The Billionaire's Voice (The Sinclairs #4) (24 page)

“You
are
beautiful. But you
are
different—different from any woman I’ve ever known. You were amazing tonight, Tessa. Not amazing
considering you’re deaf
. You were
just
amazing.”

Her heart thumped as he gazed down at her with a look of love in his eyes, an expression that she hoped would never go away. She said, “I wonder why it is that you showed up just when I needed you so much, just when I was ready.”

He grinned. “Because Beatrice’s stone cleared our pathway?” he asked.

“Maybe. I can almost believe that we were thrown together now for a reason. Maybe I wasn’t ready before. But I am now.”

She circled her arms around his neck and urged him down to her.

“How ready?” he asked almost hesitantly.

“Very ready,” she concluded, her expression sensual.

He grasped her ass and pulled her body against him. “Show me,” he insisted.

He was challenging her, and she knew she was in trouble. “Okay,” she agreed, knowing she’d always rise to his challenges—simply because she wanted to.

And so, right there in the tiny room, she did everything she could to rock his world. She let go of any inhibitions she had, her adrenaline still pumping through her body from her performance and Micah’s proposal.

A little while later, completely sated, Micah declared defeat and told her he was completely persuaded that she really was ready to open her heart completely, and he was damn grateful for that.

EPILOGUE

A Few Weeks Later

Tessa looked slowly around the enormous, ridiculously ornate table, realizing that everyone she really cared about was here. Micah had wanted a Vegas wedding, but then backed down because he thought she deserved the wedding of her dreams.

Little did he realize,
he
was her dream. She hadn’t cared about the wedding just as long as they had family and friends attending. So once she’d convinced Micah that it didn’t matter to her where they got married, there was no stopping him.

They’d wed in one of the prettiest chapels in Las Vegas, and the wedding dinner she was currently attending had everybody present that she really needed. Liam was here, seated right across from Micah. Dante, Grady, Jared, Jason, and Evan were all sitting next to their wives, and Julian was sitting next to Kristin, the two of them appearing to be in an argument, a common occurrence for those two these days.

Tessa sighed, and Micah squeezed her hand under the table. She turned and looked at him, still astonished that she was now married to this wonderful man who had changed her life in so many ways.

“Having second thoughts?” he joked.

She shook her head. “Not for even an instant. I was just thinking that just about everything that matters to me is here.”

Micah’s expression turned more serious. “Me too.”

“I’m so sorry Xander couldn’t be here,” she told him softly. Micah’s brother was, thankfully, still in the rehab center.

“I’m not. I’m damn grateful he’s still in rehab. Hopefully he’ll stay there. It’s the best wedding gift he could give me.” He hesitated before asking, “Are you nervous about going back to New York?”

Tessa was returning to New York with Micah to start her implant procedure. They’d stay there for a while as she went through the process and Micah tried to rearrange the hierarchy in his company to function better with him living out of state. If he’d wanted to, she would have stayed with him in New York in a heartbeat. But Micah being Micah, he’d told her that location didn’t matter to him, and he liked Amesport. The builders on his property had made great progress, and he wanted to make Amesport his home, even though it would mean some frequent trips to New York for business.

She looked up into his eyes, her heart tripping as she noticed his worried expression. A man in a tuxedo shouldn’t look so serious. Especially not a man like Micah. Neither one of them had changed clothing, and she was still wearing the glorious wedding dress she’d purchased when they were in New York.

Lifting her palm to his cheek, she explained, “I’m not afraid, Micah. It’s not a dangerous procedure, and I know you won’t stop loving me if I’m not perfect or the implants aren’t successful for some reason.”

“You’re already fucking perfect,” he told her, a stubborn expression on his face. “I don’t give a shit if you don’t hear my voice.”

Stroking a finger down his cheek, she said, “I already know your voice. I hear it in my head every day, sometimes when you aren’t even in the same room with me. For me, you already have a voice. It’s kind, bold, sometimes arrogant, but always sexy.”

“Good.” He nodded. “But what happens if I sound like a dick when you get your hearing back again?” He lifted a brow as he stared at her.

Tessa snorted. “Your voice doesn’t come from here.” She touched his mouth. “It comes from here.” She touched his heart. “And here.” She touched his temple. “And maybe a little bit from here.” She took her hand from his under the table and trailed her fingers up his thigh and to his cock. Then she squeezed the already-erect member with her fingers, smiling sweetly at him at the same time.

“You’ll pay later, woman,” Micah warned her.

“Oh, I hope so,” she replied, slowly taking her hand away from his groin and joining their fingers together again.

“I think it’s time to find our honeymoon suite.”

Tessa chuckled. “We haven’t even eaten yet.”

Payback!

He shot her a hungry look that had nothing to do with food and everything to do with making
her
his dinner as he said, “I’ll eat what I want in the suite.”

He tore his eyes away to look across the table, and he squeezed her hand as Randi stood and tapped her spoon on her champagne glass, asking for silence.

Tessa found it amusing that for her,
everything
was
already
dead quiet.

She watched as Randi straightened her dress, then looked directly at Tessa as she spoke and signed her words. “Evan and Julian don’t want to speak, so I’m doing the newlywed toast. Tessa and I have known each other since we were kids. Because she was so dedicated to figure skating, she didn’t have a normal childhood or adolescence. I’ve watched her triumphs and then her heartache, something she took with more courage than I think I would have if I were her. She’s resilient, talented, and she deserves every bit of happiness she has right now with Micah. I was always happy to have her back, and always grateful to have her stand behind me when I needed her. So here’s to one of the kindest, most faithful friends I’ve ever known. Here’s to Tessa and Micah. We all wish you as much happiness as we’ve found.” Randi reached down for Evan’s hand, then picked up and raised her glass as everyone else did the same.

Julian stood. “To Micah and Tessa. I love you both, bro, or there’s no way I’d have flown here before I had to fly away to another damn movie shoot.” He lifted his glass and drained it as everyone else sipped from their glasses.

Kristin grabbed the edge of Julian’s tuxedo jacket and jerked him back into his seat.

Tessa stood and walked around the table to Randi, giving her a huge hug for her sweet words before returning to her seat.

“What’s wrong with Julian? He doesn’t look happy,” she asked Micah as she sat back down. “And why are he and Kristin having words again? Why does he dislike her so much?”

Tessa wasn’t close enough to see what they were saying, but she could tell from the irritated expressions on Julian’s and Kristin’s faces that whatever they were saying wasn’t pleasant.

“I have no idea,” Micah answered. “But I don’t think he exactly dislikes her. Just the opposite, I suspect.”

Tessa’s eyes left Micah’s face and she looked at Julian and Kristin again. Granted, Beatrice had given them the stones, but surely that wasn’t going to happen if they disliked each other so much . . .

Micah put a hand on her arm. “Don’t worry about them. They’ll figure it out. Besides, Julian’s on my shit list right now. He told me that he was the one who informed the Fund where to find you. It seems that he recognized you the first time he saw you. In his defense, he didn’t know that you didn’t skate anymore, and he thought he was doing a good thing for both you and the Sinclair Fund. But I’d still like to kick his ass for outing your location.”

“He recognized me?” That surprised Tessa. “I’m not angry at him. I’m glad. I owe him. That invitation led to a lot of good things for me,” she told Micah with a sultry smile.

He nodded toward the plates being placed in front of them. “Our dinner is here. Eat well. I might not let you out of our suite for a while.”

All it took was that single comment for Tessa to be unable to clear her mind of sensual images all through dinner, and then again during the wedding cake.

She laughed as Homer stuck his head out from under the table, reminding her that he was there as she ate her cake. Her furry friend had a sweet tooth, and she snuck him a bite of the cake, sticking her hand under the table as the canine quickly devoured the sweet treat and licked her fingers.

Watching as Homer moved from her side and situated himself between her and Micah, she saw her new husband do exactly the same thing she’d done, except he’d slipped her dog nearly an entire piece of the sugary treat.

No matter how much Micah tried to play the tough guy, his
heart
would never be hard. He was a guy who had as many facets as the beautiful diamond on her finger, every one of them special, every one part of him. Combined, they made up the man that Micah was now, and she loved every one of those sides of the man she’d married.

He nudged her and she looked up at him as she dropped her fork on her empty plate.

Tilting her chin, he said, “Everybody wants a kiss.”

Looking around, Tessa could see everybody tapping their spoons on their water glasses, demanding that Micah kiss his new bride.

The feel of his warm breath on her face, and the hot, sexy scent he gave off as he stroked her chin, made her lean closer to him. “I never did like to disappoint an audience,” she murmured.

“I don’t care about everybody else. Kiss me,” he demanded.

His arrogant, bossy side was hard to resist, so she didn’t even bother.

She leaned closer and kissed him.

She couldn’t hear the whoops of approval as her mouth collided with Micah’s. All she recognized was the now-familiar sense of euphoria whenever they touched, Micah’s total commitment to them as a couple, and mostly, his love. And for Tessa, hearing
Micah’s
voice
was more than enough.

~ The End ~

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My sincerest thanks to my amazing street team, Jan’s Gems, for everything you do for me to spread the word about my books. You ladies are truly amazing.

Rita, thank you for always being so willing to help me out. Your friendship as well as your editing skills make you one of my greatest assets.

Thank you to my Senior Editor, Maria Gomez, and all of the Montlake team for your continued support of The Sinclairs. This series is an incredible journey for me, and I’m glad I’m sharing it with the entire Montlake Romance team.

To my own KA team: Sandie, Annette, Isa, Natalie, Tami, and Sri. I’m only as strong as the team behind me, and all of you keep me going, even during the most challenging of times. I love you all. I’m not sure how I got so lucky to have such an awesome group of employees, but I must have done something good to deserve all of you. Thank you for being the very best support system a woman could ever have.

As always, thank you to my readers, who allow me to do what I love to do. You’ll never know how much your comments, letters, and excitement about my books really mean to me, so I’ll just say thank you to every one of you once again.

xxx Jan (J.S. Scott)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo © 2013 by Carrie Herzog

J.S. “Jan” Scott is a
New York Times
,
USA Today
, and
Wall Street Journal
bestselling romance author. She’s an avid reader of all types of books and literature, but romance has always been her genre of choice. Writing what she loves to read, Jan pens both contemporary and paranormal romances. They are almost always steamy, they generally feature an alpha male, and they include a happily ever after because she just can’t seem to write them any other way! Jan lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains with her husband and two very spoiled German Shepherds.

Jan loves to connect with readers.

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