Songbird (Songbird, #1) (12 page)

I was impressed that he was able to express himself so eloquently, but even more impressed that this guy that I had virtually written off as a meathead hottie, because he was in the Special Forces, seemed to be as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside.

“So what did your mum listen to?”

“Beethoven mainly; you know, ‘Moonlight Sonata’, ‘Für Elise’, that sort of stuff, but it would depend on what type of painting she was working on at the time.”

“I have those pieces on there as well,” I remembered.

“Really?” He held up the iPod like it was suddenly made of gold, his eyes glistening. “Thank you so much for lending it to me.”

“So, Irish huh?” I put on a comical puzzled look, wanting to change the subject to something a bit lighter. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and deduce that from your nickname and stereotypical Irish colouring, that you could in fact be Irish.”

“Wow, nothing gets past you, does it? You could be a detective.” He laughed, his eyes smiling. “My mum was Irish and I guess I inherited her colouring, which is probably why my dad couldn’t stand to have me around. I reminded him too much of her.” He said it matter-of-factly, but his eyes were sad.

I wanted to reach out and comfort him. The memories seemed like something from long ago, but the emotion was still raw. He had shown me a little glimpse of his soul and I wanted more. But standing in Kelli’s kitchen tonight was not the time, nor the place to discuss these things.

He seemed to shake himself out of his temporary melancholy. “What about you?”

“My pop on my dad’s side was from Ireland, actually—hence the surname O’Connell. I can still remember some of the funny stories he used to tell me when I was little.” I laughed. “He was a real character.”

I looked up at the clock on the wall. “Shoot, look at the time. I have to dash in about ten minutes.”

I couldn’t believe we’d been standing in the kitchen for nearly half an hour, talking. Well, mostly standing, sometimes sitting sprawled on the floor.

We walked back over to the couch and he reluctantly sat back down on the end of it, as far away from Jacqui as he could manage, which made me smile.

“I’ll send Cooper back out to keep you company.”

It was time to head off. Kelli had chosen one of my favourite dresses and she looked great in it.

As we emerged from the bedroom with the remaining dresses hung over my arm I said to Cooper, “She’s going to look gorgeous at this ball. I wish I could be there to see it.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Riley piped up, “You should come.” He stood, and continued, “You should come with me, if you want to, of course. I need to see you again … so, ah … so I can return your iPod.”

I looked over at Kelli and Cooper, who both had smirks on their faces, and then turned back to Riley. “I’d love to go, but I thought the tickets were all sold out.”

I could recall Kelli mentioning that this was a big deal for the army, and that tickets always went quickly.

“I’m pretty sure I can get a ticket,” he replied confidently as he pulled out his phone, before continuing, “Why don’t you give me your number and I’ll give you a call and let you know how I go?” He handed me the phone and I quickly punched in my number.

“You might want to take his number too, Fox. You can enter it in under Yummy,” Cooper teased, laughing his head off.

“That’s enough Lieutenant,” Riley said with authority, before giving him a whack across the back of the head.

Cooper abruptly stopped laughing. “Are you pulling rank on me?” he asked incredulously.

“Only if I have to,” Riley replied, and then started laughing.

In the meantime I sent a quick text to my phone from Riley’s.

Irish :)

T
HE NEXT
morning while I was at work, my phone beeped with a new text message.

Hi Tara, just letting you know no problem with getting the ticket for the ball, hope you can make it. R

I rushed over to Kelli’s desk, where she was also reading a text message and laughing. We exchanged phones so I could read hers.

Hey babe. Just heard Irish paid Jax $500 for his ticket to the ball. I think someone’s pretty keen, don’t you? C xxx.

Then my phone beeped again with another message from Riley.

T, thought it might be a good idea for us to catch up quietly before the big group date … dinner 2nite? R

I was so excited, but it quickly turned into nervous panic. I hadn’t been on a date for more than two years.

I looked at Kelli. “He wants to go on a date tonight, just the two of us … What do I do?”

She smiled and took my phone. “Do you trust me?”

“Of course,” I replied. “Most of the time.”

Kelli punched out the final message on my behalf.

R, just discussing with K having everyone over 2nite for dinner ... interested? T

At lunchtime, we raced down to the market to buy the freshest ingredients for the dinner party that I didn’t know I was hosting until an hour ago.

“I’ll help you with everything. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” Kelli reassured me, noticing the panicked look on my face.

After work I went straight home to tidy up and start preparing. It was the first time I was having anyone other than Kelli and Jason over for dinner, so I wanted everything to be perfect.

Kelli had promised to go home quickly and get changed, and then come over early to help, leaving the guys to make their own way over later.

Because I was time poor, I had decided on a very simple dish of seared salmon with steamed Asian greens, and a cheat’s version of a lemon and lime tart. I worked like a machine in the kitchen preparing the tart, as I knew that was going to take the longest. By the time Kelli finally arrived I had things under control, and was a little more relaxed as we chatted in the kitchen.

Kelli giggled as she told me, “You should have seen Riley before I left. I think he changed his outfit three times just while I was there. He was literally pacing up and down, so anxious to get here.”

I couldn’t believe it; it sounded like this gorgeous guy was as nervous as I was.

“I hope you’re getting changed into something amazing because he looked
hot
.”

I looked up at Kelli with raised eyebrows.

“What? I love Cooper but damn Riley is fine … and he’s such a sweetie. Did you know he fixed the kitchen cupboard for me so it doesn’t stick anymore?”

I cocked one eyebrow at her. “Yes, I did know that,” I replied sarcastically, knowing full well she knew all about what had happened, while reliving the nightmare that was my sprawl on the kitchen floor.

“Hmm, I heard,” she said, smirking at me. “He was quite concerned that you’d hurt your … now how did he put it? Oh yeah, that’s right; ‘legs that blow your mind’.”

I gasped. “He said that? Really?”

“Oh yeah, and a whole lot more, believe me.” She shook her head. “That boy’s got it bad.”

“So what else can you tell me about him?” I stopped what I was doing and turned to face Kelli, giving her my full attention.

“I know he likes you. He grilled me for an hour last night after you left. Coop said he had some trouble with an ex-girlfriend though—I’m not sure what happened, but it had something to do with him moving, and he hasn’t dated anyone since.” She shrugged. “He was pretty tight-lipped about it. Apparently it’s a sore point that the guys don’t talk about.”

I watched Kelli as she painstakingly concentrated on chopping the vegetables. “How do you do it? The long-distance thing?”

She put the knife down and paused in thought for a moment before answering. “For me, it’s pretty much all I know. Cooper and I have been together a long time. We were high school sweethearts. He’s my first love and I hope he will be my only love. I would rather spend one day with him and nine days apart than ten days with someone else. But that’s me, and we had years together to get to know each other before he signed up. It’s feast or famine in this type of relationship.”

Frowning at her, I wasn’t sure what she meant, but she continued. “You see them for a few days or maybe a week or two at a time, and it’s full on the whole time—that’s the feast—but then you don’t see them for a month or sometimes three—that’s your famine. It’s an emotional rollercoaster; the only way to sustain it is absolute trust and honesty.”

We had finished the prep work in the kitchen and setting up the table. It was a balmy night so we decided to move my little table and chairs out to the balcony. I wound some fairy lights around the railing and lit some scented candles, placing them in groups to set off the best mood. Once finished, we stepped back to survey our work. It looked perfect, almost magical; all that was left to do was to get changed into something fabulous.

Rummaging through the wardrobe, I was never happy with what I pulled out, until I found a dress I had bought on impulse with Kelli and shoved in the back. It was a muted mauve and green floral with shoestring straps and a handkerchief hem. It looked … romantic. That was the only word I could think of to describe it. With some killer heels it would do the trick.

I applied my make-up. With practice and experimentation I had become quite adept at outlining my eyes with kohl so they became, in my opinion, my best feature. I sprayed some
CK One Summer
into the air in front of me and then walked through it so a light mist covered my body. I was just finishing up in the bathroom when the door buzzed.

Cooper hugged me as he came in. “You look good enough to eat, as always, Fox,” he said with a cheeky grin, then continued into the kitchen to put a bottle of wine in the fridge and find Kelli.

I held the door open for Riley to enter. Wow! Kelli wasn’t joking when she said Riley looked hot! At first glance you could be mistaken for thinking he had just thrown on a black button-front tee, jeans and boots. But the tee was just tight enough to show off the promise of an unbelievable body underneath, and the jeans were strategically ripped and hugged his hips to perfection.

He gave me a crooked grin then leaned down and kissed my cheek softly, lingering just close enough that his warm breath brushed against my skin. I closed my eyes and inhaled, the subtle scent of his cologne blending with mine, and heightening my senses.

“It’s good to see you again, Tara,” he said, holding my gaze. “Chook’s right; you do look beautiful.”