His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 136: Young Love

Chapter 136: Young Love

** Harper **

Kissing Eli in a hidden corner of a hotel hallway quickly became Harper’s favorite activity. It felt freeing, to be able to share intimate moments like this with him to her heart’s content, and for the first time in her life, Harper was tempted to ditch her work meetings so that she could spend all afternoon right there instead, lost in his hard kisses and soft touches and sweet whispers.

Even though the workaholic in her won in the end, sending her reluctantly yet dutifully back to the conference rooms where she belonged, it was still a once-in-a-blue-moon deal that she arrived only five minutes before the meeting instead of the usual fifteen. Even more once-in-a-blue-moon that instead of going straight for her laptop, she opted for checking her phone the first thing after sitting down, eagerly searching for the row of hearts waiting for her attention.

Was this the budding feeling of being in love?

The text wasn’t there yet, though. Maybe Eli was still on his way to his own meeting hall. Harper was just about to send out those hearts herself when the phone buzzed in her hand, with a text not from Eli but from a different contact:

[ Chelsea: OMG OMG OMG. Tell me everything about last night!! Graphical details optional (though I know you’re good at those) ]

Harper almost choked on air reading the message.

Right, she had texted Chelsea this morning to thank her for the tips that led to the new relationship milestone ... Of course that would open up the floodgate of the world-famous Tell Chelsea show! Harper barely had the time to swipe over to a new text window when another message followed immediately: [ And what about today? Let me guess, you were late for meetings because of too much unplanned morning exercises. ]

... Yep, that was the kind of comments only Chelsea could give you. Harper fought back the urge to simultaneously giggle and roll her eyes. After some consideration of how much to share, she typed, [ Don’t worry Mom, we’re both behaving today. Though he did just press me to a wall and kiss the air out of my lungs. ]

The response came a bit too quickly: [ Awww how I envy young love. ] And then: [ Maybe I made a good decision on helping you seduce a playboy after all. He’ll check off the 1000 Romantic Things to Do Before You Die list for you in a flash. ]

This time, Harper almost giggled out loud. Ha, at the rate they were going ... Which list would he finish checking off first, 1000 Romantic Things to Do Before You Die or 1000 Dirty Things I’ve Always Wanted to Do to You in Bed?

But of course, those were only two of the very, very many perks when it comes to dating Eli.

Harper wondered idly how much she needed to thank her best friend for this. She knew Chelsea was still skeptical of Eli’s "playboy" image, and they were lucky that the relationship guru gave them the benefit of doubt. Things wouldn’t have gone nearly as smoothly on this trip without her help. Harper owed Chelsea a huge favor, especially considering all the collateral damage done at the baseball game ...

Such an unfortunate coincidence that Vanessa happened to be Chelsea’s boss. Had that woman gotten over the drama yet? Or would she take out her anger on the poor girl caught in the crossfire?

Harper thought of asking about it. But then the row of hearts she had been waiting for arrived, getting her quickly and unapologetically distracted.

~ ~

Meetings had rarely given Harper mixed feelings like this before, keeping her both excited for the engaging discussions and frustrated for how long they took. When the last panel on the agenda of the day drew to an end, she was surprised to find herself in an unusual state of relief — despite the great progress that the meetings had helped her make on her project, all she wanted to think about was how to pack up her things, skip the optional evening party again, and slip straight into Eli’s room.

No doubt he would be waiting for her already.

Feeling too impatient for an extra shower this time, Harper stopped by her room only long enough to drop off her laptop. Then she stepped out, looked left and right to make sure the coast was clear, and darted quickly across the hall to the presidential suite.

She knocked a few times without hearing an answer though. Could Eli be in the swimming pool again? She was contemplating texting him when the door finally beeped, and before it fully opened, Eli’s voice came through the widening crack:

"That’s a bummer. The company isn’t getting a hotel for you?"

Oh, apparently he was in the middle of a call. Now that the door was fully open, he waved her in, still talking into his phone while greeting her with a silent hug.

Harper’s heart leaped at returning to this room full of wonderful memories. Though the expression on Eli’s face ... didn’t seem to quite share the same excitement?

"No, no, that’s not a problem at all." He continued speaking on the phone, giving her a strange and complicated glance as he added, "You can stay at my place, of course. I assume mine should be bigger and more convenient than Harper’s."

... Oh. Crap. That must be Tyler calling ... No wonder the smile on Eli’s face looked worse than crying!

"Alright. Send me your flight information once you have the tickets. I’ll pick you up. Or get someone to go pick you up. Nah, not a big deal at all. Ok, see you in two weeks and good luck on the interview."

Eli hung up, turning back to stare at Harper. Harper stared right back at him, and she wondered if she was starting to wear the exact same complicated expression on her face as he did at that moment.

"... Well?" she ventured.

"... Shit," Eli replied with elegant succinctness.