Epilogue
One year later
“I knew it was too good to be true,” Elise muttered, finally scrolling through the article her sister had sent her just yesterday before they arrived at EcoCamp Patagonia in Torres del Paine National Park, where the service was basically nonexistent.
She would’ve checked it sooner if it hadn’t been for Harper kissing her neck. Now she wished she hadn’t checked the article at all.
Across the screen, the headlines screamed: The Sapphic Match or The Never Rose Show: Megan and Jamie Reveal They’ve Been in Love All Along.
“I can’t fucking believe this,” she uttered, not sure if she should cry or scream or throw her phone against the curved wall of the geodesic dome.
“Megan is obviously trying to get some sort of publicity from this. Which doesn’t make sense.
She’s a pediatric surgeon. Aren’t they supposed to have hearts of gold? ”
Elise huffed and dropped her head into the fluffy blanket.
When she looked up again, her eyes were hazy.
She blinked until her vision cleared and she could glimpse the mountain rising like jagged teeth ahead of her.
It was beautiful. Too beautiful to be worrying about a stupid article.
Next to her, Harper was lounging on her back.
She had one arm behind her head and the other on the back of Elise’s thigh.
Just like Elise, she was completely naked.
“It’s not your problem anymore,” Harper said, tracing a lopsided kite along Elise’s leg, which of course made her skin erupt in goosebumps.
She nearly forgot all about the article, but then Harper’s fingers stopped momentarily, and Elise suddenly remembered the part where Megan had said, “We weren’t technically asked to continue the show. But we agreed to keep going.”
Hadn’t it been Megan and Jamie’s idea?
“And I think Megan confessing is probably because she has a heart of gold,” Harper added. “Maybe the whole thing has been weighing on her conscience.”
Harper was right. Not just the Megan conscience part but the other part that it wasn’t Elise’s problem.
Not anymore. Not since she’d resigned. And goodness, it had felt like the most freeing thing in the world.
Like her wings, which had been clipped for the last three seasons, had finally grown long enough to fly.
And fly she did. Right into Harper’s arms, who had moved in with her after they’d gotten back from London.
The year that had followed had been a whirlwind, in the best way.
Harper had been invited to join a wildlife expedition team filming a Disney+ nature series, which had taken her overseas less than a handful of times, but never for long.
Elise had used those stretches wisely and had thrown herself into a little passion project.
A sapphic spinoff of Survivor that had been simmering in her head for years.
When they were together, they were inseparable.
Either naked in bed, fingers intertwined, saying nothing at all.
Or on the sofa. Or in the shower. And when they made the effort to integrate into society, they usually spent Saturday mornings at Silver Lake Farmer’s Market, filling a basket with fresh croissants and heirloom tomatoes, and soft balls of burrata.
Or enjoying brunch at the corner café on Sunset Boulevard or taking evening walks around Echo Park Lake.
There were movie nights sprawled on the sofa, dinners with Elise’s sister and kids, and once they’d gone holidaying in Greece.
“You know,” Harper said, “I was actually thinking we should probably start planning our wedding soon. We’ve been engaged for what? Like a year. It seems like we’re just stalling.”
Elise glanced back over her shoulder and shot her a look so fierce Harper burst into laughter. Harper was the one putting off the planning, not Elise.
“Ha,” Elise said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m serious,” Harper replied, smiling. She squeezed Elise’s thigh and let her palm drift higher until it settled in the dip where her thigh met her ass. “Let’s set a date.”
Elise was shocked. “Really?” she gasped, flipping over like a hamburger patty on the grill. “You really want to set a date?”
“I do,” Harper said. “I’ve always had this vision of you in a pearl white—”
Elise didn’t let her finish. She was up and on top of Harper in a second, kissing her, sliding her tongue against Harper’s in a way that wouldn’t be considered PG at all.
This was everything Elise had wanted. It didn’t even matter that it had taken ten years—and two marriages, though Elise liked to think of those as trial periods that had led her here all along—for her to realize that the sandy blonde-haired Brit with those sun-kissed arms and warm honey eyes would one day be the only person she wanted in her bed and in her heart.
Elise moved her lips to Harper’s neck, which Harper arched to give her better access.
She was nearly dizzy with want for her, but then again, when wasn’t she?
Elise’s body lived in a constant state of tingling, which got way worse every time Harper laid a hand on her leg, or kissed her ear, or rubbed circles against her back.
“I can’t wait to marry you,” Elise muttered, loving the way Harper’s hips pressed upward against hers. She doubled down and rolled her hips over Harper’s, but before they could settle into a lazy, delicious rut, Elise moved south, all the way over the edge of the bed.
“Nooo,” Harper moaned. “I like having you on top of me.” But Elise knew she would be moaning for a whole different reason in a minute.
“Are you going to wear a suit or a dress?” she asked, kissing Harper’s ankle first.
“I’ll wear whatever you want me to,” Harper replied, arching her back and rolling her hips forward as Elise gave a sneaky little taster and reached up to pinch Harper’s nipple.
“A suit,” Elise decided. “You look so fucking hot in a suit.” Which couldn’t be more true.
In fact, the image of Harper waiting under a jasmine arch in an ivory suit made her center throb almost painfully.
But it was Harper’s turn. She’d have hers in a minute.
So, she moved her lips up to Harper’s calf, felt the muscle tremble beneath her mouth, and then slid her tongue over to her right thigh.
When Elise reached the tendon where Harper’s leg met her hip, she couldn’t help but smile when moan after moan started rippling from Harper’s throat.
“I’ve barely even started,” Elise teased. Then, because she really enjoyed teasing Harper during sex, she blew hot breath against Harper’s center, and a whole new wave of moans crashed out of her.
“You drive me crazy,” Harper muttered breathlessly. “I hope you know that.”
Elise laughed and then gripped Harper’s thighs. She parted her legs even more and settled her face between them. Then she closed her mouth around Harper’s clit and sucked and licked and let her teeth graze the soft, sensitive skin overloaded with nerve endings.
Harper’s hips buckled beneath her touch, and Elise couldn’t be happier.
In fact, she hadn’t ever been this happy.
Not ten years ago in that desert in Sesriem, under those millions of stars, not when she’d first gotten her big break in show business.
Not even when she’d gone down on one knee and proposed.
It was like every moment with Harper just got better.
Elise swapped her tongue for two fingers and slipped both inside.
Harper let out a moan that sounded suspiciously primal, and Elise wondered for a split second if anyone staying in the nearby domes could hear them.
Not that she slowed down her pumping. In fact, she sped up, moving her fingers in and out of Harper faster and faster while Harper bucked against her.
And then, out of the blue, Harper’s body shuddered and shook and reached for Elise’s curls to stop her.
Elise fell back onto the bed, breathless. She wiped her mouth and glanced sideways at Harper, who let out a breath so deep she could’ve lifted a feather off her chest.
“Do you think anyone can see through those windows?” she asked, pointing vaguely upward to the small triangular window panels that made up the geodesic frame before she closed her eyes.
It seemed every time they had sex, a nap inevitably followed.
Elise could blame their age, but then again, curling up next to the person you loved the most was almost as good as sex itself.
“Well,” Elise said, lifting her head up to examine. Morning light slanted in, pale and pink. As far as she could see, there was just a sweep of wild, open nothingness. Apart from the mountains serrating the skyline and the rolling grasslands tapering, there wasn’t another thing in sight.
“What is that?” Elise asked, pointing toward some long-necked creature that looked exactly like a llama, except Torres del Paine wasn’t exactly known for its llamas.
Harper flicked open her eyes and stared out the window.
“That’s a guanaco,” Harper said, and before Elise could ask, “A what?” she had already leaped off the bed, hair falling into her face as she dashed to the small round wooden table where she’d left her camera after yesterday’s hike.
Technically, they were on holiday, but Elise would never dream of making Harper leave her camera behind.
It would be like asking her to cut off her pinky and put it on ice until they got back.
“Do you mind if I quickly—” Harper began, already fumbling with the lens.
“Go,” Elise said before Harper could even finish her sentence.
“It’s just that the light is perfect and—”
“Go,” Elise interrupted again, smiling so wide her cheeks hurt. She loved seeing her like this, so full of passion. “But you might want to put on some clothes first.”
Harper let out a delirious sort of cackle and rushed off the other side of the dome where her clothes lay draped over the backrest of an armchair. “Good idea. It’s chilly out there.”
“I wouldn’t want you to freeze,” Elise said, blatantly staring at Harper slipping on her panties. She couldn’t help herself. No matter how many times she’d seen Harper naked, she couldn’t get over how beautiful she was.
Harper had her jeans halfway zipped up when she suddenly stopped what she was doing, to Elise’s surprise. She then walked over to the bed, pressed her forehead to Elise’s, their noses brushing, and whispered. “You know I love you more than a titi monkey loves its mate, right?”
“I do know that. But I love you more.”
“Tie!”
Stay tuned for The Outlast Her Series (A lesbian version of Survivor) with Elise Mercier as the Producer and Vivian Michaels as host.