His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 114: Near and Far

Chapter 114: Near and Far

** Eli **

By the time the Luau finally ended, Eli was both disappointed and relieved that Harper didn’t come to find him like she offered before. Oh how he wanted to see her ... But if he did, he probably wouldn’t be able to resist pressing her to a wall and demanding her to repeat those dance moves just for him.

So instead, he went to sleep and dreamed of her. In his dream he did exactly that, among other things.

Needless to say that the next day, it took quite a bit of effort for him to hide the guilty sheepishness from his face as he showed up to their shared meetings.

Monday spelled bad luck for his chances at keeping his distance from Harper. It was the only day that everyone from the group would be sitting in the same meetings, making it impossible to avoid her presence. It was also the only day that consisted entirely of presentations that he had already seen before, some more than a dozen times, which meant that he’d be utterly bored during every meeting ... and his eyes would naturally drift in her direction instead.

Having learned his lesson from last night, he couldn’t let that happen again. So when he strode into the conference auditorium and found the seats unassigned, he picked the table right up at the front, not giving himself an easy spot to ogle anyone from.

He had barely settled down when, from the corner of his eye, he saw Harper and a few of her coworkers enter the auditorium door. The suitcase guy was unsurprisingly among them. The group looked around, coming up to the second table from the front, and the guy looked definitely too eager to glue himself to Harper’s side again as soon as she could pick a seat.

Eli turned his eyes away, reminding himself that he really shouldn’t, couldn’t, mustn’t, interfere blatantly this time.

"Oh, Eli! Glad we found you over here. Lindsey has been nagging me to introduce you guys for weeks!"

Harper’s cheerful exclaim broke his sulky musing. Hmm? He looked up from his table, seeing her marching toward him with another girl close on her heels. "Lindsey missed the investors meeting, so you two haven’t met yet," she explained. "And guess what, she’s the concept designer behind Legends of Time, the one we played that first weekend when you came to my place. Remember how good it was?"

... Eli almost choked on air from the bomb she dropped. Did this girl just casually announce to everybody around that they were close enough "friends" to visit each other on weekends? And when she said "how good it was", did she wink at him with a sly smirk on her face that implied she was talking about ... other things that happened on the same day besides the game?

The suitcase guy seemed to be caught off guard by the information as well, halting in his tracks and looking at the group in front of him dubiously.

Only the girl named Lindsey seemed unfazed. If anything, she beamed at the mention of her project. "You liked my game?" she gasped at Eli. "Wow, I’m so honored! Which part was your favorite? Do you think I can apply some of the same gameplay elements to Harper’s new project too? Anything you want to see improved or done differently?"

As she went on, obviously clicking into work mode already, Harper slipped into the seat next to Eli, dragging her still babbling coworker to sit down at her other side. The suitcase guy had no choice but to take the next empty seat.

Hmm ... Was she using him as a shield to rid herself of unwanted attention? If that was the case, Eli had no complaints. He shifted in his chair, moving closer to Harper just for good measure, before starting to answer all of Lindsey’s questions.

There was only a slight problem with the situation, though — the conference room speakers were playing uplifting ambient music not far from their table, and Lindsey wasn’t talking loud. Occasionally, Eli had to lean in closer to be able to hear her slurs of technical jargon, and whenever he did ... He would find himself within too much vicinity of Harper, her presence a living thing that permeated the air around them.

The side of his slacks kept brushing over the hem of her skirt. He could swear it was unintentional — the space under the table simply seemed too tight — and he’d snatch himself back immediately every time it happened. But even with the renewed distance, it was impossible to not feel the warmth of her skin, looming just beyond reach from his thigh like a ghost of a touch.

The light scent of her perfume kept wafting into his nostrils, too, in soft tendrils of floral notes that came and went like a tease. Roses, jasmine, and ... lilies of the valley? A subtle sweetness perfectly befitting her. And wasn’t this the same perfume she wore that evening when he visited her apartment for the first time?

Memories tickled him, so familiar yet already so unattainable, just like the girl sitting next to him right now. Eli suddenly felt a little awkward, unsure how to handle the feeling. It was new to him, this kind of wistful longing and strange sense of loss, this fidgety need to get even closer to her yet at the same time, knowing that he shouldn’t.

He was all too glad when the meeting finally began, cutting his conversation with Lindsey short and letting him put some much-needed distance back between Harper and himself.

~ ~

Eight hours and five meetings later, after being tortured once more by "watching her from nearby", Eli was bothered enough that he needed a cold swim.

For the first time since he arrived at the resort, he started appreciating his presidential suite for having the luxury of precisely that option. Excusing himself from the optional evening socials, he went back to his room, turned down the AC, and set out a bottle of rum to chill before going straight for the long soak.

He had just stripped down to his boxers when the doorbell rang.

... Did room service always have to pick the worst time to come? And hadn’t he already told them that he didn’t need extra refreshments for the evening?

He clicked the door open without putting in the effort to greet the forgetful staff. "You can just leave the tray there." He gestured at the foyer counter as he turned back. "Thanks and the tip is next to the lamp."

There was a brief silence before he heard a light chuckle behind him. Then a voice he didn’t expect to hear said, with profound amusement, "Well ... What kind of service would you like from me in exchange for that tip?"