The Billionaire's Voice (The Sinclairs #4) (23 page)

CHAPTER 22

“You look beautiful, baby. Are you nervous?”

Tessa adjusted the gorgeous skating ensemble she was wearing, knowing it was the most elegant performance costume she’d ever owned. The bright red was bold, and the elegant gold embellishments were classic. She was wearing her favorite tan custom skates to complement the outfit.

She smiled at Micah. “Surprisingly, I’m not at all. I guess the atmosphere feels normal to me.” She stopped as she fingered her bracelet. “I wonder if I should take this off.”

The jewelry was delicate, and wouldn’t interfere with her skating. But she didn’t want to lose it.

“Leave it. It has a strong safety clasp, and I’ll buy you something else if it falls off.”

Since she loved the comforting feel of knowing she was wearing something Micah had given her, she left it on. But she wasn’t as nonchalant as he was at the thought of losing it. “It’s almost time.”

Earlier in the week, Micah had managed to get her ice time at the same stadium they were in right now. It had given her an opportunity to keep running through her routine. She was nowhere near the Olympic-champion-level skater she’d been almost a decade ago, but she was also older, pretty much over the hill for a female figure skater. She smiled, knowing that for an old lady figure skater, she could pull off a respectable performance.

The last several days hadn’t been all practice. Once they’d finally gotten out of bed, Micah had taken her to see the sights: the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and the 9/11 Memorial had been their first stops, Micah teasingly saying he felt like a tourist instead of an actual New Yorker. She’d let him feed her junk food from some of his favorite places to eat; the most memorable were Coney dogs from a street vendor.

In so many ways, it had been a magical week. Not only had she enjoyed her trip to New York immensely, but she’d been able to share all of those things with Micah.

“Ready?” he asked, looking more nervous than she was.

She reached for his hand and nodded, leading him toward the exit of the small preparation room.

She couldn’t hear the madness of the crowd as they approached the area where she’d wait her turn, but she knew it was probably loud. People were screaming from the stands, standing up every time the skater on the ice landed a jump.

Knowing she was up next, she took the covers off her blades, smiling as she saw so many of her friends sitting in the front row. She bent down to hug each one of them. All of the Sinclairs were present with their wives. Jason and Hope also had a front-row seat beside Liam, the chair next to her brother sadly empty, even though Tessa knew that Micah had given her brother two tickets.

Beatrice and Elsie had Julian between them, Micah’s brother having no choice but to listen to them.

“Beatrice, I think you can have these back now,” Micah told the elderly woman as Tessa hugged her.

Beatrice blinked at him in surprise as she held out her hand to receive the two Apache tear stones from his hand. “Why, yes. It does look like you two don’t need them anymore.” She winked knowingly at Micah, and he smiled back at her.

Beatrice promptly gave one of the rocks to Julian, then reached across him to give the other one to Kristin. “I think they’re going to the right place now.”

Tessa looked at Micah, then watched the expressions of horror on Julian’s and Kristin’s faces as they tried to give the stones back to Beatrice. She was having none of it, so they both put the rocks in their pockets without looking at each other.

Julian and . . . Kristin?

Tessa thought they were an unlikely pair, since they didn’t even get along, but no more unusual than her and Micah. She was learning to respect Beatrice’s wisdom without questioning it anymore. Really, she almost wished the elderly woman had given one of those stones to Liam, but she guessed that it still wasn’t his time.

She took a deep breath before she walked to the door that led out to the ice.

“Everything will be fine, Tessa,” Micah said, carefully tugging her head back using the French braid that had been carefully crafted not long ago.

Micah kissed her, careful not to mess up her hair or smudge her makeup.

When they surfaced, she replied, “I know it will be. Everything I do, every move I make during the performance, I’m doing for you.”

This skate would be a celebration of the happiness she’d found with Micah. Maybe they hadn’t figured everything out, but it didn’t matter.

“That’s your cue, sweetheart.” Micah nodded subtly at the ice.

She knew they’d just called her name, and she stepped out onto the slick surface, taking a warm-up lap before taking her posed position facing Micah.

All she had to do was wait for his signal to start.

I love you.
He mouthed the words right before giving her the okay to start.

It seemed so strange for her world to be completely silent when she knew, between the arena and viewers on the TV, she had millions of people watching her. There was a full audience, yet she couldn’t hear a single one of them yelling or clapping from the stands.

Peace flowed over her soul as she got caught up in the joy of skating, her movements flowing as she set up for her first jump combination.

She landed the two jumps in succession flawlessly, effortlessly, growing more confident as she made move after move without a problem.

Checking Micah’s signals, she knew that she was flowing with the music, even as she picked up the tempo, doing a few choreographed sassy little moves as the speed of her routine grew faster.

Throughout the performance, she skated with happiness, a joy like she’d never experienced, trying to use her body to convey her emotions.

I have a man who loves me exactly as I am.

That realization freed her, elevated her until she felt like she was flying as she leapt into the air for her final jump, landing it lightly and perfectly.

She was panting and out of breath as she finished the routine with her usual flamboyant stance, holding the position for a moment before she covered her face with her hands and cried.

I did it. I finished without a flaw.

She made a small circle, her hands still over her face. Then, she made herself move her hands and started waving to a crowd who were all on their feet, even though everything was silent.

The air in the stadium vibrated with enthusiasm and excitement. She couldn’t hear it, but she could
feel
it.

Tessa startled as a body slammed against her, and she turned quickly only to realize it was Micah. He was on his skates, an enormous bouquet of roses in his arms.

“These are for you,” he told her, laying all but one carefully on the ice. “This one is from me.”

She reached out to take it with a tearful smile on her face, not noticing there was something attached as she accepted the gift from him. Then, when she had it in her hand, she saw it. Simultaneously, Micah dropped onto the ice on one knee, looking up at her.

He started to sign, putting emphasis on every movement he made.

I. Love. You. You bared yourself completely to me, and now I’m doing the same thing. Please put me out of my misery and marry me. Be with me forever. I promise I’ll stay beside you whatever our future holds.

She looked from him to the rose in her hand, realizing that there was a beautiful diamond ring on the stem of the flower.

She looked at him with her heart in her eyes, knowing he was risking everything by coming out here in front of millions of people and placing his heart in her hands. He was willing to make himself as vulnerable to her as she had to him. He was just doing it in a different way.

“Oh, my God.” Tessa put a hand over her face and started to cry again, her heart racing with excitement and her nerves so raw that she couldn’t help but cry.

“Don’t cry, Tessa.” Micah rose up as he signed.

She dropped her hands and gaped at him. “You really want to marry me?”

He grinned. “I really, really do.” He nodded to the crowd. “I think they just realized that you’re deaf. They’re so loud that I can’t hear a thing.”

“Welcome to my world,” she answered with an enormous expression of joy on her face.

Micah reached out and slid the ring down the stem and held it out to her. “Well, I’m making a total ass out of myself right now. Are you going to marry me or not?”

Her hand trembled as she stuck it out. “How can I say no? There are millions of people watching,” she teased.

“Don’t say yes because you think you have to. Say yes only if you want this as much as I do,” Micah answered with a grim expression.

“Then, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.” She told him happily, “I want to be with you forever. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

“I don’t want to imagine life without you, Tessa,” Micah answered as he slid the gorgeous diamond on her finger.

She admired it for a moment, the beautiful platinum band with an enormous diamond in the center and a circle of smaller stones around the centerpiece.

Tessa took the rose and flung herself at her new fiancé, a man so strong and powerful, yet so vulnerable at the same time. “I love you,” she told him before she hugged him tightly.

He tipped her chin up, his eyes a stormy sea of emotions as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Your devoted audience is chanting for a kiss.”

“Then don’t disappoint them,” she murmured, staring back at him lovingly.

He swooped down and kissed her, right there in front of millions of people, but he didn’t seem to care. He kissed her until she was breathless again, her heart ready to burst from her chest.

When he finally released her, he advised, “Wave to your crowd, sweetheart. They’re going crazy. They all adore you, especially now that they know that even with challenges to overcome, you skated like an angel. You were amazing.”

She faced the audience in each direction, waving enthusiastically with an ecstatic expression that she couldn’t hide even if she wanted to.

Young skaters were coming to collect the flowers that had been thrown onto the ice by fervent observers as Micah took her hand and led her slowly to the exit.

He held the door open and allowed her to get out of the rink first. She nearly bumped into the next performer. “I’m so sorry,” she muttered, looking up as she apologized.

She cringed as she saw Rick standing behind one of her former female competitors, Shannon, a woman she’d never liked because of her cruelty to all of the other women in her profession. The female skater had medaled in the same Olympics that Tessa had; she’d gotten the bronze.

“Theresa,” the dark-haired female acknowledged. “You could watch where you’re going.”

“Now, darling. Don’t get upset. She is dealing with a handicap,” Rick said rudely.

Micah moved in front of her. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll lay you out on the floor in so much pain, you’ll wish you were dead.”

Tessa moved to Micah’s side. “Don’t.” She grabbed his hand. “He’s not worth it.”

“Aiming your aspirations a little low, aren’t you, Sinclair?” Rick asked drily.

Micah lunged and grasped Rick by the collar of his polo shirt. “Honestly, I think she’s way too good for me, but for some reason she wants to marry me anyway,” Micah said with what appeared to be a growl. “Get the fuck out of my event.”

“I have a ticket. I came to see my new girlfriend skate,” Rick protested.

Shannon ignored the two men when her name was called and stepped out onto the ice. Then, as she approached the middle of the rink, she got tripped up and fell on her ass before she’d even started her routine.

Tessa bit her lip to keep from smiling.

Is it so bad of me to be happy that an old member of my team took a fall?

Her ex-teammate got to her feet with a volatile look on her face, and Tessa decided she didn’t care if she was being bad or not. She smiled.

Micah pulled his arm back and smashed Rick hard in the face, watching as the man hit the floor. “There. Now both you and your girlfriend have fallen on your asses,” Micah said with a smirk. “Karma can really be a bitch sometimes,” he added nonchalantly. “Enjoy the show. I’ve seen everything I care about.”

Tessa followed Micah back to the preparation room they’d been in before the performance. He tugged her inside and closed the door behind him.

She found herself immediately boxed in, Micah pinning her to the door. “How in the hell did you ever put up with that jackass?”

Honestly, now Tessa didn’t know exactly why she’d stayed with Rick for so long. “Maybe because he was all I ever knew,” she said breathlessly, looking into the eyes of the man who would belong to her forever. “I didn’t know what love was back then.”

“So you think you do now?” he asked cautiously.

“Yes. It’s a man who sees me as beautiful no matter what. It’s a man who challenges me and doesn’t treat me like I’m different or like I have limitations. It’s a man who is willing to make himself vulnerable to me, even though it’s not a comfortable position at all for a powerful man to be in.” Tessa sighed. “For me, that’s you, my love.”

His expression still fierce, he leaned his forehead against hers and rested there for a moment before he lifted his head again.