The Billionaire's Voice (The Sinclairs #4) (5 page)

She started slowly, a little unsure during her first rotation around the square arena. He watched her pick up speed with more than a little apprehension, switching directions as she moved.

Forward.

Backward.

Forward.

Backward.

He lost track of time as he stood beside the rink, his grip on the wooden, waist-high wall so strong that the blood was leaving his fingers.

“Christ!” he rasped as he watched Tessa leap into the air in graceful splits. He gulped in a breath, not releasing the air in his lungs until she’d landed safely.

His eyes never left her mesmerizing movements as all thoughts of skating to her rescue left his brain. She didn’t need
him
. She’d once been the world’s best figure skater, and she was quickly regaining her confidence. Her skills hadn’t gone anywhere. They’d just lain dormant until this very moment, and he felt pretty damn lucky just to be an observer.

She moved as if she was going through one of her routines, substituting easier moves for some of the more complicated jumps that had likely been part of her program. Micah caught a glimpse of her face as she sped by him, her skin glowing, her expression euphoric and expressive.

Tessa was born to perform, but the opportunity had been taken away from her too damn soon. She’d told him that she’d been training to do the next Olympics as the defending gold medalist when she’d lost her hearing. Unfortunately, she’d never had that chance to defend her title.

Flowing back into the center of the ice, Tessa literally became a blur of movement as she started to spin faster and faster before finally coming to an abrupt stop, her beautiful body holding a graceful pose for one breathtaking moment before she lowered her arms.

“I did it. I can do it.” She was panting as she spoke.

Micah could hear her words from the sideline, and he wondered at the amazement in her voice. Had she been convinced that she
couldn’t
skate? A person didn’t lose those kinds of skills. Tessa—Theresa Sullivan—had been ice-skating since she could walk, and the training during her adolescence and young adulthood had been intense.

He applauded as Tessa bowed elegantly, but he stopped as she dropped to her knees, her hands over her face.

She’s crying.

He jumped onto the ice and breached the distance between them in an instant, dropping down in front of her, completely oblivious to the freezing cold of the ice beneath his knees. “Tessa. What the hell happened?” he asked urgently even though she couldn’t hear him, trying to move her hands from her face.

Loud, heart-wrenching sobs filled the air, and Micah felt his heart hammering in alarm. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she wailed, her shoulders rising and falling as she continued to release her emotions. “I did it, Micah. I skated,” she answered tearfully, finally removing her hands from her face, resting them on her thighs. “I heard the music in my head. I still remember it.”

“Of course you did, sweetheart. You were amazing,” Micah told her soothingly, fucking relieved that she wasn’t injured.

He was taken aback as she threw herself into his arms with wild abandon and continued to cry.

Recovering quickly, he wrapped his arms around her, sheltering her while years of uncertainty and fear were sobbed out on his shoulder.

Micah shuddered. He might be an asshole, but there was no way he could be unmoved by watching a woman like Tessa cry like years of emotional tension were being expelled from her body, in tears of happiness and incredulous relief.

“Thank you,” she choked out between sobs.

He stroked her hair, knowing they were probably the two sweetest words he’d ever heard.

CHAPTER 4

Eventually, Tessa stopped blubbering like an idiot, but she didn’t leave the safety of Micah’s arms. Her entire body was trembling, and it had been so damn difficult to force herself to get back on the ice. But once there, she’d never felt anything more magical.

Her body had taken over, following the sequence of movements that must have been ingrained in her psyche. It hadn’t really been necessary to think much about what she’d been doing. All she’d had to do was listen to the music in her head and skate.

She relaxed against Micah’s hard, well-defined body, savoring the feel of his powerful muscles against her softer form. The sense of connection between them made her release a contented sigh. Her world might be silent, but all the rest of her senses were on high alert.

Micah smelled like rough, male temptation, and he felt like sensual sin. What was just a comforting hug to him was something far different for her.

Don’t even think about it, Tessa. Micah Sinclair is just a friend.

Finally, she pulled back to look at him. “I think I can do this. I’d need to practice the more complicated jumps, and somehow I need to know I’m matching the music in my head to the recording that’s playing, but I don’t think it’s impossible. I’ll just need to make up signals that somebody can give me from the sideline to keep me on track with the music.”

He grinned at her, an unruly lock of hair on his forehead making him appear more carefree than she’d seen him since he’d arrived in Amesport. “Almost nothing is impossible,” he replied.

“Maybe for you,” she answered teasingly.

Some of the things Micah had done in the past just to prove they weren’t insurmountable feats made her heart clench. She’d watched the TV breathlessly as Micah and his well-known team of elite skydivers had performed stunts that had never been attempted before, and she’d breathed a sigh of relief as each one of them finally landed on solid ground. In his younger days, it had seemed that his sole objective had been to set world records, and many of them had still never been broken. There weren’t many crazy things that hadn’t been done in the past by one of the richest and well-known daredevils in the world: Micah Sinclair.

He stood and pulled her up beside him. “Not for you, either,” he answered, both signing and speaking so she’d catch his words.

Hell, he even does ASL well. Is there anything he can’t do?

Micah had told her about the deaf friend he’d met in college, which was why he knew ASL so well. According to him, he hadn’t used the skills in years because his buddy had gotten cochlear implants and didn’t use ASL anymore. But he didn’t look rusty or hesitant. He signed confidently and with as much cockiness as he did everything else.

She could argue that plenty of things were impossible for her, but she was relieved just to have gotten through the experience of being back on the ice. For so many years, she’d been afraid that she wouldn’t be able to skate again. Whether the notion had been rational or not, she’d been too afraid to find out whether or not she’d lost her skills along with her hearing. The two things
were
intertwined: skating and music. Without being able to hear the notes, she’d assumed that she’d be unable to perform at the same level as before.

I’m out of practice, but I can work up to doing the more difficult jumps.

Tessa had done it once, and she knew she could do it again. Maybe she wouldn’t be of the same caliber as before. She was older, deaf, and hadn’t worked on any skating routines in years. But the raw ability was still there to be able to perform a good routine. She just needed time on the ice.

Her heart was still pounding with exertion and euphoria as she looked up at Micah and smiled. She was grateful to him for pushing her, making something she loved part of her life again.

The deliciously dangerous, hungry look in his eyes made her smile falter, her body start to clamor for something far more primal than a hug.

I can’t want him. He’s a Sinclair and I’m a washed-up former Olympic champion. He dates supermodels, for God’s sake. I can’t confuse his kindness for desire.

Tessa had fought her instincts for days now, and it was getting harder and harder not to remember Micah’s hard, muscular body completely nude. God, he’d been breathtakingly perfect, a flawless specimen of masculinity that wouldn’t leave her mind. Unfortunately, that image had never gone away, and when he looked at her like he wanted to have
her
for dinner, she was so damn tempted to throw herself at him and beg him to make a meal of her.

She froze, unable to break his gaze, the longing she felt reflected in his gorgeous dark eyes.

He can’t want me. He can’t want me. He can’t want me.

The mantra pounded in her head, but she met him halfway as his head lowered and he captured her mouth with his, blowing the chant straight from her brain.

He
did
want her right now, and she wanted him back.

Tessa moaned as his decadent embrace swept everything from her mind except getting closer, getting more of the sweet, assertive dominance of his mouth. His tongue probed demandingly, as though he wanted to own her. She opened to his commands, happily succumbing to the rampant pleasure that was Micah’s domination of her senses.

He was relentless as he freed her hair and sunk his fingers into the curls that sprang from their confinement, tilting her head with her unbound locks so he could plunder deeper.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Her body sang with sensual longing as she wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling like she wanted to crawl inside him. Her hands speared into his hair, her heart pounding with excitement as the sensation of the coarse tendrils threaded through her fingers. Her world was quiet, which left her so much more focused on the sensations, making them so much more sensually delicious.

Closing her eyes, she allowed both sight and sound to be eliminated, leaving her only the feel of Micah. She let herself drown in his increasingly passionate embrace, her nipples hardening as he jerked her closer, molding her body against his harder form. Her core clenched hard as he put one strong hand on her ass and lifted her up until her pelvis was grinding into him, her legs wrapping around his waist.

He moved on his blades, but she scarcely noticed when he plopped her butt down on the wall of the rink, barely breaking his sensual assault as his lips trailed down the sensitive skin of her neck.

“More, Micah. I need more,” she whimpered, fisting his hair in desperation as his mouth left her skin. He pulled her head back to look at him.

Automatically, her eyes opened and she looked at his mouth. “I need to touch you, Tessa. I need to watch you come for me.”

The look in his eyes was insistent and feral. “Then touch me,” she pleaded. “Please.”

She couldn’t bear for the intense sensation to be over.

She needed . . .

She burned . . .

She had to have something to stop the fiery ache between her thighs, the painful puckering of her nipples, the fierce longing in her soul.

It had been so long since anyone had touched her intimately, and she’d never been overwhelmed by this kind of passion . . . ever.

The first touch of his fingers on her core wrenched a moan from deep inside her throat. Micah caressed her softly over the fabric of the skimpy material, then delved beneath it, baring her pussy as he shifted the fabric aside.

Tessa shivered as the cold air in the rink wafted between her thighs, the feeling chillingly erotic. Out of habit, she’d waxed, leaving her bare in preparation for wearing a skating skirt again. It left her feeling vulnerable and aroused as Micah stroked over that sensitive naked skin.

Her fingers tightened in his hair, and she tried to close her eyes, but he stopped until she opened them again. “Please.” It was the only word she could get out of her mouth. Her brain and body were senseless and greedy, wanting nothing except Micah’s hands on her.

“Don’t close your eyes,” he insisted. “Watch me. Watch who is about to make you come.”

Like she could forget? Tessa shuddered when his fingers deftly delved between her saturated folds, the large digits exploring like they wanted every one of her secrets.

“Oh, God,” she whimpered, her body responding to every single movement he made.

There wasn’t a second of hesitation as he sought and found her clit, rolling over it again and again with his thumb as his fingers explored deeper.

Her breathing became ragged as he thrust a finger into her slick sheath, her muscles contracting around it as though they had a mind of their own.

“Yes. Please, Micah,” she cried as her hips moved and tried to grind against his hand.

“I’ll take care of you, Tessa,” he told her, her eyes still glued to his face. “Christ! You’re so tight, but so damn wet for me. You feel so fucking good.”

“I want you!” she screamed, almost unable to keep her eyes open and on his face.

“Good. Because I’ve wanted you ever since I first saw you.” His eyes were tumultuous as he drove her higher and higher.

If her mind was functional, she would have doubted his claim, but her body was in control, Micah playing it like a musical instrument that belonged to him.

She fell into the rapid rhythm of Micah retreating and entering her channel while he teased her clit mercilessly with his thumb.

Her belly fluttered and then the knot she’d been feeling there began to unfurl as he moved impossibly faster.

His eyes stayed glued intensely on her face, his expression determined. The carnal, heated look in his eyes made her come undone. Since she couldn’t hear, it made his stormy gaze so much hotter. There was only sight and sensation, and both combined were highly erotic.

Her climax washed over her body like waves in a turbulent, stormy sea, sending her body adrift while the pulsations of release seized her, pummeled her.

“Yes. Oh, God.” Her eyes closed as she shuddered with the aftermath of her climax.

She was trembling as Micah lowered his mouth and kissed any breath she had left right out of her body. Still, she kissed him back, trying to communicate every emotion she was feeling.

Finally, he wrapped both of his arms around her tightly as she became a panting mess in his embrace.

His unique, masculine scent filled her nostrils as she rested her head against his chest, completely spent. This man had rocked her world, and he hadn’t removed a single article of his own clothing.

He pulled her head back gently with her hair. “You looked so beautiful when you were coming, Tessa. You still do.”

She shook her head. “I’m a mess,” she admitted.

“I want you so damn much. But not here. Not like this.” He paused before asking, “Have you been with anyone recently? You’re so damn tight.”

Tessa wanted Micah so desperately that she considered lying, but she couldn’t. She liked him too much, owed him too much to not be honest. “I’ve haven’t been with anybody since I lost my hearing,” she confessed. “Before that, there was only one man.”

She watched as the expression on his face turned incredulous and then wary.

“That long?” he asked. “How? Why?”

Tessa shook her head. “I was barely twenty-one when I lost my hearing. I was engaged to a man I’d met while I was competing in the Olympics. He was older than me, and an important businessman. I think I was overwhelmed by his attention. Eventually, I figured out that he just wanted a female athlete on his arm for his business and his ego. An Olympic champion. He owns a sports-equipment company, and when I couldn’t be that showpiece for him anymore, he dumped me.” She paused, remembering how she’d turned herself inside out to be the woman that Rick had wanted her to be, even
before
she’d gone deaf. She’d dressed, walked, and talked just the way he wanted her to, and she’d gone along with it, still amazed that a man as accomplished and wealthy as Richard Barlow wanted her.

In the beginning, Rick had bowled her over, wined and dined her until she was mesmerized by his larger-than-life presence. In the end, she’d found out just what he was really made of—a big pile of crap. Nothing about Rick had been real, and she hadn’t been the love of his life. She’d been his slave, molded into the perfect image of what he’d wanted. Unfortunately, the sculpted Theresa Sullivan had fallen apart, and her ex-fiancé hadn’t wanted any of part of Tessa. He’d only cared about the exceptional athlete.

His rejection had been a crushing blow to a woman who was still trying to accept the world in a whole new way. She’d moved back to Amesport with her parents and started to build a whole new life again as a deaf woman. But life had delivered several harder blows before she could even begin to cope with becoming deaf and losing the man who had seduced her into her first and only intimate relationship.

She briefly explained her thoughts to Micah, telling him that there hadn’t really been a guy who was interested in her since she’d lost her hearing and Rick had broken their engagement.

Really, no guy had ever taken the time to get to know her after she’d become deaf.