Tainted Love Series Boxed Set

by Lily Zante

  She looked down at the ugly wet patch on her blouse and groaned.

  “It doesn’t look too bad.” But his reassurance was futile because they both knew it did.

  She pulled the edges of her coat together and placed her hand across her chest, holding the coat down with her hand. They stood in silence, smiling politely. “Don’t you want to place your order?” she asked.

  “I’m waiting for it,” he said, as her cheeks heated some more. He’s not waiting for you, silly.

  “Here you go, ma’am. Have a nice day.” Melissa took her order from the assistant. “Thanks,” she said to the guy next to her.

  “No problem,” he replied. “You might want to get that burn looked at.”

  She shook her head and dismissed the idea. “This little thing? It’s nothing.”

  He cocked his head, as if doubting her for a second. “It doesn’t look like nothing to me. But at least you’re okay. Have a good day.”

  “You too,” she replied, feeling suddenly uplifted.

  Chapter 2

  Noah stared after her long after she had walked out of the coffee shop. He watched through the glass windows as she made her way across the road, her now familiar thick, long hair falling loosely over her back. It had been the first thing that he’d noticed. Shiny, luscious almost caramel brown, it had been the thing that had drawn him first. When he looked at the face framed by such beautiful hair, he’d been startled to see a face so full of sadness. It immediately made him want to know why.

  The more he became aware of her, the more he seemed to bump into her even though he knew she hadn’t noticed him once.

  Until this morning. And then it had been a double whammy. Not only had he found out her name, but he’d managed to speak to her too.

  He collected his order but his thoughts strayed back to the girl; this morning she’d seemed even more distant than usual.

  There was more of the sadness; it was subtle and hidden, but it was there all the same. He could sense it somehow, the signs that gave things away. Signs that revealed discomfort. And unease.

  Of people hiding things that pained.

  Once he, too, had known someone who was sad and hurting so much inside that she had hidden it completely. He hadn’t known it then. But now, in the fullness of time, he was able to look back on it all.

  He knew of the carefully constructed, polished to perfection exteriors people put up so that they could hide the very things they didn’t want others to see.

  Maybe Melissa had sadness and secrets too.

  If he’d only been as observant before, he might have been able to do something.

  Melissa looked nothing like Bree; that wasn’t the reason he found himself looking out for her. His memories mingled with the aroma of coffee beans as he remembered the girl he had lost.

  “Bree like the cheese?” he’d asked her, going back a decade to the first time he’d met her, when they were both freshmen in high school.

  “I hate cheese.” She’d laughed, crinkled up her nose. They’d started dating not long after. It was a high school romance, full of angst and discovery, new highs and bottomless lows.

  But it was nothing compared to the depth of love the second time around, when he’d come back home from college.

  This time around it had been the real thing. But now it, too, was gone. It was time to lay those ghosts to rest and try to move on. That was what everyone around him said. It didn’t make it any easier though.

  He took his coffee, brought himself back to the present. Following in Melissa’s footsteps he dragged himself from the warmth and out into the wall of gray coldness outside.

  At least he now knew her name. Melissa.

  She didn’t know it, but she was the first girl who had ignited a flicker of interest in him.

  His parents kept telling him, as did his friends, that a year was a long time and he had to move on. And that was exactly what Noah proposed to do.

  Chapter 3

  An hour after getting into work, Melissa gathered together the paperwork for Nadine and prepared to meet her boss.

  She’d sprayed more perfume but she still reeked of coffee. The only option now was to rush out during her lunch hour and buy a new top. She hated being in the same clothes as she’d been in yesterday, but she hadn’t expected to stay over last night at Matt’s. He’d obviously had other ideas.

  She was lucky that a guy like him was interested in someone like her. Even her friends in the accounts department envied her. So when a guy like Matt Elliott asked her out after months of flirting around, she wasn’t about to refuse. She’d noticed him around the building a few times. Who wouldn’t notice him? Lean, and wiry, yet strong—nothing like those beefed up guys from the steroid ads she’d seen in the papers. Him being part of the IT team meant he got to wander around the building legitimately. Whenever anyone had problems with their computers, or programs, they called IT.

  Things had started slowly, the flirting, the emails, the looks, the passing glances. Each time he’d come to sort out a problem—even if the problem was someone else’s—he would stop by her desk. And that was how it had begun way back in the summer when he’d fixed a network problem for Nadine.

  Since that time she noticed he was always the one who dealt with the problems on this floor. She got used to seeing him around more often. Soon, their flirty emails were about more than just smiley faces.

  The emails got longer, the glances got more daring and before long he was asking her out for drinks after work. He was cool and good-looking and moved with a couldn’t-give-a-shit attitude. It was the antithesis of her and she was sucked into the excitement of wild and daring that Matt seemed to suggest.

  At first she hadn’t been too sure whether his attention, directed all at her, was meant for her. In fact it had taken her ages to convince herself that he was interested. Eventually he asked her out.

  But it all seemed so different now.

  She knocked tentatively on Nadine’s door.

  “Hey, come in.” Nadine sat at her desk, and even though she put on a smile, Melissa could see right through it. She thought her boss would be happy to come back after a month in Europe—which seemed to Melissa to be an awesome opportunity anyway. Nadine hadn’t been so enamored of going in the first place. So she imagined her boss would be more than happy on her return. But the way Nadine looked right now indicated otherwise.

  “Glad to be back?” Melissa asked, hoping Nadine would offer some insights into her mood. She handed over the minutes of the team meeting that she had typed up.

  Nadine took the papers. “I thought I might be,” she offered, “but I’ve got even more things to deal with back here. And I didn’t want to stay so late at the office, not so soon after coming back.” She sighed, casting a quick glance over the papers. “Sit down a while, Melissa.”

  Melissa obliged reluctantly and hoped that her wearing the same clothes as yesterday wouldn’t be so obvious. “The work won’t ever die down, Nadine. You have to set a time and get out of here. Surely it’s great to be back home, with Ethan?”

  “He’s the best part of it all. I think I’ll feel better once my workload clears a little.”

  “You work too hard,” countered Melissa. Nadine arrived at work before she did and was still at her desk when Melissa headed out of the door in the evening.

  “I’m looking forward to the Christmas break,” Nadine confessed. “But turning thirty-five doesn’t appeal.” She put her fingers to her lips when Melissa jerked in her seat, eyes wide open in surprise. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She said firmly. “Anyway, how are you this morning?” Nadine’s gaze traveled to her blouse. “Accident?”

  “Some guy bumped into me at the coffee shop.” She would have to change her top.

  “Some guy?” It seemed that Nadine had no intentions of talking about work this morning. It was unusual for her boss to make much small talk, which made Melissa wonder whether things between Nadine and Ethan were a little cool at the m
oment. “I noticed you and the IT guy seem friendly,” said Nadine, with a smile.

  The color rose in Melissa’s cheeks. She wondered whether Nadine could tell that she and Matt had had sex last night. She stared down guiltily at her clothes: she wore the same black skirt and purple blouse as yesterday.

  “We’re—we’re—” She felt her blush deepen.

  “I figured,” said Nadine, “considering the number of times I see him up here.” She smiled again.

  Melissa looked away, embarrassed. She was sure her boss could see right through her, down to her unchanged clothes.

  “I knew there was a reason you rushed out each evening all dressed up,” said Nadine.

  “Making an effort. You know how it is,” said Melissa, remembering how she’d felt the need to impress Matt, especially in the early days.

  Ever since she’d started seeing Matt, she’d felt the need to make more of an effort. She dressed more carefully, taking extra time with her makeup. Matt told her he liked her in pencil skirts mainly, short but not too short. He told her he didn’t like too much “paint” on her face but sometimes, in an effort to look good for him, she overdid the makeup a little. Then he’d tell her she looked like a tart.

  Heather overdid her makeup all the time.

  “The first stages of getting to know someone—nothing beats that,” said Nadine dreamily.

  “Have you and Ethan had a fight?” Melissa asked. It wasn’t like her boss to openly talk about her problems or love life.

  Nadine sighed and crossed her arms loosely in her lap. “No. Not really. It’s hard to figure out what’s best for you as a couple. I don’t think I’m good at it.” She flicked through the documents Melissa had given her. “Thank you for doing these.” Melissa took that as meaning Nadine wanted no further discussion on the matter.

  “Do you need anything else?” Melissa asked.

  “I’ve got to give a presentation for next month’s management meeting. We’ll get together at some stage in the next few weeks so that I can tell you what data I need. We can pretty the slides up later on.”

  “Sure.” Melissa nodded. “If you find anything needs changing in the minutes let me know.” She got up to go, knowing their little chat was over. Her boss was hardworking and ambitious, and often worked a little too hard for the company. Still, at least she wasn’t nasty like some of the others. Like Sandra Donnelly for example.

  Back at her desk, Melissa saw the email icon flash on her screen, and when she read the sender’s name, her heart tripped with a flutter of excitement. Still, she hesitated before opening the email.

  Sorry about last night. I’m not sorry about you know what. I’m sorry if you didn’t feel right about the photos. You’re amazing and I didn’t mean to upset you. Meet you for lunch?

  He knew he’d upset her and he apologized. He had a heart. He had feelings; he understood her. He’d taken her to dinner, bought her lingerie. It wasn’t as nice as the silky things she’d seen in Victoria’s Secret, and she hated the slut-red-and-black lace. But if he wanted her to wear it she would. She had. But she’d have to tell him about the photos. She didn’t like him taking them. Eventually, he’d understand.

  The sex hadn’t been great…but at least he cared about her and that was what mattered.

  Chapter 4

  “You see?” Matt stared at her thighs in the mirror before dragging his gaze to meet hers. Melissa cringed at the reflection of her in black Lycra leggings and a tight sports top. She would never have worn this; it made her more conscious whenever she walked into the cool, metallic, mirrored, machine room.

  Treadmills, ellipticals and rowers stood to attention in neat lines in a corner of the gym and were more welcoming than the hostile looks she was usually met with, noticeably from women, as she trailed Matt. The men, all sweat and pained concentration on their faces, were too far gone into the ecstasy of their workouts to look up. The veins in their necks and arms corded, their butts as hard as cricket balls.

  She’d never had an issue with her soft curves before—Heather for one had always envied her figure. But Matt had decided she could improve.

  “Baby, you could do with some toning,” he’d told her one evening when they’d been making out on the couch. At first she’d put it off, thinking her constant refusal and total lack of enthusiasm to want to go anywhere near the gym might give him the hint. Only, he never seemed to let up. The more excuses she gave him the more he seemed to want to mold her to his way of thinking.

  She’d managed to hold him off for a while but then, unable to put up with the constant lecturing, she’d given in. Now here she was, a supposedly regular gym-goer, albeit one who had been hammered into going.

  She felt like a surly new recruit, made to work out two to three times a week at seven o’clock in the morning. Her figure had never been an issue until Matt had made it one.

  “They’re so much tighter now.” He sounded smug, as though his prophecy had come true. Because she’d done as he’d commanded.

  She threw another glance at herself in the mirror, her gaze falling to her legs, while Matt stood behind her, his arms possessively around her body.

  She smelled the patch of sweat under her arms and felt her heart beating furiously. Twenty minutes on the cross-trainer no longer seemed as much of a challenge now that her body was used to the regime. Her thighs looked the same to her; the only difference was that they were a teeny-weeny bit firmer. As her gaze trailed up to meet Matt’s, his hand traveled up to caress her bottom lightly. He moved back a little and examined her behind as though it were a rump joint.

  “Huge improvement,” he remarked with naked admiration. His fingers dug into her bottom and squeezed as she squirmed under his touch, conscious that the place was already busy so early in the morning.

  “Now, this”—he squeezed harder still—“is beautiful firm ass.” His hot breath grazed her ear. “You don’t know what it makes me want to do to you.” She blushed, horrified that he’d had the audacity to touch her up so roughly in front of everyone.

  “Stop it,” she cried, subtle anger burning into her. She wriggled for release but his hand was firm against her bottom. He barely loosened his hold.

  “I can’t help it.”

  Disgusted, she removed his hand and shifted out of his grip. “Don’t,” she warned, hating the way his dick seemed to take over his brain sometimes.

  “I’d do you here if I could.” His words fell bullets, and her heart shattered like shrapnel. The way he spoke, the things he did, made her wonder how he saw her.

  Or what she saw in him.

  She cringed, darting her eyes from side to side, checking to see if any heads had turned their way.

  “Do you have to be so gross?” She moved away, wanting to leave. He could go from being the nice guy who showered her with gifts and tender kisses, to the control freak who seemed obsessed with her body. She was starting to find excuses to not meet up sometimes.

  “You’re hot, Mel. You don’t see it.” He made to move towards her, but she stepped back again.

  “I’m going.” The coffee shop beckoned.

  “Ten minutes and then you can call it a day.” He seemed to think he could dictate her day.

  “I can’t. I’m going to be late.” Nadine had asked her to come in early today.

  “Whatever.” He skulked over to the neatly lined up rowing machines demanding to be taken. “Ten minutes,” he said, his voice cold.

  “I can’t. I have to go back.” Nadine was a stickler for time and Melissa knew she’d be waiting.

  She’d done forty-five minutes and she’d had enough. She was calling it a day. Visions of neatly lined up blueberry muffins called out to her. She’d made a habit out of rewarding herself with a muffin on extremely stressful days, and a cup of coffee any day she worked out.

  A gift to herself for surviving the morning ritual.

  Though lately, ever since the encounter with the guy in the coffee shop a few days ago, she’d found herself
going to the coffee shop every day. Even on non-gym days.

  She gave Matt a backward glance. He pushed back and forth on the rower with force, his forearms and biceps straining. The workout god, taut, lean, muscular and he never seemed to tire of pushing himself to the limit, as if the high from the grueling workout re-energized him.

  “I’ll see you later.”

  He didn’t answer.

  Have it your own way. She walked off, leaving him furiously rowing. She hadn’t noticed this sulky streak in him in the beginning, but now it was starting to piss her off.

  Later, freshly showered and smelling like verbena, she walked along the sidewalk, almost tasting the muffin she hadn’t even bought yet.

  The gym, only a few blocks from work, was subsidized by her employer. Matt had been coming religiously ever since he’d joined the company. Until she’d started dating him, going to the gym was something that other people did. Though that was why his body was so hard, and the guy looked good, strutting about the way he did. Her friends in accounts still grilled her for details about him.

  Now, more than a few months into their relationship, Melissa didn’t have many good things to brag about anymore. The Matt she had met seemed to slip away, only coming out occasionally. She was beginning to discover a darker, more sinister side to him. A side that often had her acting like a Melissa she didn’t know—a shell of herself, always eager to please him.

  Of course, it wasn’t only him. She’d had lots to contend with at work too, what with Nadine being away for so long. But now with Nadine back in San Francisco, things were even busier. It helped that her boss was just a door away from her. But workwise, the pressure at the advertising company never let up.

  She walked into the coffee shop and scanned her gaze around casually. No sight of him. She placed her order and waited, looking around every now and then. Now that they’d managed a few words, that he’d come to know her name, she’d been hoping to run into him some more.

  She hadn’t stopped to think about it—the fact that she looked out for him now. And she only came to this realization because her disappointment at his absence highlighted the fact.