Songbird Caged

by Lisa Edward

  I pulled my hand out of Cole’s, and showed them my engagement ring. I was engaged, and I was getting married, whether they liked it or not.

  “I didn’t come here to seek your approval. I actually wanted to talk to you about accessing my trust fund.”

  My mother gasped, like she’d just worked out some mystery of the world.

  “Does he want you to access your money? Is that what this is about?”

  I groaned and rolled my eyes at my mother. It didn’t go unnoticed.

  “Mrs O’Connell, in all fairness to Riley, he loves Tara very much, and isn’t in the least bit interested in her money. But if it makes you feel more comfortable, I have suggested that she have a prenup drawn up.”

  I whipped my head around, and glared at Cole. Enough with the prenup already, I didn’t want one.

  But it was too late. The suggestion was already out there, and my mother seized the idea with both hands. She was like a woman on a mission, trying to protect her fortune from someone who wasn’t interested in it anyway. It was so frustrating to me that she assumed everyone else was as fixated on money as she was.

  I turned to my dad, once more hoping he would support me. “Dad, did you sign a prenup when you married Mother?” I was praying the answer would be no.

  Dad just looked at me resignedly. “It was the only way your grandparents would allow me to marry her.”

  He placed his hand over one of hers and she patted it with her other hand. “It didn’t bother me, Jellybean. I wanted to marry your mother, and I wasn’t interested in her fortune. I knew we would last forever, so the prenup was incidental. If Riley feels the same about you, he won’t mind signing it.”

  We managed to get through the rest of lunch without any more mention of the prenup, or Riley. It seemed I was avoiding the legalities, and everyone else was pretending that Riley didn’t exist.

  My mother hung off every word that came out of Cole’s mouth, while my dad and I sat there, sniggering and rolling our eyes at each other. To Cole’s credit, he handled her adoration like a pro while still managing to keep my dad and me engaged in the conversation.

  In other words, he charmed the pants off her.

  MY DAD and I left them to it, and went into the study to talk privately. Dad was more than happy for me to buy into Songbirds when I ran over Marcus’s financial model and ledger with him. He also wanted to talk about Riley, which I had expected, and surprisingly, Cole, which I didn’t expect.

  He paused for a moment, his elbows on his knees, hands in prayer position under his chin. “Jellybean, I need to ask you about Riley and Cole.”

  “Okay, sure,” I replied hesitantly. I didn’t know why he was asking me about Cole.

  “You’re engaged to Riley, who’s not here. And to be brutally honest, Jellybean, you haven’t known him for that long, or spent a great deal of time with him.”

  “I know that, Dad.”

  “Then there’s Cole.” He sat back in his chair. “You two seem to have quite a connection.” He studied my face. “Is there something going on between the two of you?”

  I shook my head, and exhaled. He wasn’t the first person to think there was more to us then just friendship.

  “No, Dad, it’s strictly platonic. Cole was there for me when Riley and I broke up. In fact, he’s always there for me. He’s my best friend.”

  I remembered the conversation we had had at his apartment one night as we cuddled on the couch. Anytime, anywhere I could call him, and he would drop everything for me. He was my rock, and I was relying on him more and more.

  “Jellybean, I don’t know what you’re like when you’re with Riley, but I’ve never seen you happier than you’ve been today with Cole. You’re positively glowing. The two of you, you’re like two halves of a whole. Not to mention the way he looks at you, and the fact that he’s put up with your mother all afternoon.”

  I laughed. He certainly did have the patience of a saint. But I didn’t think that had anything to do with me, more his upbringing. It would have been bred into him to be polite and make small talk with his parents’ friends.

  “Dad, I appreciate your concern and interest in my life. But I made a commitment to Riley, and I’m going to honour it. And as far as the prenup goes, I’m not going to ask him to sign one.”

  I gave my dad a hug, and agreed to call into his office to sign the required paperwork for Songbirds during the week. Then we left the study and headed to the conservatory, where I could hear Cole playing the piano.

  Boy, he really was going all out for my mother.

  We entered the room, and found my mother reclining in an armchair with a faraway look in her eyes. She was in heaven, watching and listening to Cole play for her.

  I smiled at Cole, and he gave me a wink before shuffling over on the piano stool so I could sit beside him. I took up my position, and rested my head on his shoulder. He was playing one of my mother’s favourite pieces, and I closed my eyes to listen as his fingers danced lightly over the keys.

  I rested my hand on his knee, and he tensed for a moment at my touch. I bit my top lip to stop the smile that wanted to spread across my face. I could have some fun with this. I moved my hand a little higher up his thigh, and gave it a squeeze.

  “Don’t,” he reprimanded under his breath

  Laughing lightly, I moved my hand even higher.

  “Tara, behave.”

  I raked my fingernails down his thigh, then back up again. He growled in his throat, and played three wrong notes in a row.

  How cheeky could I be and get away with it? Let’s see.

  Running my hand inward on his thigh, I took a sneaky look down. I was only about an inch away from his groin area, and I could feel him squirming as he played another wrong note.

  He opened his legs slightly, and whispered in my ear, “A little higher, babe.”

  He’d called my bluff. He knew I wasn’t going to go any higher, whether my parents were in the room with us or not.

  When the piece was finished, my mother sighed, and then gave him a rousing round of applause. She obviously hadn’t noticed that he had messed up a couple of times. He nodded politely to her, then leaned his head down and kissed me gently on the temple.

  “Game on, babe,” he whispered, before kissing me again.

  “Aren’t you ready to go?” I asked out the corner of my mouth.

  He chuckled. “Oh no, I want to hear you play something classical for a change. Your mother tells me you’re exceptionally talented.”

  I raised my eyebrows at him, surprised. My mother never said anything positive about me that I was aware of. Then again, she was trying to ‘sell’ me to Cole, so she would try to highlight my strengths.

  I hadn’t played anything classical for quite a while. The patrons at Songbirds weren’t really the audience for it. And I wasn’t quite sure what Cole had meant by “game on”. What was he going to do?

  I waited for Cole to move, but he stayed put. His emerald eyes were glowing as he watched me, waiting for me to start playing.

  As soon as I started my first piece, I knew I was in trouble. Cole’s hand slipped up my back until it reached that sensitive area at the top of my neck. It sent shivers down my spine as he tickled lightly.

  I kicked him under the piano.

  He chuckled as his hand slid back down to the start of my zipper. He took hold of the tag and slid it slowly down an inch or two. His thumb caressed my back between my shoulder blades, and I shivered again.

  Fidgeting in my seat, I cleared my throat. He slid my zip back up, and I smirked. He hadn’t put me off, so I had won.

  I spoke too soon.

  His hand ran down the curves of my body to my hip, where it lingered for a while. He squeezed my hip bone, and I nearly jumped off the stool.

  He slid his hand down to the edge of my dress. Then, ever so slowly, his fingers crept under the hem and started making their way back up.

  “Okay, you win,” I said to him under my breath.

&
nbsp; “I’m not finished with you yet,” he murmured in my ear.

  His hand continued up my thigh as I tried with all my strength to hit the correct keys. I wanted to stop playing and just close my eyes and savour his touch, but I couldn’t.

  I could feel his hand getting higher, and I kept waiting for it to stop.

  “It’s so warm under here,” he breathed in my ear. “Is it wet, too?”

  I bit my bottom lip, and glanced in his direction. He had wanted to keep going with this, so I wasn’t going to let him win now. The only way to beat him was to get to him before he got to me.

  “I’m always wet when you touch me,” I purred.

  He stopped for a second, processing what he’d just heard. I could see from the look in his eyes that what I’d said had affected him.

  “Is that right?” he asked, half teasingly, half hopefully.

  I intentionally moaned softly. “Always.” I deliberately increased my breathing so he could see the rise and fall of my chest.

  His hand slid a little higher, and I bit my bottom lip again.

  “Cole,” I sighed. “Are you getting hard?”

  I could see he was breathing heavier. His lips were slightly parted, and his pupils were huge.

  “Yes, babe,” he sighed back.

  “I win,” I declared triumphantly.

  He chuckled, and shook his head. “Yes, you do. This time.”

  The game was over, and Cole removed his hand from my thigh, but left it lightly resting on my knee. I played one more piece with Cole sitting beside me, before my dad asked me to sing ‘Pie Jesu’. I looked at Cole and exhaled. It had been years since I’d sung that song, and it was difficult even back then when I’d been training for it.

  Cole went to stand, but I pulled him back down beside me.

  He leaned over towards me. “I’d like to watch you sing, if that’s okay?”

  “I need you to play. Do you know it?” I asked nervously.

  He nodded, and I released his wrist from my death-grip.

  He waited while I quickly warmed up my voice. This could go one of two ways, and I was betting it would be crash and burn time. The piece was seriously operatic soprano, and I hadn’t sung that high for quite a long time. But everyone is waiting, so here goes nothing.

  I hit the first high note, and felt a wave of relief wash over me. I could still reach it, and it was as high as I needed to go. I closed my eyes as I sang, allowing myself to be absorbed by the music.

  When it finished, I opened my eyes and smiled at Dad. He was dabbing at his eyes, but he smiled back at me. I glanced over at my mother, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was looking triumphantly at Cole.

  I followed her gaze, and my breath hitched in my throat when I saw the expression on Cole’s face. His eyes had glazed over as he looked at me with … what was that look? Adoration? Devotion? Love? Surely not.

  He shook his head after a moment, and regained his composure before coming over and hugging me tight. It was the first hug he had given me in front of my parents; he had kept to the sneaky hand-holding and chaste kisses on the head until now.

  “That was beautiful, babe,” he whispered. My cheek was pressed firmly to him. I could feel his heartbeat galloping out of his chest.

  Raising my head, I looked into his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  He brushed my cheek with his thumb. “Never better.” He pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead. “Let’s go.”

  We said our goodbyes. My mother had to be practically prised away from Cole, she was so reluctant to let him go.

  Cole opened my car door for me, and made his way around to his side. I could hear my mother commenting to my dad about what a gentleman Victor was. It made me laugh. She had no idea what Cole was really like. He was so not a gentleman.

  “Okay, Jellybean, are you ready?”

  I looked over at Cole. He had the cheekiest grin on his face.

  “Only my dad can get away with calling me Jellybean. To you, I’m babe, remember?” I grinned back at him. It had been the most pleasant lunch I could recall having with my parents, ever, and it was because Cole had been there.

  “Thank you for coming with me,” I said earnestly. “I hope my mother wasn’t too over the top for you.”

  He chuckled. “I like your dad. You mother is—interesting.”

  That was one way of describing her.

  “So, now you owe me a favour. You can either have lunch with my parents—”

  I cringed. I hated meeting people’s parents, especially when I’d been warned that they were not very nice. Or was that mainly boyfriend’s parents? But hang on a minute, Cole wasn’t my boyfriend, so why did it matter if they liked me or not?

  I would have to ponder that thought a little later.

  “—or you can come to meet my pops next week when I visit him.”

  Spinning around to face Cole, I grabbed hold of his arm, making the car swerve.

  “Sorry! Didn’t mean to cause an accident,” I said as I quickly let go. “I would love to meet your pops.”

  I was so excited. His pops was such a world-renowned pianist, that to me it was like meeting royalty.

  Cole laughed. “Okay, that settles it. Next Sunday we’ll have lunch with Pops.”

  “So, I really didn’t get to you at all while you were playing?” Cole asked, after a long silence. It seemed to bother him that I hadn’t fallen under his spell, like every other girl did when he went into seduction mode.

  I shrugged. “I’ve played at that many kid’s parties, and functions where you can’t hear yourself think. I could’ve played on the Titanic while she was going down and not messed up.”

  He nodded, and dropped the subject. But I wasn’t sure what was going through his mind. I wished I could read him as well as he could read me. It would make his lengthy silences a lot easier.

  He dropped me off, and left straight away. He wanted to call in to see Pops and let him know I was coming next week for lunch.

  I ran myself a bath and decided to go all out, lighting scented-candles, opening a bottle of wine, and putting on some soothing music.

  Lunch with my parents had gone surprisingly well. Apart from my mother being sure that Riley was only interested in my money, and the mention of a prenup, it had run smoothly.

  My mind drifted back to Cole, and his hand tickling the back of my neck. I shivered just thinking about it, and smiled.

  I traced the line from my knee up my thigh to where Cole’s hand had rested, then looked down to see where it was in relation to my groin area. It was higher than I’d realised. No wonder he said it was warm under there. His hand had been warm, too, against my thigh. His skin had felt smooth, but his touch was firm. It was how a man’s hand should feel when he touched you.

  I closed my eyes, stroking my leg where he had stroked it. I was glad I had kept up my wax treatments, even though Riley was away, even though there was no one to see the results. No one to see the results, but Cole had felt how smooth my skin was. I wondered if he’d noticed, or if he was so used to touching girls that it was something he took for granted.

  Opening my eyes, I sighed, frustrated. Why was I obsessing over this? Why did it matter where Cole’s hand was, or how it felt to him?

  Because I wanted him to be affected by me. Just like I wanted his parents to like me, the way mine liked him.

  I was such an idiot. I was engaged to a sweet, honest, reliable man who loved me, but all I could think about was a man who was totally unable to commit.

  “All girls love a bad boy,” I sighed.

  But this girl needed to get her head straight. I decided not to wait for the next letter from Riley. I would write him one that evening, telling him about my partnership with Marcus at Songbirds, and just reaffirming how much I loved him. Maybe writing it would reaffirm the commitment to me, too.

  I was just about to climb out of the tub with appropriately pruned skin when my phone buzzed.

  Pops can’t wait to meet you next week. St
ill thinking about you, so I guess you really did win.

  I chuckled.

  Can’t wait to meet your pops. I’d call it a tie. In the tub, thinking about you.

  I hesitated before sending the message. Did I want him to know I was thinking about him? I quickly hit the send button before I could chicken out.

  In the tub, hey? Did you let your fingers do the walking? ;)

  I laughed. It was so typically Cole. But I had to admit, the thought had crossed my mind.

  I thought about it. You?

  I waited for a reply, but when there wasn’t one. I climbed out of the bath, and dried off.

  I pulled on my pyjamas and sat down to write Riley another letter.

  My phone finally buzzed.

  Yes. You win.

  I’D WRITTEN the letter to Riley, but was reluctant to send it.

  I knew deep down he wouldn’t want me to access my money, regardless of what it was for. But the thing I knew he really wasn’t going to like was that I had decided to leave my day job so I could focus on Songbirds.

  Arriving at work that morning, I had one purpose in mind. I was going to resign, and I was going to ask if I could leave straight away. I needed to be able to focus all my energy on the renovation and opening the restaurant, if it was going to be a success.

  My resignation went better than expected. My manager, while disappointed that I was going, was actually really supportive. He even promised to book a table at the restaurant for opening night.

  Next person to tell was Kelli. I took her out for lunch, my treat. That immediately sounded alarm bells for her.

  “What’s going on?” she asked suspiciously. “Have you done something you shouldn’t have with Cole?”

  Why did everyone think there was something going on with Cole? I assured her that nothing had happened, and that my promise to Riley was still intact.

  Having said that, I did neglect to tell her that I’d taken Cole to my parents’ house for lunch. Or that I’d thought about him all night. She didn’t need to know that. All she had asked was if something had happened, and the answer to that particular question was “no”.