Page 35 of Flirting in Traffic

Finn glanced up expectantly when his sister didn’t move after that despite her previous statement that she was running late.

“I’m probably stupid for telling you this but…what the hell.”

“What are you talking about?” Finn asked.

Mary Kate shook her head after studying him for a few seconds, a disappointed expression on her pretty face. “Remember earlier this week, how you asked me to keep an eye open for a red Ferrari passing in evening traffic?”

“Yeah,” Finn said as he rose from his chair.

“Well, I just saw one about a mile back as I drove to the trailer. It was snagged in that crap out there,” she said, nodding her head in the direction of the inevitable Friday evening traffic jam.

“Did you see the license plates?” Finn asked as he came around the desk.

“Yeah. You must be hanging around Jess too much. Since when did you go for the type of woman who would put SXKITN69 on her license plates?” Mary Kate wondered, clearly disgusted by what she perceived to be her big brother’s unusual display of male idiocy.

“Hell if I know,” Finn admitted as he moved hastily past Mary Kate toward the door.

Christ, his sister had a right to scold him, Finn thought grimly as he leapt over the concrete barrier a few seconds later. He was acting no better than a beast…a bull charging with single-minded intent at a red-haired woman in a red car.

Amazing what lust could do to a guy.

He glanced briefly at the man driving the dark blue pickup in the first lane, ensuring himself the dude didn’t decide he suddenly needed to close the one-foot distance between his truck and the car in front of him until Finn passed. He tapped on the hood of the next car, garnering the attention of a blonde young woman chatting almost nonstop on a cell phone before he passed in front of her. She stopped talking and gaped at him as he walked past.

He didn’t know exactly what to expect from Esa at that moment, but he was strangely gratified by the fury that flared in her beautiful eyes as she rolled down her window.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing walking into the middle of an interstate? You could have just killed yourself!”

His eyes flickered over to Carla, who watched him with avid fascination. He frowned. She suddenly smirked. He looked back at Esa.

“Hello to you too. Traffic is at a standstill. Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic?”

“Hello?” she raged. “You expect me to exchange pleasantries with you standing in the middle of traffic? Maybe we should talk about the weather while a semi runs over your ass!”

“Esa’s always been a worrier,” Carla explained pleasantly as she leaned forward. “Did Jess tell you that I was coming to your Grandma’s party tonight?”

Finn’s eyes flew to Esa’s face at the mention of Grandma Glory’s party. Had her cheeks just turned pink in embarrassment or had they been that way before?

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about it. We’ve been crazy busy at work,” Finn said impatiently. “Why haven’t you returned my calls?”

He took in her amazed expression. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s a simple enough question. Couldn’t you have at least done me the courtesy of returning my calls? I wanted to explain…about Julia.”

Carla gasped. “Yeah, Esa, couldn’t you at least have done that?”

“I-I never heard a word from you! And it’s none of your business one way or another,” she informed Carla sourly.

Finn took one look at Esa’s furious, confused expression and knew she was telling the truth. She may not always be honest with her mouth but her face and eyes didn’t seem capable of telling a lie.

“I’ve called you several times this week.”

“You may have been calling somebody but it wasn’t me,” Esa replied defiantly.

Finn considered the terse message on the voicemail that he’d been calling and silently acknowledged that Caleb had possibly gotten the phone numbers incorrect—although it certainly had sounded like Esa’s voice. Still, the message had never said an actual name.

He didn’t have time to belabor the point when the guy in the car behind Esa started honking his horn repeatedly. Finn shot him an irritated, disbelieving look when he noticed the space that had opened up in front of Esa’s car, which measured all of ten feet.

“I suppose I could have gotten the wrong number from Caleb.”

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