His Naughty Lessons
Chapter 80: Down a Slippery Slope

Chapter 80: Down a Slippery Slope

** Eli **

Eli was going to ask her something. About how to make the towel soak up more water, perhaps. But as soon as their eyes met, the question slipped from his mind, and he forgot about everything except the sparkles in those gorgeous green eyes.

The same eyes that looked back at him in that shower while she swallowed around him.

His groin tightened again at the thought, and he was glad for the bath towel that was wrapped at his waist, hiding his increasingly blatant desire behind the thick layers. His body had already been reacting too much to Harper’s presence these days, and now, with that wicked image burning so sharp and deep into his mind, it was only getting worse.

This wasn’t right ... He wasn’t a teenager anymore, and it wasn’t the first time he’d gotten a blowjob either. So why couldn’t he stop thinking about her eyes, her mouth, her soft touches and hard strokes that drove him out of his mind?

"... Yes?" Those bewitching eyes blinked back at him. "Did you ... want to say something?"

Right, he did. He shouldn’t be staring at her silently like a creepy idiot. Eli peeled his eyes away from hers, trying to get his train of thought back on track ...

And found that he was now staring at her lips instead.

The shower had washed away most of her makeup — guess she hadn’t bothered to use waterproof ones — leaving her lips a lighter shade of pink. But he found that he somehow preferred seeing her without makeup, in just the perfect dose of natural beauty that no cosmetics could ever emulate. Her lips seemed softer like this, maybe partly thanks to the moisture from the shower, and it looked so innocently sexy. So ... kissable.

Kissable. Right. Apparently that was all he was capable of thinking about now, kissing her or screwing her.

"I, um ..." He shifted his eyes lower and tried to actually start a conversation that didn’t lead to something filthy. "The—"

The dryer buzzed at the perfect time, cutting him off.

"Oh, I thought I had put it on a longer setting than that. It couldn’t have done anything useful in such a short time ... I’ll be right back." Harper got up and padded to the laundry closet to check.

Eli let out a relieved sigh and closed his eyes.

He felt royally messed up, and he didn’t even understand why. It wasn’t like Harper had suddenly turned out to be a different girl from the one he’d always known. Quite on the contrary, she really hadn’t changed that much over the years. He had always known she was pretty, brilliant, and just a tad bit shy. He had always known that they got along, in any kind of situation at any time of the day. So why did it suddenly feel so different to be around her?

He didn’t even know when this thing had started. He didn’t even know how to define "this thing". Infatuation, maybe, though that was such a hormonal teenager word that he cringed at applying it to his twenty-six-year-old self. Lust, maybe, considering how strong his physical reactions were, but lust was a concept he was familiar with, and this felt ... different. More. Because as much as he wanted to follow her to her bed, he would’ve been more than content to simply kiss her, or hold her, or just lie next to her and watch her smile at him. This thing made him want her in every way possible, yet at the same time, it made him thrilled even if all he got was a quiet moment alone with her in front of an ironing board.

"This thing" was unlike anything he had felt before, not for Harper and not for anyone else. It was disturbing.

"Are you going to share your fine judgment on that book with me?" Harper’s voice broke him out of musing.

Book? What book? Eli blinked, then realized belatedly that while his mind drifted, his eyes had landed unfocused on her coffee table, where the book May had recommended to her last weekend sat with a bookmark tucked in about halfway.

"I have to admit that you guys got a good point about reading the right books." Harper came over and sat back down across from him, a playful smile on her lips. "The scenes in this one ... are quite different indeed. I was thoroughly enlightened."

Eli glanced at the bondage image on the book’s cover. "Thinking about switching tropes for your next web novel then?" he offered, glad for a better topic to distract himself with. This conversation was about work, not personal and certainly not inappropriate.

Harper chuckled. "Nah, I’d need much more studying material before I can venture there." Her eyes joined his in the direction of the coffee table. Then she glanced back at him with what seemed like hopeful hesitation. "Though I’ve been thinking ... Maybe some immersive educational experience wouldn’t be a bad idea? Apparently there is a ... shop, for this kind of play, somewhere on the other side of downtown. I was thinking about checking it out."

Oh. This better topic was going in a bad direction all too quickly.

"Have you ... been there before?" Harper continued in precisely that bad direction.

"... No. Well, not this particular one at least, though I do know the kind of stuff they sell."

"I see ..." She bit her lips. "Will you be interested in coming with me then? I mean, since you’re at least familiar with the market ... I think it’d be a good idea to have some professional guidance while I ... explore a new trope."

... No, that was not a good idea at all. That trope was a slippery slope that once they started on it, there would be no turning back. Things between them had already become complicated enough, and he didn’t need to make it even worse by checking out a sex shop with her. He simply had to say no.

"... Sure," he heard himself say instead. "When do you want to go?"