Songbird (Songbird, #1) (19 page)

Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes again, which were immediately met by his sultry Irish eyes. He was exquisite. He leaned in and I could smell just the faintest trace of cologne, a combination of cedar and citrus.

He kissed me lightly, brushing my lips. “I don’t want to mess up your lip gloss,” he murmured.

“Does that mean we can’t kiss all night?” I asked with an exaggerated pout.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way. I can’t go the whole night without tasting you.”

He looked me up and down, caressing my body with his gaze. “I can’t believe you’re wearing that dress.”

Oh no.
I inhaled, and dread filled me as I remembered all the times I had worn something that Shithead had disapproved of. The hours I had spent getting ready, only to be told that what I was wearing made me look cheap or totally inappropriate. In the end, the only thing he was happy for me to wear was something that he had chosen, always in a dark colour so I would blend into the background.

But instead of disapproval from Riley, he continued smiling. “You look stunning; every guy there tonight will wish he were me.”

I bit my lip as tears threaten to blur my vision. He had said I looked stunning. That one compliment meant more to me than he could ever imagine.

Looking up at him, I blinked away a stray tear. “Thank you, Riley.”

He stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers. “Thank you for coming with me.”

We left the apartment and were escorted to a stretch limo.

“Oh my God!” Kelli exclaimed, and threw her arms around Cooper’s neck.

“Nothing’s too good for my baby,” he said, obviously delighted with Kelli’s response. “There’s even champagne.”

Kelli and Cooper were snuggling on one side of the car. Riley and I were holding hands on the other.

I leaned over to Riley. “So are there any conversation topics I need to know about for tonight?”

He looked at me, his brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“You know, anything I should or shouldn’t be discussing, anything to avoid?”

“No, of course not. You can talk about whatever you like. This is a social event, not a matter of national security. Why do you ask?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah it does. Tell me.”

“Well, for any important social occasions my ex would brief me on relevant topics of conversation.”

“You’re kidding?” Riley’s brow furrowed with disbelief.

“No, not kidding. In fact, for one very important dinner he prepared a Q&A sheet for me, and quizzed me for a week. I guess he was worried I would embarrass him.”

Riley shook his head in disgust. “That guy was a fucking moron. You’re one of the smartest people I know. You follow the news and current affairs; you know music, sport, and you’re artistic.” He laughed. “Some of the girls I meet in bars have to refer to the answer written on their arm when you ask them their name.” He smiled at me. “We’ll be sitting with the other guys from the unit and their partners. They will all love you just the way you are.”

I felt relieved, but in the back of my mind his words “some of the girls I meet in bars” was on repeat. I looked over at Kelli. She raised her eyebrows, knowing exactly what I was thinking. Maybe our conversation earlier about him getting any girl he wanted, and having lots of them, wasn’t that far off the mark.

I shook the thought from my mind, not wanting to mar the night when it had just started.

“So what about you? Is there, like, a code of conduct for you to follow?”

“Sure,” he said, laughing. “We can’t fight, and we can’t get rolling drunk and dance on the tables, or pass out in the corner while we’re in uniform.” Then, a little more seriously, he said, “We’re all proud to serve our country, and take pride in what the uniform stands for. Half the people there tonight will be civilians, and we have to remember that our conduct reflects directly on the military when we are in uniform. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun,” he added with a wink.

I made a mental note to be on my best behaviour for the night, whatever the outcome. I didn’t want to affect Riley’s career by embarrassing him.

We arrived at the ballroom and the valet met our car. Feeling like a celebrity, I stepped out onto a red carpet, which led up the marble stairs and inside to an extravagant entrance hall. I looked around in awe. I’d never seen anything like it. There were huge chandeliers; each one would have filled my entire apartment, and floor-to-ceiling mirrored walls that threw the light back into the room so it was lit up like Christmas. The ceiling, in between the chandeliers was ornately outlined in gold filigree with murals of angels and clouds.

We walked the length of the carpet until we arrived at huge gold double doors that opened into the main ballroom. This room was decorated similarly to the entrance hall, but contained what looked like close to fifty tables, all lavishly laid with pristine white linen and a massive flower arrangement in the centre.

Cooper checked the seating board before an usher led us to our table.

Riley pulled out my chair before taking his seat next to me, then introduced me to the people who had already arrived and were seated there.

The wives or girlfriends were nowhere to be seen, apparently already feeling the need to fix their make-up, but the men who were of course all dressed in uniform, looked happy and relaxed as they greeted me warmly, smiling knowingly at Riley as he made introductions around the table.

There was Bear, who was a mountain of a man but had a real baby face, then Tech, who looked to be slightly smaller than the other guys with an almost shaved head. Ram looked like he was more suited to bumming around on the beach, with his blond hair and dark tan, than wearing a uniform.

“So you’re Tara, from the Pink Palace,” Tech said with a grin.

I laughed at the description. “Did you help Riley paint? I can’t thank you enough, all of you.”

Bear shrugged. “It’s what we do; we’re like family. If someone needs something, we’re there. Besides, Irish helped me put the nursery furniture together, he helped fix Tech’s car, we’d do anything for each other.”

“Well you don’t know me, or owe me anything, so thank you.” I looked around. “So is the whole unit here? I thought there were six of you,” I asked, wondering where the missing piece of the puzzle was.

“Jax isn’t here.” Bear looked at Riley with a deliberate grin. “He had a last minute change of plans, but he didn’t mind.”

Remembering the text message Cooper had sent Kelli, I smiled. Jax had given up his ticket so Riley could bring me.

The band, a string quartet, started playing, and one by one people took to the dance floor.

Riley rose to his feet and offered me his hand. “Would you like to dance?”

I gladly accepted.

“Where did you learn to dance?” I asked, surprised by how gracefully he moved around the floor.

“My mum taught me. She always said that the boy who can dance will get the most girls.”

“I agree with her,” I said, looking around at the guys sitting at the tables alone. “Your mum was a smart woman.”

“She sure was,” he said proudly, but his eyes were sad.

“What happened to her? If you don’t mind me asking,” I added hesitantly.

“Initially breast cancer, but in the end it was right through her body. She fought it for nearly six years and held on until my sixteenth birthday, threw me the best party ever and then died a couple of days later. That was the last time I celebrated my birthday.”

“I’m so sorry, Riley,” I said. He had obviously been very close to his mother.

“When is your birthday, by the way?” I realised there were so many little things I didn’t know about him.

“New Year’s Day. It always makes me sad, though, bringing in the New Year.”

He smiled warmly down at me. “You remind me a lot of her, actually. You’re a gentle soul, but you also have a lot of inner strength. It takes a lot to leave the type of controlling relationship you were in. You’re cultured and refined, but you can also sit down and have a beer with the boys and feel perfectly at ease. And you look like a freaking supermodel but you don’t know how naturally beautiful you are.”

I blushed, not knowing how to respond to so much praise.

“Okay, Fred Astaire, show me some of this fancy footwork of yours.” And laughing, Riley twirled me around the dance floor.

As we circled the floor I caught the eye of the guy playing the cello in the quartet. He looked familiar and smiled when he saw me, but I couldn’t place where I knew him from. He looked swamped by the instrument he was playing, so wasn’t very tall, and he had slicked back brown hair, dark brown eyes and a cheeky round face. As with the rest of the men in the band he was dressed in a sharp tuxedo. I racked my brain, but no luck; maybe he just looked like someone from work. It was a very large company and I didn’t know everyone.

We danced properly for song after song before Riley pulled me closer for a slow dance.

“You look amazing tonight in that uniform,” I whispered. “It’s like you’ve stepped it up to a whole other level.”

“Do tell,” he said with an amused look.

“Well, the first time I saw you, the night we met, you were wearing faded jeans and a tight white T-shirt. You looked hot.”

He raised his eyebrows, surprised.

“The second night you had that black tee with buttons and ripped jeans,” I raised my eyebrows at him, “even hotter. Then that blue shirt that matched your eyes …”

I could feel that ball of fire in the pit of my stomach engulfing my entire body as my breathing began to increase. Riley looked into my eyes, and noticed the change instantly.

“So that shirt is a favourite. I’ll have to remember,” he said with a seductive smile.

“And now tonight, I don’t think you could top this. You look,” then I grinned, “good enough to eat. Yummy, in fact.”

He laughed with delight.

“I could say the same about you.” He leaned down and I could feel his breath on my ear and my neck. “First you did my head in with those shorts, and your legs that never end. Next it was that dress that just skimmed over your body.” He sighed, clearly remembering. “Then,” he nibbled my ear, “that red top.”

He nibbled my ear again and I let out a little whimper, remembering how he had spent a good part of the night trying to tear his gaze away from my cleavage.

“So was that a firm favourite?” I teased.

“Without a doubt.”

His breathing was increasing, the heat on my neck sending shivers up my spine. His hand had slid down and was caressing the small of my back.

“And tonight …” He trailed light feathery kisses down my neck to my collarbone, then ran the tip of his nose back up to my ear. “… tonight … there are no words to describe how breathtaking you are.”

We felt someone bump into us and looked up, startled. Cooper and Kelli had danced their way over to us, and Cooper was leaning in with a cheeky grin on his face.

“There’s probably a broom cupboard somewhere that’s not occupied if you want somewhere more private.”

Riley blushed. “Okay, thanks mate, I get it.” Then he straightened up so we were dancing properly again.

I looked over at Kelli and Cooper together, dancing and joking around while I struggled to regain my composure. He was dipping her, and she was giggling with delight.

“Do you think you could manage a long-distance relationship?” Riley asked, following my eyes to Kelli and Cooper.

“I don’t know. It would be difficult, but Kelli and Cooper seem to do okay.”

“They’re freaks though.” He laughed.

“I guess you have to make the one day together outweigh the nine apart,” I said, almost to myself.

“That’s very profound of you.”

I smiled up at him. “Just something Kelli said to me once. I think that’s how they do it; they make every moment together count, and they don’t sweat the small stuff. That, and Kelli has her own life, and makes her own happiness. Cooper adds to her happiness, but she doesn’t rely on him to make her happy.”

“Are you happy?” Riley asked, looking deep into my eyes.

“I’m getting there. I’m certainly a lot happier than I was a few months ago.”