The Billionaire's Voice (The Sinclairs #4) (12 page)

Liam circled Micah for a moment before grinding out, “I don’t trust you.”

Micah smirked at Tessa’s brother. “Maybe not now. But you will. Tessa wants to see you doing what you love. Do you want to go back to what you were doing before, full time?”

“Hell, no. I loved my job, but this restaurant is our legacy. Amesport is home for me, now. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. I wouldn’t ever go back to the city. Too damn crowded.”

Micah nodded. “Good. Maybe you should tell your sister that. She thinks you sacrificed everything for her.”

“I didn’t sacrifice anything,” Liam grumbled. “I want to be here.”

“Liam!” A female voice called from the entrance of the restaurant right before a bubbly brunette came waltzing into the kitchen. The woman stopped for a moment, her expression turning from a carefree smile to a frown. “What happened to you? You’re bleeding.”

Liam held up a hand. “I’m fine. Can you finish doing the lobster meat for the rolls?”

“Um . . . sure,” she answered cautiously, moving slowly over to the prep area.

Micah watched as Liam’s eyes followed the female, a woman who obviously worked in the restaurant, the big guy’s eyes softening as he stared in the direction of the prep area.

“She’s attractive,” Micah said quietly enough that the brunette couldn’t hear him.

“She’s young,” Liam answered, tearing his gaze away from the woman and back to Micah.

“Over twenty-one, I’d say,” Micah observed.

“Not by much,” Liam replied unhappily.

Micah pulled out several tickets that he’d asked his assistant to send him, and handed two to Liam. He put the rest back into his pocket as he said, “Maybe she’d like to come to New York to watch Tessa skate. Here are two tickets for the charity performance. I hope you’re coming.”

Tessa’s brother snatched them from Micah’s hand. “Of course I’m coming. I just hope you’re right or I
will
kill you,” he grumbled.

“Tessa’s excited about performing again. Try to be happy for her instead of being a damn buzzkill, will you?” The last thing Micah wanted was for Tessa to be wondering how her brother was feeling on her big night.

He turned to leave the restaurant, but Liam again reached out a large hand to detain him, this time lightly grasping his forearm.

“You sure she can do this?” There was concern in Liam’s voice now. “What if she falls on her ass?”

“Then she’ll get back up and keep skating,” Micah replied, shaking Liam’s hand from his arm. “Just like she always has,” he added, walking toward the front door.

Micah wasn’t about to let Liam know he had the same fears. He didn’t want Tessa to fall, either, because he didn’t want her hurt. But he damn well had the confidence that she could handle herself on the ice, even if she stumbled.

He’d had to rein himself in many times, but he realized that he couldn’t hold her back any more than he’d like being kept from what he loved.

If she thinks I didn’t know the difference between a double jump and a triple jump, she’s wrong.

Micah knew she’d pulled off that triple in the rink, but that was the moment that he realized he couldn’t stop her from doing what she loved because of his irrational fear of her getting injured. Yeah, he’d had to grind his teeth, but he was trying to set her free, not keep her confined in her small comfort zone.

He didn’t look back, allowing Liam to stew for a while. The guy needed time to think about what Tessa really needed, and it wasn’t an overprotective brother.

Me. She fucking needs me.

Maybe Tessa deserved better than a man who lived for an adrenaline rush, but Micah would be damned if he was going to let another guy touch her ever again.

He prepared to exit with a heavy tug on the door, feeling it stick for a moment before it finally gave way and opened.

“Mr. Sinclair? Oh, my, you’re finally here.”

Micah pulled the door closed behind him and faced the two little old ladies standing right in front of him.

With their short gray hair and similar heights, Micah could hardly tell the two women apart. He looked at both of their smiling faces, knowing Beatrice Gardener was on the left only because of her more flamboyant, colorful dress. Elsie Renfrew was next to her in a more conservative dress and sensible flat shoes, staring at him as if she was surprised to see him. Beatrice, dressed in a flowing, bright-purple skirt and a lighter-colored top, didn’t seem the least bit shocked at his presence in Amesport.

He nodded. “Ladies,” he acknowledged politely. He barely knew either woman, except for the fact that Beatrice had gifted him with a rock that he oddly carried in his pocket even now. He looked at her and asked about her greeting. “How did you even know I was going to be here?” Hell, he hadn’t even known he was leaving New York for some downtime until recently.

“Because your destiny is here,” Beatrice told him matter-of-factly. “Of course I knew you’d come. You can fight your fate, but you have to eventually give in. The stone should help. Have you seen Tessa yet?”

Micah looked at the older woman in surprise. “You think Tessa is my destiny?”

It was Elsie who nodded. “She’s known for a long time. She’s very in tune with you Sinclairs.”

He’d written both of the women off as eccentrics. He’d met them at Hope’s winter party, and then again at Evan’s wedding. They were harmless enough, but neither one of them ever made much sense.

Elsie was respected, a governing member of the community. Strangely, Beatrice seemed to command people’s attention, too, but he’d never figured out why. She was a business owner, some New Age store called Natural Elements or some such thing, if he recalled correctly, but Micah didn’t put any stock into her acclaimed foresight and ESP. He’d always thought the people of Amesport just humored her because she was elderly.

He dug into his front jeans pocket and pulled out the black stone Beatrice had gifted him. “Because of this?” he questioned Beatrice, opening his palm, noting that the stone seemed strangely . . . warm.

Now I’m imagining some strange shit. Of course the rock is warm. It was in my pocket!

Beatrice shook her head. “Not
because of
the Apache tear. Tessa has always been your soul mate, your destiny. I gave you both the stone so you could recognize it.”

Micah was silent for a moment before he finally spoke. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, we’re going to eat, of course,” Beatrice told him as though he should have known what they were doing. “The best lobster in the area.”

Micah felt the hair at the back of his neck rise, and he slapped a hand to his nape, disconcerted by both sets of knowing eyes on him at the moment. “Uh . . . sure. Don’t let me stop you, ladies.” He leaned over and flipped the sign beside the door to “Open,” and then motioned them forward. It was time. Liam should have opened for business by now.

He shoved the stone back in his pocket, still wondering at the fact that Beatrice had apparently paired him with Tessa before he’d even figured everything out for himself. To be honest, it was a little bit creepy to him now, but there was a part of him that was fascinated. The self-proclaimed matchmaker had done the same thing with all of his Sinclair cousins. Was it possible that she really knew . . . ?

Micah put a gentle hand on Beatrice’s shoulder as she went to pass. “What about Julian and Xander?”

I can’t believe I just asked that!!

Beatrice beamed up at him. “Julian’s fate is already decided. Xander is a little more unclear. I’ve never met him, but he’s very troubled. But I have faith that he’ll eventually come around.”

“Are you sure?” Although he didn’t totally believe in the woman’s power to see the future, any reassurance about Xander was welcome, even if it wasn’t accurate. “Who do you predict for Julian?”

Beatrice’s expression turned thoughtful as she reached up and patted Micah’s cheek. “Take care of yourself and Tessa. Your brothers will work everything out for themselves in time.”

Micah gaped after the two women as they waved and disappeared into the dilapidated restaurant.

Shaking his head in denial, he finally started walking, still feeling the warmth of the stone in his pocket as he told himself that there was no such thing as fate and destiny . . . and soul mates.

By the time he had reached his truck, he’d almost convinced himself that the two women were just eccentric.

If only the stone in his pocket would stop burning, he’d feel a hell of a lot more assured.

CHAPTER 11

The next few days were all about pushing her limits for Tessa. She’d seen Liam, but her brother hadn’t said much about her decision to skate again. In fact, he’d consciously encouraged her, which had frankly surprised the hell out of her.

Micah had given up on the guesthouse and had brought an overnight bag with him just the day before. She was guessing neither one of them wanted to miss an opportunity to explore the heat that sizzled between them. Tessa knew she didn’t. Now that she’d committed herself to living in the moment and enjoying every single minute she could get with Micah, she was going to take full advantage.

That was, until today.

They had begun the morning as they usually did with a morning run, and then she’d gone to the rink. She was progressing well, her routine together, including her complex jumps and sequences. They had the music, a recording of a choreographed performance she already knew. When she passed by Micah at the sidelines, he gave her signals on how to correct herself if she was off the beat of the music, running behind or ahead of the audio. Mentally, she had to adjust the music in her head, but so far it had worked out well.

Micah had promised to be by her side in New York, and Tessa was getting less and less nervous. She wasn’t competing anymore, so now she could skate just for enjoyment, for the joy of being back on the ice.

Now Micah gave her a thumbs-up, his hands in front of her, signaling that he was ready.

“I can’t believe I’m really doing this,” she whispered to herself, looking down at the approximately fourteen-thousand-foot drop right outside that open door of a perfectly sound airplane. What was she thinking? Did she really want to jump out of a plane that was perfectly safe and solid beneath her feet?

They left the skating rink earlier now, basically only needing to go through the routine and make sure it all went off well. Then, Micah would take her somewhere to do something crazy. It had gone on like that for two days. This was day number three.

She’d loved parasailing with him. There was a small company in town that had offered it for a while now, but she’d never actually done it. But then, she was comfortable at safe heights, and had grown up on the water.

Then there had been the rock climbing yesterday, and learning from one of the best free solo climbers in the world—a title that belonged to Micah—was extraordinary. Not that he’d let her go without safety equipment, and she highly doubted that experience had been much of a rush for him. The climb had been pretty tame. After all, they hadn’t gone far. Nevertheless, Tessa had been pretty damn proud when she’d gotten to the top of the small rock formation.

However, she
was
terrified today. Yeah, she was enjoying doing things outside her comfort zone, but
this
was a little much.

She could feel the reassurance of Micah’s big body behind her, her smaller form attached to him by a harness, straps at her chest, shoulders, and legs.

He’ll do all the work. I just have to not fight him and remember his instructions. I need to relax.

“I’m not sure if I’m ready,” she finally answered loudly, knowing the plane was noisy. Micah had already told her that she needed to yell to be heard over the noise of the aircraft. Cautiously, she peeked out the door once again. “What if I forget something?”

He handed her a note, one that he’d obviously written before they had left the ground.

Trust me. We’ll be connected, and I won’t let you fall.

The hastily written words on a small scrap of paper nearly brought tears to her eyes. How had he known she’d be scared once she was strapped to him, unable to see his face?

She was tandem skydiving with Micah. He’d ordered the plane and they had a safe drop zone. Still, she felt like a million or more butterflies were trying to escape her stomach.

After some intense and quick instruction, they’d been on their way up in a plane piloted by someone Micah knew well. He was a master skydiver and had the special credentials for tandem jumps. He’d also made sure to mention that they were using Xtreme Dive equipment, the best skydiving gear available, in his opinion, which had made Tessa laugh at his arrogance.

It didn’t surprise her that he’d done thousands of jumps safely: solo, tandem, and group jumping and formation. Micah was the leader of one of the most elite jumping teams in the world.

This jump was probably nothing more than routine for him. But Tessa was more nervous than she’d been skating in the Olympics. Most figure skaters didn’t look death in the face performing their sport.

It’s safe. He told me about the safety record of skydiving. It’s rare to have a death among regular jumpers.

It all came down to the few words he’d written; it came down to trust. Did she trust him?

She tucked the note into a small zippered pocket of the protective jumpsuit she was wearing.

Then, she gave him a confident thumbs-up. The truth was, she
did
trust him, and the thoughtful note he’d scribbled before they’d gotten into the air just reinforced her bond with him. She’d take this leap with him, just like she’d taken several leaps in the past weeks with him. There was no one she’d rather be with, even if she was jumping out of a very nice plane.

Micah didn’t waste any time letting her know they were going as he once again gave her the “go” sign himself, and they both tumbled out the door of the plane.

Her heart lodged in her throat as they exited, her body attached to the front of him, both of them falling at what seemed like an alarming rate. She automatically put her arms out in the correct position once they cleared the plane, a silent scream in her head as she felt the air rushing by them. Their bodies continued to drop at a rate of speed she never could have imagined.

The free fall only lasted for a minute or so, but she finally embraced the rapid plummet toward Earth a few seconds after they’d started to descend. If she was going to die, there was nothing she could do about it, and she wanted to enjoy her last moments.

Right now, Micah was as deaf as she was, or so she’d been told. Not only were they wearing protective helmets, but when one was falling to the ground at over a hundred miles an hour, it was hard to hear anything but the wind rushing past the body. Micah had told her that a skydiver was unable to hear anything but the air during free fall.

Her heart was racing as she looked through a pair of protective goggles, feeling like she was flying, floating through the air like a bird. Seconds ticked by as the ground got closer and closer, Tessa soaking up the exhilaration of their tandem free fall. Never in her life had she felt so uninhibited, her body racing with adrenaline as their parachute deployed and Micah began to guide them to the best place to land.

Her wonder of the ride didn’t end as they started to glide, drifting at a height that she should find terrifying, but didn’t. She was still nestled against Micah as they grew closer and closer to the ground, and she felt . . . safe.

Moving her legs aside as they got ready to land, he ended up on his feet, coming to a gentle stop.

Working around the parachute, he was able to free them both in a very short amount of time. Tessa pulled her helmet off as she turned to face him, immediately noticing his enormous grin.

The entire jump had only lasted approximately five minutes, but the experience was right up there with some of the most amazing moments in her entire life.

“Oh, my God. That was fantastic,” she yelled at him, unable to hold back her emotions.

“Were you scared?” he asked by signing, then pulled off his own helmet and unzipped his jumpsuit to his waist.

“Terrified,” she answered. “But I was okay once we were out of the plane.”

“It’s normal to be scared the first time,” he replied.

“Can I learn to jump by myself?” she questioned excitedly.

“We’ll see,” he said, his smile starting to be replaced by a contemplative look. “I was pretty happy with that position myself.”

She smiled at his suggestive comment, watching as their pickup drove toward them, men exiting the truck and starting to collect the parachute that Micah had already slid off his back.

Tessa wanted to thank him, but how did she thank a man for literally giving her back her life? Micah had never treated her differently because she had lost her hearing. He pushed her buttons, pushed her limits, but he never saw her deafness as a handicap. It was the first time anybody had ever treated her quite the same way they had when she could hear.

As soon as he was free of his protective gear, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her as though he understood every emotion she couldn’t voice as he held her closely, so tightly that she never wanted him to let go.

A few hours later, Tessa sighed as she let warm water flow over her body, happy that she finally didn’t stink. After a morning run, a workout at the arena, and then their skydiving escapade, she knew she smelled ripe. She’d hit the shower as soon as she and Micah had walked through the door of Randi’s old home. Lingering because the water felt so good, she squeaked as Micah opened the door of the enclosure and stepped in like he owned the place, which he actually did.

It was a small shower stall, but Tessa didn’t care. She stepped aside and let Micah wash, content to watch him and his perfectly sculpted body as he cleaned up. When he was done, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against him, and she snaked her arms around his neck.

“I never get tired of seeing you naked,” she admitted, looking up at his handsome face as a droplet of water dripped from his wet hair.

He didn’t say a word as his mouth lowered to hers in a scorching kiss that made every tangible thought in her head vanish.

All she could do was feel the heat of Micah’s mouth and the need that fired in her soul as she connected with his raw desire.

“I can never touch you enough,” he answered as soon as he broke off his passionate embrace, his palms cupping her wet breasts.

“Then touch me,” she pleaded.

She tilted her head as his lips explored the slick skin of her neck, giving him as much access to her as he wanted to take.

Tessa knew she was getting addicted to Micah, but it was an intoxicating feeling that she refused to give up. She let her palms slide down his muscular torso, not stopping her descent until she could finally grasp his engorged cock. “I want this,” she insisted, dropping slowly to her knees in the cramped shower.

He usually protested whenever she wanted to taste him, nudging her away so he could bury himself inside her. This time, her heart accelerated as his hands speared through her hair, letting her do what she’d wanted to do for a long time: take his cock into her mouth and savor his essence.

She tasted and sucked, swirled her tongue over the sensitive head with a desperate abandon, an aching need to show him how much pleasure he’d given her in the last few days.

Micah’s hands fisted her hair tightly, almost painfully. Glancing up, she could see that his head was back, resting against the shower stall. He looked like he was barely hanging on to his control.

She sped up her pace, sucking harder, using her hand to increase the friction and make this even more pleasurable for him.

Closing her eyes, more than ready to make him come for the first time with her mouth, Tessa was startled when Micah pulled her away from him by her hair, pulling her head back far enough that she could look up at his face.

“Up!” She could see the command on his lips as he grasped her upper arms tightly and hauled her to her feet.

She was panting, warm water flooding across her back as she looked at him anxiously. “What happened? I thought you liked—”

“I love it too damn much,” he answered, opening the door to the cubicle with one hand. “I can’t take any more of having my dick in that beautiful mouth of yours.”

He motioned her to get out, and she reluctantly stepped onto the fluffy rug in front of the shower. She began to reach for the towel she’d left out for herself, but Micah stepped behind her and wrapped his powerful arms around her waist before she could scoop it up.