I lift my hand to my mouth and around it ask, innocently, “Will he actually, hmmm, errr, try to… you know…his… into me?” I blink at them and we all collapse into outbursts of giggles.
“He might also try to get you to taste it. He is a mean, mean man.” Tasha imitates my innocent voice, making us laugh harder.
“Okay, 'nuff.” Ian says to the knock at the door. My father’s voice calls for me.
“It’s time.” Tasha and Ian look at me with tearful, gleaming eyes.
“Hey…” I frown.
“Come here, last embrace with Miss Grace before she turns into Mrs. Psycho-Stark.” We hug tightly and as we break they each hold one of my hands. Tasha sniffs and Ian winks at me right before turning the doorknob.
“I love you guys,” I say and swallow hard over the momentary lump in my throat.
Here we go. Ready to be mine, D? Forever and for always?
Daniel
So many times I’ve kissed her, but even now, after more than two years, when my lips touch hers, every other thought flies out of my mind. It’s insane how much I still want her. It just grows with time. We share this inexplicable connection; I have a vital urge to touch her. It’s a fucking perpetual need. I thoroughly examine every curve of her familiar body with my hands and mouth, driving us, to panting and shivering.
I think I can literally feel my blood traveling in one direction, and it's not toward my head, at least not to the one that holds my brain.
I focus on nothing but the touch of her warm, silky skin and the incredible smell of cinnamon and clean that is my Hayley. The purr leaving her lips as I taste her turns to a choked moan; she arches her back and digs her nails into my shoulders, driving me to crazy levels of want. I need to fight the primal urge that is taking me over and not rush things. I want to take it slow. I need to feel her shiver for me, drive her crazy for me til she completely loses herself in my arms.
She is so goddamn sexy.
She pulls at me forcefully, breathing erratically. Her thighs rise desperately and I sink deeper into her, throbbing. Christ. The sounds I’m drawing from her slightly parted and shivering lips send wild currents through me and I need to combat my every instinct to keep from devouring her. The burn for her is nearly inhuman.
Fuckkkk, are you kidding me?
“Oh for fuck’s sake, really, now?” I murmur hoarsely, a mildly ironic-irate sigh gushes out of my engaged mouth. Hayley sucks in a sharp breath when I leave her unceremoniously.
“No!” she cries in humor-laced frustration, her sweet voice almost a plea. I chuckle. She blows out a loud pant as I reluctantly leave her and get out from under the covers. I shake my head with a thin smile in response to her dazed, adorably irritated stare; I shrug on my boxers, still flustered, just as she is. I inhale deeply and rub my face with both hands, trying to shake my pulsing heat away, together with all thoughts of sex, and try to focus.
Fuck, as if that’s even possible.
Hayley slumps her head deeper into the pillow, her hair forming a wild golden halo around her face as she lets out another deep exhale, and murmurs something unclear.
Cursing, Mrs. Stark? Oh how I need to subdue the urge to mess with her, but I do have a mission on hand and it should be handled A.S.A.P., otherwise we might face lingering disturbance. And that’s the last thing I want. I bend down to kiss her sweet mouth, running my thumb over her pulsating lip, and with a suggestive side smile, command, “You. Don’t go anywhere!”
“Now that’s something you don’t have to worry about. Make it quick, lover boy.” She giggles when we exchange humored glances. I shake my head again; a thin grin tugs on my lips with everything Hales still lodged in my head.
Shit, I can hardly walk straight. The bulge in my boxers controls my thoughts until the high-pitched noises in the background get louder. Contradicting my state of mind and the situation at hand, I utter calmly, “Emma, baby, daddy is coming.”
“Goddamnmotherfuck,” I hiss through my teeth as my feet bump into the doorjamb.
Hales, still in bed, cracks up. “Careful not to injure any vital parts D, I still need you, remember?”
I send her a short, wicked smile over my shoulder. I almost stumble again with images of Hales’ naked body still playing through my mind. “You are so going to neuter daddy with these tricks, baby girl.” I let out a chuckle of defeat.
If there’s one person in this entire fucking universe who can take me away from Hales, especially when I’m buried goddamn deep in her, it’s Emma.
Though a promise is a promise, Hayley once again can’t keep hers and I can see her out of the corner of my eye peeking at me when I take our baby in my arms and rock her back to sleep. I smirk, knowing how she can never resist watching me with Emma. She tries to hide it, but I always sense her near.
I adore this woman crazily.
I see her shining eyes dance in the dark as she looks at us. I kiss Emma’s soft hair and gently tuck her back in. “I know you're here,” I whisper and turn back, amused, to catch Hayley’s eyes. She bites her lips in that sexy way of hers, and gives me a guilty smile.
Christ, the volatile reactions she causes! Stop it, man, baby’s in the room.
“Now let’s take care of mommy,” I whisper and, stepping out into the hall, I lift her so she straddles me, cradling her sweet ass and nibbling the skin right above her smooth collarbone.
She drops her head back and lets out a hoarse groan. “I love you so much,” she breathes and tightens her legs around me.
I can feel the heat travel through my entire body, making me hard as a rock. “And I you, baby,” I say to her sexy mouth trying to focus my vision ahead and avoid colliding us with the goddamn walls. She tightens her legs and grinds against me.
“Stop it, Hales, I’ll drop us both,” I say, amused, but through gritted teeth. I can hardly see with my need to throw her onto the bed and plunge into her. She giggles it off and continues teasing. I mount her against the wall, take her hands in mine, spread them above her head, and slowly start thrusting against her.
“We’ll wake her,” she pants, sucking on my bottom lip.
“So control yourself, woman.” We both snicker into each other’s mouths and I continue our original route.
When we reach the bedroom I drop us onto the bed with me between her long, soft legs. When she bites my lips and breathes my name I lose the control I’ve been holding til now and ravish every bit of her, crazed.
As Hales' rhythmic breaths calm and her face takes on that serene expression, I kiss her gently. I pull the blanket up to cover her naked body, not before giving it another long, smug glance. Damn, so fucking hot...
I trace my finger softly over her beautiful mouth and watch her for a few minutes then shrug on my boxers. I pass by the kitchen to pour myself some scotch on ice then turn to my office and sink in the wide leather chair. I scan, somewhat irate, through the pile of emails waiting for me and rub my hand over my mouth and chin, then move the cursor over the folder titled “wedding photos.”
A sudden, unbidden thought crosses my mind, one that from time to time keeps invading my thoughts at the worst time. Before my eyes I involuntarily summon the awful time I spent trapped in Thailand, the darkened room with the thick, unbreathable air. I can almost smell the stench and uncertainty that littered that room. It wasn’t unnerving; it was hopeless. There was nothing any of us could fucking do. It was numbing and frustrating and goddamn desperate: feelings I was never familiar with, nor knew how to cope with, at least not as an adult. To a degree it made me think of a fucked-up period in my childhood I’d rather forget. I wasn’t concerned for my own sake, but the mere thought of not seeing Hayley again broke my spirit and menaced me brutally. I rub my hands over my stubble again and cover my face with both hands, taking a deep breath, working on shaking those images of cruelty and death away. I take a second breath and start a slideshow. Resting back in my chair, I savor the strong, burning taste of the liquor in my mouth.
Now here's something th
at can eradicate those damn memories.
Thoughts of the past year fly through my head as I watch the images appear slowly, one by one, on the screen. I let out a short chuckle, as my eyes run over the image of Hales dressed in a white, nearly see-through dress beside me as I lift Emma in my arms. Hales laughed so freely and happily when I said to Emma, “Thanks to you, baby girl, we finally made it here.” Emma tittered as I explained that day on the beach in Baja to her and everyone around us. “Your mother finally agreed to get married when you were born, so Em, I owe you big time.” Emma looked at me with her big brown shiny eyes and let out a string of sweet noises. I run my eyes over my baby girl on the screen; she's a mini version of perfection, of Hayley.
The next image to form on the monitor is of Ian and Josh holding hands. I can’t help but cringe. I move quickly to the next image.
Yeah, took me a while to smoothly digest these two, but like everything Ian, it kind of grew on me, eventually, sort of.
And there is Iris holding Julie's hand, both with teary eyes. I shake my head. Next to them, Hayley’s dad looks somewhat sentimental for the first time ever. When I’m around...
I truly thought he’d shoot me when he heard the news about Hales being knocked up and that we weren't close to being married. I clearly recall his face twisting in an almost comical way while glaring at me. I thought he was quickly composing a “50 Ways to Murder your Daughter’s fiancé and Get Away With It” manual.
A good potential for a bestseller… Hell, I’ll buy it when Emma reaches that age. Christ, she will someday reach that age… I need to check around for the nearest convent.
Thinking about it, I’m not so sure Hales’ dad really believed what we told him, that it was Hayley who needed time to actually go ahead with the wedding.
The next photo to display is of Natasha and Rafa. Now, there's a hookup I thought would never last longer than the first month of sexual attraction detonation, but here they are. Go figure.
I study the left corner of the picture and there’s Steven, Hales’ brother, who from the moment we met, became one of my closest friends. I’m still trying to convince him it’s a better plan for his future to drop med school and work at a software company.
Wonder how many more points I’d earn if Dr. Grace heard about me trying to corrupt another of his precious descendants.
The next image to show on the screen is one of my favorites. Me with Emma in one arm and Hayley held tightly with my other hand as we walked toward the priest. I run my fingers over the cold glass of whiskey, my lips pull up.
I bring the auburn liquid to my mouth, amused at how whipped I am.
I snort at the next photo, a snapshot of when I handed Emma to Ian. “Start practicing man,” I said. I had to ask the priest for a time out when he declared “You may kiss the bride.”
“This will require my complete attention,” I said, winking at Hales. With Emma in “good hands” I returned to Hales, lifted her up in my arms so her mouth reached mine and kissed her, my wife, senseless. Oh, Dr. Grace’s face watching us was an image that should have been hung in the pantheon of the best moments ever.
“Thanks, Hales,” I whispered to her ear.
“What for?” she asked, blushing and elated, mirroring me.
“For being you,” I said with my forehead against hers, feeling grateful that she is mine.
She almost choked me with her response: a death grip embrace and a mind-blowing, searing kiss.
You are one lucky bastard, Stark. Everything about her is what I want, what I need. No one has ever reached so deep inside. No one understands me better. No one reads me and lets go when I need it like Hales. She is perfect, she is everything I didn’t even know I wanted, and so much more.
She is the coolest woman on the planet, not to mention sexy as fuck. She’s also the only woman that pisses the hell out of me and makes me want her at the same time.
I must have done something right in this lifetime to have met her, to have gotten them both: Hales and Em.
I drop back deeper into my chair, take another swig of the whiskey and suck an ice cube into my mouth. I bite the cube into pieces and glance at the taped-up boxes lining the wall.
Its happening.
It was Hayley’s idea; we started toying with a few months after Emma was born. We only recently decided to go through with it. For the first time ever, it had taken me a long time to make a decision. Hell, I’ve never given an idea that much space in my mind. In less than a week we’ll leave our SF house for a full year in Baja. The grand plan is that I'll run the company by flying back and forth when needed and Hales will focus on her illustrations, something she has wanted to do for a while now. She’s good at it and I’ve been pushing her to take it to the next level.
Leaving the company in Chris’s hands is something I can almost live with. Can try to live with… So far he's proven trustworthy. He actually delivers. I think I could trust him as managing director. With me in the background, that is. My lips immediately twitch up as I think of Hales’ scorn and mild exasperation when she saw my schedule for the next few months. She’s so damn sexy worked up.
I toss back the last of the scotch that by now has lightened with the melted ice and head back to bed, passing first by Emma’s room. I stand above her cradle, watching her peaceful face under the dim light from the rabbit night light, which makes me inwardly snort. If someone had told me two years ago that I would have a fucking rabbit lamp in my house I would have thought them either highly intoxicated or severely deranged. I rest my hand gently on the blanket covering her chest and wait to feel the soft rise.
I bend to kiss Emma and leave her room, leaving the door half open. I take the next few steps with Hales in mind; slipping into our bed, I turn to wrap her in my arms. She leans into me. I kiss her divine-smelling hair and pull her closer, exactly where she belongs.
My Hayley.
The End.
About the Author
By teen age, Sigal already lived in three different continents where she was lucky enough to
experience and visit varied places, meet unique people, which only helped fuel her overly
developed imagination. Currently, Sigal calls Estonia home where she lives with her husband
and three kids.
Not exactly sure where they will end up next …
When she is not hiding in her office, writing, she enjoys music, reading and taking care of
her little clan.
With a great believe in “don’t wait for things to happen—make them happen,” she enjoys
anything exciting life has to offer.
Sigal would love to hear from you, please visit her on her website, Twitter, and Facebook.
http://www.sigalehrlich.com/
@Sigal_Ehrlich
https://www.facebook.com/sigalehrlich.author
http://www.pinterest.com/authorsehrlich/
[email protected]
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: One in Seven Billion
Chapter 2: Addressing the Mammoth
Chapter 3: Meet the Parents
Chapter 4: Is My Blessing Also My Enemy?
Chapter 5: Messages
Chapter 6: Pending Proposal
Chapter 7: Confessions of a Call Girl
Chapter 8: State of National Emergency
Chapter 9: Three Wishes
Chapter 10: Under the Weather
Chapter 11: Soup, Wine, Ginger, Truth or Dare and Plain Ol’ Comfort
Chapter 12: Illegal Rush
Chapter 13: Lost Nostradamus Prediction
Chapter 14: Rolling Snowball
Chapter 15: Mrs. Stark?
Chapter 16: Cryptic Messages
Chapter 17: In the Best of Hands
Chapter 18: Forgive and Forget?
Chapter 19: Cardiac Shake, Rattle, and Roll
Chapter 20: Behind Deep Scars
Chapter 21: Open Matter
Chapter 22:
Going the Distance
Chapter 23: Gay Times by the Indian Ocean
Chapter 24: D for Disaster Waiting to Happen
Chapter 25: Birthday Festivities
Chapter 26: Every Saint Has a Past
Chapter 27: Just Another Day in Paradise
Chapter 28: It's Not about the Wrapping
Chapter 29: Matter of Urgency
Chapter 30: Ten and a Half Reasons
Chapter 31: Stark Admirer
Chapter 32: Slammed
Chapter 33: The Morning After
Chapter 34: Numb: adjective, 1. deprived of the power of sensation
Chapter 35: Breaking News
Epilogue
Daniel
About the Author
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: One in Seven Billion
Chapter 2: Addressing the Mammoth
Chapter 3: Meet the Parents
Chapter 4: Is My Blessing Also My Enemy?
Chapter 5: Messages
Chapter 6: Pending Proposal
Chapter 7: Confessions of a Call Girl
Chapter 8: State of National Emergency
Chapter 9: Three Wishes
Chapter 10: Under the Weather
Chapter 11: Soup, Wine, Ginger, Truth or Dare and Plain Ol’ Comfort
Chapter 12: Illegal Rush
Chapter 13: Lost Nostradamus Prediction
Inner Core: (Stark, #2) Page 25