His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 161: The Best Morning After

Chapter 161: The Best Morning After

** Eli **

"... Oh." Harper was the first to recover from whatever dazed state it was that they both got stuck in. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she looked down between them and ... saw the dark mark of a fresh wet patch on his boxers. "My goodness ... D-Did we just ... But how ... What ..."

Yeah, precisely the profound questions in his own head right now.

"I suppose ... unresolved sexual tension doesn’t age well overnight?" Eli opted for something snarky, in the hopes that it’d cover up his embarrassment for making such a scene out of himself for the Nth time that night. Rolling onto his back, he put some much needed distance between them and took a deep breath, trying to calm his still thrashing heart.

Fuck. People say that the right woman in your arms is supposed to work like a sleeping pill, calming and lulling you all the way through dreamless slumber. But how come this one in his bed felt more like ... a little blue pill??

The little blue pill rolled toward him, and she opened her mouth to say something in reply. But then she squinted against the sunlight coming in through the sheer curtains. "It’s morning already?" she observed. "Well, that actually wasn’t a bad way at all to start a new day, if you ask me."

"..."

Eli was still considering her unique preferences of how to start a new day when she drew closer, and a soft kiss landed on his lips. "Good morning handsome," she cooed with a big smile. "This is the best kind of morning after."

The kiss sent him back into a daze. Along with the look in her eyes. Sunlight reflected through the beaming crystal green of her irises, glowing so crisp and so bright that it looked like she was lighting up the entire room. Or his entire world.

Right, talk about the best kind of morning after.

"Good morning gorgeous." Eli returned a smile, shifting over with a peck of his own on her lips. "You look like you slept well."

Her smile widened. "How could I not? It felt so comfortable when you hugged me like that." Then she chewed her lips and darted a quick glance down again. "Though ... Did you get to sleep well at all? I mean, other than the dramatic wakeup call ..."

Eli groaned at the reminder. "Yeah ... I ... suppose I should really go clean up." He tactfully avoided telling her that he wasn’t sure if wet dreams counted as sleeping well.

Harper rested her head on his chest, giving him a lazy hug with one arm draped over his stomach. The gesture engulfed him with her scent, and he thought it should be a crime for anyone to smell so fresh and sweet first thing in the morning. "I’d offer to come with you ..." she murmured with a sigh, "if I didn’t leave all my clean clothes in my room. I’ll have to go back and shower before the meetings."

The realization that they still got a work day ahead of them didn’t strike him till then. Eli winced inwardly, disappointed that they weren’t waking up to a romantic honeymoon, but a work trip instead. The impulse to kidnap her and keep her all to himself for the rest of their stay suddenly grew a bit too strong.

He shook that thought out of his head. Closing his own arms around her, he gave her a tight squeeze. "Don’t go yet," he said softly. "I’ll be quick. I want to see you again before you disappear until evening."

She blinked at him, and his heart melted when she smiled once more, dropping a kiss on his chest right where it was beating.

~ ~

Eli rinsed off and brushed his teeth as quickly as he could, not wanting to keep Harper waiting. But when he came out of the bathroom, he was taken aback by the sight of an empty bed, with his girl nowhere to be seen.

Only the faint sound of something sizzling that came from the kitchenette saved him from a panicked heartbreak.

"There you are!" Harper exclaimed as he followed the sound to find her. She was wrapped in a bathrobe that matched his own, and she was holding ... a spatula?

"There were pancake mixes in the cabinet," she explained, gesturing at the flat pan in front of her, "so I made — or tried to make — pancakes. I thought this would be easy, but ..."

She eyed the dark brown pancake sitting on a plate next to her. Belatedly, Eli picked up the faint whiff of something burnt.

... She did mention before that the best she could do for cooking was to boil pasta.

The crestfallen look on her face was too adorable, and Eli wanted to chuckle. But seeing her like this, wrapped in a bathrobe and standing barefoot in the kitchen and making them breakfast ... was so homey and incredibly intimate in a new way that he couldn’t bring himself to laugh. He wanted to hug her instead, to kiss her and tell her how absolutely amazing she was for preparing such a surprise for him, even when she knew she couldn’t cook. Especially when she knew she couldn’t cook.

"Anyway, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it," Harper added when he didn’t offer any comments. "The first one was still runny at the center, so I threw it away and cooked the second one longer ... and burned it. Now the third one should turn out better ... or at least I hope it will ..."

She trailed off when Eli strode over to the counter. "I just wish you didn’t throw away the first one," he said, picking up the brown pancake from the plate. "The very first pancake Harper McKenzie made for me? I would’ve eaten it even if it’s still liquid batter ... but I suppose this one will have to do as a close replacement."

Before Harper could say anything in protest, he popped the half-burnt pancake into his mouth and chewed it with a gratified crunch.