Inner Core: (Stark, #2)

by Sigal Ehrlich

  I almost roll my eyes.

  A thought of what Daniel would say to her suggestion amuses me, despite the fact that I'm only holding on by a thread. But I can’t not admire her positivity and this assurance she possesses.

  “I’ll try to talk to someone, check if the plane is still arriving according to schedule,” she says, looking at the group of feds and news people standing just a few steps from us. I fidget and bite my already worked lips, looking ahead in anticipation. A sudden buzz piques my attention. When I look ahead I see reporters signaling for their camera men to start filming. Law enforcement gets closer to the electronic doors, forming a tight-knit first line. My heart hovers on the verge of hysteria.

  The first to arrive is a familiar face, though I can’t recall his actual name; bedlam begins with his first steps toward the waiting gaggle. I think he's one of the guys from the Stark Software legal department. I scrutinize him as closely as I can from where I am behind the human chain, trying to assess by his appearance how Daniel might have fared. The guy looks weary, and has thick stubble; dark circles shadow his eyes though all in all he looks fine, unhurt. I exhale a long sigh of relief.

  Please, please, please let him be unharmed, please let him return to me.

  The second and third people that appear, only to be trapped by the media and the feds, aren’t even familiar; I just gape at the group, my entire body stressed with almost inhuman anxiety. My knuckles are white and my nails dig into my palms. I loosen my death grip and shake my hands out while breathing deeply. Another person comes out, and another, and here is someone familiar, but he's not the one I'm so desperately waiting for. An unbidden fear starts to grow inside me. My heart drops lower with fear.

  Don’t do that, Hales. Don’t go there! He will be here soon. He must. I need him too much.

  I take yet another deep breath and close my eyes to shake the unwelcome, venomous thoughts. I slowly blow out the trapped air, and when I open my eyes and turn to look at the point I’ve been impatiently watching for the last infinity, I recognize a familiar mien. As I focus my vision, Daniel’s entire image refines and there he is, just a few steps ahead of me, very much alive. He bears that same jaded look as his companions but he is still his usual handsome self. His white button-down shirt has lost its crispness and is tinted with dark stains. His stubble is thick and gray fatigue shadows his face. My hand flies up to stop a sharp cry from fleeing my mouth as I notice the deep red cut on his right cheek, too close to his eye.

  I hear several voices calling his name and see more than a few microphones shoved close to his tense features. A man in a black suit with the look of a special agent whispers in Daniel’s ear and grabs him sideways, getting curious glances from the mob waiting to accost him. Daniel nods and his eyes start to run over the hall. He slowly scans the room with squinting eyes, his head tilted toward the man beside him, who keeps talking.

  As his eyes finally meet mine his search stops and he holds my stare. His lips twist into a small, weary smile and his face turn soft. A worn smile forms on my lips and I drink in the sight of him. Unspoken, he transfers everything I need to hear. My heart tightens and tears of utter rapture prickle my eyes. Daniel’s hazels run me over from bottom to top through the distance between us and then abruptly halt, surprised. They narrow as he stares at the shining band threaded around my finger. Slowly his eyes travel up, a new, excited glee taking them over. When they finally meet mine again, they are almost luminescent.

  “Yes,” I mouth.

  And I know that this exact moment, the look in his eyes and the unspoken connection we share, the fact that he is here and alive and mine, will be one of those moments etched in the book called my life, forever.

  Finally, after a moment that feels like it would never end, Daniel starts making his way toward me. His stare never leaves mine. Iris meets him halfway and pulls him into a deep embrace. He returns her hug and presses a kiss to her forehead while sending a quick assuring glance my way. She says something to him, and he whispers a reply in her ear. He caresses her cheek, and she leans into his hand, smiling gently. She hugs him once more for a long beat and lets go, nodding with tearful, joyful glee. The instant he leaves her side his eyes immediately meet mine and lock again.

  My breath comes in thick, and my heart beats madly. His last few steps take too long. I stand frozen, not able to even blink with the fear that he’ll vanish. When he's only a step away I leap into his arms, which catch me, lifting me up, pressing me close to his wildly beating heart. I feel as though a plug has been pulled inside of me and that I can finally really breathe. Daniel releases his firm hold just enough for me to slide down a bit and for his mouth to reach mine.

  We kiss, consumed by our reunion, as though this connection is bringing us back to life. We pull back slowly and Daniel puts me down in front of him with only a tiny gap between us. He slowly trails his hand over my arm, ending the journey at my hand, holding it gently. He brings it to his lips and plants a kiss near my ring. His eyes take mine and he smiles, a genuine, emotional, askew smile. I bob my head and my eyes fill with a glossy curtain of tears. I bite my shaky lips and he cocks his head, smiling at me with the sweetest side smile. I mirror him and say the one word I’ve been aching to say, the one word he wanted to hear.

  “Yes.”

  Epilogue

  Hayley

  “What?” Ian frowns, moving his eyes from Tasha to me and back. “Seriously, why are you two gawking at me like some weed-deprived junkies?”

  “We are just completely enthralled by your exquisiteness,” Tasha says dryly, covertly rolling her eyes as she slides the white curtain further to the sides, letting more light in.

  “God, sometimes I feel so objectified.”

  “Bet you do, gorgeous.” I pat his hand. “I guess, it’s just, this whole situation… it’s kind of hard to grasp, you know...”

  “Yes.” His smile is so gentle and sincere, I have to take a deep breath to kill the lump forming in my throat.

  “End of an era, huh guys?” Tasha says, gazing outside at the bright day. She turns around and we both nod, pensive.

  “Come on, nothing will really change. Will it?”

  My friends look at me and Tasha is the one to say, “It already kinda did, Hales, no?”

  “Okay. Stop it. Now!” Ian stands dramatically and strides toward the door. Tasha turns to me, widening her eyes, and cringes. “Well, we are all a bit too emotional today, so just imagine what's going on with Mr. Xanax.” She couldn’t put it any better.

  “Okay, let’s get this thing right, shall we?” Ian appears back at the door with a bottle of champagne in one hand, my favorite brand, and three champagne flutes held upside-down by their stems in the other. “I’m going to take control now.” He drops to the armchair next to where I’m perched on the large bed, and carefully places the glasses on the nightstand. “Tash, put some music on,” he orders while deftly releasing the bottle’s cork in a soft pop.

  “Anything specific?” she asks, fumbling with the iPod.

  “Uhh, ‘I Love You’ by Café Del Mar,” I say with a nostalgic air. The moment Daniel told me the name of this song, our first time in Baja comes to life before my eyes and puts a small, wistful smile on my lips.

  Ian turns to us and hands each of us a glass. We take them, exchanging a mix of joyful, anxiously excited, meaningful glances between us. He clears his throat, raises his glass, and with a small gesture of his chin, prompts us to follow. “To our beautiful bride to be,” he says and we touch the three glasses at once. We take generous sips and in unison meet for a lengthy, dense group hug.

  “I still can’t believe you guys are getting married,” Tasha says dreamily, taking back her seat.

  “You mean you can’t believe they're finally getting married.” Ian shakes his head, giving me an evil look. I shrug.

  “Frankly, gorgeous, I still find it hard to believe that he didn’t drag your tight ass to Vegas and made a decent woman out of you, like, two years ago!�
��

  “I have to second Ian on that one,” Tasha says, nodding, and takes another sip.

  “I guess we just weren’t ready…” I twist my mouth, shrugging it off.

  “Pffft, ready, shmedy,” Ian says dismissively. “Whatevs. We wouldn’t BTW be the correct term here, try, I. I, Hayley—wasn’t ready because I suffer from severe head damage when it comes to commitment.” His eyes narrow at me. “Yep, it was you, just you. He was ready. About 912.5 days ago.”

  My teeth dig into my bottom lip and I look at the ring on my finger. Well… What was it? If you don’t have anything clever to add…

  We definitely had the longest engagement in history because of my I-love-you-so-much-but-I’m-not-completely-sane-thus-can’t-go-through-the-actual-ceremony excuse. It’s not like we weren’t sharing a life together, though. We shared one, a very committed one, if only sans actual papers. Hell, so much more than that: I think our relationship can easily be categorized as “started at the finish line.”

  “Hales, sorry.” Ian snaps me back from my thoughts. I raise my eyebrows. “I have a new female crush, if I ever convert…” Tasha makes a display of rolling her eyes.

  “Okaaay?”

  “Iris. She is so spiritual and maturely hot, I’d do her in a Mrs. Robinson kinda way.”

  “If you treasure your dear life, don’t ever say that next to her son…”

  “Didn’t you say you were taking control of this thing?” Tasha questions, bored, waving her hands in my direction while looking at Ian pointedly.

  Ian stands up, claps twice and announces: “With the power vested in me by the gods of celebrations, I now declare this our last 'hangout with single Hales'. You may now kiss the bestie.” And before I know what’s going on they both launch at me and start hugging and kissing me like the two nut cases they are, dropping us all to the bed. A knock at the door stops our hysterics. I lift my head up to see Steven standing at the threshold, watching us suspiciously.

  “Well, well, it’s the hotter half of the Grace siblings,” Ian says sleazily.

  “You perv.” Tasha slaps the back of his head in a friendly way. “Though Steve-o,” she says, grinning at my baby brother, “you do look cute.” She winks and Steven’s cheeks flush.

  Steven looks at the three of us and shakes his head.

  I watch him for a second, filled with pride. All of a sudden, he's so grown up. My handsome baby brother, a med school student. He smiles at me and his dimples sink into his cheeks.

  “What’s up, little brother?” I ask while trying to untangle myself from under thing one and thing two, who are both still perched on top of me.

  He scratches his buzz-cut hair, a do he adopted while serving. “Your husband to be wants to talk to you and I kind of tried to keep him away. Though I’m not sure I’ll manage to do that for much longer. Well, you know him better than me.” I smirk. Do I.

  “It’s not that I’m already dressed up or anything. You can tell him that he can come in.” Steven nods and as soon as he opens the door the man in subject appears in the doorframe. Yep, as if I expected him to listen to anyone…

  A hint of tension that I’m positive only I can see radiates from Daniel as he sends me that special side smile. The one that has my name all over it. When I return his smile my insides start to stir while a smothering jolt of emotion voids my lungs. As opposed to me, he's already wearing his linen wedding ensemble. The cream pants and loose white button-down shirt enhance his natural beauty to new levels of absolutely delectable. He is barefoot and tanned, male and wild, and sexy. And soon to be officially mine. I drink him in with the strongest urge to lick my lips, or better yet, his.

  “Everyone out,” he says in a strong voice to no one in particular, eyes locked on mine.

  “As if I’m missing this,” Ian huffs. Two things that make him hurry out happen at once. Daniel quickly stares his way, and Tasha takes his hand and pulls him after her like a petulant toddler. At the small tap of the door closing behind us, Daniel takes a step and he is next to me. I stand to meet him.

  “Hey you,” he says as he lifts my hair to one side of my neck and bends to kiss the area below my ear. I find myself in the middle of a whirlwind of intoxicating, freshly bathed Daniel scent and charged nerves.

  “Hey yourself,” I say softly.

  “Hey,” he says between kisses, leaving a scorching trail as he descends toward my jaw. “I missed you out there,” he says into my skin.

  “I missed you in here.” I turn my mouth towards his. For a beat we stand still, him with his head slightly inclined, me on my tiptoes, our parted lips barely touching, breathing each other in. My lips start to quiver at the anticipation and a quick touch of his lips to mine causes a short-circuit. With our mouths hovering next to each other, Daniel cups my cheek and tilts my head even closer. Our mouths touching and not touching. My eyes melt into the fire radiating from his.

  “I can’t wait,” he whispers and I swallow hard, nodding slightly. I thread my hands beneath his shirt and suck his lip into my mouth.

  “Soon,” I say while nibbling on his lip. His hand moves to the nape of my neck and he pulls me into an emotionally saturated, searing kiss. As we let go ever so slightly, we trade charged stares.

  “Anything special you wanted?” I ask, securing my embrace around his waist and leaning my head on his chest, a soft smile stretching my lips.

  “This,” he answers and rests his chin on my head.

  “How do you cope with all the parents out there?” I ask.

  “I don’t. I was surfing til about half an hour ago.” I smile to his chest.

  “Needed to relax?” I ask, and his answers comes as a gentle bob of his chin on the center of my head.

  “Who was watchin'…?”

  “Everyone.” We fall into a contemplative silence.

  “Umm,” we both say together and snicker.

  “You go first.” He inclines his chest so I look up at him. I shake my head.

  “What did you want to say?”

  “Ready to be my wife?” My stomach ties to a tightly twisted knot at his question, and I smile and nod. My eyes turn emotional. He slides me up against him and kisses me profoundly.

  “I guess I need to start getting ready.” It’s his turn to nod.

  “Make sure to avoid Iris, she tried to tie this red crap on my wrist, something about luck and Kabbalah shit.” I giggle and he shrugs with a smile.

  “Go now.” I start pushing his hard chest away.

  “Are you kicking me out Mrs. soon to be Stark?”

  “Uh-uh.” He scratches his lip with the side of his thumb, looking at me from under his lashes, and then shakes his head.

  “I knew you’d be nothing but trouble the moment you tried to solicit me with that refined ‘fuck me’…” he says and smiles at me from the door, his hands holding the frame.

  “And yet you are here.” I send him a flirty smile.

  He mirrors me.

  “Bye, bye.” I bend my fingers to wave at him and giggle, and am gifted with an adorable smile. I sigh in contentment and put on my simple, layered, just short of knee length white linen dress. The tiny straps at my shoulders seem almost too delicate to stay intact. The dress is snug around my breasts and loose everywhere else. As I apply honey-toned shadow at the corner of my left eye, leaning closer to the mirror I hear my friends’ voices approach.

  “I really need to meet this person. Who in the name of god declared you a fit parent?” Ian snorts a short laugh and hugs Tasha’s shoulders as they enter the room.

  “I totally fooled them, gorgeous, didn’t I? I Let Josh do all the talking while I set there blinking and nodding like the supportive wifey I am.” Tasha giggles and plants a noisy smacker on his cheek.

  “It's so awesome you guys were approved to start the adoption process,” Tasha says and her eyes fill with pure glee.

  “Yes,” I say. “Amazing.” I grin at them via the mirror, utterly happy for my Ian and his Josh.

  “You
look like an angel, Hales.” Tasha smiles at me and I send her an air kiss.

  “Should we start with the hair?” she asks and I nod, applying the last touch of bronze-tan blush.

  As Tasha starts threading a few small white flowers through the two braids that start at my temples and secure loosely at the back of head, Ian bends down almost touching the floor and retrieves a wooden box from under our bed. In response to my raised eyebrows he explains.

  “Your wedding starter kit.”

  Wedding starter kit?

  “Don’t move so much.” Tasha pulls my hair gently. Ian settles on the floor next to us and slides his hand into the half-opened box, keeping it angled away so I can't peek inside.

  “Your something blue,” he says, pulling a round object out of the box. “Which is also kind of something old…” My eyes widen at the item in his palm.

  “Where did you find it?” I look at him, then at Tasha, somewhat stunned. They smirk back.

  “It’s not yours, this one’s actually mine, which basically means it can also serve as your something borrowed.” Ian bends to secure an azure evil eye anklet on my ankle.

  “Seems like it was a lifetime ago,” Tasha says with a sentimental smile, referring to the piece of jewelry we each got on a trip to Greece millions of years ago.

  “Did you really think we'd combine all three in one item?” Ian rolls his eyes and retrieves a delicate, baby pink garter from the box. He waves it in front of me, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively.

  “Something new.” Tasha sings cheerfully.

  “I want a video of Daniel pulling this one off you with his teeth. Consider it your wedding present to me.” He snickers.

  “Ian!” we both say at the same time.

  “Something borrowed,” Tasha beams as she hands me her white framed sunglasses. We all smile goofily at each other. The perfect thing to borrow for a low tide beach ceremony, I think idly.

  “So, blushing bride, are you nervous before your matrimonial night? Do you have any questions?”