Songbird (Songbird, #1)

by Lisa Edward

  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.”

  Cooper stuck his head back around the doorway. “I didn’t say beautiful, I said good enough to eat. Don’t you think she looks good enough to eat, Irish?”

  Riley blushed. “Definitely,” he said under his breath as he continued in through the door.

  I showed them through the apartment, trying to cool my own flushed cheeks. There wasn’t really that much to see, so it didn’t take long to give them the grand tour.

  “Gee, it’s pink, isn’t it?” Cooper commented as he looked around, frowning.

  “I know it’s a hideous colour, but you can’t blame me. Blame the landlord.”

  “We could paint it for you if you want, couldn’t we, Chook?” Riley offered.

  Cooper looked at Riley, his mouth open in surprise, before he nodded in agreement. “I guess so; we’re not doing anything tomorrow.”

  “I’ll call the guys, they’ll be happy to help out too. If we get them over here by 0800 we should get it done before you get home from work.” Riley sounded like he was organising the troops instead of painting my apartment.

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to be any bother.” I wasn’t sure what had just happened, but I would be more than happy to get rid of the candyfloss walls.

  “No problem at all. We all help each other out with things like this,” he said, as if it were a done deal.

  “But the guys don’t know me. Why would they give up their time?”

  “Because they know me, and I’ll ask them to,” he replied with a shrug.

  The three of them made themselves at home while I went into the kitchen to fetch some drinks and check on dinner. I was opening the bottle of wine that Cooper had brought when I heard someone enter the room behind me.

  “Do you need a hand with that?”

  Turning, I saw Riley, his hand extended ready to take the bottle.

  “No, I think I can manage,” I answered, smiling, before turning my attention back to the complicated corkscrew.

  “Is there anything I can do to help with dinner then?”

  “No, I’ve got everything under control, thanks,” I replied smiling more widely. It was really sweet of him to offer, but truthfully, there wasn’t that much more to do.

  He smiled crookedly at me. “You’re not going to make it easy for me, are you?” He chuckled.

  I looked at him, a little confused, and he must have read my expression.

  “I’m trying to find an excuse to hang out in the kitchen with you.”

  “Oh …”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond. With every dinner party I had thrown while I was with Shithead, I had been relegated to the kitchen alone while he entertained. This was a new experience for me, not being treated like the hired help.

  “You don’t need an excuse to talk to me,” I finally replied. “You can just keep me company.”

  He smiled a full beaming smile, and held out his hands. “At least let me get some glasses.”

  I pointed to the glasses cupboard above the bench, and he reached up, exposing the top of his Calvin Klein boxer shorts, perfectly defined abs and the most mouth-watering V over his hip bones. I sighed a little too loudly as I stared lustfully, and I heard him chuckle. I managed to drag my eyes away from his body to find him looking over his shoulder at me, his Irish eyes shining.

  “Are you checking me out?” he asked cheekily.

  Turning away, I tried to find something to focus on as my face flushed at being caught red-handed. “No, I was just … I mean I was …” I tried to think of something to say but failed miserably. I looked at him and shrugged resignedly. “I got nothing.”

  He chuckled at my response. “Don’t be embarrassed, I’ve been doing the same thing. I’m just trained in covert ops so I don’t get caught.” And he grinned wickedly.

  “You’ll have to teach me a few of your tricks.” Two could play this game.

  “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” he bounced back, leaning his hip up against the bench.

  I laughed at his cheesy yet suggestive response.

  “You’ve got a great laugh you know,” he said.

  Heat rose in my cheeks.

  “And you’re a blusher; I’ll have to add that to my Tara dossier.”

  “So you have a file on me?” I asked, finally managing to open the wine bottle.

  “Babe, there’s a whole operation named after you.”

  I dragged Kelli into the kitchen not long after, under the guise of helping me sear the salmon and serve dinner. Riley jumped up as soon as I told Kelli I needed help, once again offering his assistance, but I needed him out there so I could pick Kelli’s brain. Heaven knows I didn’t need her for her culinary talents.

  “Why would he offer to paint my apartment?” I whispered, trying to keep my voice low so neither of the guys would hear me. “I don’t get it; I only met him last night, for goodness sake.”

  I was feeling a little overwhelmed. He was definitely gorgeous and funny and sensitive, and I could go on and on, but things were moving so quickly. I had thought about him for most of the night, picturing him on that uncomfortable sofa bed trying to drown out Kelli and Cooper in the next room. I had hoped I would see him again, but you could never be sure—guys take girl’s numbers all the time with no intention of ever calling them. And now he was here, in my apartment for dinner, confessing that he had been checking me out as much as I had been checking him out. This was crazy! Crazy good, but still crazy.

  Kelli sighed. “It’s the feast or famine syndrome.”

  I raised my eyebrows at her and smirked.

  She ignored me and continued. “He’s trying to make an impact and establish a connection with you before he has to leave. He doesn’t have time to take your number and call you in a week to arrange a date; he has to cram what most guys would take a month to do into four days. If he doesn’t, he runs the risk of you meeting someone else and moving on while he’s gone.”

  “But what if I don’t want to rush everything and make a month’s worth of decisions in four days?”

  “Well that’s something you need to decide for yourself.”

  Riley and Cooper together were like a comedy act. They teased and bounced jokes off each other mercilessly; they told funny stories and did impersonations and accents. As expected, Riley did a particularly good Irish accent, and Cooper’s Sean Connery inspired Scottish accent was so bad it was hilarious. As a result, Kelli and I spent the evening in stitches, quite often with tears of laughter rolling down our cheeks. It was such a contrast from the stuffy dinner parties I was used to; it was relaxed and fun.

  At the end of dinner, Cooper leaned back in his chair and rubbed his stomach. “That was excellent, as always, Fox. You can cook for me any time.” Then he leaned in towards Riley. “I told you she w
as a good catch, didn’t I? There is more to her than those long legs you said you wanted wrapped around you.”

  Riley flinched and looked down at his hands.

  “By the way, Irish, what were you doing in the bathroom all that time before we left?” Cooper made a suggestive gesture with his fist. “You were in there for a long time.”

  Riley shook his head at Cooper and glared at him. “Does anyone else need another drink?” he asked through clenched teeth, before disappearing inside.

  Cooper, however, was unperturbed. “I think he got changed four times before we left. He’s worse than a girl.” Then he turned to me with a sly grin on his face. “Does he look yummy tonight, Fox?”

  “Good enough to eat, Chook,” I replied offhandedly, but I frowned at Kelli, hoping she got the message to control the uncontrollable Cooper. He had been relentless with his teasing all night, and while Riley was just as good at giving it back to him, it had obviously been taken a little too far this time.

  I went in after Riley under the pretence of giving him a hand. He was leaning up against the sink with his arms crossed over his chest, his head down. He looked conflicted, like he was debating whether to stay or go; he was clearly embarrassed as he scrubbed his hands over his face.

  He looked up at me as I entered the room, then looked away, unable to meet my eyes. My heart sank a little for him, but he exhaled and turned back to me, managing a half-smile.

  “He really doesn’t know when to quit. I’m sorry if he made you feel uncomfortable; he can be a real dick sometimes.”

  I couldn’t believe he was worried about my feelings. “I’m fine. It wasn’t me he was giving a hard time.” I crossed the room and stood in front of him. “Besides, I’m sure half of what he said wasn’t true.” I looked at him questioningly.

  He gave me a sheepish grin.

  “Okay, some of it, then,” I said, chuckling.

  “Actually most of what he said was true, I just wouldn’t have put it so crudely.”

  “Oh!” My mind instantly went to the hand gesture Cooper had made, and my cheeks grew hot. What had Riley been doing in the bathroom?

  Seeing my expression he quickly clarified, holding his hands up to stop my thoughts. “No, not that! I did get changed a couple of times, and I was a little nervous about coming over.”

  He shrugged like it was no big deal, but I could see a slight flush creeping into his clean-shaven cheeks.

  “Okay, is that all?”

  He glanced up at me from under his eyebrows. “I did think about you today, but only once.”

  I couldn’t help it; I was a little disappointed. I’d thought about him on and off all day.

  “That once was for the entire day, from the time I woke up this morning.” He sighed. “The thing is …” He reached out and took my hands in his. “… I’m only here for a few days, so I don’t have time to play games. I like you, Tara; you’re the first girl I’ve liked in a long time, and I don’t want Chook screwing it up.”

  I smiled. “Don’t worry about Cooper. I know him well enough to not take anything he says seriously.” Then I tugged his hand to lead him back out of the kitchen. “Maybe we need a change of scenery. Let’s go to Songbirds.”

  MARCUS GREETED us as we entered the bar. “Hey Tara, great to see you.” He beamed and gave me a tight hug and kiss on the cheek, lifting my feet off the ground and making me squeal. He ran his eyes over my dress. “You look beautiful, as always,” he complimented, kissing my cheek again.

  He turned to Kelli and hugged her quickly and we introduced the guys. Marcus told us to take a seat and he would bring over some beers in a minute.

  “So who’s Marcus, exactly?” Riley asked, frowning as we were sitting down.

  “Oh, he’s the owner of this place. He’s really nice,” I replied sincerely. “We usually end up drinking all night for free whenever we come here. He’s even driven me home a couple of times.”

  “I bet he has,” Riley said, looking at Cooper with a strained expression.

  I laughed. “There’s nothing going on, and there’s no chance of anything happening with me. He’s a good friend of Jason’s.”

  Riley exhaled and visibly relaxed.

  “Don’t worry, he’s just scoping out the competition,” Cooper joked, and he gave Riley a slap on the back.

  I shook my head, but was internally giving myself a high five. Was Riley really feeling threatened by Marcus? How ridiculous was that?

  Jason and I had been into Songbirds a lot since I’d become Jason’s neighbour, but it was always because Jason wanted to see Marcus and needed a ‘wingman’, not because I had any romantic interest. Let’s face it; I was definitely not his type.

  It was time for karaoke to start, and as always, people were crowding Marcus to select their songs.

  “Okay, I’m going to trial something tonight, because everyone wants to sing and not everyone will get the chance to,” Marcus announced.

  “Not everyone wants to,” Kelli whispered.

  I grinned at Kelli as Marcus continued. “So we’re trying what I like to call Karaoke Bingo. You all have numbers on your tables so if I call yours out, someone from your table will get to come up and sing.”

  There was a murmur through the crowd as people located their table numbers, then waited for the first to be drawn.

  Table eight was called out. A group of girls near us screamed excitedly, and one jumped up and made her way to the stage where she belted out ‘I Will Survive’ to a thunderous round of applause.

  As the night went on various people got up to sing. Some relished the attention, others were a little timid, but Marcus rewarded each singer with a drink voucher.

  “Okay, the next table is lucky seven,” Marcus announced.

  Kelli and I looked at each other in dumb silence.

  Cooper jumped up. “Cool, I’ll sing!”

  But Kelli pulled him back down quickly. “There is no way you are getting up there.”

  I laughed at Kelli’s reaction.

  “Why not, babe?” Cooper asked a little dejected.

  “Because every time you sing at a karaoke bar, you sing ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’.” She leaned over to me. “I swear he thinks he’s Tom Cruise in Top Gun.”

  “Well someone has to sing,” I said, looking around the room. “Everyone’s waiting.”

  Kelli had the most defiant look on her face I had ever seen. “You know how I feel about singing. I would rather chew glass.” She crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her chair. There was no way she would volunteer. I knew she wasn’t entirely joking about preferring to chew glass.

  I was starting to think that I may have to get up.

  “I’ll do it.” We all looked up at Riley as he stood and started to turn towards the stage, then he leaned in to Kelli and winked. “This is payback for introducing me to Tara.”

  He was clearly nervous and looked over to me for support, as he inhaled and then slowly exhaled. I smiled and nodded encouragingly to him and he smiled his crooked smile back. He placed his hands on the microphone which was still in the stand in front of him and leaned in, making the muscles in his arms tense, the edge of his T-shirt now pulled tight around his biceps. A group of girls wolf whistled and called out something that sounded like ‘get it off!’ and his eyes flicked over in their direction for a split second before settling back onto me.

  The music started and I instantly recognised the song. He had chosen ‘Just the Way You Are’ by Bruno Mars. Watching Riley sing was surreal; it was like being in a movie. Everything around me faded to black, until it felt like we were the only two people in the room. As he stood there, still leaning in with both hands resting on the microphone, his body started to rock back and forth in time with the music. The girls in the audience went ballistic, but his gaze never left my face—he sang every word to me, and in return, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

  At the end of the song he stepped back and exhaled, puffing out his cheeks, then
smiled a full beaming smile. The crowd—mainly the girls—cheered loudly and wolf whistled once more, trying to gain his attention, but he didn’t seem to hear them as he made his way back to the table.

  Kelli tapped me on the arm. “You can wipe that lustful grin off your face now.”

  “Huh? Oh yeah, sorry.” I blushed.

  Riley sat back down, looking happy that it was over. “Remind me never to do that again. I’d rather jump out of a plane any day of the week.”

  He leaned back in his chair and casually slung his arm along the back of my chair, effectively putting his arm around me.

  Leaning over, I gave him a little kiss on the cheek. “You were awesome,” I told him.

  I knew it was bold of me to kiss him, but it was restrained, compared to what I really wanted to do at that moment. My body felt like it was on fire.

  “It was worth the embarrassment just to get a kiss,” he replied shyly, lightly stroking my bare shoulder with his thumb.

  “My boy’s got moves,” Cooper observed with a grin as he took another swig of his beer.

  Riley laughed, but from the way Cooper flinched, I was sure he’d kicked Cooper under the table.

  I looked at Kelli out the corner of my eye and grinned. She just rolled her eyes at me and laughed, watching Riley’s thumb continue to stroke my shoulder. I exhaled, and, biting my bottom lip, took a sneaky look at Riley. He was watching me, that smile in his eyes ever present. I gave him a smile and leaned into his side, and I felt him physically relax as he leaned over and gave me a lingering kiss on the head.

  About half an hour later, to our dread, Marcus called out table seven again. We all looked at each other, waiting for someone to volunteer.

  “I’ve already taken one for the team,” Riley declared, sitting back and settling in with his beer.

  Kelli leaned over to me. “Please don’t let Coop sing. You have to do it.”

  Taking a deep breath, I finished the rest of my Bud, and then stood.