Chelsea all but shoved Tyler into her car. Then the two drove away quickly like a cartoon-style go kart trailing a dust cloud in its wake.

"My, I can’t believe you just did that." With the two gone, Harper turned back and chuckled with a pinch on Eli’s arm. "Even I didn’t think of such a good excuse to send the two alone on their own! Now they can sort out between themselves whatever mysterious history it is that we missed."

"Who said I did it for them?" Eli chuckled, looping her back into his arm again. "And it wasn’t an excuse. Look to your left."

Harper did. "Wait ... There’s really a park here?"

"Of course, and I’ve been waiting all evening to spend some alone time with you. Preferably in a romantic setting like a stroll in the park under the moonlight." Eli nuzzled the top of her head. "May I have the honor to do so, gorgeous?"