His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 270: Two Hundred Extra Points

** Harper **

"Was that a surprise for you, Harper?" The first question began before the elevator door could fully close behind the delivery staff on their way out. "Or did you totally plan to party here all night and had it all arranged already?"

"Oh come on, who would arrange for themselves to receive flowers!" Someone else was quick to rebuke the speculation before Harper had the chance. "Harper, you’ve got such a romantic guy. I bet my husband is actually celebrating me being home late, since it’s one of the best times when he gets to watch those boring football games with his friends."

"And there’s even food for all the rest of us!" The more blatant scavengers had already swarmed the cart, hungrily examining the abundant dinner options. "Is this an attempt to buy all our hearts to skyrocket Harper’s popularity?"

"Nah, I’m sure the goal is two hundred extra points on the Golden Couple board."

Harper bit back a snort of laughter at all the creative comments. She knew, however, that the catering for the full office was for no other purpose than luring everyone to stay with her and help her with the project deadline. Eli was sneaky like that.

With plenty of help from the group, Harper set up the food on a large buffet table, picked up her share of sandwiches and lemonade, and carried the flowers back to her desk. It was a gorgeous bouquet, dreamy with pastel colors fit for a princess — roses in pink and blush and cream, white daisies tinted purple at the tip of the petals, magenta-banded lilies with such a heady perfume that she doubted she’d be able to smell anything else for the rest of the night. And at the center of that beautiful arrangement sat a red heart-shaped card, held up by a tiny trident.

She plucked out the card and flipped it open.

[ Wish I could be there, but I know I’d only distract you from the amazing work, so I can only hope that you’d think of me when you look at the flowers. And oh, try not to drink all the strawberry lemonade :)

Get that wonderful job done. Love you. ]

Awww.

Harper held the card against her chest, smiling as if that little piece of paper was the most precious thing in the world. This guy must’ve been born to melt her heart — how else did he always know how to do it so flawlessly?

"Ahem. Boss, I think you’re gonna get a lot more than two hundred points if you keep up with a face like that." Emory’s chuckle pulled Harper out of that swoony trance. "Look at the board, people are already working hard on it!"

Eh? Harper looked up. At the other side of the cubicle divider, a small crowd had already gathered around the pitched-up scoreboard, scribbling sticky notes and pinning medallions to the top. Oops.

Harper smiled slightly sheepishly. Perhaps this was just a tiny bit embarrassing, especially when she was showing such a lovestruck state to an intern who was younger than her. At least it was fortunate that Miles was busy grabbing his food at the table, unaware of the flower card and the conversation going on behind the cubicle walls.

"Another reason why Lindsey should be here, to see the shocking popularity of her own golden project." Harper slipped the card into her purse, carefully tucking it into the innermost pocket. "She did message me earlier today, by the way. She’s been feeling a lot better, so hopefully she’ll be back within a day or two."

The diversion, however, didn’t work on Emory. The girl took a bite of her pizza, and her eyes lingered on the flowers. "He does seem so madly in love with you," she commented casually. "You know, judging from all the stories I’ve heard going around the office and all the notes on that scoreboard."

Harper had just started taking her first sip of the lemonade, and she choked. Hang on, did college students really talk like this these days? And wasn’t it kind of awkward to keep going down that direction of a conversation ... when the two people madly in love happened to your boss and your half-brother with a complicated family history?

"He’s ... a romantic, as some might say." Harper offered a small smile and borrowed Chelsea’s word from the weekend. "And he does know quite well what I like."

Emory didn’t comment on that. Instead, her eyes drifted a little between the pizza in her hand and the flowers on Harper’s desk. "Well, he does seem very good at showing it," she said in the end. "I was told that my father was like that too. Romanticism must run in the family."

Harper raised an eyebrow. The sweet tone of the evening shifted subtly at the mention of Eli’s father, and she knew that Emory was aware of it as well as she was. What was the girl trying to get at?

"Oh? Does the same go for you too then?" Harper ventured a little joke. "Are you more of a pizza person or flower person?"

This time, fortunately, Emory got the hint and stopped going down that personal tangent. "Can’t you tell? I’m a practical person through and through." She laughed and raised the pizza in her hand. "I guess by romanticism running in the family, I really meant that it runs in the male line. People always say I’m not at all like my dad, and this is just one proof of it."

Having finished her first slice then, Emory dusted her hand and licked her fingers. "Well, I’m gonna go for another piece. But what I was trying to say is, just keep an eye out for those romantics, ok? It’s easy to hide what someone is really thinking behind a gorgeous bouquet of roses, and I think you know why I’m saying that."

... Harper was speechless. Did she seriously just receive relationship advice from a college kid, who was her official employee and probably years younger than her?

And was Emory really trying to warn her ... or was there something else implied in those ambiguous words?