Songbird (Songbird, #1) (35 page)

“Tara. Tara, wake up, babe, you’re dreaming, wake up.”

My eyes shot open, and I took in the room. I was in my bedroom, and it was Riley’s voice. I swallowed and breathed a sigh of relief, then rolled over and buried my face into Riley’s chest, hugging him tightly.

“It’s okay, babe, it was just a dream. Do you remember what it was about?”

I shook my head.

“It sounded bad; you were panting like you were out of breath.”

I looked up. “I don’t remember. But I’m really glad you woke me up.” I kissed him tenderly on the lips.

My heart was still pounding. The warmth that had spread through me in the dream still evident now that I was awake. “Really, really glad you woke me.”

He smiled down at me and kissed my lips. “Me too,” he murmured, before finding my mouth again and kissing me more passionately. His tongue found the gap between my lips and searched out my tongue as our kiss became deeper, more intense and I moaned softly, already wound up from the dream.

He ran his hand over my breasts, down my body, and in between my thighs. “God, you’re so wet, Tara,” he said breathily, before rolling us so he was on top of me.

I could see his face in the shadows cast by the street lights outside the window, but it wasn’t enough, so I reached over to the side table and flicked on the lamp. That was better; I needed to see his face clearly with his piercing blue eyes.

He positioned himself and I lifted my hips to meet him as he entered me. This was what I needed; I needed Riley.

“I want to see your face,” I breathed into his ear.

He sat back on his heels so he could look down at me, and I could look up into his eyes. He lifted my hips, adjusting the angle, and my body shuddered as a groan escaped his throat. He circled his hips as he adjusted the depth, his eyes never leaving mine, his fingers digging a little deeper into my thighs. It felt so good;
he
felt so good. I didn’t want Cole—that was just a stupid dream. I wanted Riley.

His expression changed and I knew he was getting close. His lips were parted and his eyes grew darker. I focused on them as I felt him moving inside me, the sensation building and building until my body tensed around him. He gave me a little smile, knowing I was ready, and then we felt our release together. He lay down on me again and kissed my lips slowly and softly.

“I love you, babe,” I whispered as I snuggled into his chest. Then I looked up at his face. “You have nothing to worry about. You know that, right?”

He looked down at me and kissed my forehead. “Yes, I know. I love you too, I just don’t know what I would do if I lost you.” He pulled me in tight and kissed my forehead again. “You mean everything to me, Tara.”

We got up early in the morning and drove to the Yarra Valley wine region to go cherry and strawberry picking. It was something that neither of us had done before, and I’d thought it might be fun. We picked a bucket of each to take to Christmas lunch in a few days, which took us a couple of hours, because for every one that went in the bucket, another two went into our mouths. Then we headed to a winery for lunch and wine tasting.

The winery itself was breathtaking. We sat out on the veranda overlooking row after row of grape vines with the mountains in the distance, and a fresh breeze cooling what would otherwise have been another hot summer’s day.

We watched as the last of the hot air balloons came in to land, and I decided to myself that a balloon ride might be a good birthday present for Riley. It was peaceful, and it was the first time since Riley had arrived for this visit that we had both just kicked back and relaxed.

By the time we left the winery in the late afternoon for the drive home, things between us were back on track, the events of the previous night, and Cole, long forgotten.

Riley wanted to stop in at a grocery store to buy some chocolate sauce to go with the strawberries, and visions of other things to do with the sauce filled my mind. He gave me a knowing grin when he saw my face, then with a chuckle jumped out of the car to purchase supplies.

I had to play on Monday night so we called Kelli and Cooper and they met us at the bar early for a beer, before I had to start.

Marcus held back once again when we entered but I thought he was being silly, so I stepped in and gave him a warm hug and kiss like I always did. I looked at Riley and he was unfazed by the show of affection, shaking Marcus’s hand and giving him a friendly slap on the shoulder.

Good; that was one little bit of awkwardness solved. If only the Cole issue could be resolved so easily.

We were enjoying our beer and having a laugh as we always did when the four of us got together. I looked up and noticed Cole sitting at a table by himself in the corner. He was watching us closely, and raised his beer bottle to me when he saw me look in his direction. I gave him a polite nod, not wanting to encourage him, and definitely not wanting him to join us. I knew that both Riley and Kelli were not huge fans, but the main reason for not wanting him to join us was that the dream I’d had about him was still fresh in my mind.

Unfortunately, he took my acknowledging him as an invitation, and headed over.

“Oh crap,” I said under my breath, just loud enough for Riley to hear me.

He looked up and his face hardened.

“Just relax, babe, it’s fine,” I said, just as Cole arrived.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to sound casual, but feeling my stomach do a somersault.

My face flushed as I relived the dream once again, and the feel of Cole’s hands on me.

He watched my reaction curiously with a slight twitch of his mouth, before answering. “Well, you’ve heard me sing a couple of times, so I thought I would
come
and
watch
you
.”

He emphasised the words which made me blush even more, and he chuckled softly.

He looked around the table. “Kelli, good to see you again.”

Kelli mumbled a “hi” and half-heartedly introduced Cooper who, not knowing the history, greeted Cole warmly and shook his hand.

Then Cole turned his focus to Riley. Riley was glaring at him until I squeezed his knee, and then he looked at me out of the corner of his eye and held his hand out for Cole to shake. Cole took his hand, looking a little relieved, and then to my surprise, asked if he could join us and pulled up another chair next to mine.

Before anyone could say anything more, Cole leaned across me so he could see Riley, who was sitting on my other side.

He apologised for what had happened the last time they had met. “Obviously, Tara’s crazy about you. I’m sorry if I overstepped the boundaries when I was singing; I get carried away sometimes. I’m also sorry for interrupting you in the back room.” He said the last part with a smirk, and his eyes flicked up to mine for a split second before he quickly wiped the smirk off his face.

Riley just nodded. I don’t know if he believed the apology or not.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Right, babe?” I turned to Riley, trying to cajole him along, and he finally agreed that everything was fine and relaxed a little.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t relax. The whole time Cole was apologising to Riley for overstepping the boundaries, he had his arm on the back of my chair and was lightly stroking the back of my neck.

I waited until Riley was distracted talking to Cooper, and then glared at Cole.

He chuckled lightly. “What? You don’t like it
just like that
?” he said seductively. “You’ll have to tell me what you do like.”

“I like Riley’s hands on me, not yours,” I seethed through clenched teeth, not wanting anyone at the table to hear.

The last thing I wanted was for Riley to know, and for him to try to put his foot down about me playing at
Songbirds
if it meant seeing Cole on a regular basis.

I played that night, constantly looking over at our table. Even though everything seemed to have been smoothed over between Riley and Cole, at least on the surface, I knew it wouldn’t take much, for Cole to say one thing to push Riley back over the edge. And this time I didn’t think he would be able to keep himself under control.

To finish my set I played ‘A Thousand Years’ which to me was Riley’s song. I always finished with it as my own private dedication to Riley.

“You were great, really awesome!” Cole said enthusiastically once I’d made my way back over to the table at the end of the night.

I thanked him politely, even though I was really thrilled that a fellow musician had enjoyed my playing, and then made myself comfortable on Riley’s knee.

“What did you think, babe?” I asked, kissing him on the cheek, and running my fingers through his hair.

“Brilliant, as always,” he replied, kissing me in return. “I especially loved the last song you played.” Riley knew it was his song, and got a kick out of me playing it for him.

Cooper was grinning at us. He always seemed to get some sense of enjoyment out of watching Riley and I together, and seeing how happy we were.

“Okay, Fox, so now we’ve established that you’re a freaking genius on the piano, are you going to have a drink with us?” I laughed and held out my hand to Cooper, who gave me a beer. I definitely needed it.

“Fox, huh?” Cole said, watching intently as I licked my lips before lifting the bottle to take a drink. “That’s fitting.”

It was Christmas Eve so I didn’t have to play at
Songbirds
. Instead, Jason had organised for us all to go to Carols by Candlelight. We didn’t have tickets for the seating area; instead we had general admission tickets where we could take picnic blankets, food and drinks, and sit out under the stars, listening to entertainers sing Christmas carols.

Jason was like a little kid he was so excited by the idea. Kelli and I were on board, it might be fun. Riley, Cooper, and Marcus thought it was totally lame, but reluctantly agreed to go as long as there was plenty of beer in the picnic baskets.

We arrived just as the sun was beginning to set and laid out the picnic blankets, then made ourselves comfortable. Riley and I sat snuggled together on one end while Kelli was leaning back into Cooper’s chest at the other. Jason and Marcus were in the middle with Marcus closest to me. We laid out the food and nibbled at a cheese platter and fresh fruit as the show started.

By halfway through the evening I think the guys were coming around. We all joined in with the carols we knew, and even lit candles in little cup holders and waved them in the air with the rest of the crowd.