by J. S. Scott
His eyes were both hungry and mischievous, a combination that was nearly irresistible.
“I could ask you the same.” He answered slowly, signing with American Sign Language—ASL for short—as he spoke. “Not that I mind. Now we’ve both seen the other one naked.”
Deep, silky smooth, and sinful. That was how she heard Micah’s voice. She had since the minute she’d met him.
Tessa was good at reading lips, but she found it much easier with people she knew well. Although Micah wasn’t exactly a stranger, she’d always been able to understand him, for some reason. She’d been able to pick up the majority of his words from their very first encounter, which had been in a very similarly embarrassing way—except he had been the one standing in a bathroom naked, a tantalizing sight that Tessa had never been able to erase from her brain—no matter how much she tried. “I’m caretaking the house,” she told him hastily, trying to pull the towel more snugly around her body. “I moved in several months ago. After Evan and Randi’s wedding. What are you doing here?”
She shivered, but she wasn’t really cold. The warmth in Micah’s eyes was enough to heat the small home for an entire Maine winter. But there was something about him that looked . . . different.
Micah Sinclair was usually cocky, a trait that the Sinclair men shared. Not rude, exactly, but Tessa was starting to think it was a behavior that every Sinclair male had acquired at birth. Every one of them exuded almost an obnoxious confidence that could also be perceived as arrogant.
Silently, her eyes moved over him, taking in every detail. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans that had softened and faded with age, and hugged his body lovingly. The T-shirt he was wearing probably dated back to his college days, the blue fabric sporting the logo of an Ivy League school. It wasn’t his clothing that seemed . . . off; it was something else that seemed different. It wasn’t strange to see him in comfortable clothing. Other than his formal dress for Evan’s wedding and Hope’s winter party, Tessa had noticed that he wasn’t a fancy dresser, even though he was no less wealthy than his brothers or cousins.
Usually, he appeared to be a rugged, outdoorsy kind of guy. Probably because that was exactly what he was: an extreme-sports mogul. But today he wasn’t exuding the same barely containable energy he usually did.
He looks . . . exhausted.
She studied his face again, noticing the weary look and the dark circles beneath his eyes.
“I bought the house,” he announced suddenly.
Tessa was glad Micah had signed along with his statement, because she’d been so preoccupied with his eyes that she hadn’t looked at his lips. “This house?” she squeaked.
He nodded.
“How is that possible? Randi didn’t tell me, and she and Evan are away in the Orient for a belated honeymoon.” Her friend would be gone for several more weeks, and she hadn’t texted Tessa for several days. Surely Randi would have let her know the house had sold so she could get out before the new owner arrived.
Micah grinned at her, making him suddenly seem much more approachable. “It was a quick deal. Evan and Randi are under the impression that I’m not taking possession for a while. They wouldn’t have wanted you to leave.”
“Then why are you here?” she asked, feeling uncomfortable standing in the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around her body while she conversed with the hottest guy she’d ever met.
Honestly, it was pretty humiliating.
He shrugged. “Spontaneous trip. I decided to check out the property once the deal closed.”
Tessa knew instinctively that his decision to come here wasn’t completely on a whim. She might not be able to hear, but her other senses and her instincts were sharp, and she could feel that something wasn’t quite right. “And did you check out the property?” she asked, feeling awkward.
“Not all of it. I didn’t just buy this place. I purchased several other parcels that are connected to this property. That’s a lot of acreage to see.” He paused before adding, “I’m actually rather glad I decided to check out the house first. My timing was excellent.”
He was teasing her, but she still blushed all over again. “I’m not glad you’re here. I’m naked,” she replied bluntly.
“Unfortunately for me, you aren’t anymore.” His grin grew broader, and his eyes caressed her devilishly.
He’s flirting.
The thought made her feel dumbfounded, even though she was sure that Micah probably flirted with every woman he met. Men didn’t look at her as a sexual creature. She was deaf, disabled as far as most males were concerned. Guys might like her as a friend, but they did not look at her like she was the hottest female on the East Coast. Except . . . for some reason . . . this man did.
“I need to get dressed,” Tessa mumbled, trying to make her way around Micah Sinclair’s muscular body blocking the entrance to the small bathroom. The air in the room was getting electric with sexual tension and it made her uncomfortable, especially since the real attraction was probably all coming from her.
He caught her bare upper arm and tilted her face up to look at him. “Tessa?”
She felt her heart skitter as she inhaled his intoxicatingly masculine scent. He was too close, so close that she could feel the heat of his body, pressed up against his hip.
“Yes?” she choked out, wanting to escape the small room that suddenly felt much too warm and much too small.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.” He didn’t sign this time, but she caught his words.
“If what you’re saying is true, I’m the one invading your privacy,” she reminded him, her gaze staying on his lips because he wasn’t signing. “I wish I had known the property had sold. I would have left right away.”
“You’re not intruding. In fact, seeing you here is the best thing that’s happened to me in a while.”
Damn. He must be desperate for entertainment if seeing me here in his new property is actually a good thing.
Not knowing what to say, she scrambled around him and pulled her arm from his grasp. “I’ll go as soon as I can,” she told him hastily as she darted out of the bathroom.
“I hope not.” Micah smiled at her departing figure, his soft, low comment going unheard and unnoticed by the fleeing woman.
In some ways, it had been instinct that had brought Micah here to Amesport. Granted, rest and relaxation had been the doctor’s orders, but when his physician had told him that he needed a total hiatus, the first place he’d thought about was all of his new property in Maine.
When he said he’d acquired a lot of acreage . . . he meant it. Much of the wooded property on this side of town, outside the city limits, now belonged to him. The empty lots along the coastline had been the most difficult and expensive to purchase. They had been owned by an out-of-town contractor who had wanted to build on the coastline when the economy improved. All it had taken to change the man’s mind was more money and some bargaining discussions. After watching the guy, Micah knew just how much to offer to make him cave in and give up the property. Buying Randi’s old house away from the coast had been an afterthought, a way to help Randi and to give Micah a home that could one day house a caretaker for the massive amount of acreage he now owned.
Seating himself on the living-room couch while he waited for Tessa, Micah rubbed his forehead as he remembered how he’d been determined to ignore his doctor’s advice. The last thing he needed was time away from his company. Then, he’d had another debilitating incident even worse than the last. That had been enough to make him consider taking a short trip away from the city.
I’ve gone without an episode for years. Why now?
According to his doctor in New York, the reasons were endless: his stress over his youngest brother, Xander; too much caffeine; too little sleep; too much travel; not eating right; etc., etc. Even though it had nearly killed him to hand over the daily running of his company to his executives, he’d done it. There was no denying that his temper was getting short, and th
at he wasn’t concentrating well. When his long-ago-and-never-thought-about episodes had returned with a vengeance, he’d finally admitted that he needed . . . something.
Leaning back on the comfortable old sofa, Micah confessed silently that just flying himself here had been a release that he hadn’t experienced for a long time. He’d recently acquired a Cessna, and piloting himself to Maine had reminded him how much he missed the exhilaration of being alone, just him and an endless expanse of sky.
Finding Tessa here had been another plus, but he was cursing his unruly cock as it pressed against the unyielding denim of his jeans.
She’s just as beautiful as I remember!
As if he’d ever forget her staring at him like he was some kind of apparition when he’d stepped out of the shower at Jared’s guesthouse, the first time they’d met? Her expression had turned from one of terror to mortification, then finally curiosity as she’d surveyed his body. Shit, he still got wood just thinking about her fascinated gaze.
For some reason, Tessa had intrigued him from day one, and his preoccupation with her intensified after every encounter they had.
He’d gotten very little opportunity to talk to her during Evan’s wedding. Micah had been the only Sinclair cousin who had made it to Amesport for the official union between Evan and Miranda “Randi” Tyler. Julian had been in the middle of shooting a film out of country, and Xander was in no shape to travel. Regrettably, Micah had needed to leave right after the reception, and had only exchanged a few words with Tessa that day.
But that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about her.
He thought about her too damn much for his liking.
Being back in Amesport felt good, real. He’d tried lying to himself when he’d bought Randi’s old home and much of the surrounding area, adamantly putting the notion in his brain that it would be a good buy from a business perspective. Okay, yeah, it probably would be a good investment since the town was growing. Maybe if he wanted to commercially build up the area he’d bought, it might even be reasonable. His cousin Jared had married a woman who had a steadily growing business in Amesport, and Randi’s special-learning-needs school would probably open next year. Eventually, the town would expand and grow. The speculation would make sense. But that wasn’t the reason he’d bought up the land. He was bullshitting himself, trying to rationalize the unreasonable. In reality, his reasons were far more personal.
His cock went stiff again as Tessa came out of the bedroom looking breathless and rumpled.
On her, the just-rolled-out-of-bed look was incredibly sensual. He wondered if that’s how she’d look after she came for him, and the desire to find out was nearly overwhelming.
Micah groaned inwardly as he noticed the perfectly modest shorts and the red T-shirt she was wearing. Her hair was probably still drying, but the plump curls were already visible, making him want to bury his fingers into the blonde, disorderly, spiraled locks to see if they were as soft and silky as they looked. On closer scrutiny, he didn’t see any makeup on her face, but her skin was glowing. The light-green eyes looking at him expectantly nearly did him in. The feeling that he’d seen her face before he’d ever met her hammered at him once again. She’d always looked familiar, but maybe he just fucking wanted to know her.
He wanted Tessa Sullivan—had from the first time he’d seen her, and the desire to bury himself inside her was getting impossible to ignore. Hell, he thought about her all the time, and she haunted his very dirty dreams even though he barely knew her. Honestly, he knew that she was one of the reasons he was here. He needed to get over his crazy obsession with the petite blonde, spend enough time with her to realize that his fantasies were nothing like reality. Micah was convinced that once he got to know Tessa, his fascination with her would stop tormenting him all the way to New York.
The way she was staring at his lips was oddly erotic, even though he knew exactly why her gaze was fixed on his mouth. He cursed himself for getting turned on by an action that was strictly necessity for her.
“I’m ready. I don’t really have much. I stored my stuff in Liam’s garage and just brought what I needed. I knew I wouldn’t be here forever,” she told him softly.
Micah signed as he spoke. “You gave up your apartment?”
He was secretly glad he’d brushed up on his ASL. There was no question as to why he’d done it. Micah wasn’t going to lie to himself anymore, or deny that his dick got hard over seeing Tessa. Truth was . . . he wanted to be able to communicate with her without looking awkward, and he just wanted to get over whatever madness Tessa Sullivan had driven him into. He was sick of his cock popping up like a jack-in-the-box every damn time he thought about her.
Now, he knew seeing her in person wasn’t helping. It was making his embarrassing condition even worse.
She nodded. “I wanted to save money over the summer, and rentals are outrageous. The price triples during tourist months.”
Micah knew she cleaned for his Sinclair cousins—who lived out on the exclusive Amesport Peninsula—during the winter months when the restaurant she owned with Liam was slower. Obviously, she was also willing to watch homes while the owners were absent. “Don’t you have to drive to the restaurant every day?”
“Not every day after the summer months,” she answered. “Our open hours are shorter, and we’re closed more days. We have staff that we want to keep even though they’ll work less hours. Liam handles most of the management at the restaurant during the winter, and he’s anal about the way things are run there. I just work the busy days, and cover for other staff when they need me.”
“So where will you go if you leave here? Are your parents still alive?”
“No,” Tessa answered sadly. “They’re both gone, but Liam lives in my parents’ old home. I’ll move back in with him. I have to try and earn more money this winter. We need to have the restaurant renovated.”
Micah had already run into Tessa’s obsessively protective brother. He could understand why she didn’t look happy about being housemates with her only sibling. He’d been to Sullivan’s Steak and Seafood for dinner, and the food was spectacular. However, the shack near the end of the pier was badly in need of repair, so he could also understand why Tessa was saving.
“You were hoping to stay here for the winter, weren’t you?” He automatically signed as he spoke.
“Hoping,” she confided. “But I knew the house could sell at any time.”
“Do you have more jobs lined up?” he asked curiously.
“Just the cleaning services on the Peninsula, but I think I can find more jobs. I just started looking.” She fidgeted, and her eyes looked troubled.
Micah stood. “Then don’t leave, Tessa. Stay here. It’s not like I’ll be here long, and I’ll need somebody to watch the property.” The words left his lips impulsively, but Micah knew he’d never wanted anything more. Tessa wanted work, and he wanted to give it to her . . . in more ways than one.
What faster way was there to get to know a person than if they were living in a house that he owned, that he could visit whenever he wanted? It was a perfect situation, and Micah wasn’t the kind of guy to miss out on an opportunity.
Life was too damn short, and he wanted to shake off his desperation to fuck Tessa Sullivan once and for all.
CHAPTER 2
“What? Stay here? Why?” Micah had signed it. He’d spoken the words. Still, Tessa couldn’t quite believe that she completely understood what he was asking her to do.
“I want you to stay. I’ll be here in Amesport for a few weeks, but I’ll put myself up in Jared’s guesthouse. You can still function as a caretaker. I could use some help finding my way around. I don’t know the area or the property. And I’ll need someone to watch my property when I leave.”
Oh, God. I can’t stay here now that the house belongs to him.
Not only was it ridiculous to think he needed help, but she knew Liam would go ballistic. Her brother had mentioned that he thought Micah found her attrac
tive, and he’d made it totally clear to her that she needed to stay away from this particular Sinclair. She’d rolled her eyes at her brother and walked away. Like some billionaire Sinclair was going to be sexually into me? She had been a little concerned that Liam was delusional. Micah might flirt, but Tessa had no doubt that he flattered every woman he came in contact with, even the deaf ones.
“I’m willing to pay you very well,” he remarked casually. “Now that the property belongs to me, it’s my responsibility to pay a caretaker. It’s a lot of land. I’ll need somebody who will stay on after I go.”
He named a monthly figure that made Tessa go weak in the knees. Even if he only kept her through the winter, it would help her do a lot to improve the restaurant. It had been in their family since her grandparents had started the eatery decades ago. The restaurant meant everything to her.
“My brother hates you,” she admitted.
Micah grinned. “I know. But I’m not asking your brother. I’m asking you.”
Liam wasn’t her keeper, but he thought he was. She wasn’t afraid of rebelling and doing as she liked. She was more concerned about not hurting her only sibling in some way. Her brother had been by her side when she’d gone deaf, and then again after their parents died. He hadn’t been thrilled when she moved out of town to take care of Randi’s house, but she knew he was ecstatic about one thing—her giving up her own apartment. It meant she’d eventually have to move back home with him after the house sold.
It’s time for Liam to stop. I’ve been able to handle my situation for a while now. He has to realize that I don’t need him to keep sacrificing his life for me.
“Okay. I’ll stay.” She said the words before she could stop them. Really, she did want to stay, and not just for the job.
Tessa desperately wanted to know what had really brought Micah here to Maine, and why he was looking so weary. Something was wrong. She could sense it. Unfortunately, her curiosity almost always got her into trouble.
