Finally she heard Finn exhale audibly.
Don’t let her pull you in, don’t let her, Finn. Esa knew her mental chants had been for naught when she heard the softened quality of his deep voice when he spoke.
“I’m sorry you regret it, Julia. But—”
“Are you really?”
“Of course I am. I don’t get off on the idea of you being unhappy. We were engaged for Christ’s sake. I was in—”
He stopped abruptly.
Esa’s heart plummeted into her stomach. Oh no, this was much, much worse than she’d suspected.
“You were the only one who really understood me, Finn. The only one who knew the real me.”
“You made your choice. You can’t come waltzing into this condo like you still live here. What’s between us is over,” he replied gently.
Damn straight it is, Esa thought.
“Is it, Finn? Is it really?” Julia asked tremulously.
Esa cringed in the silence that followed.
“Yes,” Finn finally said.
Esa stepped back from the door. Never mind the single word that came out of Finn’s mouth. That pregnant pause before he’d spoken had said it all.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror when she rose from picking up her backpack. Her clothing was rumpled and smelled vaguely of mildew after sitting on Finn’s damp bathroom floor all night. Her hair looked like a rat’s nest.
And why the hell were there tears in her eyes? What kind of a pitiful fool was she to get emotional over a weekend fling, especially when the guy was clearly still pining for his gorgeous, deceitful ex-fiancée?
He must be a moron for getting involved with Julia Weatherell.
Except that she knew very well that Finn was far from being a moron. Esa had been firsthand witness to several of the brightest, sweetest guys in the city falling like lead for Julia. She was the kind of beautiful that made guys lose all remnants of rationality. Plus she was a savvy, sophisticated lawyer. Esa recalled that she was a successful Assistant United States Attorney General.
She was also poison, but apparently a sweet, addictive one when it came to men.
“I’ll just let myself out,” Esa proclaimed too brightly when she walked out of the bedroom a few seconds later.
She caught a glimpse of Julia’s tear-stained, incredulous face. She didn’t give herself time to interpret Finn’s rigid expression before she raced for the door.
She stared blankly at the blurry reflection of herself in the gold elevator doors as they silently shut. Undoubtedly Finn had gotten his fill of her because this time he hadn’t uttered a peep of protest about her abrupt departure.
Chapter Ten
Esa barely stopped herself from screaming like a blonde in a slasher movie when Mrs. Fuentes dug her cane between two bones in Esa’s foot.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Dr. Ormond!”
“It’s okay,” Esa grunted through a twisted grimace. “The elevator is always crowded on Fridays. I probably should have taken the stairs.”
“Especially tonight. It’s Halloween, you know. There’s a party in the dining room,” Mrs. Fuentes explained as Esa continued to grit her teeth as the pain in her foot ebbed from a roar to a dull throb.
“You’re coming, aren’t you, Dr. Ormond? I’ve got a bottle of gin for the punch and they’re gonna show Halloween 3,” Mortimer Shively provoked her with a sly grin.
Esa knew precisely which activity he expected her to lecture him about so she chose the other. “You better watch out, Mort. Halloween 3 won’t do your kidneys any favors either.”
Mort snorted with laughter.