His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 105: Despicable Him

Chapter 105: Despicable Him

** Eli **

Eli wasn’t sure exactly what kind of reaction he expected from Harper upon hearing the story, but it wasn’t the one he got, which was her reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug.

"My God, I’m so sorry." Her voice was soft as a whisper. "I didn’t know ... I could never imagine. Why would anyone do such a thing ... to the people who are closest to them?"

Of course. Kind and sweet like she was, this girl would never fathom how some people could manage to sail through life so easily without batting an eye at the feelings of others they hurt. But that was precisely what she didn’t know about him, wasn’t it? That was precisely why all the truths came crashing down at the worst time, in the worst circumstances.

"I’m not telling you this so you can feel sorry for me, Harper." Eli patted her gently on the shoulder. "I’m telling you this so it’s not too late for you to know what kind of person I might turn out to be. As much as I despise it, I’ve always been like my father in every way that matters. What Vanessa said—"

"What are you talking about?" Harper pulled back, staring into his eyes with utter confusion. "Eli, I’ve only met your father briefly, and I don’t know him well enough, but I know you. Whatever he might’ve done says nothing about you, not in that way."

Eli only let out a humorless laugh. "Are you so sure? Did you really not wonder at all why Vanessa thought she was on a date with me? You might remember the evening when we went to Le Jardin for dinner ... That reservation was the one originally made for me to see her, until I changed it so I could use the place to impress you instead. She should’ve been my official date at the time, until I tried to manipulate the situation and take advantage of it. And I never even told you a word about the whole thing ... Probably never would, if not for what happened today."

He felt ashamed to finally admit the truth, and he looked away. But Harper didn’t let him go. She searched his eyes, as if looking for something she had just confirmed from the confession. "Was that ... the deal you told me that you made with your father for the venture project?"

... Her sharp acuity had always impressed him, but this was one of the rare times when Eli wished that she didn’t connect the dots so easily. "Don’t look at me like that, Harper." He recoiled at the gentle look in those beautiful eyes that held everything but judgment. "I’m not some kind of victim you should pity. I made that decision out of my own will, and I might very well make the same choice again at the next opportunity I get. Because this is who I am, because all this means to me is just another date and just another woman. One more or one less makes no difference to me, just like it didn’t for my father."

It was hard to keep his voice calm at this point, and the last few words came out almost like a hiss. Eli wondered if he had scared the girl in front of him with the ugly truth. Would it scare her more if he went ahead and told her everything about those other women in his life that he couldn’t even remember the names of? Or about how he had never managed to keep seeing a single one of them for more than two months?

But even that was far from the full story, and it wasn’t the reason why his insides were twisting into a painful knot at this moment. That reason was her. Had she really not realized how dangerously close she already was to becoming just another one of those women?

This was what he kept making excuses for himself to avoid thinking about for the past weeks. At the very beginning of their "arrangement", he had made rules and drawn lines precisely to prevent this eventuality ... but look at where they were now. He didn’t even know how to admit to her about how much he had screwed up. All those Saturday nights when he chose to slip more and more on those "lessons". All those kisses and touches he stole that weren’t his to take. He knew she was off limits to him in too many ways, knew she was too good to belong in this mess that was his life, but still ...

The blow of a whistle sounded somewhere around them, followed by a chorus of laughter. It wasn’t until then that Eli remembered they were still at a stadium, and the game was about to start. The cheery vibe of the crowd couldn’t be more different from the mood hanging around this conversation right now.

"I’m sorry, Harper." Apologies seemed to be a theme for him today. "I’m being dramatic and moody. This is not how the day was supposed to turn out ... When you get back, could you tell Chelsea that I’ll try to make it up to her some other time? I truly hadn’t expected to cause this kind of trouble between her and her boss."

Harper opened her mouth, clearly wanting to argue. But he was the one pulling her in for a hug this time. "Enjoy the game, and I’ll see you tomorrow in Hawaii." He managed as much of a smile as he could to try to brighten up her spirit. "Don’t let this get in the way of your excitement, please?"

What he didn’t say — even though the thought was front and foremost on his mind — was that he had no idea how he was going to face her for the next two weeks once they saw each other again at their destination.

And he had no idea how to ignore the fact that today was Saturday, which made it the first time that they had to cancel their regular meetings for the evening. He didn’t want to think about what it meant for this complicated relationship between the two of them.