The Billionaire's Voice (The Sinclairs #4)

by J. S. Scott

  Micah: Now isn’t a good time to be with you. Maybe in the future. I’m sorry.

  After reading it three times, she still didn’t know what to make of the message. Obviously, he’d decided to back off, and even though she’d told herself she wouldn’t be sad when he left, her heart shattered.

  I knew it wasn’t forever. I knew he’d have to go.

  The sound of a plane taking off from the airport was the final stab to her heart. Amesport didn’t do commercial flights, so it had to be a private plane, and there weren’t many of those in her town. In fact, the airport had been pretty much closed until Grady Sinclair had decided to make his permanent home in Amesport and brought his big private jet along with him. Eventually, the rest of the brothers had moved here, and private aircraft came along with them, too.

  Most people in Amesport knew when a Sinclair was leaving or returning, since they were about the only ones who really used the airstrip outside of town.

  Tessa finished her coffee, trying not to shed a tear. Keeping with her routine, she did her morning run and then headed to the arena. She ran through her routine several times, but her heart ached that, for once, Micah wasn’t there on the sidelines to cheer her on or let her know if she was off time with her music with the silly little gestures they’d made up for each scenario.

  She didn’t arrive home until dinnertime, and the house seemed eerily empty. It was her fault. She’d allowed herself to get way too attached to Micah, and everything seemed grim without him here to laugh with her, talk to her, touch her, and make her feel like she was part of a couple instead of terribly alone and isolated.

  As she tossed a frozen dinner in the microwave, she noticed that a message had popped up on her phone again, but she didn’t recognize the number.

  Did you get my message this morning?

  The only text she’d gotten was from Micah, and this number wasn’t his. She typed back cautiously.

  Who is this?

  It took a few minutes for the sender to reply.

  Julian Sinclair. I don’t think Micah wanted me to tell you anything, but he hasn’t called me and I’m getting a little worried. My cousins are all off the Peninsula today, and I need somebody to check on Micah. I don’t suppose you’re near that area right now?

  Micah? He was still here?

  Where was Julian? Where was Micah? The two of them texted back and forth for a few minutes before she got the information she needed. Micah was at Jared’s guesthouse, sick. Julian was in California because Xander had overdosed, and it had been a hurried text from Julian that she’d gotten this morning from Micah’s phone. Julian had scribbled down her number in case he needed it, utilizing her now because none of his relatives were available.

  It hadn’t been Micah blowing her off. It had been Julian trying to tell her that Micah had to stay home with a migraine headache, that he couldn’t make it back to her today.

  Her fingers flew as she texted back to Julian again.

  I’ll go. How is Xander?

  She got a response a few moments later.

  X is ornery as hell, but okay for now. Thanks for checking. Micah never has asked for help when he needed it. But I’d feel better if somebody was there. His migraines can get pretty bad.

  Tessa gathered her things, wanting to get to the Peninsula as soon as possible.

  I’m on my way. I’ll take care of Micah. I promise.

  Julian sent his thanks, and a vow to let her know any new information on Xander when he got it. She stuffed her phone in her purse and made her little economy vehicle get to the Peninsula as quickly as possible, driving faster than she’d gone even as a lead-footed teenager, in an effort to get to Micah.

  The door was locked when she reached Jared’s guesthouse, but she had a key, and she felt no remorse for using it when she wasn’t working. Since darkness was beginning to fall, she flipped on some lights in the living room and kitchen, getting a glass of ice water, a cool cloth, and some crackers from the cupboard before creeping quietly to the door of the bedroom where Micah slept.

  She knew the house, knew what bedroom Micah had used when he stayed here. She cleaned these houses, and she was familiar with all of the guest homes.

  Cautiously, she pushed open the door, seeing Micah on the bed moving restlessly. She went and pulled the curtains as tightly closed as possible, feeling guilty that she hadn’t been there before dusk to try to help him. Once the remaining sunlight was completely blocked, she put the items she’d gathered on the bedside table and lightly put her hand on Micah’s forehead.

  His skin was wet and clammy, his body covered in sweat. Slowly, she lowered the pillow from his head and placed the cool cloth across his forehead.

  Micah startled and turned on the dim bedside lamp on his nightstand.

  “Tessa?” he hissed in a low voice, his eyes puffy and red as he looked at her, seeming confused.

  “Yes,” she whispered quietly. “Lie still. Do you need more medication?”

  “Yeah. I couldn’t get up to take it. I think Julian left it in the bathroom.”

  “Are you nauseous?”

  “No. Not anymore.”

  She got up and went into the small half bath, closing the door before she flipped on the light and found his pills. Shaking out a dose and replacing the cap, she went back to his bedside and helped him take the pills with the cold water she’d brought in with her.

  After feeding him a few crackers, she went and got a basin of cold water so she could periodically change the cool compress. Kicking off her shoes, she lay gently beside him.

  “How did you know?” Micah said weakly.

  “Julian. He was worried,” she shared in a whisper, knowing that noises were going to bother him.

  “I didn’t want you to see me like this,” he rumbled.

  “I want to be here if you need me,” she answered. “Just rest now. I’ll be right here beside you if you want anything.”

  Careful not to touch him, she reached across his body and cut off the light, effectively ending any conversation since she couldn’t see him.

  He reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist, bodily pulling her closer, and she rested a hand cautiously on his chest. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to be touched.

  Apparently, he wanted to feel her, to be touched by her. He fell asleep soon after she’d turned off the light, his body less restless as he reached up his free hand and covered the one she had laid on his chest.

  CHAPTER 14

  Micah awoke in a dark room, disoriented because he couldn’t remember exactly where he was, but the warmth of Tessa’s hand in his calmed him down, forcing him to think.

  Xander.

  The migraine.

  The fucking pain.

  Then, Tessa had come. She’d cared for him, but most of the details were fuzzy.

  Slowly, he remembered that Julian had gone to California because Xander had overdosed. He wasn’t sure why or how Tessa had known he needed her, but Julian had to be the source of that information. He was the only one who knew. As his brain started to clear, he vaguely remembered Tessa telling him that Julian had texted her because he’d been worried about Micah.

  The excruciating pain was gone, leaving only a dull ache, a minor discomfort that Micah knew would wear off during the next few hours. He shifted and looked at the lighted bedside clock, realizing he’d been incoherent for almost twenty-four hours. The duration was shorter than his last episode, which had gone on for two days.

  He knew it was morning, well beyond daylight, but the curtains were carefully pulled across the large windows in the room, leaving it nearly completely dark.

  “Micah? Are you okay?” Tessa vaulted into a sitting position, immediately awake.

  His chest ached just from hearing the concern in her voice, the genuine fear for his health. Reaching back, he turned on the light so he could communicate with her, sitting up slowly.

  Taking her frightened face between his hands, he said, “I’m fine. Sleep, Tessa. I
know you probably didn’t get much rest.” He could tell by the way she’d reacted the moment he moved that she’d slept lightly. She was still dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, apparently acting as his guardian angel as he slept.

  She yawned as she replied, “I slept. You conked out after you took your pills and ate some crackers. How are you feeling?”

  “Better,” he said uncomfortably, not completely at ease with being helpless and in pain with anybody watching. “You didn’t need to come over.”

  “Maybe not. But I wanted to,” she told him softly, lifting a hand to his face to stroke his whiskered jaw. “My mom used to suffer with migraines. I know how bad it can be.”

  Micah thought about how she’d probably pulled the curtains closed, fetched cold compresses, and sought out his pills the night before. He always had found his migraines emasculating. The condition was a lot more common in women than men, and he’d always wondered why it had to happen to him. As a teenager, he’d felt like a wuss when he had to discontinue his activities because he had a stupid headache. Since he always had warning, very few of his friends even knew about his condition. The only ones who had ever understood were his brothers and his parents.

  “This one didn’t last as long as the last one. Maybe they’ll eventually go away,” he grumbled.

  “Is that what happened? They went away and then came back?”

  “Yeah. Until the last year or so, I hadn’t had one in over a decade.”

  “After your parents were killed and Xander was injured. That’s why your doctor wanted you to get away from all your stresses?”

  Micah shrugged. “Pretty much. He thought maybe it was happening again because of the way my parents died, the situation with Xander, and the lifestyle change since I started my own business.”

  Tessa nodded. “He’s probably right. My mom’s migraines only happened when she was under a lot of stress. After my dad died, she had them a lot.”

  “I can’t just give up my life. I escaped for a while, but I have to live in reality. I love my company, and I love my brother,” he told her angrily.

  Tessa didn’t let his hostile expression bother her. She knew Micah was angry at the situation and not at her. “I know you do, but that doesn’t mean you have to shoulder all of the burdens in your family. Did Julian give you a hassle about taking care of Xander this time?”

  Micah thought for a minute before answering, “No. I think he was pissed because I didn’t tell him everything.”

  “You should have told him. I know how it feels when one sibling sacrifices so much for another. Julian deserved to know so he could help. Maybe he’d have chosen to share the burden.”

  “He would have. That’s the problem,” Micah answered huskily.

  Tessa rested her hand on his shoulder. “It doesn’t have to be a problem. If you shared the situation, I know that your cousins would help, too. Maybe Xander needs a major intervention with as much backup as you can get.”

  “He does. And I think that’s probably going to happen. Julian swears he’s bringing Xander back here so he can get away from his sources in California.”

  “Good. We can arrange for an expert to be there to help. Now let me get you some breakfast. You must be starving.”

  Micah narrowed his eyes as he looked at Tessa. He wanted to reach out, scoop her up, and then bury himself inside her, forget for a short time about everything except her. She was beautifully mussed up from sleep, and her spiraled curls were wild and pretty damn sexy. There was only one thing that stopped him.

  “Christ! I stink. How did you manage to stay in the same room with me, much less the same bed?” The fact that he could smell his own sweat told him that his stench was beyond a smell that he could get used to or go nose-blind to.

  Tessa smiled at him. “It’s not like I haven’t smelled your sweat before.”

  His cock stiffened as Micah thought of the many times he’d worked up a sweat in bed with her, but this was different. “It’s stale sweat, and it stinks.” He always perspired heavily when he was going through one of his painful episodes, but he was usually alone.

  “Go shower and I’ll strip the bed,” she demanded as she got out of the bed. “It’s really not that bad. Are you going to be okay by yourself?”

  Micah was tempted to tell her that he wouldn’t be all right, and he needed her naked and in the shower with him. However, he refused to put her through inhaling any more of his pungent body odor. “I’m good.”

  She was already pulling the sheets off the bed as he exited the bedroom, and Micah’s chest ached once again at the thought that Tessa had stayed with him, even though it hadn’t been the least bit pleasant.

  He wasn’t used to that, having somebody care for him, and he wasn’t sure he was completely comfortable with it. But damn, it felt good knowing that Tessa had his back.

  I’ll be right here beside you if you need me.

  Tessa’s soft declaration the night before drifted through his mind as he quickly stripped out of his disgusting-smelling clothing. He hadn’t imagined them. Her words had been real. And she’d stayed there for him all night long.

  “I need her. I do fucking need her, and not just for my migraines,” he growled as he flipped on the water.

  Tessa connected with him on a level that was almost terrifying for a man like him. He was used to being the oldest, the problem solver in his immediate family. When his parents had been murdered, he’d handled everything, taken care of everything. He was used to being the caretaker, and he wasn’t quite certain what to do with a woman who actually cared about him, saw who he was beyond his money.

  Keep her!

  “Mine,” he rasped as he stepped into the hot shower. “She’s mine.”

  He wasn’t sure how he could work everything out, and he didn’t have a plan. For once, he was going by gut reaction, primal instinct, and a certainty that he felt clear down to his soul.

  Tessa Sullivan was his, and he was never going to let her go.

  Micah felt more human as he sat at the kitchen table and drank a cup of coffee. Tessa had put the sheets into the wash and then decided to go take a shower herself before fixing breakfast.

  He nearly choked on his coffee as Tessa strolled out to the kitchen fresh from the shower, her damp ringlets of blonde hair barely tamed, and her gorgeous legs exposed because she’d pulled on one of his button-down shirts. It was way too big for her, and the sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, the hem of the shirt hitting her at about midthigh. But seeing her in something that belonged to him had his cock straining against his jeans almost immediately.

  “Nice shirt,” he choked out as she looked at him.

  “I hope you don’t mind. I came right here. I didn’t bring anything clean.”

  Her face was contrite, and he fucking hated that. Hell, Tessa could feel free to wear every shirt in his closet if she wanted. In fact, she could do anything she liked as long as she stayed with him. “Keep it. It looks better on you than it did on me,” he rasped, dirty thoughts filling his mind as he wondered if she was wearing underwear, since she hadn’t brought any extra. “Did you borrow my boxers, too?”

  She flushed as she stopped at the table and looked down at him. “All of my clothes are in the washer.”

  The adorably flustered look on her face sent Micah over the edge. Jesus, she was irresistible when she wasn’t sure what to say, which didn’t happen very often.

  He picked up his empty mug and dropped it on a small, decorative table behind him before he stood and hoisted her onto the table to sit in front of him. “I think I need to investigate exactly what you’re wearing underneath that shirt.”

  “Nothing,” she admitted, her gaze fixed on his mouth. “I already told you that.”

  He put his hands on her thighs and slowly slid them upward, edging the shirt higher. “I want to look.”

  “I thought you were hungry,” she replied in a tremulous, aroused voice.

  “I am. That’s why I want to see m
y breakfast, baby,” he answered hoarsely, releasing an enormous breath as the shirt went up to her waist and he saw her bare pussy. He pushed her body down on the table and jerked the material until every button popped, revealing Tessa in all of her naked glory, spread out on the table for him like a fucking buffet.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he told her reverently as she continued to stare at his lips in her supine position.

  “I feel beautiful when you look at me,” she answered in a breathy, needy voice. “I’ve never felt that way before.”

  Micah was both irritated and relieved that no other man had told her just how breathtaking she was. She should know. She should realize that just the sight of her could make a guy lose his mind.

  He bent over and kissed her, a slow sensual embrace that allowed him to explore her mouth thoroughly, completely, tenderly. For once, he didn’t want to rush to possess her. Not that the urge wasn’t there, but his need to worship and pleasure her was even greater right now.

  His mouth moved up her neck before his tongue started exploring the soft skin of her ear. Her whimper of pleasure was like beautiful music to his ears, and he moved lower to take one of her perfect nipples into his mouth. His lips moved over her creamy flesh, then focused on nipping and sucking the pebbled tips into hard peaks, one after the other.

  She whined disappointedly as he moved lower, so he took her hands and placed them on her breasts, encouraging her without words to keep pleasuring her breasts. It took her a few awkward moments, but as he parted her thighs and began to tease her slick folds with his fingers, her movements became urgent, her fingers plucking at her breasts as she released a loud moan.

  “Please, Micah. Please.”

  God, he loved hearing his name come from her lips, loved hearing her beg him to finish her off. But he wasn’t ready to make her come. When it happened, he wanted to see her come apart with his mouth all over her. She was his to taste, to explore, and he planned on making this the best she’d ever had.