Songbird (Songbird, #1) (54 page)

I miss you so much. Please call me.

Tara, I love you, and I always will. Please call me so we can sort this out.

Babe, you mean everything to me, please forgive me.

Babe please Skype me. I need to see you, to talk to you. I’m so miserable without you.

Tara, I know I screwed up big time, but I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to do this without you. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep
—
please, babe, call me.

There was message after message, all telling me the same thing: that he loved me, that he missed me, and that he wanted to fix things.

I was reading all the messages when there was a knock on the door. “I knew you’d be here,” Marcus said as he opened the door. “You two need to talk.”

He stepped to one side, and I saw Riley standing behind him. He was frowning, but he gave me a half-smile.

“I’m going to lock you in, and not let you out until you have kissed and made up.”

I started to protest, but he cut me off.

“Tara, you’ve been miserable for months, and I’ve been worried about you. Just swallow your pride and forgive the guy, will you?” Then he turned and walked out, leaving Riley and I alone.

I smiled at Riley, tears still fresh in my eyes.

“I see you finally got my messages,” he said, indicating to the phone that was in my hand. He was still standing nervously, his hands deep in his pockets, waiting for me to tell him it was okay for him to be here.

I pulled out the seat beside me for him, and he quickly sat down.

“Okay.” He drew a breath. “I love you, and I’m sorry. I screwed up big time, Tara, I know that. I should have told you she was there and needed my help, but I thought you would react badly, and I didn’t want to fight with you.” He laughed to himself. “That worked out well, didn’t it?”

I smiled despite myself, but only for a second. “You still chose her over me, Riley; how do you think that made me feel?” My voice rose at the end so I sounded angrier than I was.

“They were in trouble, Tara; what did you want me to do?” Now his voice was louder.

“Not choose her over me; not make me feel like second best.” Surely he understood that.

He had felt like second best when she had chosen Patrick over him, and was worried that I would do the same thing to him and go back to Stephen. He had to understand how he had made me feel, or we could not move forward.

His hand flew to his mouth, understanding in his eyes.
Yes, he understood
.

“No, no, no. You were never second best, Tara, not for one moment.” The remorse in his voice was crushing, and brought tears to my eyes. “Tara, I love you, and I will until the day I die. You have never been second best to me. You are my everything.”

“But you chose to stay with her, and not come to see me.”

He sighed. “I didn’t choose her. I looked at her face, and even with the bruising from Patrick, I was ready to leave to come see you. But then I looked at little Jacob, and I saw my mother’s sad, frightened eyes looking back at me. He looks like my mum, Tara; he has her eyes.” Tears were welling in Riley’s eyes again. “And I know that because of that, Patrick will hate him. That poor little boy has a lifetime of violence and fear ahead of him.”

“He will have the childhood you had, won’t he?” I finally understood why Riley felt he had to try to help.

He shook his head. “At least I had a mum who loved me, and tried to make up for it. Rebecca will always put herself first. That little boy …” He shook his head again. “I don’t know what to do, but he needs to be helped before it’s too late.” He sighed. “You will always come first to me, and I’m so sorry I made you feel like I chose her over you.” He turned and held my hands, stroking my knuckles with his thumbs.

Looking down at his hands, I noticed something poking out from the edge of his sleeve.

“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to his right forearm.

He pushed up his sleeve, then looked at me sheepishly. “It’s the name of the only girl I’ve ever loved. The only girl I will ever love.”

I looked down. My breath hitched in my throat, and I threw my arms around his neck. In the most beautiful script I had ever seen was one simple word.

We went back to Marcus’s house. It was Kelli’s birthday party, after all, and now that we had worked things out we wanted to celebrate.

We parked the car out front, and then started walking up the front path. But just before we rounded the corner into the light from the front porch, Riley grabbed me.

“There’s something I’ve missed doing for the past four months,” he said, beaming at me, and then wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me in tight to him.

“Hmm, and what would that be?” I asked playfully, wrapping my arms around his neck, and running my fingers through the back of his hair.

“Just this.” He leaned down and ever-so-slowly kissed me on the lips. “And this.” His kiss trailed to my cheek. “And, of course, this.” His voice was getting huskier as his kisses progressed, and he nibbled on my ear. “And we can’t forget this.” He ran a trail of kisses down my neck to my collarbone.

I sighed longingly.

“And is it too presumptuous for me to think it would be okay to do this?” He picked me up and wrapped my legs around his waist, then took a step forward so my back was against the wall of the house.

I giggled and he laughed, both of us deliriously happy to be together again.

“I have missed your laugh so much,” he said lovingly. He kissed my chest, and ran his hands up my sides and under my top. “I’ve missed touching you.” He nuzzled my neck again. “And tasting you.” He licked up my neck to just below my ear. “I want to taste you right now.”

I groaned softly. His words alone were setting my body on fire.

He kissed me again, this time more passionately, and then nipped my bottom lip before his lips returned to my mouth. His hands were sliding up my thighs, and he gently lowered me back down to the ground before his hands continued sliding up under my skirt to my underwear.

I ran my hands down his chest slowly, over the muscles of his stomach, wanting to feel every definition until I finally reached the top of his jeans. I fiddled with his button until it finally came undone, then slid the zip down.

He was breathing harder now, and pulled away from my lips, just long enough to sigh, “Touch me, please touch me,” before finding my lips again.

I slid my hand down the front of his boxers, down the length of him, his desire obvious. I stroked him gently, and he groaned deep in his throat at my touch.

He slipped his hand down the front of my thong, and exhaled raggedly. He gently started stimulating me, his fingers sliding over my wetness before sliding inside me. I sighed loudly. I had missed his touch so much.

“Oh, Tara, you’re so smooth,” he moaned. “I want to see.”

His kisses started moving down my throat to my chest, and I leaned my head back against the house and closed my eyes. He dropped down to his knees in front of me, lifting my skirt up around my hips, then pulled my thong over to one side. I could feel his hot breath against my wet skin, and it sent shockwaves through my body.

He stopped to look at what he had been missing. “So beautiful,” he murmured under his breath.

I bent one leg up so my foot was resting against the wall of the house, and he placed tender kisses up my thigh.

He flicked his tongue a few times, igniting my core, and then licked more slowly. I whimpered loudly—he was teasing me, and it was driving me crazy.

I looked down. He gazed up with a glint in his eyes; he knew exactly what he was doing to me.

“Don’t tease me,” I whispered breathlessly.

He smiled, then nuzzled in and started licking and sucking, devouring me completely. I couldn’t think straight, I just grabbed hold of Riley’s hair, and wouldn’t let go. I didn’t want him to stop.

The sensation was building so quickly, and he was relentless, never letting up for a moment. He reached around and grabbed hold of my ass, pulling me into his face, and I couldn’t hold on any longer as wave after wave of pure pleasure shook my body until my legs nearly gave out from under me.

He quickly wiped his face on his forearm before looking up at me with a cheeky grin. I let my head flop back against the wall; I was breathless, and my legs felt like jelly, and I was so happy I could scream it from the rooftops. I felt him stand back up in front of me, and I opened my eyes.

He gazed down at me, lovingly. “I’ve missed you,” he said. “I’ve missed us.”

He kissed me lightly on the lips. I ran my fingertips over the side of his mouth, and he took hold of my hand, suggestively sucking my fingers.

Grabbing hold of his face, I pulled it to mine, kissing him deeply once again. “I’ve missed us too.”

I reached my hand down into his boxers again. He was so hard against the fabric of his jeans, I knew it wouldn’t take long.

“My turn,” I told him, as I knelt down in front of him and lowered his jeans and boxers down around his hips.

I teased him, licking and kissing his length, and he moaned loudly, resting his hand on my head and pushing his hips forward. I took him into my mouth, flicking the sensitive tip over and over again with my tongue as I went. Then I ran my teeth up the length of him.

“Oh fuck, Tara, oh babe …” He shuddered, and drew a sharp breath through his teeth, but then pulled away.

I looked up at him. Was there something wrong?

He put his hand under my chin, and guided me back to my feet, then kissed my lips eagerly. “I want to be inside you. I
need
to be inside you, please.”

He lifted me up and wrapped my legs around his waist again, then lowered me down onto him. We both groaned at the sensation, then smiled at each other.

“You okay?” he asked. I nodded, and tried to wriggle down further, but he chuckled softly. “You always were impatient.”

He held my weight as he slowly started moving inside me. I couldn’t believe how amazing it felt. I had missed Riley and everything about him so much, but this was like coming home. We fit so well together.

His speed increased, and our kisses became more ferocious. I could feel his face nuzzled in my neck, kissing me, nipping my jaw, my ear.

“God I love you, you feel so good, babe,” he murmured in my ear. His fingers were digging into my hips as he thrust faster, pounding into me.

I could feel my muscles tensing around him, my breathing so fast I couldn’t speak. I made some incoherent sound and gripped Riley’s hair so tight I thought I was going to rip a handful out.

My body once again tensed with pure pleasure before finally relaxing, every muscle turning to jelly. I heard Riley grunt twice in my ear, and felt his fingers grip my ass so tight I thought they might leave a bruise. Then he relaxed, and just held me for a few moments, trying to catch his breath before lifting his head from my shoulder and looking me in the eye.

The smile was back in his eyes, the love I had missed so much etched all over his face.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I whispered, and kissed him softly.