Chapter 160: Sweet Memories
** Eli **
Eli found it next to impossible to fall asleep. And why would he want to anyway, if that meant wasting the precious time he could’ve spent holding Harper instead, indulging himself in the knowledge that she was really here, not as a fantasized illusion but as a real person?
From the change of rhythm in her breathing, he could tell that unlike him, the girl was fast asleep and probably dreaming already. He smiled into the dark, marveling at how anyone could have such a big heart and doze off so quickly after such an evening. Or maybe it was because he actually tired her out? All the thrill aside, the past few hours had been ... physically challenging, after all ...
A trickle of guilty pleasure spread within him as he buried his face into her hair. The familiar scent of pomegranate and bergamot filled his nostrils, just as dizzying as the silky touch of her skin under his palm. He pulled her in a little closer, greedy for more contact between their bodies, more sensations of her encompassing all his senses, and he was surprised in the best way possible when she let out a soft moan, rubbing her cheek contentedly against his chest.
Eli felt his heart swell. The way she sought him so instinctively, even in her sleep, was so precious and humbling that he barely knew how to handle it. All he could do was to hold her tighter and repeat to himself the wish he had made upon those shooting stars, telling himself that he’d do everything to make them come true.
It was in this state of half awe, half peaceful delight that he closed his eyes, quietly listening to the sound of her breathing like it was the most mesmerizing music in the world. It was in this state that his memories started playing themselves over the back of his eyelids ... with a hazy sort of clarity that hung halfway between dreams and reality.
He remembered the day when May first came to him with a web novel, showing him the story in an app on her phone.
"So you think we can swap this client?" she asked after he sampled the first few Chapters. "This writer’s style is too softcore for my taste. I’ll do much better with that new werewolf story you signed instead."
Eli wasn’t sure what made him agree that day, since he wasn’t typically a fan of changing clients midway. But there was something in the web novel that caught his eye ... a dreamy undertone like a breath of fresh air, perhaps, or a kind of love story so pure, so unconditional that it spoke to his unromantic heart in a strange way. So in the end, he did agree.
But it wasn’t until he saw the client information May forwarded to him that he realized what kind of decision he had just made, because the contact name said ...
Harper McKenzie?
Never in a million years would he have expected that innocent little dove to write a web novel with so many heated scenes. Never in a million years would he have expected to somehow become the editor to help her with those heated scenes. For a few moments, he wondered if it’d be inappropriate to agree to such an unconventional work relationship ...