by Lily Zante
Melissa pressed the palms of her hands to her face as she listened.
“That day she was full of hope. She told me the recovery would take time, months, years even but that she’d won half the fight because she wanted to get better. And she said that if I was still single when she got better, she wanted us to get back together. She died two weeks later.”
Melissa saw him look away, saw him hunch over, ever so slightly, saw his battle for composure. “What happened?” she asked, battling to keep her voice steady, even as she felt her heart slide down the slippery slope of her insides. “She said she was going upstairs to watch a film on her laptop but when her mother went in later to say goodnight to her, Bree had keeled over to the side. She was already dead. They said later that she’d had some sort of brain swelling, and it caused something similar to a stroke. It happened because of an electrolyte imbalance caused by the bulimia. It was Christmas Eve.”
Melissa wiped her face, then leaned over and put her arms around him. “I’m so sorry.” She held him, wanting to absorb some of his pain. They stayed locked like that for a while before moving apart.
“It’s been a long year.”
“I can imagine.” Now she understood why he hadn’t spoken much about his Christmas break. All this time she’d been worrying about her own troubles, never once knowing about the sadness that was gnawing at him.
“I’ll never forget her.” He looked away.
“No.” She put her hands back on her lap.
“You never forget someone who impacts you in that way. I still remember the girl I met in high school, when I think of her now.” He brought his gaze back to Melissa.
“I don’t suppose you do,” she said, feeling a deeper bond, now that he had revealed a side of him she had known nothing about. “And I don’t think you should forget people who have been a part of your life, as she had been.”
“But you helped me.”
“How?” How could she have possibly helped him, when she hadn’t even been aware of his pain?
“You made me move on by giving me something else to think about. You distracted me, you could say.”
She gave him a startled look.
“You didn’t mean to, I’m sure. But you did.” He touched her hand as it lay in her lap. “I don’t think you even noticed me for the first few months.”
She thought about it. “I noticed you when some guy bumped into me and knocked my coffee all over me.”
“I’d noticed you long before then. I came here once and saw you. You looked a little down. I don’t know what it was. It’s not even near my work place, there are closer coffee shops.”
“There are?”
“There are.”
He came here looking for me.
“I came a few days later, and there you were again. In time, I started looking forward to bumping into you.” His confession made her blush.
“You didn’t even know me,” she exclaimed.
“Even worse—you had no idea about me. But looking forward to seeing you was the first time in many months I started to fill my mind with thoughts other than of Bree.”
She shrugged, then told him. “You helped me more. You were the one good thing I had to look forward to, after Matt had said or done something to upset me.”
He ran his palms over her hand. “Maybe we just found each other at the right time.” She couldn’t think of how to respond but savored his words as they sank into her.
“What do you say, Melissa?”
What was he asking her? She let him hold her hand, enjoying the feel of his warm skin on hers, a delicious feeling of contentment building up within her. “I say maybe we stay here and talk some more?”
He held onto her hands firmly, as if she’d disappear if he let them go. “I wish I could. I’ve got backlogged work to catch up on, because of all these interviews I’ve been busy with. My boss wants a shortlist of candidates first thing tomorrow.”
She looked disappointed.
“How about we catch up tomorrow?” he suggested. “If it works for you?”
“Tomorrow sounds good,” she said, looking forward to it already.
“Shall we try someplace else?”
She thought about it. “How about you come to mine?”
Chapter 48
He rang the doorbell promptly at seven on the dot, and her friend, Heather, answered, looking promptly disappointed at seeing him. She hid it quickly and well.
“Hi, again.” She welcomed him in.
As he stepped inside, he caught sight of Melissa, who had stopped a few paces away. Obviously she’d been expecting him.
They locked eyes and she mouthed a gentle, ‘Hi.’
The doorbell rang again and once more Heather jumped to answer it.
“Ready?” asked Finn. Noah remembered the guy from New Year’s Eve.
“Hey.” The guy nodded at him and Melissa as they both stood in the now congested hallway, waiting for Heather to leave.
“Have fun and be good.” Heather winked at them and left with Finn.
“I hope you’re taking her advice,” said Noah, feeling more relaxed now that it was only the two of them. She definitely looked more at ease than he’d seen her in a long time.
She let out a laugh. “You’re punctual,” she told him. “And thank you,” she added when he handed her a bottle of wine.
“I know this looks as though I want to get you drunk, but I promise you that’s not my intention.”
“Thank you anyway.” She took the wine and smiled at him shyly.
“I didn’t know what your preference was.” He followed her into the kitchen. He looked around: she’d been busy and it smelled great. “I didn’t realize you’d be cooking. I didn’t expect you to. I mean, after all the high drama of the last few days, I didn’t want to put you out.” After all, she was so close to downtown and there were so many restaurants close by. The last thing he wanted was to impose on her.
She looked up, a little embarrassed. “It’s not a big deal. Cooking takes my mind off things.”
She seemed nervous, and he quickly tried to put her at ease. “Hey, no. Staying in is great. I didn’t want to put you out, that’s all.” Besides, she had a great place that looked as if it was made for relaxing.
She moved a stray lock of hair away with the back of her hand. “I thought it might make a change to meet someplace not so busy. Don’t you think this is different than the coffee shop or Zoot?”
She had a point. “This is great, Melissa.” The appeal of staying in just got better, as far as he was concerned.
“Here,” she said, rolling a couple of tomatoes across the kitchen island towards him. “Maybe you could get started on these.” She took out some lettuce and cucumber from the refrigerator. Smiling, he grabbed the tomatoes. This was nice. Making salad, with Melissa. A world away from where they’d been just a week ago.
She got busy with some pasta sauce, and every now and then, he looked over, smiling at her.
They ate, sitting across the table from each other, the bottle of wine half empty. She had seconds, and he liked that she had a healthy appetite. He had seconds too. “This is good. Really good,” he said, appreciatively, looking down at his bowl of pasta.
“Isn’t it?” she agreed.
“Did you run into Matt today?” He wanted to get the nasty stuff out of the way. It bothered him that she still had to endure the risk of running into him.
She shook her head. “I forgot to tell you the best news of the day! Nadine said he handed in his notice.”
Noah put down his fork in surprise. “That was quick. We haven’t even called him in for the second interview.”
“You want to take him on?”
“No, I want to make him think we’ll take him on.”
“Cruel,” said Melissa.
“He’s earned it.”
“If you’ve not offered him a place yet, and you have no intention of it—I wonder where he’s going?”
“I expect we
’ll find out soon enough.”
“Did he notice his corrupt files?”
“If he has, he hasn’t said anything about them. I think he’ll figure out that it was foul play, but he’ll never be able to prove it,” Noah said with certainty. In fact, Matt had barely ventured much out of his room lately. They hadn’t even seen him during the evenings for the past few days.
“That’s all in my past now.” Melissa pushed her plate away.
“In the past,” he repeated, wondering if he should state his intention now. His being here was an intention of sorts, but even so, these things had to be declared, spelled out aloud. “Time for new beginnings.”
He’d been single for over a year now. It wasn’t that he hungered for Bree anymore—but the moments that used to be filled with feelings of guilt for her had started to be replaced with thoughts of Melissa.
She gave him an inquisitive look. “New beginnings,” she said it as though it was a new untried phrase.
“Do you know what I noticed first, about you? When I saw you in the coffee shop?”
“My sad face?”
“Your hair.”
“My hair?” She touched it distractedly, as if she found the idea ludicrous.
“That and your sad eyes. You seemed to be kind of down most days. I’m not saying you were miserable, but you had this sense of sadness about you that I noticed straight off. Was it always Matt?”
She started to shift, collect her plate and get ready to move off the table.
“Stay,” he said, wanting them to talk, and not wanting her to run away. This opportunity was so rare, so new to them to let down their guard and talk alone without the inconvenience of being in a public place full of other people. He’d already told her his past, and now he wanted to know some things about her, to hear about her past, and to see if he had any chance of being her future.
“I used to go to the gym—and I hated it at first. But later, as I stuck to the routine, I got used to it. Getting up that early to go there didn’t seem like such a chore after a month. Matt wanted me to tone up, wanted me to have a firmer, fitter body.” Noah felt his jaw tighten. “He’s into all of that,” she explained, in case he hadn’t himself noticed all the protein shakes and careful diet the guy was on. He wasn’t a bulky muscle-laden monster, but he was a monster nonetheless.
“You’re perfect, exactly as you are,” Noah said. She always had been.
~~
She got up then, and started to clear the table. Noah helped her and together they worked side by side, surprisingly nimbly, as though they had been used to having dinner together and clearing up together for years.
It was a feeling of ease and contentment that Melissa wasn’t used to. It was a feeling she liked.
As they made their way back into the living room, they heard voices and laughter outside the front door, and the sound of car doors closing.
Back already? Melissa’s heart sank at the thought of Heather returning so soon.
“Let me show you my room,” said Melissa, cringing at what Noah might have thought of her poor line but anxious to move him out of here, where it sounded like Heather was about to make an appearance any time now.
“Oh, okay,” Noah replied, unsure, and then followed Melissa as she quickened her footsteps heading towards her bedroom.
She wanted privacy and they needed a quiet uninterrupted place where they could at least talk easily, especially now that they had finally managed to get some time alone.
“Big room.” Noah whistled, his tone one of admiration. Thankfully it was also relatively clean and free from clutter. With the exception of the reading chair in the corner beside her table, there was nowhere else to sit apart from the bed. And so they stood like two gangly teens in the middle of her room, him admiring the dimensions of it and her breathing a sigh of relief that it was in a relatively presentable state.
They stared at the bed—and avoided staring at the bed.
“Yeah,” repeated Noah, “it’s a great place you’ve got here, so close to work and all.” He folded his arms.
“It is a great perk,” she agreed, entwining her hands together.
“Great,” Noah agreed, and then looked at her. Before she knew it he moved towards her, and she towards him, so that within the next second, their bodies touched. His arms slid around her waist, as hers snaked up his arms, and tightened around his shoulders. “This is an even better perk.”
“Yeah?” It didn’t matter if he told her that it was raining cats and dogs now, she only wanted to melt into his lips, to capture more of what had been promised to her the last time they’d been close like this.
But his answer was given to her by the touch of his lips, gently brushing hers, not so much a teasing touch as an inquisitive one, which she answered, by moving her lips to bond with his. She tightened her arms around his neck, and savored the feel of him, this time with the hunger that came from not having finished what they’d started.
His kiss was firm, and claiming and she moved into it, kissing him deeper, claiming him back. Her fingers tangled in his hair and she pulled him tighter towards her, moaning into his mouth and willing him to move closer still.
She had no recollection of how their tangled bodies ended up on her bed, both still fully clothed, as they rediscovered the first unsure but hungry touches of each other. She looked at him, at the one who had made her see how much better it could be. When he smiled up at her, she bent down and ran her hands through his dark hair, reveling in the feel of its silk through her fingers.
She couldn’t say with certainty how things with Noah would work out, but she felt as though she had a pretty good idea. For in the months she’d already known him, he’d always made her feel good inside.
In fact, he’d always made her feeling pretty damn amazing.
Having been with someone who had dragged her to despair, she knew it could be better, knew she deserved better, knew she didn’t have to settle for anything less.
Life with Noah promised all of these things.
** The End **
This is the end of Melissa and Noah’s story but the Tainted Love series continues with Embracing Love, another standalone romance:
Embracing Love is Tanya’s story and you can read an excerpt from it at the end of this book.
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Lily
An Excerpt from Embracing Love
Tanya Braun waited alone in the discreetly chic office belonging to Gabriel Valois. Fighting to keep her irritation in check, she swallowed hard and felt her neck muscles tighten before venturing a glance at her watch. She looked around the room, tapping her foot in a poor attempt to stifle her growing annoyance.
He kept it tidy, she thought, and sniffed, inhaling the scent of cedar wood and spice that hung in the air.
This was insane.
She’d arrived on time, and had already waited outside in the reception area for fifteen minutes. He came rushing into the office, apologized for running over on a prior meeting, and called her in.
But a moment later he excused himself to take a call on his cell and disappeared out of the room.
She’d been waiting ever since. Should she be thankful that she’d now been given access to his office and was at least a step closer to seeing him?
Footsteps outside alerted her to his return and she heard him close the door and sit back down opposite her.
He folded his hands and
frowned, making her feel at fault for being here.
“You wanted to see me?” He narrowed his eyes as he spoke. This was a meeting Nadine had set up having met with Mr. Valois last week. Today, Tanya had come with the intention of putting into place a strategic plan for delivering an ad campaign that Nadine, the executive creative director of the Zimmerman Group, and Russell Trent, the CEO of Flight US, a sportswear company, had already discussed in the US.
It seemed to her that the man had a problem and if so, he ought to bring this up with Michael Zimmerman, her boss, and Russell Trent, his boss. They both wanted the two companies to work together and Russell had already been blown away by the success and brilliance of the advertising campaign Nadine had put together.
It was this very advertising campaign that had now been imposed on Mr. Valois, and the man didn’t seem remotely interested in anything she had to say.
“I’m following up a meeting you had with Nadine Stefano last week,” she started, and then hesitated as Mr. Valois picked up a pen and began to tap it noisily against the smooth wooden surface. “I have some designs based on what you and Nadine discussed last week. Perhaps we could discuss them? I’d be most interested in your feedback.”
She pulled out the designs Luc had created and spread them out carefully over the desk, all the while telling him of her ideas in order to ensure that this new ad campaign would fit in more closely with Flight Europe’ product line. But Mr. Valois’ continuous pen tapping and the look on his face when she glanced his way, told her he wasn’t paying much attention to her words.
“Would you please stop that?” This time she didn’t even bother to hide her displeasure. “It’s…somewhat annoying.”
He stopped, but gave her a cold stare.
“The conceptual designs,” she said, pushing her mock-ups towards him. Her gaze met his cold flint-like eyes.
“And what do you want me to do with these?” He asked, scarcely giving them his attention.
“You are the client, Mr Valois,” she attempted to match his hostility, in a subtle way. “I am only here at your request.”
He shook his head and leaned forward before he threw down the pen. “We have been happily working with a local Parisian ad agency with which we have a great relationship. We like their work. Just because our parent company in the US seems to be overexcited with the ad campaign your people have put together, I do not see why it should be imposed on us. We might be the same company, however we are continents apart, we are different countries and it makes no sense at all to change what is already working well.”
