Songbird (Songbird, #1) (42 page)

I gave Cooper a warm embrace and he picked me up off the ground, squeezing me tight before planting a big kiss on my lips.

Riley and Kelli were hugging as well, and laughing at Cooper, who was making big kissing noises as he puckered up.

Looking around, I found Jason standing alone, separate from the group a little, so I went over and gave him a huge hug. “You’ll find someone fabulous this year,” I said hopefully to him, and he squeezed my shoulders.

“I think I’m destined to always be the bridesmaid, and never the bride,” he said jokingly.

We looked around; there were people everywhere kissing each other, whether they knew the person or not. Riley and Cooper hugged, not doing that strange guy thing that’s a half hug, but a proper true mate’s hug, and I gave Kelli a squeeze. She had been my saviour this past year and I owed her a lot; it was a debt I wouldn’t forget, should she ever need anything.

It was then that I remembered my phone had buzzed when I was kissing Riley, so I pulled it out of my pocket to check the message. It was from Cole.

HNY babe. Save me a kiss x

I checked the time of the message; it was at exactly midnight. I looked up quickly to see where Riley was. I wished I didn’t have to hide my friendship, but Riley was so jealous when it came to Cole. He was busy joking around with Cooper and Jason, so I hastily replied;

HNY 2 u 2. Thought u wanted to greet NY with a bang?

I was just about to send a message to Marcus and Jay when my phone buzzed again.

Banging as we speak ;)

I couldn’t help myself, I giggled at Cole’s cheekiness as I replied.

U should be focused on task at hand. Stop texting me!

He replied back straight away.

Multitasking
—
1 head thinking of u, the other focused on her ;P

I couldn’t resist.

OMG! Ur a shocker! Btw, thought u would be kissing at 12 not texting me?

Again, he replied within seconds;

Ur more important. Gotta go
—
need to come. HNY c u soon x

I debated whether or not to reply with a
c u soon x
back, but decided against it, seeing as he was busy “coming”. Instead, I chose to send a message to the other guys.

“What’s so funny?” Kelli asked, watching me punch out the message. I was still laughing to myself over Cole’s texts.

“Oh, nothing, just sending the guys a Happy New Year message,” I replied as I finished and pushed send.

W
E WERE
up with the sparrows, and in the car before the sun came up. The people who I had booked the hot air balloon ride with had sent a text that morning to confirm that the weather conditions were suitable for flying, and I had dragged Riley out of bed without telling him what we were doing.

“But it’s my birthday. I don’t want to get up yet,” he said sleepily as he rolled back over, throwing his arm over me, and pulling me in under him. “Can’t you think of something else to do that doesn’t involve getting out of bed?”

I looked at his face. He had a one-track mind, and usually I was on the same track, but not today. We had somewhere we needed to be.

We dressed in summer clothing, but I told Riley he needed a jacket as well, which he greeted with a puzzled look. I then quickly threw some of his clothes and mine into a bag, and ran it across to Jason’s apartment for Kelli to collect later while Riley was in the bathroom.

We drove out to the meeting place in the dark, with Riley asking a million questions about where we were going and what we were doing.

As soon as we arrived and he saw the balloon, his face lit up and he muttered “awesome” under his breath. That was all I needed to hear. I knew he was a trained helicopter pilot, and jumped out of planes regularly, so while this was something different I didn’t know if he would find it that exciting. I looked at his face; he was grinning from ear to ear like a little kid, his gorgeous blue eyes glistening.

We grabbed our jackets and went over to the balloon to meet Rick, who would be taking us up, and Andy, his helper. Rick and Andy were going over the safety checks, which Riley was really interested in, asking loads of questions and listening intently to their answers.

Finally, when the balloon was checked and ready to go, we hopped in.

“Don’t we have to wait for other people?” Riley asked as Andy untied us.

“No, I booked the whole balloon so it’s just us,” I said, smiling, but then I remembered the whole money issue, and my face dropped with uncertainty. Was it too much? Would Riley be angry? I needn’t have worried, though; he either didn’t know how much it cost, or didn’t care.

We were rising up into the clouds as the flames from the burner heated the air in the balloon, and Riley was looking at me adoringly.

We drifted over houses and parks, and I tried to get my bearings so I could point different landmarks out to him. At one stage we floated over my parents’ house, and I pointed down to it. It was a great view of the entire estate, and Riley looked at it in awe when he realised the true size. The house that he had been in was only a small portion of it; there was a tennis court, massive in-ground landscaped pool, pool house, guest house, and manicured gardens.

I looked sheepishly out of the corner of my eye at his reaction. I could see his jaw tighten, but he glanced sideways at me, and seeing my apprehension, visibly relaxed and stepped around behind me to give me a hug. I wrapped my arms around his and rested my head back onto his shoulder. We stayed that way for the remainder of the flight.

We drifted up and down through the clouds, and just above treetops for nearly an hour. It was so peaceful in the air, the only noise coming from the blast of the burners when they were required to lift us higher.

Every now and then I looked up over my shoulder at Riley; he was looking dreamily out over the landscape, but every time my head turn he looked down at me and smiled.

“Thank you for this. It’s awesome,” he whispered as we sailed over the Yarra Valley wineries.

“Don’t thank me yet. This is just the first part of your present.”

He looked at me, mouth agape. “What, there’s more?” he asked with a huge grin.

I nodded, but didn’t say any more. I wanted each step to be a new surprise.

We held on tight as we came down to land. We had been warned that the basket may tip over, but luckily Rick was an expert, and managed to touch down lightly so we could climb out unscathed.

“Okay, so where to now?” Riley asked excitedly.

I pointed over to a limousine that was waiting for us, and we hurried over to it.

“Happy birthday!” Kelli and Cooper shouted as the driver opened the back door.

Riley laughed out loud, and we jumped into the backseat with them and took off.

The driver took us to one of the boutique wineries in the region and we all climbed out, before heading into the restaurant for a champagne breakfast.

“Babe, this is too much!” Riley said, beaming at me.

We were seated on the veranda, and the waiter brought over a full cooked breakfast and a bottle of their finest champagne. We sat out on the veranda, watching the last few balloons touchdown in the field while we toasted Riley and wished him well on his twenty-sixth birthday.

At the end of breakfast, which turned into lunch and then afternoon tea, Kelli and Cooper made their way back to the car. Riley went to follow them into the car, but I held his hand to stop him. He looked around at me questioningly, before realising that his birthday wasn’t over yet.

“We’re staying here tonight,” I told him, biting my bottom lip. “If that’s okay with you?”

He scooped me up in his arms and nuzzled his face into my neck, and I held onto him just as tightly.

The driver then told us that our bag was waiting for us in the guesthouse, and we thanked him and said goodbye to Kelli and Cooper, waving them off, before heading to our accommodation for the night.

The guesthouse was magnificent. It was only quite small, really just big enough for a romantic getaway for two, so it was perfect for us. We looked around; it had everything we needed. There was a king-sized bed with crisp white Egyptian cotton linen, and a bathroom with a huge spa bath and double shower. It was located down a secluded path right by a man-made pond, so we could sit out on the deck and watch the swans and ducks on the water.

Wrapping my arms around Riley’s neck, I ran my fingers through his hair. “So, are you enjoying your birthday so far?” I asked, giving him a peck on the lips.

“It’s the best birthday I’ve ever had,” he said wistfully. “I can’t thank you enough, babe. I love you so much.”

“I haven’t bought you a gift, though. I didn’t know what to get you.” I actually felt bad for not buying something that he could keep long after the day was over, but he just chuckled.

“You’re joking, right? This is the best gift ever. I can think about today, and remember this for the rest of my life. It’s better than any physical gift; it’s a memory I’ll cherish forever.” He leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips. “Do you have anything planned for right now?” he asked with a wicked grin.

I smiled. I knew where this was heading. “No, not until dinner, which is booked for seven pm.” I checked my watch; that gave us about two and a half hours to kill.

We dressed for dinner, and I made a special effort for Riley’s benefit. I knew he couldn’t resist my cleavage, so I wore a little black halter dress with a plunging neckline. I styled my hair in soft curls around my shoulders, and then made up my face so my eyes were the main feature. I knew Riley preferred minimal lipstick; it was easier to kiss and not get in a mess, so I just used a little shimmer of lip gloss. A quick spray of
CK One Summer
and I was ready.

Riley was just putting on his shirt when I entered the bedroom. I stood in the doorway and watched adoringly as his muscles tensed and flexed. I read the tattoo down his side for the one thousandth time, and followed his hands as they reached for the first button on his shirt. He looked up, and his piercing blue eyes swept over me.

“You look amazing,” he said, as he paused on my cleavage for a moment before meeting my eyes.