Chapter One
Ten years ago
Harper Angel hadn’t felt this happy in a long time.
She could easily blame the setting sun and the way it streaked the red dunes of Sossusvlei, Namibia, with slashes of deep rose and tangerine. She could even go as far as claiming it was the camel thorn trees dotting the horizon with their twisted branches casting spidery shadows that made her feel so small in something so vast. Or the pleasantly warm air that had replaced the searing, suffocating heat of the day. Or the smoky, slightly acidic scent of the braai, which earlier had cooked plate after plate of sizzling boerewors, lamb chops, and potatoes wrapped in tinfoil, which she’d happily devoured and swallowed down with a Windhoek Lager.
But no. That wasn’t it. Because truthfully, Harper hadn’t been this happy since she’d met… her. Elise Mercier.
Sweet, adorable Elise, with a head of white-blonde curls and dark blue eyes, and that American accent Harper thought she’d hate when they had first met but couldn’t get enough of.
Just thinking about how Elise always caught her eye—no matter what they were doing, no matter who stood in their way—made her cheeks feel pleasantly warm. Even her shoulders relaxed, which almost never happened, as she sank further into the camping chair that was also somehow sinking into the sand.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Elise asked, stopping short in the middle of her rampage and yanking Harper out of her head and back to the desert.
For the last five minutes, Elise had vented about her position as production assistant. Which Harper thoughtwas entirely understandable. Jimbo—Jim Curry, production coordinator ofHoneymoon Horizons—had her running so many pointless errands all week she was basically his personal task donkey.
“I’m not looking at you any differently from usual,” Harper said quickly, even though she had been staring, wondering how someone like Elise could make her feel this way. This happy. Which was bizarre, right? Harper’s happiness had never depended on another human being. It usually depended on being out in the wild with her camera trained on something with claws or wings or the tendency to run away the second she blinked. “Now please continue your complaining,” she added just as quickly. “I’m all ears until the fire dies out.”
Elise thought this through for a second and then flung her arms so wide it was like she was trying to hug the entire desert. In the process, she spilled at least a quarter of her beer. “This job is slowly killing me, Harper. It has its claws around my neck.”
“Cut off the claws then, if it makes you so unhappy.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“It’s as easy as falling off a log.”
Elise pulled a face. “You know, today Jim made me track down a drone that got tangled in a mopane tree.Me! I’m literally the shortest person out here.”
“You really are,” Harper teased and nearly combusted when Elise gave her that smoky, smoldering look, the one that said she wanted to be annoyed but absolutely wasn’t. After spending three weeks in the Namibian desert together shooting on some ridiculous travel show for honeymooners—Harper had only taken the job because she needed a new camera for herNational Geographic Explorerapplication—it was well established that Harper and Elise could not be annoyed with each other. No matter how hard they tried.
“They could’ve asked Larry to get the drone,” Elise said.
“He’s basically a giraffe,” Harper agreed.
“I had to climb up the tree. Can you imagine that?”
“Easily,” Harper laughed and finished off her beer. She was on her third one of the evening, and a velvety buzz was beginning to settle behind her eyes.
Elise sighed and collapsed onto the soft sand beside the camping chair she had abandoned earlier. Just fifteen minutes ago, there had been an entire army of people around the fire. But everyone had left except the two of them to watch the sunset on one of the larger, more well-known dunes in the area.
“One day I’m going to be an executive producer,” Elise exclaimed. “And I won’t have to put up with all this crap. I’ll be the one calling the shots. The boss. People will bring me coffee and make sure my croissant is warmly toasted.”
“I have no doubt you’ll make it one day,” Harper said. “As long as you hire me and welcome me with open arms if I’m ever in need of a job.”
“Of course I will,” Elise laughed and patted the sand beside her. “Come sit.”
Harper hesitated for a quick beat. She wanted to sit next to Elise. She wanted their shoulders to touch. But she was playing with fire. She had been dangerously close to that fire for the last few days. There had been a graze of their knees under the table at Joe’s Beerhouse. And then there had been a press of her palms on Elise’s shoulders post-shoot when she leaned in to point at the monitor. So maybe it wasn’t a good idea to sitrightnext to her.
Because something felt different. Something felt a little too good.
“Come on,” Elise said. “It feels weird that you’re sitting over there. You feel so far away.”
Harper shook her head. “I’m not that far away.”
“Oh, come on,” Elise moaned. “Don’t make me beg.”
And so, Harper sat beside Elise and let her shoulder press lightly against Elise’s, even though she knew she shouldn’t. Even though it felt much too dangerous.