Sweet On You

chapter Fifteen



Marley had two choices: stick around and talk to Tony, who was supposed to call for a phone conference in ten minutes, or make herself unavailable.

Second option—without a doubt. She couldn't talk to Tony. She was afraid she might tell him about Daniela, and she wasn't sure how to handle that yet. So she grabbed the present for Valentine, left her cell phone, and walked out of the house.

It hadn't occurred to her that Valentine might not be in her office until she was halfway there, but she shouldn't have worried, because the matchmaker sat on her gilded couch, fiddling with her iPhone.

Valentine looked up with a bright smile as Marley walked in. "I was just thinking about you. You saved me a phone call."

"Did you need something?"

"I just wondered how you were doing." She wrinkled her nose. "What do you have in your hand?"

"Oh." Marley looked down at the package, suddenly having doubts. "It's not really anything. I just thought you might like it, but—"

"I love gifts. Let me see." Valentine held her hand out.

She handed it over reluctantly. "It's really nothing great. In fact, it's not that nice."

"Let me be the judge of that." She ripped off the wrapping, tossing the shredded pieces of paper all over so that Marley started to bend over to pick them up.

Until Valentine's gasp startled her back upright. "What is it?"

"This. Is. Amazing." Valentine stared at the framed photo, her big eyes wider than usual.

Some of her nerves receded, and Marley sat down on the uncomfortable chair across from the matchmaker. "It's not the best composition, but I thought you looked nice in it."

"Nice? I look awesome." Valentine stared at the photo. It was the one Marley took that day when she'd been in answering those random questions that had matched her up with Brian Benedict.

Who was plaguing her, by the way. Marley shifted on the seat, uncomfortable and not sure what to do—about her butt or the guy. "It's really not anything—"

"It's the best picture anyone's ever taken of me." Valentine hugged it to her chest, beaming. "I wish I had a boyfriend to give it to."

"You don't have a boyfriend?"

"It's like the cobbler's kids not having shoes." She set the framed picture on the coffee table in front of her. "I don't have time to look for myself. I'm trying to get my business off the ground. Which is why I'm glad you're here. Tell me about Brian."

Marley crossed her arms. "What about him?"

"Brian told me that you guys were going out but not dating."

"Does that violate the terms of my agreement with you?"

"I don't care about our agreement," Valentine said in her schoolmarm's voice. "I care about you messing this up with Brian. He's the perfect guy for you."

But she'd always thought Tony was The One. "How can you tell?"

"What are you talking about?" She shook her head. "How can you not tell?"

"I've always wanted Batman."

The redhead gaped at her.

Marley blushed. "I know it's ridiculous, but I've always had a thing for Batman. I dream about him. He bursts through my window and coaxes me out into the night, taking me on adventures through the city."

Leaning in, Valentine said, "You know Batman is fictional, right? He doesn't really exist."

No, but Tony did, and usually in her dreams, it was Tony in the batsuit.

Until last night. Last night, she dreamt about Brian Benedict.

"Okay, Marley, let's just get this straight." She leaned in. "I match people up for a living. It's what I do best, so when I say you and Brian are perfect together, I don't mean it lightly."

"But I'm in love with someone else."

"What?" Valentine's face screwed up. "Who? Batman?"

"No." She tried to think of how to describe Tony. "Someone I used to know in New York."

"Why didn't you tell me? Does he love you?"

Only when she wrangled Daniela in the direction he wanted. She shrugged. "We've never had any conversation discussing that."

Valentine deflated with relief. "Okay, then."

"I told Brian, too. He knows I have feelings for someone else."

"He does? So you two have never kissed?"

She flushed instantly.

Valentine waved at her face. "What does that guilty expression mean?"

"We may have kissed." She rushed on to say, "But it was just friendly."

"Really."

"Did Brian tell you something different?"

"He didn't tell me about any kiss."

Damn it. She made a face or something. "That's because it was no big deal."

"Sort of like friendly fire that isn't a big deal?" Valentine stared at her for a long, silent moment. Then she leaned forward. "Just to clarify one more time, you realize I'm a matchmaker, right? I hook people up for a living."

"Yes." Now wasn't the time to point out that Valentine had enlisted her because she'd needed help in growing her business.

"So when I say you and Brian would be good together, it shouldn't be taken lightly. I put some thought into it, and you guys would be terrific together."

"Why?" she asked impulsively.

"Why?" Valentine blinked at her. "Was the kiss awful?"

The kiss was pretty damn terrific, but she didn't think she should arm the matchmaker with ammunition. "It was fine."

Valentine narrowed her eyes, as if trying to see within her. Finally she said, "You need to respect my skills. I wouldn't have paired you up with a loser. I have too much at stake here. So if you have any interest in yourself, it'd behoove you to take this seriously and go out with Brian on a real date."

Marley blinked in shock. She didn't want to date Brian Benedict—not entirely, anyway. Part of her clung to the idea of Tony. She thought about him, recalling his eyes. They were a beautiful gray-blue—

No—Brian's eyes were gray. Tony had brown eyes, like Daniela.

She wanted to slap her forehead.

Valentine sat back, folding her hands properly in her lap, seemingly innocent. But her expression gave away the unyielding adamantium underneath. "Don't screw this up. It could be the best thing that ever happened to you."

Marley wasn't sure about that. The problem was, she couldn't argue against it either.