by Lily Zante
Melissa hoped she wouldn’t have to babysit her all the way home. The way she felt right now, she didn’t want to move from Noah’s arms.
Finn had his arms around Heather’s shoulders, and another round of Happy New Year greetings was exchanged. This time, Noah and Melissa moved apart and stood side by side. But he slipped his hand easily around her waist, as if to tell the world she was his. It was a new sensation for her, to feel cared for and wanted by someone she wanted right back.
“Coming with us? To par-tay?” asked Heather, as Finn grappled with her, holding her tight with her back to his chest.
The idea didn’t appeal to Melissa, but looking at the state Heather was in, she knew she couldn’t let her go alone, Finn or no Finn. She caught Noah watching her. What did he want?
“Come along. It’ll be fun.” Heather waved her arms at Noah in a feeble attempt to catch his attention.
“Yeah, dude. You’re more than welcome to come with us,” Finn told him, and the two of them fooled around, not in any rush to move off.
“I have to go,” Melissa told him. “I have to make sure she gets home okay.”
Noah held her hand. “I know.”
“Come.”
“Do you want me to?”
“I want you to.”
“I want to, too.” He leaned in and kissed her again, and this time, her body tingled all over.
They walked to the party for what seemed like more than an hour. But despite the cold, the chill, the dark, the distance, Noah held her hand the entire time. When they got there, people were spilling out onto the street. The front door was wide open and inebriated people loitered everywhere, inside and outside. They followed Heather, Finn and the rest of the group into the house.
Inside the huge, multi-level house, encased in darkness and noise, they moved through hallways filled with people holding plastic cups.
Going up the stairs to another level, they’d lost Heather and Finn who had been leading the way. Now the two of them walked around the dimly lit rooms hand in hand.
“I don’t know anyone here,” Melissa shouted into Noah’s ear.
“Me neither,” he shouted back and led her out of the noisy room where music blared out and bodies, back-lit from lights at one end of the room, gyrated slowly, surrounded by the smell of smoke and alcohol that stained the air. Melissa wished they’d stayed at the bar.
Until Noah pulled her into an empty room. A rectangular black fabric lampshade with a gold orb-shaped base threw warm light onto the bed. They closed the door behind them, shutting out the noise and stench outside.
Noah asked her, “Do you want to go out and mingle?”
“No.” She gripped his hand.
“Do you want to dance?”
“No.”
Here, they had privacy. She locked the door. “Just so that people won’t walk in.”
“I know,” he said.
“I’m not saying that we’re going to do anything,” she said hastily, not wanting him to get the wrong impression. Somehow, she didn’t think Noah would get the wrong impression.
“I know.” He turned to her and his gaze dipped to her lips. She reached out the same time as he did, and they touched fingertips, and slowly her lips sought his, his fingers entwined with hers, until their bodies held tight, lips moved, tongues felt.
She’d never felt so hot for anyone before. The long, gradual buildup, slowly formed over months, and lusted after for weeks, came together in a desperate, wanton hunger for each other.
She kissed him as though she wanted to devour him and had never known herself to possess such feeling for someone she hardly knew.
He touched her, nowhere overtly sensual, but his fingers were sensual, his touch sublime. His fingers traced along her neck, then gently below the rise of her collarbone, slid along her jaw while his other hand clasped her firmly around her waist. She pressed against him, her body feeling the pressure of each part of him. Before long they were on the bed, fully clothed, with not a button undone, yet hungry to touch and kiss and explore safe ground for now.
It was mutual, this safe haven. She wanted him, right here, right now, but she also knew, even caught up the headiness of lust, that dragging it out, making this be enough for now, was enough.
A couple of times, Noah stopped, pulled his mouth away, his fingers frozen in motion. He’d look down at her, smile, go slow, stop to stare, and each time she’d be the first one to move in, lift her head, fix her lips to his, move her hands up and down his fully clothed back.
And wonder what it would feel like to be naked and sweaty and hot beneath him now.
But that could wait.
When he dipped his tongue further in her mouth, she arched her back, needing to feel him while she suffered the sweet torture of restraint.
Chapter 27
She stared at the clock on her bedside table and noted the time. Still early for a late night. The clock, more a memento now than serving any useful function, had been a present from her mom when she worried that her daughter might have problems waking up on time. Her mother couldn’t get her head around the idea that these days Melissa used her cell phone for pretty much everything else, including relying on it to wake her up on time.
Including now, when she stared at the text message from Matt. He’d sent her another one a few hours ago. This time with a different photo of her: it was tamer than the first one she’d seen in Zoot. She still had her blouse on in this one. Perhaps he had finally understood something.
What r u doing? Where r u?
Call me
She remembered this picture. It had been the first one he’d taken—that first time they’d ever had sex. She’d held out for months and in the end it hadn’t quite happened the way she’d hoped it would. That had been the first time he’d asked her to pose suggestively.
Why had she complied?
She’d woken up and only read the message now. He’d sent it around five in the morning. Five in the morning as they’d all walked home once the party wound down.
She’d fallen asleep in Noah’s arms. Three hours of sleep after a good many hours of heavy making out. They’d fallen asleep until Heather’s shouting outside the locked door broke their sweet slumber.
He’d gone home and she’d come back with Heather and Finn. Last night had meshed into early morning and she’d fallen asleep on her bed still in her day clothes. She’d been too tired and drunk on Noah to think rationally about anything else.
A heavy feeling settled in the base of her stomach as she glanced at her cell phone. He’d called her eight times since midnight. So much for giving her breathing space. She turned it off knowing that he’d call her again today and the last thing she wanted was for him to intrude into her life.
Today she wanted to think about Noah. They’d been so busy swapping feelings and touches and kisses that they’d forgotten to swap contact details.
Her heart raced at the memories and the way he’d kissed her and held her, the way his hands had roamed all over. She didn’t want to go too long without feeling that again. Without wanting more of it, now that her body was ripe for Noah.
“You up?” Heather shouted outside her door.
“Yeah,” she replied, wearily. Her chance of wallowing in Noah moments were now shot to pieces.
Heather walked in slowly, balancing a small tray in her hands. She seemed remarkably cheerful despite the lack of sleep. “How long have you been up?” she asked, walking over to the bed. Melissa’s gaze fixed on the coffee cups on the tray.
“Not long. Did Finn stay over?” Melissa asked, as she sat up and gratefully took her cup.
“He crashed here a while, then left a couple of hours later. He said he wanted to walk back instead of waiting until the morning.” She sat down beside Melissa and crossed her legs, making herself at home.
“Commitment issues?” Melissa took a sip and felt the bitter liquid glide down her throat. Damn good. She took another sip. How anyone made it to eleven o’clock
without a shot of caffeine was beyond her.
Heather said nothing, but her eyes, as wide as saucers, examined Melissa. Melissa knew exactly why—she’d been spared the MI5 interrogation last night because Finn and Heather had disappeared into her bedroom once they got back. There was a reason her friend had brought her coffee this morning. Heather cleared her throat noisily. “When are you going to tell me about this gorgeous new guy of yours? I didn’t know coffee shop pickups were your thing.”
“He’s not a coffee shop pickup.”
“You’ve never said a thing about him before. I’m not having a go at you or anything—but you seemed kind of into him last night. And he’s so into you. It’s so obvious. Even before the two of you got into lip lockdown mode.”
Melissa clutched her coffee cup tightly. She’d never mentioned anything to Heather about Noah before because it had all been so subtle. He’d crept up on her slowly like a tide that had come in on a sun-kissed beach.
“I used to see him in the coffee shop most mornings.”
Heather placed her cup down, fluffed up a pillow and laid it up against the headboard. She made herself comfortable against it. “I’m ready. Now, tell me more.”
“There’s nothing more to tell.” Melissa snorted. She wanted to keep everything about Noah to herself. Until she got things sorted out with Matt, and only then could figure out where she and Noah were headed.
“You see this guy in the coffee shop and all of a sudden you’re locking lips with him in a wrestle that a WWE fighter would be proud of?” Heather was at her finest when seeking new information and doling out advice. “Talking of barbarians, what do you think your psycho ex is going to say about this?”
Melissa groaned into her coffee cup. She was going to have to do something quickly. She couldn’t start anything with Noah until Matt was out of the picture.
“How do you suppose he’s going to handle the news of you seeing someone so quickly after dumping him? And remember, right now, as far as he’s concerned, the two of you are still together. You’re having a break.” She said the last bit in air-quotes. “Don’t be surprised if he thinks you were cheating on him.”
Melissa swallowed hard. Heather was right. He already thought that. When Matt had accused her of finding someone else, she’d told him the truth. There was no one else. Nothing had happened with Noah at that point.
Nothing physical. But she’d been starting to become emotionally involved with him many weeks before. Did that count as being disloyal?
And it had all changed last night. She hadn’t given Noah everything, and he hadn’t sought more. But she’d given and taken enough to know that they were both at the same place, that they both wanted more of each other, from each other.
“What’s with you and Finn?” Melissa asked, to take the focus away from her. Heather grinned at her like a woman let loose from bedlam. “Nothing.” Her coyness suggested otherwise.
“Didn’t look like nothing to me. The way the two of you carried on most of the night.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Melissa couldn’t say anything.
“He’s kind of cute, don’t you think?” Heather’s bed head hair framed her perfectly round face. She yawned. “I’m not sure I want a serious boyfriend right now. Life’s too short to taste the same ice cream for too long.”
Melissa shook her head, as her friend lay languorously on her bed, a smile on her face. This was where she and Heather differed. Melissa wanted one love. She’d had her share of boyfriend disasters. She didn’t care for moving from guy to guy.
She wanted one, loyal, hers forever kind of love. And so she knew she had to fix it and soon. She’d have to fix it today.
~~
After broken sleep, in which he spent a couple of hours lying in bed thinking about Melissa, Noah was up and at his desk providing remote support to one of their top clients. He wanted to fix their issue remotely, from his bedroom—the thought of going to the client’s site didn’t appeal.
If it weren’t for the emergency call that had been escalated to him, he’d have stayed in bed with nothing but thoughts of Melissa roaming freely in his head.
Last night had turned out beyond his expectations.
Especially when the last person he expected to run into at the new bar was Melissa.
She was everything he needed and wanted to take away his blue and gray. He’d forgotten what it was like, being close to someone, so close he could almost feel her heart beating against his chest. He was starting to remember what it was like to hold someone so full of flesh and warmth.
Towards the end, Bree had been a bag of bones. Holding her then had been hard. He’d thought he might break her.
But with Melissa last night, feeling her fullness in his arms, knowing the build up to this stage had been long and slow and hit and miss, it only made their getting together so much more powerful, so much more meaningful. So much more everything.
He’d been mindful of keeping within his limits, not wanting to rush into anything. As much as he wanted her and as much as he knew she wanted him, he would let her set the pace. And she’d told him with her moans, her sighs, her hot breath, her eager lips, that she did want more.
He would wait. He could wait. She was worth waiting for. She had been everything he’d dreamed of, and more.
He needed to taste those lips again. But for today, not having any way of contacting her, he’d have to rely on his memories of yesterday. While he dealt with this heavily escalating support call.
Chapter 28
“Thanks,” said Melissa, and walked into the apartment where Matt lived. She’d seen the guy who opened the door once before. He gave her a smile, which did little to disguise his irritation that he’d had to open the door to someone who clearly wasn’t his visitor.
She crept along the hallway and through the kitchen towards Matt’s room and knocked. It had been a gamble coming here unannounced. Two soft knocks. “Are you there? It’s me.”
He opened the door himself and his face brightened as soon as he saw her. She squirmed, knowing she was here as a bearer of bad news. She’d barely made it through the door when he uttered a “Happy New Year” and scooped his arm around her, smacking his lips down hard on hers.
She pushed away, quickly.
“What’s wrong?” He closed the door behind her, the skin around his eyes tight as he faced her.
She walked to the furthest point of his room and settled herself on the chair at the side of his bed, already feeling uneasy. Maybe she should have met him in a restaurant or a more public place? The bedroom was a bad choice. But after her talk with Heather this morning, her mind analyzing and strategizing her options, while Heather chattered on about Finn, she knew she had to tell him today. Right now, so that she could start anew. A need for this to be over quickly had pushed her into coming here before she talked herself out of it. She’d figured it would be better than discussing it at work. And she didn’t want to prolong things any further.
Giving him false hope wouldn’t bode well.
But as she almost cowered in the corner, the way he looked at her, calm and deadly, made her think it had been unwise of her to visit him here.
She clutched her handbag protectively across her stomach, almost as if it were a riot shield.
“You didn’t call me back last night.” His tone half-questioning, half-accusatory, as he moved closer to her, one hand on his hip.
She cleared her throat. “I didn’t hear it ring.” Her stomach muscles tightened and she regretted having that bagel for breakfast. Her breathing felt tight, and already, the walls in the room seemed to close in.
He nodded his head slowly, taking in her words, as if knowing she was slowly leading him to slaughter. “Where were you?” He sat down on the bed, slanted her a look and patted his hand on the space beside him, commanding her to come over. But she stayed where she was.
“We went to Zoot.”
“Yeah?”
“What did you do
?” she asked, hoping to direct attention away from Zoot.
He ignored the question. “Who did you go with?”
“Heather and some friends.” She prayed her face wouldn’t color.
“Must have been some night—if you didn’t even hear your phone go off.”
She wanted to get her sentence out. To say the thing, to do the deed. “It was busy. You know how it gets on New Year’s.”
“I wouldn’t know. I wasn’t there.”
Silence.
Say it now, she thought to herself, her leg muscles tightening, as if she was getting ready to sprint off.
“I stayed here, by myself, giving you that space you needed. I missed you.” His voice was steady.
“So you said.” She hoped he wouldn’t see or smell the fear that swallowed her whole. “I got that first photo you sent me. I didn’t like it.” She swallowed. Say it now.
He narrowed his eyes. “It’s a private moment, between you and me. I don’t get why you always make a big deal of it.”
“If you think taking photos of me in my underwear is something I like, or something I want you to do—to use me like some piece of meat—then you don’t know me at all.”
He sprang up, nostrils flared, and stepped towards her. “You’re blowing it out of proportion. I had a girlfriend who enjoyed having her photos taken. It’s…no big deal.”
“It is to me. It might have been fine with whoever, but I don’t like it. I’ve told you that before.”
“It’s harmless fun. Look, I kind of thought you’d be upset. So I sent you another one…I waited up all night, waiting to hear from you. And you never called me back.” He exhaled loudly and shook his head. “It’s not a big deal. When I miss you, I look at your photos. What’s so wrong with that? If anyone should be angry around here, it’s me because you didn’t even call me yesterday.”
She gave him a contemptuous look. “You need to value my opinion.”
