Shadow

The sweet dark of sleep was a hard commodity to retain. Hallie questioned her own sanity every morning when the camp awakened and she was forced to rise with the rest. She wasn’t a morning person, but apparently she was outnumbered. And since she was trying her best to conform to the ideals of the expeditionary type, she rose too. Or she tried to, anyway.

It was still fucking dark in their jungle camp, but the entire group had been edgy all night, knowing the next leg of their trek would likely take them to their final destination.

She opened her eyes and glared at the edge of her sleeping bag, resisting rising for just a few more moments. Five minutes … She could squeeze in five more minutes of sleep if she tried really hard. She clenched her eyes shut, trying to bring back the delicious dream she’d been having about Kris. In the dream, he’d had a massive erection and was about to shove it in her.

Something tickled her cheek and she swept her palm over it. The tickle came back a second later, an irritating distraction from her hopeful dreams. She smacked her hand on her cheek smartly, wishing whatever it was would go away.

The tickle returned, accompanied by a throaty giggle.

“Camille, you’re in for it,” she murmured gruffly against her sleeping bag.

A hard sigh sounded behind her. “I’m sorry. You said you wanted help waking up, so I thought I’d try this. It was fun until you started sounding bitchy.”

“Don’t take it personally. I’m always bitchy at this time of day. At least if I’m awake.”

She rolled over and smiled sleepily at her blonde friend.

“Did he take the bait?” she asked.

Camille scowled. “No. I messed it up. He just …” She flushed brightly and bit her lower lip hard enough to make it shine bright red. Her discomfort made Hallie reach out to her.

“Sweetie, don’t do that … Eben loves you, I know it.”

Camille looked like she was about to cry. “So why …?” Her lip quivered before she could get another word out.

“Just focus on work for now, all right? He’ll come around, I promise.”

She felt like a fraud, spouting useless advice to the girl. Camille was brilliant and beautiful in a weirdly delicate way, but completely ill-equipped to deal with a crush on a guy. At least Hallie hadn’t been lying about Eben’s feelings. That was one detail she’d bet her life on if she had to, considering how she’d seen Eben watching Camille every day since the expedition began. He’d cast furtive glances at the pretty linguist, then look away and spend the next hour or so with a broody crease between his eyebrows. Hallie wasn’t the least bit surprised, either. Camille possessed the perfect combination of sensuality and innocence that could drive men mad. At least one man.

Hallie felt like a fraud in a lot of other ways, too. Mostly because she was a fraud. She didn’t know archaeology from a hole in the wall, yet she’d convinced Erika somehow that she belonged with them. It wasn’t as if she’d been dead weight during their expedition, at least. If anything, she’d been more valuable than the others during the rugged trek. It helped growing up in the wilderness of Canada. Tropical hazards were different, but her constitution could handle them.

And they were very far away from the bullshit she’d left behind, which was the biggest plus. No one would even think to look for her here, least of all the asshole she’d conceived this entire crazy plan to escape. Still, every day the easy camaraderie of the others left her feeling like an outsider. She’d lied to join them and kept lying to cover up her lack of experience. She’d only done the bare minimum of research prior to applying for the assistantship required to join the expedition. She’d learned how to manipulate potential bosses years ago. Be pretty and clean, drop all the right words, show the right level of confidence. Her past few jobs were acquired under the same pretense, which was a requirement when you had things to hide.

This one had been a little different. She’d only had two days to set it up. Posing as an esoteric scholar should have been easy, but it had proven to be the most stressful interview of her life. Ultimately she’d given up on the exhaustive planning she usually employed and just threw on jeans and a t-shirt, studied her notes on the subject in question, and headed out the door. She was likely dead either way it went, so why stress over details?

Somehow, it had worked.

Erika hadn’t even glanced at Hallie’s fabricated curriculum vitae. She’d met Hallie in a tiny café west of campus. They’d exchanged pleasantries, and then Erika had completely ignored the folder of papers she had in front of her and proceeded to grill Hallie on her personal history.

It had been a shock, but Hallie had answered honestly, at least until Erika got to the college questions. The best lies always held a kernel of truth. In the end, the woman she sold to Erika was an intelligent girl restricted by her upbringing and rising up from nothing. It wasn’t very far from the truth. She’d always wanted to be that woman, but poor decisions had gotten in her way.

When their interview concluded, Erika had stuck out her hand and pulled her into a tight hug. Flabbergasted at the quick acceptance, Hallie had hugged back. She nodded and murmured a thank-you when Erika expressed how she couldn’t wait to see her the next day when their flight to Indonesia departed.