His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 130: Unexpected Call

Chapter 130: Unexpected Call

** Harper **

Harper was so, so tempted to snatch the offer. The prospect of falling asleep in Eli’s arms and waking up snuggled against him had tantalized her for weeks, and the chance to finally do it was almost too luring to resist. But she knew all too well that if she did stay, there would be neither falling asleep nor waking up actually happening, which would be a terrible idea considering the important meetings lined up for the next day.

So it was with tremendous regret and reluctance that she eventually left Eli’s room, snuck back to her own, and tried to persuade herself that she had made a worthy sacrifice for the betterment of mankind.

There was still little hope of getting into the mood for sleep any time soon though. Harper tried to cool off her mind from the exhilaration with cold drinks, tried to calm down by opening the window and listening to the soothing sound of ocean waves, and even tried to distract herself by attempting to write another Chapter of her web novel, but to no avail. Images of the evening kept flashing in front of her eyes, making her itch and burn, and she was damn sure that those scenes had been etched into the back of eyelids, with no chance of ever fading.

After half an hour of trying, she gave up. Picking up the phone she had been neglecting for a while, she swiped straight to her text message shortcuts and typed, [ I miss you already. ]

She grinned when it took barely a second for Eli to reply. [ Miss you too. Can tomorrow come faster? ] A row of five hearts followed immediately after.

Harper clutched the phone to her chest like she was fifteen again. A long minute passed before she managed to float down from the dreamy cloud nine and looked back at the screen.

Only then did she notice the long list of notifications she had swiped away earlier.

[ App Notification: Tamar_Garner has just sent 23 Golden Tickets to your book! ]

[ App Notification: Angela_2915 has just sent a gift to your book! ]

[ App Notification: Deb_Hoage has just sent a gift to your book! ]

[ Message from Chelsea: How did the first day go? Tell me you’ve put my strategies to good use. ]

[ Missed call from Tyler ]

The last one stood out so much that Harper thought she saw it wrong at first. But then she stared at the message some more, and it did seem to say that she had missed a call from ... Tyler?

Harper had always been close to her brother. Even after settling down in separate cities for their adult lives, they still talked quite frequently, usually over texts or a quick call on the weekend. But today wasn’t the weekend ... And the last time Tyler had called was over a month ago, when he mentioned that he’d likely be too busy looking for a new job this summer to be able to chat again anytime soon. So what was this about?

Could it really be a coincidence that her brother — the subject of the third rule of her previous "lesson arrangement" with Eli — suddenly called her on the same evening that the said rule was voided?

Harper’s mood changed in the blink of an eye. She knew she was probably overthinking it, yet her heart still raced at the possibilities of what this could mean. A bit nervously, she clicked on the red entry of the missed call and dialed back.

The phone beeped for a long time. Just as she was considering hanging up, it finally connected. "Harper?" Tyler’s voice sounded gruff ... and seemingly a little confused.

Hmm? But wasn’t he the one who wanted to talk to her?

Harper cleared her throat. "Hey, sorry I missed your call. Am I catching you at a bad time?"

"... Yeah, you mean at" — there was a pause as he presumably checked the clock — "three in the morning?"

It was Harper’s turn to be confused. "Three in the morning? But—" Then it dawned on her stupid brain. "Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I’m in Hawaii ... I totally forgot about the time difference!"

"... Hawaii?" Tyler still sounded a bit slow. "What are you doing in Hawaii?"

Well ... That was a loaded question. With loaded answers, some of which she hadn’t thought about how to share with her brother yet. "Umm, it’s a work trip. I’ll tell you more about it when I call back some other time when you’re awake. I just wanted to make sure everything’s fine, since you don’t usually call on a random Monday."

"Oh, everything is fine." Tyler yawned on the other side, and his words slurred a bit. "I was just going to tell you that I’ll be coming to Davenshire. For a job interview in a couple of weeks. Hopefully you’ll be back in town by then ... But either way, let’s talk tomorrow? I’d love to hear about what a work trip in Hawaii is like."

On this side of the phone, Harper’s jaw fell.

Tyler was coming to Davenshire? In just a couple of weeks? Had he told Eli about this yet? The reason Eli had given her for that third rule suddenly flashed in her mind. If her brother were to find out about this latest development of their lesson-turned-relationship ...

"A-Ah, congrats on the interview!" she snapped herself out of those questions and said hastily, hoping that her abrupt silence had gone unsuspected. "I’ll be back by the end of next week. It’ll be great to see you — it’s been quite a while since you visited last time!"

Her head was spinning fast as she spoke, evaluating all the different excuses and diversions she could use if her brother decided to mention Eli next. He didn’t. The phone was quiet on the other end for a few moments ... and then a few moments more.

"... Tyler?" Harper asked cautiously when the silence started growing a little awkward and concerning.

But there was no response ... except for the faint sound of light snores beginning to drift through the speaker.