His Naughty Lessons

** Eli **

A whole day had passed since the last "practice session" with Harper, and Eli was still having a hard time recovering from it.

A hard time, indeed. He had spent almost an hour in the shower after Harper left last night. It felt mortifying to admit that, a whole decade after adolescence, he'd yet to see another day when he had to take care of his own needs. Even more mortifying to admit that the girl who triggered it was—

He grunted, still unable to wrap his own head around the thought.

He had known Harper for half of his life, ever since she was a little girl in ponytails bouncing around the house with her toys. Maybe the earlier years in one's memories tend to leave a stronger impression than the rest, or maybe he had simply been too close to Tyler to have empathized with his perspective … Either way, Eli could swear that Harper had always been like a little sister to him, and nothing more. He had barely even registered her as a "woman" in the same way that he'd thought of all the others … until now.

And now, as if seeing her in a completely new light for the first time, his body just suddenly decided to react. To want her. To ignore the fact that she was his best friend's sister, that she had clearly drawn the line and made it clear that their meetups didn't constitute dating, and want her. In a way that was even more eager than he had felt for any other women in recent memory.

It seemed pretty seriously messed up.

Eli got up from his sofa and strode into the dining room, planting himself in a dinner chair instead. He couldn't handle sitting on that sofa anymore without being reminded of last night, and he was almost getting hard again just thinking about it. Pretty seriously messed up indeed.

Unsure what he could use to distract himself from the unwanted thoughts, he glanced at his phone. Then he remembered that the notification from Harper's web novel update had come in a couple of hours ago, and he had made the mistake of trying to read it immediately. Two paragraphs in, he had realized in agony that the girl had almost transcribed their "lesson" word by word into the new chapter, and that reading the entire scene was almost certainly going to lead him to another long shower. The rest would have to wait.

He ran a hand down his face. What a great situation he had gotten himself into. It had barely been two weeks since he got back in touch with Harper, yet so many things had already changed completely between them. And to think that he'd be visiting her company next week, trying to wipe such thoughts from his head while listening to her presentation …

Yeah.

Speaking of the presentation, though …

Eli's head cleared a little as he dragged his train of thought toward work. He still hadn't talked to Harper about this. It was obvious that she was still in the dark about who those "investors" she was preparing the presentation for were, and he intended to keep it that way. For the sake of earning her project the objective consideration it deserved, it'd work out better if she goes into the meeting blind. But that meant lying to her by omission about his company's involvement, and by the time she eventually found out … She wasn't going to like it.

Eli didn't want to get himself into another four years of silent treatment. He'd better start working on salvaging the inevitable fallout before it hits.

He reached for his phone. Snoozing the notification for Harper's chapter update again, he scrolled down to her name in the text message list.

[ Hey, did you say the investor meetings you got coming up next week is on Wednesday? ]

Maybe he shouldn't be asking about her work at 9pm on a Sunday night, but oh well. Knowing Harper, she was probably buried in her writing like it was any regular weekday anyway. He wondered idly what she was like while working on her chapters, what kind of live actions played in her mind while she typed up those new sex scenes. He simpered to himself a little at the thought before hitting "Send".

It didn't take long at all for the reply to arrive. [ Yep, why? ]

The excuse came easy. [ I happen to have two tickets on Wednesday night to a place that I think you'll like. You could probably use some more de-stressing once that scary meeting is over. Interested? ]

That wasn't exactly the truth, of course. He didn't have any tickets handy, although it was easy enough to get some whenever he wanted. The place he had in mind wasn't exactly the type for de-stressing either … maybe more like steam-venting, which was what he expected she'd need after getting mad at his lies.

She took a little time to consider. [ Mysterious. Not gonna tell me where it is? ]

Eli felt the corner of his lips curve up. Did he catch her curiosity? But surprise was the key — Harper was too clever to not start growing suspicious if he told her too much. [ It's not The Balconies. And no awkward movies. Trust me this time, you'll like it. ]

Thankfully, the answer was quick. [ Lol, ok, I'm in. I usually get off around six, where do you want to meet? ]

Hmm, about that … What kind of expression would she make when she finds out that he'd be right there at her office, ready to offer her a ride as they walk out of the same meeting room together?

The smile widened on Eli's face as he started typing the response. Wednesday might be a long day … But it couldn't come soon enough.