Tainted Love Series Boxed Set

by Lily Zante

  She wondered whether Heather and Finn were together, whether they cared about one another or if their being together was purely a casual fling. Maybe Heather intentionally kept it vague because she wasn’t so sure herself which way things were going.

  While Heather and Finn tickled tongues, Melissa made small talk with the other girls, and when that conversation petered out she scanned her gaze around the bar, so as to have something to do.

  And that’s when she saw him.

  Sitting around a similar sized table with a large group of people she assumed were his friends.

  He stared straight at her, sending an arrow of excitement through her heart, kickstarting it. She jolted to attention.

  Finally, they were somewhere other than the coffee shop. A sweet buzz of anticipation put a smile on her face as she pondered the possibilities of their meeting.

  He acknowledged her with a subtle nod of his head, and she wondered if he felt the same level of excitement she did. A quick glance at the people around him gave her a rough ratio of guys to girls. They were almost equal in number, which to her anxious mind already signified that they’d come in couples.

  To her skewed way of thinking, the chances were high that he had come with his girlfriend. All this time, during which they had shared furtive glances, chance meetings, conversations laced with expectation, the idea that he might not be single had peeped at her, but she’d chosen not to stare it in the face.

  She was one to talk.

  What would he think if he knew about her and Matt? She might be on a break from him now, but she’d been with him all those times she’d been looking out for Noah.

  More friends turned up then, and she turned her head away from Noah to greet them before moving up to make way for them. When she turned back to Noah he was deep in conversation with his own friends.

  Disappointed, she turned to her own group, but every now and then her glance moved from the conversation around her and fell upon Noah’s group. “What time are we going to this party?” she asked Heather who put her fingers to her ear.

  She shouted louder, “What time are we going to the party?”

  Heather whispered something to Finn, who sat sandwiched between the two of them and he bent down to her and relayed the answer. “Eleven maybe? Heather wants to be at the party when it strikes midnight.” Melissa nodded her head at her friend.

  “We’re getting more drinks—you in?” asked Finn—and she nodded. They’d all slipped him some bills.

  “Same again?” asked Heather as she and Finn got up. Melissa nodded, and gave her contribution. She watched her friends as they trailed up to the bar area, now dense with the throb of people jostling to place orders.

  Out of habit she pulled out her cell and checked through the messages she’d accumulated. In a few hours time the mobile network would be slammed with millions of happy New Year texts and she wouldn’t get any reception then at all.

  The color drained from her face as an image of herself dressed in nothing but her underwear stared back at her. She almost dropped the phone. The message with it said:

  Missing you badly

  She quickly deleted it, grinding her teeth and wondering how to penetrate that thick skull of his. It worried her, the photos he had of her. She tried to think how many he’d taken and whether he had any of her wearing even less. With her heart pounding like a steam train, she forced herself to get up and go to the washroom. She couldn’t sit here calmly when she was a splintered wreck inside.

  But as she approached the door to the ladies washroom, Noah stood waiting for her.

  Chapter 24

  Brown eyes, soft mouth upturned, met her. He stood directly outside the door to the washroom, as if he didn’t want to miss her walking past.

  She coasted up to him.

  “Imagine running into you here,” he said.

  “Imagine.” All thoughts of visiting the washroom vanished.

  “It’s great to see you, Melissa.”

  “Likewise,” she replied. If the way her heartbeat was anything to go by, it was more than great. “Are you here with your friends?” She turned and looked over his shoulder, to where his friends sat.

  He nodded, his gaze not wavering from her face. “The guy in the blue sweatshirt is my friend, Paul, and the others are friends, people he works with and some I work with.” So far he hadn’t mentioned anything about a girlfriend and things were looking good. Especially if the way he was looking at her so intensely was anything to go by. “Those are your friends?” He nodded his head, indicating the table where she’d been sitting.

  “That’s my roommate, the one with the long blonde hair, with her ‘friend.’” She looked over to where her group sat.

  They both looked at Heather and Finn who seemed to share a private joke between themselves while Heather’s other friends sat side by side, both busy on their cell phones.

  “Her ‘friend’?” Noah offered.

  “I’m not sure what his status is,” Melissa confessed.

  “They look pretty close from where I’m standing,” he agreed. In the silence that followed she wondered whether his thoughts were preoccupied with her status.

  People’s chattering grew even louder, like a low and lazy lion’s roar echoing around the bar. With it being New Year’s Eve, an undercurrent of heightened excitement poured into the air, and dizzy anticipation swept the room, spreading over the smiling, happy people sitting in tight groups. It would stay for the next few hours right up until the anticlimax of just after midnight.

  There was no way she was going back to her table. Not now. Unless Noah left her and headed back to his. But for now they stood, secretly appraising one another.

  He showed no willingness to return to his friends, so she made a stand. “Let me grab my drink.” She rushed off before he had a chance to respond. Creeping up to her table, she was relieved to find Heather turned towards Finn, the two of them deep in conversation. Either that, or they had their lips locked again. Melissa didn’t dare attract their attention. She snatched her drink and legged it back to Noah.

  Thankfully, he was still there.

  He raised his eyebrows. “I think your friends are trying to get your attention.”

  She turned around and saw Heather’s wave. Beside her, Finn gave a thumbs up. Melissa blushed and turned back. “They’re being silly,” she offered, by way of explanation.

  “Did you come alone?” he asked.

  “With my friends.”

  He smiled and something tickled her heart: the idea of possibility.

  Is that what he meant? He was getting straight to the point.

  “Just me…playing gooseberry to Heather and Finn.” In case he needed for her to spell it out.

  “I’d say their status probably moved up a level to good friends,” Noah said.

  “You do that with your good friends?” Melissa asked.

  “With special friends only.”

  “Did you come here with your special friend?” she asked, driven by pure curiosity.

  He shook his head. “I don’t have a special friend.”

  She couldn’t help but smile at that lovely answer. But she still wished she had the gift of being psychic. Did he like her? A little at least? Some, or a lot?

  Close by, a couple left their table and Noah moved toward it. “Do you want to sit down?”

  In answer, she joined him at the table, a glance over her shoulder confirming the heat of what she felt: Heather eyeballed her.

  “It’s strange bumping into you here.” He sat down and placed his almost empty beer bottle on the table.

  “Strange?”

  “As in, good strange.”

  She waited for him to say whatever it was that was clearly on the tip of his tongue and hoped that the silence would give him the space to spell out what it was he was having trouble saying to her. “If I was to be completely honest with you”—he looked down at his bottle, before his warm eyes looked up and into hers—“I was kind of h
oping we’d bump into one another somewhere different from the coffee shop.”

  His words encouraged her. “It makes a change,” she agreed, “to meet someplace different.”

  “And I kind of feel like you’re not such a stranger anymore, because we keep bumping into each other all the time.” She loved that he was so upfront, not needing to hide behind anything. She propped her elbows on the table, and rested her chin on hands clasped together. It was as delicious as warm apple pie, falling into his words, falling into him.

  “We’ve had lunch together, so that doesn’t make us strangers anymore.” She tried to inject a touch of humor to the situation. He put down his bottle. “I have a confession to make.”

  Now her heart tripped. She angled her head, all the while excitement mounted higher inside her. The place they were in disappeared, the noise, the heat, the crowdedness of it all. Her ears strained for his words and she leaned in to hear them better.

  “You never did introduce me to your new friend.” Heather’s giggly voice killed the magic moment.

  Chapter 25

  Noah looked up at the girl with the wild blond hair who had interrupted them at such a crucial moment. She smiled at him. “I’m Heather. Melissa’s roommate.” She stood between them, her hands tracing the edge of the small table, barely big enough to sit the two of them.

  Noah returned her smile. “Hi, Heather.” Melissa’s heated face didn’t escape him; he leaned back, waiting for her reaction. With no other stools available, Heather half squatted on the floor, balancing on the tips of her toes, while her elbows now rested on the table. She looked comfortable—a lot more comfortable than Melissa.

  “And you would be?” Heather asked him.

  “I’m Noah.”

  “Noah? I don’t think I’ve heard your name mentioned before.” She gave Melissa a pointed stare. “It’s nice to meet you, Noah.”

  He saw Melissa shuffle in her chair and noticed the distinct lack of conversation between the girls. Obviously Melissa wasn’t going to be forthcoming. Not that there had ever been anything to report back.

  He didn’t know these girls too well, but it seemed to him that Melissa would have a lot of explaining to do when they got back.

  “Are you still going to the party?” Melissa asked her.

  His insides clenched.

  “Doesn’t look like it. It’s late anyway and now wouldn’t be a good time to move. We might as well stay here for the rest of the night.”

  Melissa looked at him and smiled. No party. She was going to stay here. Great.

  “Where have you been hiding him?” her friend asked, still in good spirits and not in the slightest bit perturbed by Melissa’s apparent discomfort at her question.

  “We keep running into each other at the coffee shop.” Noah came to the rescue.

  “Running? Do you go to the gym too?” Heather asked, not putting two and two together.

  Melissa answered for him. “He’s nothing to do with the gym.”

  “Nice find,” said her friend, getting up off the floor. “New Year’s strikes in less than half an hour. We’ll be over there, if you want to join us.” She winked at Melissa, “if you can bear to tear yourself away.” She smiled at Noah and left.

  Noah felt as relieved as Melissa looked when her friend disappeared. Half an hour to go. Had the time flown past so quickly?

  “Sorry about that,” Melissa said.

  “Sorry for what? She seems interesting.”

  “She’s harmless enough and a good friend, but she can be a bit nosey sometimes.”

  “She seems to care about you,” he offered.

  “She does.”

  “Are you staying here or moving on?” she asked as she looked over at where his friends sat. He turned to see and noticed that a few of them had scattered. But he was in no rush to join them. “I think we’re staying.”

  Her lips curled up at the edges.

  So far so good, thought Noah. He wondered again, for the millionth time that evening whether she was single or not. He’d been trying to figure it out for a long time now. But now that she was here in the flesh, he wondered more than ever. Because his next actions depended much on it.

  He’d thought of her on and off over Christmas, even during that difficult time. The first anniversary was the hardest, so people told him. Memories of Bree started to slip through his fingers. He always had her in his heart and mind, but now that he’d made this decision to move on, he found himself increasingly thinking of Melissa.

  She’d said she’d come alone. But it still didn’t tell him what he needed to know.

  “You’re not waiting on anyone?”

  “Huh?” She looked away and took a sip of her drink.

  Not single? he assumed, with disappointment.

  “We could just hang out here—if you’re not waiting on anyone.”

  She blushed, then swallowed. “I’m not seeing anyone, at the moment, if that’s what you’re asking, Noah.”

  He cleared his throat. “I wasn’t sure.” He looked at her, a hundred questions running wild in his brain. Though hope rekindled deep inside him.

  They sat, gazes interlocked, the thrum of electricity between them. Her lips, the way she smiled, she seemed both unsure and sure, sweet and sexy all at once—it made him want to lean over and put his lips to her mouth. Because from the way her eyes darkened, infinitesimally, the way her lips parted, he wasn’t so sure she didn’t want him to.

  The roar in the bar suddenly exploded and the countdown began. From ten … the decibel level rocketed, egged on by a dizzying, whirring, frothing frenzy of racing excitement. She looked his way and if she kept that up any longer, her eyes shiny, her face heated, her lips apart, and her mouth begging to be kissed, he wasn’t going to be able to hold back a moment longer.

  The cries reached a crescendo at the stroke of midnight. Lost in the mob of adrenaline and the cacophony enough to rival stampeding elephants, they both jumped to their feet, along with everyone else.

  “Happy New Year,” he shouted, desperately wanting to grab her by the arm and pick her up. His stomach knotted; it was hard keeping his emotions reined in, especially here where things had throttled into chaos and people around them were letting loose with abandonment.

  “Happy New Year!” she yelled right back, her fingers entwined in her hands, fidgeting, restless.

  This wasn’t it—this formal spoken greeting could not be it. It didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel enough.

  She held out her hand, in a hand shake gesture. But he shook his head. No, not like this. Adrenalin surged into his veins, and his heart seemed to soar physically in his chest. Unable to hold back, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. She came willingly, like a ribbon undone, without an ounce of resistance.

  Her gaze dipped to his lips and she blushed some more. The look, this feeling, this moment, sent goose bumps up his back and he knew right then. She felt it too. He inched closer, as did she, until soon they were joined at the hips. She looked up at him and licked her lips.

  “Happy New Year, Melissa.” He leaned in a little, felt her soft body sink against his until he was holding her weight completely and then he kissed her soft, wet lips.

  They fit just right, like the pieces of a puzzle slotting perfectly into shape the way only two perfect pieces could.

  Chapter 26

  The sizzle sizzled, even her fingers tingled when he kissed her for eternity, and she melted right into him.

  He slowly pulled his lips away and stared at her as if looking for her reaction. She gazed back at him with drunken eyes, feeling the rush of blood through her body, feeling fuzzy and faint.

  Her body wanted his kiss, his lips, his touch, his feel, as much as she wanted to breathe. She drew her head towards him, felt his fingers tighten around her waist as she looped her arms closer around his neck.

  All the while he looked at her, a silent request for permission, which she gave, moving her head in for another kiss. She angled her h
ead and met his lips, so soft, so warm, so lovely, as they sank against hers, his arms wrapped around her lower back wedging her against his body.

  This time their kiss was longer and deeper, as tastes mingled, scents meshed, and left her wanting more.

  She moved against him, feeling needed, feeling warm and soft as his tongue played with hers. It was a mixture of too much and not enough. She tightened her hold and moved her arms, a little more confidently, across his shoulders, claiming him, and moaned softly, never once breaking the kiss. More shivers showered her, arousing her further, until he broke the heat and pulled apart, needing to breathe. His lips brushed her forehead and they stood together, arms entwined, hearts beating, joined all the way.

  She tilted her head back and looked at him in silence for a while. Then she asked him, “What are you thinking?”

  His cheeks lifted when he smiled and he tightened his hands around her waist. “I’m thinking what a great start it is to the new year.”

  The warmth from his words, from him, spread all over and when he bent down again, and kissed her—a longer but lighter kiss this time. Her belly flopped. She ran her hands through his hair, refused to let him pull away, taking her time to explore his mouth and suck his lips. She felt more daring with him. It was something she could never be with Matt.

  Matt.

  The unexpected thought crashed into her and her eyelids flew wide open. She stopped mid-kiss and jerked back, breaking the kiss. It took a moment for her to recover herself. He looked at her, his face a question mark.

  “Too sudden?” He reached out and cupped the side of her face in his hand.

  “No,” she replied quickly and reached out to touch his lips. “Not too quick.”

  With his arm still around her, holding her close, he told her, “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”

  She gazed at him happily. They weren’t aware of the overexcited people surrounding them, or the almost deafening noise. They were still caught up in their own private cocoon.

  Which was the state in which Heather found them. “Happy New Year,” she yelled, more than a little tipsy. Exuberance spilled out of her as she exaggeratedly observed their tight embrace. “Hell, honey. Way to go!”