Read Online Inner Core: (Stark, #2) by Sigal Ehrlich - Free Book Online Page B

have any other sort of clearance. We clear?” Daniel’s nod ends with a hint of a pull on his lips. The guard eases a fraction, though remains relatively rigid.
    Sending him a scowl over my shoulder, I follow Daniel, who’s holding my hand as he leads us to the car. When he leaves, he kisses me again, taking his time, as if he didn't have a group of people waiting for him. His affectionate and satiated stare follows me til I drive away.
    On my way back, an incoming call dissolves “Little Talks” by Monsters and the Men to a soft hum in the background.
    “Yes,” I answer, bothered by the disturbance.
    “I heard you pulled a Hayley shenanigan earlier…” Ian blurts out. His words disintegrate into uncontrollable laughter.
    Oh my god, do these two have an open gossip WLAN between them ?
    “Pulled a Hayley? Ian, are you for real?”
    “Gorgeous, seriously, are you for real? Playing top-notch slutty escort lady with all his employees around? God, how did I miss that one?”
    I burst into laughter at Ian’s contagious chuckles.
    “Next time take the initiative and bring a camera or something. Now I'll have to live my life with the hugest, bitterest sense of loss that I didn’t get to witness you in action.”
    “You are such a dork. And here I thought you were on my side,” I say through giggles, my own mouth betraying me as I try to sound even remotely upset.
    “Hold on gorgeous,” Ian says, and a few seconds later I hear another voice joining us.
    Really? Couple of immature morons.
    “Tash, we’ve got the star of the evening on the line.” I roll my eyes but can’t help the grin on my lips. How could I not see this one coming? Throwing such a delicacy at these two vultures... of course they’ll make a goddamn king’s feast out of it.
    “Oh, none other than the questionable Madam Fleiss. Oh my, the smooth operator you are, Hales.” Tasha says, barely containing her outburst of laughter. “Ian, seriously. This one rockets directly to first freaking place on biggest moments in Hayley history.”
    “With friends like you guys... maybe cut a rug on my disgraced corpse while you’re at it?” Their response comes back as malicious fits of laughter. The vision of Cinderella’s evil sisters spring to mind. “Hey, not only a call girl but also a thief. Drama queen is my thing,” Ian sulks, a tad too cheerfully.
    “Missy, you know how it works: when you serve so good, we can't resist the pitch…” The three of us fall into hysterics for some long moments before Tasha adds her two cents. “And your boyfriend couldn’t be more obvious. He walks around with a satisfied, satiated, just-got-utterly-done grin on his face, and to top it all off he's not being sarcastic or behaving in that trademark intimating psycho way of his...” I sigh, though content. Mission successfully accomplished .
    “Okay now, we all had our share of laughter, ha ha kids, now let me get back to my music.” I dismiss them both, still highly amused.
    “We love ya,” they both scream in stereo. I shake my head and snort. Biggest moments in Hayley history…
     
     

Chapter 8: State of National Emergency
    I'm in my own bubble, utterly sunk into my work, Josh’s curt cough behind me makes me nearly jump out of my skin. I look back to face him, disturbed, my heart thudding in a volatile rhythm.
    “Sorry,” he mumbles. “Didn’t mean to scare you there.”
    I shake my head dismissively. Absently laying my hand on my chest, I ask, “Yes?”
    “You okay?” he asks before getting to the point.
    “Yeah, yeah, sure. I was just deep into this.” I point at the graphs on my screen. He nods, thinking for a moment.
    “I’ve just called Ian,” he says and I don’t need him to continue, as the look on his face tells me what I wanted to hear. “He’s going to join us on our trip to the Maldives.” He smiles at my excited, radiant grin.
    “Great news,” I reply, stopping myself from doing a little dance. “Do we have a date