Plus, she was a god-damned liar.
Given all those strikes against her it was a no-brainer. He should forget about Esa Ormond.
Wasn’t it a common enough occurrence for a guy to become seriously infatuated after being burned in a relationship? Finn thought as he ran next to a brilliant cerulean blue Lake Michigan. He’d seen it happen to friends in the past. The excitement, the challenge and the hot and heavy sex helped to shore up a wounded self-esteem.
A slender, attractive blonde woman jogging in the opposite direction from him gave him an appreciative once-over. He returned her blatantly obvious grin of invitation. He’d gone another half mile before he realized that he’d just passed up the perfect opportunity to ask out another woman, and all because he’d been too preoccupied in enumerating the reasons he shouldn’t think about Esa anymore.
Damn.
After he’d returned from his health club and showered he’d eyed his cell phone on the bedside table. He’d probably be able to reach her now that he understood that she wasn’t Kitten Ormond but Dr. Esa Ormond.
A complete stranger.
He rolled his eyes and cursed under his breath as he reached for his phone. It pissed him off to know that all of his head-clearing and rationalizations hadn’t helped one iota. He still wanted her. He cursed his overactive libido but he couldn’t stop thinking about how fantastic it had been making love to her last night, how sweet to hold her afterward while she slept—that small, satisfied smile still shadowing he
r lips.
I should let you have the driver’s seat more often. At least when we’re not in a car.
He rapidly reached for his phone. Since when had he become so fricking desperate? He thought with a scowl. His hasty fingers paused on the keypad when he heard someone knock at his front door.
He hit the disconnect button on his phone.
Julia stood in the hallway looking pale and tense. She wore a pair of tight black pants that hugged her trim thighs and an ivory cashmere sweater. Her dark, sleek hair hung long and loose, making a striking contrast against the ivory wool. Her fitted pants were tucked into a pair of supple leather boots.
It struck Finn that while he still appreciated Julia’s elegance and beauty—there were few men who wouldn’t—he was no longer compelled by it like he used to be. He certainly no longer experienced the intense lust that used to flood him at the sight of her. He realized for the first time that the emotion he associated most with her was a sense of nostalgia for what could have been more than for what was, grief for the loss of a fantasy as insubstantial as smoke.
“What is it?” he asked, referring to her anxious face and rigid posture.
He saw her throat convulse as she swallowed. “We need to talk. It’s important.”
Finn just nodded once and closed the door after her. She didn’t speak until she’d entered the living room and turned to him. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her so tense during the length of their relationship.
“One of my friends overheard Kitten Ormond talking at The Mighty Nice Café this morning. She knows about us, Finn. If she goes public with it in that rag Metro Sexy Gavin Graves will drop me.”
Finn’s brow crinkled in confusion at the near panic that laced her tone. “I don’t understand. You have a friend who overheard what? There’s nothing to tell about us.”
Julia’s face paled even further.
“Do you think I don’t know that?” she hissed. “Do you have to throw it in my face that you rejected me? Kitten Ormond is the city’s biggest gossip. She’d do anything to ruin me. Do you think she cares about the truth? She knows about me coming here! She knows that I wanted to…” Julia hesitated briefly before her chin went up defiantly. “I suppose you told Esa about the time before, how I suggested that we continue to sleep together?”
“Hold on a second,” Finn said sharply. He was bewildered by the turn of events but he understood this particular accusation loud and clear. Finn was very private about his life. He didn’t kiss and tell about anyone he became involved with, let alone the woman he’d planned to marry. “I told Esa no such thing. I wouldn’t run off at the mouth about something like that.”
Julia only looked partially mollified. “Well, Esa has undoubtedly drawn her own conclusions given what she saw. The Ormond sisters have been jealous of me for years. They’d love to see my name smeared all over the gossip columns. When Gavin hears about it he’s going to be furious. My reputation is going to be ruined. You’ve got to promise me that you’ll try to stop it. I’m not the only one whose name is going to be dragged through the mud, you know.”
Finn stared incredulously. Surely Esa wouldn’t put the private details of his life out there for public consumption.
Would she?
How the hell do I know what Esa would do? He thought with a cold blast of reality. Until this morning he hadn’t even known what she did for a living. He was just a casual fling, after all.
It might be Julia’s story but it was his as well. Esa had no right to it, nor did her gossipmongering little sister.
“Finn?” Julia shrilly interrupted his thoughts. “Did you know she was planning on doing this?”
“Of course not,” he replied.
“I should have known something like this would happen ever since I walked in here and saw you with Esa.” She shook her head and growled through clenched teeth in sheer frustration. “God, I hate the Ormond sisters. Since when did you acquire such abysmal taste in women?”