The Chemistry of Love(98)

The whole rest of the week, he was too busy to meet with me. I hated this. I missed him so much that I physically ached. Catalina had been right again—he had obviously been clearing his schedule to spend time with me.

Or he was filling it up now so as to avoid me. Either way, I didn’t like it.

He always answered my texts, polite and encouraging for the upcoming pitch, but what we had was gone.

I had no idea how to get it back. Why things had changed. I needed my Marco back.

Was he angry about the Craig thing? Catalina kept encouraging me to just talk to Marco, but I couldn’t when he was being distant like this.

Not to mention that I couldn’t have him turn me down and then still manage to pitch my company to his family. It was better to be in this in-between state than risk everything that both he and I had been working toward. If Marco was going to break my heart, he could do it after we got a decision on the company. I didn’t want to ruin it for me, but I didn’t want to ruin it for him, either.

But that didn’t stop me from thinking about him constantly, wanting to be close to him again.

One night, while I was sobbing, watching Aragorn and Arwen reunite, I called Catalina.

“Who do I need to stab?” she asked when she heard my voice.

“I’m in love with Marco.” It was the first time I had said it out loud.

“And Bingo was his name-o,” she said sarcastically. “Let me translate that for you. Duh.”

“You’re not going to say you told me so?”

“Nope. Just kaboom, like I promised you.”

“When you said this would blow up in my face, I thought you meant that Craig would find out and that was how I would get my heart destroyed.”

“No. I could see what was happening between you and Marco, even when you couldn’t.”

“Then why is he being this way?” I whined, feeling pathetic.

“My theory is because he loves you and he thinks you’re in love with his brother.”

“How could anyone think that? Craig sucks.”

“Uh, I don’t know, because you’ve spent the last two years saying you were?”

This was an excellent point. I hadn’t told Marco that my feelings about Craig had changed. He was still operating under that assumption. Would it make a difference? “But why do you think Marco loves me?”

“Anna, you’re an amazing person. Everybody should be in love with you. Even that jerk Craig. You need to tell Marco how you feel so that he can make a choice after he has all the facts.”

I shook my head. “I just can’t believe that someone like him would feel that way about someone like me.”

“That is literally the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, and I once had to listen to Steve explain how the WWE is real.”

That made me sit straight up in my bed. So far, Catalina was batting a thousand. An expression I only knew because of Marco. Maybe I should trust her over my own insecurities. “Aren’t you the one who is always telling me not to say I love you first? Never pull that trigger unless fired upon first?”

“That’s advice for me,” she said, exasperated. “Not you. I think he needs to hear it.”

He needed to hear all of it. I was afraid, but my grandma had once said that bravery wasn’t the absence of fear but pushing on in spite of it. I had to tell him how my feelings had changed. He didn’t have all the facts. He couldn’t make choices if he didn’t have all the information.

There was a giant lump in my throat, but I could do this. I could. “Right. So I’ll tell Marco. I’ll do the presentation, and then his dad is going to make me an offer, and I’ll pull him aside and tell him everything.” It seemed like a good plan. Mostly because there was no way I could confess my love to him, have him tell me he wasn’t interested, and then keep it together long enough for my pitch.

And if he didn’t love me back, well, I would blow up that bridge when I came to it.





CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT


It was the morning of the pitch, and it had been arranged to be at Minx Cosmetics. I’d spent my solitary week practicing it in the mirror and refining my formula. I felt confident in both. I paced back and forth, going over the words. “Good morning, gentlemen. I’ve come here today to share with you the newest innovation for the future and how I hope to build a company based on the science of neurocosmetics.”

Glancing up at the clock, I saw that it was almost time to start. Marco wasn’t here. Maybe he wasn’t coming. It wasn’t like him to be anything but early. I kept running the pitch through my head, focusing on that. I would get through the next hour, and then I’d worry about Marco.

“I’m here.” Marco walked into the waiting room, and I nearly collapsed in relief at seeing him. Without thinking, I went over and hugged him. His body was stiff, but it was so good to see him and touch him again that I didn’t care if he hugged me back.

“I’ve missed you,” I said. I wanted to tell him everything right then, right there. Not yet. I would tell him after. Right now, it was enough just to have him close to me.

His arms went around me, and he returned the hug. “I’ve missed you, too.”

I rested my head against his chest. His body still felt tense, anxious. I looked up at him. “Are you nervous?” Heaven knows I certainly was.