Page 52 of Flirting in Traffic

“Well, I never really did. You just assumed that.”

He gave her a strange, unreadable look and straightened. “I assumed that because your name was on the office door and you were sitting behind your desk.”

Esa bit her lip anxiously as she sat up in bed, securing the sheet around her breasts. It sounded even worse than she’d expected when she said it out loud. But she’d started now—she couldn’t stop. “That’s not my office. It’s my sister Rachel’s office. Everybody calls her Kitten. It’s her Ferrari. She’s the publisher of Metro Sexy. My offices are actually in Orland Park. I’m a physician.”

“You’re a physician,” Finn repeated flatly.

Esa nodded, not caring for the toneless quality of his voice. This was not going as well as she’d hoped.

“Your offices are in Orland Park,” he said, as though he were trying to get everything straight. “And yet I specifically remember you telling me some story about driving north in traffic that first night because you wanted to start a south suburban version of Metro Sexy.”

Esa grimaced. “Well, I had to say something—”

“And that something was a lie,” he clarified slowly.

“Well, yes, but—”

“What part of it was true then?” His eyes raked over the mussed bed before he stood.

“Finn, don’t ask that. Of course all the important stuff was…you know. Genuine.” She watched him in rising panic as he studied her, almost feeling him flying away from her, distancing himself even though he hadn’t moved, technically speaking. God, here he was bruised and shaken from the likes of Julia Weatherell and she pelted something like this at him. Esa suddenly felt as if she’d rattled his Self-Confidence Richter Scale like King Kong.

“I-I thought it was what you wanted.”

His nostrils flared slightly as he broke their stare. “Why would I want to be lied to?”

“You’re taking this all wrong. Let me explain—”

“Actually, I don’t have time for it right now, Esa. I need to get to work.”

Esa just stared in open-mouthed incredulity as he walked out of the room. A few seconds later she heard the front door open and shut with what sounded to her ringing ears like a grim click of finality.

* * * * *

“Are you sure you want to trade?” Rachel asked as she dangled the keys to Esa’s Lexus teasingly in front of her sister’s face.

They stood out on the driveway of their parents’ home. Both the dark blue Lexus and the red Ferrari gleamed brightly in the bright autumn sunlight. David Ormond finished winding the hose that they’d used to wash both cars and stood.

“I’m going inside to catch the end of the Illinois game,” Esa’s father said.

“Thanks for the help, Dad,” Esa called as he waved and walked toward the house.

“Go Illini!” Rachel cheered in her best macho voice.

Esa and Rachel often went out to their parents’ suburban house to wash their cars since they both had indoor parking spots in the city. Even though the day was chilly they’d decided to wash their cars before they returned them back to their original owners. Unfortunately they hadn’t been able to talk much while they did it since their father was there helping.

“Well? What do you think? I’m betting you don’t want to let go of my little pretty,” Rachel teased.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Esa mumbled distractedly as she grabbed her car keys. She’d been completely out of it all day. Her mind kept replaying the incident with Finn until she thought she’d scream if she pictured the way he’d looked at her one more time, as if she were a slightly revolting stranger who had suddenly appeared in his bed out of nowhere.

He just needed some time to process it. He had a right to be a bit dazed after learning she’d lied to him, after all.

What if he never wanted to talk to her again?

Esa found herself staring at the shiny cherry red Ferrari. It was all that stupid car’s fault.

“It was a nightmare driving that thing, you know,” she told Rachel sourly. “That car is like giving a double dose of Viagra to every horn-dog in the city.”

Rachel chuckled. “Horn-dog? Is that what you’d call Finn Madigan?”

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