Flirting in Traffic (11 page)

Carla just stared for a moment before she started giggling, undeterred by Esa’s glare. “Kitten thought something like this might happen.”

“I knew it!” Esa fumed. “I
knew
Rachel was behind all of this.”

“She didn’t know precisely. I mean, how could she? She just wanted you to have a little fun, that’s all,” Carla explained.

Esa shook her head in disgust. Since they were kids, Rachel had relished poking her fingers into Esa’s life and stirring things into a frothy boil.

“Do you really want to know what happened with Finn Madigan?” Esa asked in a burst of fury.

“What?” Carla asked, straightening in the bucket seats.

“Okay, how does this grab you—we were making out in his bedroom and his ex walked in on us.”

“Oh my God!” Carla exclaimed, scandalized. “Was it a guy?”

Esa did a double take. “A
guy?
Why would you say that?”

“I don’t know,” Carla replied, wide-eyed. “You made it sound like it was the most bizarre, humiliating experience ever.”

“It was
worse
than a guy. His former live-in and fiancée is
Julia Weatherell
.” Esa gave a smug look when Carla gasped loudly.

“Julia Weatherell? That bitch who used to try to blackball Kitten all the time and then hide that trench mouth of hers with all those superior looks, like she was too high and mighty to have even heard those words before let alone have said them?”

“Yep.”

“She dropped out of the scene at around the same time you did,” Carla mused.

“Must have been during the time period she was involved with Finn,” Esa surmised. “You remember how jealous she was about her men. She wouldn’t want to go public with a man as gorgeous as Finn Madigan. No, she’d love keeping that secret all to herself. Not that I believe for a second Finn would have gotten into squiring her around to nightclubs and charity events. I get the impression he’s a very private person.”

“And now she’s involved with that rich guy, Graves, and she’s popping up on the scene all over again, now as a society
matron
instead of a player,” Carla continued. “
Please.
Julia Weatherell is about as matronly as Marie Antoinette. She’s about as caring for the poor and downtrodden as old Marie, as well. So…what’s Gavin Grave’s new girlfriend doing showing up in Finn’s bedroom? As if I have to ask.”

Esa definitely didn’t need to ask. Knowing what she knew about Finn’s lovemaking skills and Julia’s lack of morals, the fact that Julia was eager to get back in Finn’s bed didn’t surprise her in the least.

A prickle of panic went through her when she saw how close they’d drawn to the Madigan Construction trailer. She’d changed lanes twice now unconsciously while she had this annoying conversation with Carla.

“He was passed out in their hotel room at the time Julia paid Finn her little visit,” Esa explained grimly as she deftly got over in the right lane, earning a scowl from the guy she’d cut off the first time. “Apparently she’s miserable and regrets nothing more than leaving Finn. Or the sex, anyway.”

“I’ll bet,” Carla muttered snidely.

“What are you doing?” Esa asked sharply when Carla grabbed her cell phone.

“Calling Rachel. She’s going to
die
when she hears about this. You know the hell Julia has put her through in the past. Rachel’s always hunting for some dirt on Julia for
Metro Sexy
but that woman cleans up her tracks like a real pro. Until now, anyway.”

“Don’t you
dare
!” Esa shrieked as she grabbed the phone and hit the disconnect button.

“What’s your problem?” Carla asked in open-mouthed disbelief. “Since when do you care about what happens to Julia Weatherell?”

Esa gritted her teeth and stared out the window. They were in the midst of practically standstill traffic and almost directly parallel with the white trailer with the green letters that read Madigan Construction. The fact of the matter was she
couldn’t
care less about Julia. But she would do just about anything to make sure Finn’s name wasn’t dragged through the mud. She felt silly revealing her protective instincts for a weekend fling to Carla, however.

“I told you that in confidence,” Esa said.

Carla made a hissing sound of disgust, grabbed her phone from Esa’s hand and tossed it into her purse. Esa exhaled with relief. That was the end of that. Carla may annoy the crap out of her at times but she was a true friend. She would never betray a confidence.

“So what are you going to do about all of it?” Carla demanded after pouting for all of three seconds.

“Do?”

“About Finn Madigan?”

Esa directed her gaze to Carla. “I’m not going to
do
anything.”

Carla sighed. “I
knew
you had a thing for him. I hate Julia Weatherell. I knew she’d eventually leave scars on one of the Ormond sisters.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Finn was a fling, you know that. I hardly had enough opportunity to be
scarred,
either by him or his connection to Julia.”

Carla sat up slowly, her face intent as she stared out the window. “A one-night stand, strangers in the night, ‘I had a little too much to drink last night, did you notice where I left my panties’ kind of thing—is that what you mean?”

“Exactly,” Esa replied, confused by Carla’s manner.

“Well then you’re gonna love this.”

“What do you mean?” Esa asked.

Carla nodded pointedly. “Here comes your stranger.”

Esa looked in time to see Finn vault over the concrete barrier at the side of the road with athletic ease. He wasn’t going to—

He
was.

She stared in wide-eyed disbelief as he walked straight into four lanes of traffic, his eyes fastened directly on her.

Finn glanced at the now rumpled issue of
Metro Sexy
magazine that lay on his paper-stacked desk. It held no answers for him so he wasn’t sure why he kept staring at it.

Work had kept him mind-numbingly busy all week. Now that the air was cooling outside the truth could no longer be denied by Jess or the rest of his crew that winter was coming, making the deadline loom large for their claim on the hefty bonuses Finn had offered for bringing the project in on time. He’d gotten home near midnight every night this week, but they’d managed to finish a long, satisfying stretch of road northbound into the city.

He’d been so busy that he hadn’t had much of an opportunity to think about Esa or her second abrupt departure from his condo.

Or maybe he’d kept himself so busy so that he wouldn’t take the chance to stew on the matter. The realization that her dramatic exit last Sunday had bugged him even more than Julia’s equally dramatic entrance left him unsettled, to say the least.

Despite his weariness, thoughts of Esa would creep into his awareness in the wee hours of the morning. He’d think of that calm yet exultant expression on her beautiful face as she sped down Lake Shore Drive at dawn. It seemed that his body had been programmed to become aroused every time he merely glanced at his whirlpool tub and thought of Esa there, whimpering in pleasure as an orgasm shuddered through her body.

He’d tried to contact her. One time he’d even been desperate enough to call the number for the corporate offices provided in the small print on a glossy page of
Metro Sexy
. But that had been as useless as calling the numbers Caleb had provided him via the Department of Motor Vehicles. A perky receptionist had explained that Kitten Ormond was out of town on business this week, and would he like her voicemail?

Finn had said no. He’d had enough of Esa’s seven-word recorded requests to leave a message and she’d get back. She hadn’t got back. Not once. He’d left two messages for Esa on Sunday—one on her cell and one on her home phone. Just a half hour ago he’d stifled his pride with extreme effort and made a third call, saying that he’d like to see her tonight so that he could explain face-to-face about what had happened with Julia in his condo.

He doubted anything good could come from chasing after Esa Ormond when she obviously had decided she’d gotten everything from him that she required. Maybe he possessed some kind of inherent deficiency, something that made him lust after women who belonged to organizations like the Junior League or the City Club and considered where you attended school to be more important than what you were made of.

Not that he thought Esa was like Julia. Not
really
. Problem was, his confidence in his ability to judge a person’s character had taken a brutal blow after Julia had walked out on him. How could anyone really know another person’s true personality until a crisis occurred, something like his father’s unexpected death?

Esa confused the hell out of him. He’d read the column she wrote for her magazine. Although he could give a rat’s ass about social and celebrity gossip, he had to admit her intelligence and wit came through loud and clear in her writing.

Still, there was something strange about reading her words, as though they didn’t quite fit the woman who he’d come to know over the weekend. Close…but not quite, as though he tried to focus on Esa through a pair of somebody else’s glasses.

He tossed down the magazine in a burst of irritation. Come to think of it, that pretty much described his entire experience with that annoying, prickly…incredibly sexy woman. Maybe part of his attraction was associated with the fact that it was clear as bold print that she was holding back from him. As opposed to his experience with Julia, where he’d thought he’d known her as well as he knew himself.

And in reality knew jack shit.

His head came up when the trailer door swung open.

“Hi,” he greeted his sister Mary Kate. “You leaving?”

Mary Kate took off her hardhat, allowing a thick blonde braid to fall down her back. “Yeah, I’m already running late. I promised Grandma Glory I’d be over at the house an hour early to get things ready for the party. Adam said he’d pick up Cory from basketball practice and take all three trick-or-treating while I help out. Little monsters are more excited for the party than they are to be begging for free candy.”

Finn grinned as he recalled the manic childhood excitement created by Grandma Glory’s annual Halloween Party. Halloween rivaled Christmas in a Madigan child’s affections. “I can understand why. We were always the same way.”

“Yeah. It was a lot better when
I
was the one getting hepped up on sugar, begging our uncles to play Wolf Man and getting scared witless while we ran around like savages and trampled the neighbors’ gardens.”

“No doubt,” Finn chuckled. His mirth quieted after a moment.

“I guess Mom told you about Grandma Glory’s physician’s suggestion that they consult a neurologist in regard to these spells Glory has been having?”

Mary Kate looked angry. “Yeah, she told me. That’s ludicrous. Grandma Glory is one of the sharpest women I’ve ever met in my life. She is
not
getting Alzheimer’s—or any other kind of dementia. So she’s getting a little moody and testy sometimes, so what? Doesn’t a woman deserve to get pissy once in a while after she’s lived seventy-five years?”

Finn held up his hand in a defensive gesture. “Hey, I’ll be the first to agree that I sincerely doubt Glory has dementia. But I saw for myself when one of those spells struck her a few days ago. Mom’s right. It
is
concerning. She seems like…I don’t know, like she’s having a personality change or something. She wasn’t just testy, Mary Kate. She was downright
mean.
I’m glad she’s going to the neurologist, especially since Glory has pretty hazy recall about the incidents afterward.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Mary Kate said doubtfully.

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.”

“Who’s Caleb?” Esa asked.

“He’s my cousin—a state police officer. It doesn’t matter who he is.” He leaned down and spoke softly near her ear. “The point is that I asked you to come to my grandmother’s Halloween party tonight in Bridgeport.”

Her eyes got bigger behind her glasses. “Oh. I see.”

“Not that I’m forgiving you for taking off like that all of a sudden
again.
Still, I can see how it must have been a little…disconcerting for you.”

She snorted at what she must have considered to be a bald understatement.

“Will you come?” he asked, hoping like hell that was excitement making her pulse leap at her throat and not anxiety about being accosted by a madman in the middle of traffic.

The horn behind them blared loudly.

“O-okay,” she said unevenly.

He grinned. Even the jerk blasting his horn behind him didn’t seem half so annoying. “I’ll pick you up then. At eight?” he asked as he stood.

“I-I, uh…I think it’d be best if I met you there.”

“I’ll come with her,” Carla piped up. She leaned over the console to look up at him. “Jess invited me to the party but he said he needed to help your mom and grandma out. I said I’d get there on my own. He gave me the address.”

Finn frowned as he transferred his gaze to Esa. She stared up at him, her full, pink lips parted, a bewildered expression on her pretty face. She looked so soft at that moment…so vulnerable.

He resisted an urge to lean down and give her a long, thorough kiss through the car window.

He’d prefer to pick her up himself so that she didn’t have such an easy manner of escaping him yet again. But he’d take her any way he could get her.

For the moment, anyway.

“I left you the address on your cell phone, but seeing as how it wasn’t the right number… You’re sure you have the address?” he asked Carla. She nodded eagerly.

“I’ll see you at eight then.” He gave Esa a hard look, daring her to call him a liar, before he made the return trip walking through Dan Ryan traffic.