Chapter 26: Editor’s Privilege
** Eli **
[ A warm hand slid under and grazed over her thighs. "Did I not satisfy you?" he breathed into her ears.
She moaned uncontrollably as his familiar touch tickled the itches inside her. His lips found hers before the next sound broke free, and his fingers slid up to the top of her thighs, dipping into the wetness there, caressing every sensitive spot with equal care while his tongue made love to her mouth ... ]
The girl was certainly a fast learner, Eli thought as he went over the latest Chapter of Secret Crush once more. The improvement in both language and scene details was plainly visible, and it was obvious from the fan reactions that everyone loved to see the change. It turned out that Harper was right about what she needed — just a dash of personal experience added to the mix, and she didn't even need an editor to help her get those scenes right.
Eli smiled proudly, scrolling through the excited comments that showered the author with praises. But then one of them stood out at the end:
[ Dear author, please don't stop updating! I'm dying to read more! ]
Hmm ... The reader was right. This was still the same Chapter from Saturday. Three days had passed since then, and Harper hadn't posted anything new.
It was somewhat unusual. Even during the time when her readers weren't nearly as enthusiastic, Harper had always kept her update schedule steady. As far as Eli could tell, she had never gone days in a row without updating at all.
Why the sudden drop, especially when she was having such a good streak of success?
Eli considered it for a minute and picked up his phone. Surely, being her editor gave him the privilege to call her for important matters like this.
The beep went quite a few times. When the call finally connected, he barely heard a "Hello" before it was followed by the sound of a loud thump, as if the phone on the other end had fallen onto the ground and tumbled over concrete. A short curse ensued, and then finally, Harper's voice said, "Oops, sorry. I had a handful and dropped my phone."
Eli noticed the jingle of keys in the background. "Did you just get home?" He glanced at his computer screen. It was already past 8pm. "Is everything alright? I can call you back later if this is a bad time."