Sweet On You - By Kate Perry Page 0,47

primly on one of the gilded chairs, Valentine set her phone down. "I wondered if you were going to come in or not."

"I wasn't sure it was a good idea." She sat down, unwinding the lime green scarf. "I didn't know if you'd be angry with me."

Valentine regarded her silently, then shrugged. "I'm a matchmaker, so I've seen it all. But Brian's a friend of mine, so I'm disappointed for him. He liked you."

Liked. She winced at the past tense. "You've talked to him?"

"Not much."

But enough to be annoyed with her—Marley got that much from Valentine's body language. "I need to see him, but he won't answer my calls. I don't suppose you'd give me his address, would you?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

The thought of not talking to Brian sent her over the edge. She leaned forward, intent on making Valentine understand. "I just want to talk to him. He and I have become friends in the past weeks and I feel bad leaving things the way they stand."

"That's all?" Valentine asked mildly. "You just want to fix your friendship?"

"No. Yes." She threw her hands in the air and fell back against the seat back. "I don't know. I thought we were friends."

"I thought you loved someone else."

She shook her head. "I don't know how I feel about anything. When I start to think about it, my head just hurts."

"You need to figure it out."

"I thought I had it figured out," she wailed. "I thought I loved Tony, but he's been around the house for days and instead of being excited I've just been annoyed. I try to avoid him at all costs. I even ducked into a closet to hide from him when he was calling for me."

"If you want my professional opinion, that's a bad sign."

She ignored her friend's sarcasm. "I thought if I talked to Brian, it might make it all clear somehow."

Valentine said nothing, watching her like impassively as though she were a psychiatrist.

Marley took a deep breath. "I just want to talk to him. Please, Valentine."

"I'll give you his address on one condition."

"What is it?"

"You have to kiss him." Valentine crossed her arms, looking like a militant cupid. She leaned forward, eyes blazing. "And not just a peck on the cheek. You have to kiss him with all the passion in your soul. That's the only way you're going to know."

Kissing Brian had never been the problem, so she nodded. "Okay."

Valentine picked up her phone and tapped the screen. "I texted it to you. Go now. I know he's home."

"Thank you." Getting up, she impulsively hugged her and then ran out the door.

By the time she flagged a cab and made it to Brian's apartment, she'd started to get cold feet. She stood on his doorstep, just like she had on Valentine's, not sure what to do.

He took the decision out of her hands by opening the door. "I can hear you creaking on the porch."

"Oh." She tried to smile but she was afraid she only managed a sickening grimace. "Hi."

He arched his brow. "That's all you've got for me?"

"No. Can I come in?"

Straightening his glasses, he stepped aside.

She gave his apartment a quick look, surprised that it was so tidy considering he didn't know she was coming over. Then she gasped, seeing the framed artwork on the walls. There was an entire series, all superheroes, ending with a simple abstract painting of Catwoman. "You have superheroes too," she said, dumbfounded.

"I doubt that's why you came over," he said, leaning against a wall.

"No, it's not." But it struck her hard for some reason. She tried to clear her head and focus on why she was there. "I had things I wanted to say, but I can't quite put them into words."

"Then how about I get some things off my chest?"

That didn't seem like a good idea, but she was so off-balanced she found herself saying, "Okay."

"When I said before that I wasn't interested in dating you, I was lying." He shrugged. "I'd hoped the reverse psychology would work on you. I shouldn't have tried. Hell, I shouldn't even be interested. Your priorities are screwed up. I don't need that."

She didn't know what to address first, so she just focused on the last part. "My priorities are fine."

"You're wasting your life working as a slave for someone just because you like her brother. Can you argue that?"

She clamped her mouth shut.

"See?" he said gently. "And the thing is, what are you wasting it for?