Tessa snorted. “One is enough.”
He took her gently by the shoulders and kissed her on the forehead so she could look at him. “He certainly came at the perfect time,” Micah said, his expression grim. “I talked to one of my executives today. I forgot to call them with my new phone number. They need me in New York. I need to approve a design within the next twenty-four hours or we lose time in production. We won’t meet our launch date.”
Her heart fell at the idea of Micah leaving Amesport, but she smiled at him. “Then you have to go. I guess sometimes I forget that you have some pretty heavy responsibilities.”
“My top people do things very well. It’s me who insists on having the final inspection on any product with my company name on it before it goes to production.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “A little bit anal, are you?”
“A lot when it comes to safety of a product,” he admitted. “That’s why I started the company. I knew extreme sports would always be risky, but safer with the right equipment.”
Tessa’s heart swelled with pride as she reached up a hand to stroke back that crazy lock of hair of his that was constantly out of place. Micah wasn’t in business just for money; he cared about what he was manufacturing. His sole purpose was to make extreme sports as safe as possible. In Tessa’s mind, there was nothing more admirable than being able to possibly save lives with better products.
“Do you need help getting ready to go?” she offered.
“Don’t be so happy about getting rid of me.” He glared at her unhappily. “But I’ll only be gone for a day or two. I’ll return in plenty of time to get some final practices in and take you to your performance.”
“I’ll miss you,” she confessed, unable to stop the words from leaving her lips.
He grinned at her. “Good. I want you to miss me, because I know I’ll miss you.”
“Mara invited me to dinner with her. I guess the girls decided to do Chinese food tonight instead of Brew Magic, for a change. Emily, Sarah, and Kristin will be there, too. Hope and Jason are out of town and so are Randi and Evan, so it won’t be as many women as usual. I guess I might go ahead and go.”
“You could have gone even if I was here,” Micah told her.
“I know,” she remarked simply, bowing her head to avoid looking at him.
He grasped her chin and turned her head up again. “Hey, what is it? Something wrong?”
She shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to go with them, and Randi has invited me to their female-only lunches before, but I’m afraid it would be awkward.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“I read lips, Micah. There’s no way I can keep up with a group conversation now. I’d feel out of place.” She could manage with one or two people, and if she was in a crowd, she could choose who to focus on. But if several people were talking at the same time, she’d probably be lost. Randi was the only one who knew ASL, and she wasn’t even going to be there.
“You’re intimidated by a girls’ get-together?” Micah asked, looking astonished.
She lifted her chin higher. “Yes. It’s daunting for a deaf woman.”
She watched as Micah started to laugh. Although she couldn’t hear him, she could certainly visualize his amusement.
“Stop! It’s not funny!” She’d just shared one of her deepest fears, and he was laughing?
He grasped her shoulders again, still grinning. “Tessa, you’re willing to go out in front of millions of people and skate, but you’re afraid of a few women? And very nice women at that.”
“You don’t understand,” she said glumly.
“I do. I know those fears are very real to you. But you have no reason to feel awkward. You focus on what you want to understand, and ignore the rest. You won’t feel awkward or lost. These women want to be your friends. More than likely, they want to know what your relationship is with me. Don’t listen to a thing they say about me.”
His words made her smile just a little. “It’s awfully arrogant to think that all they want to do is talk about the men in their lives. Sarah is a physician with a remarkable IQ. Kristin is a medical professional. Mara is a successful businesswoman. And Emily is a business manager. Don’t you think they have a lot more to talk about than men?”
“Nope.”
Tessa rolled her eyes at him. “I’m sure they do,” she replied adamantly. “Now do you want my help packing or not?”
“No reason to pack,” Micah answered. “I have everything I need at home and on my jet. But I could use your help in the bedroom.”
Tessa saw the heated look in his eyes, knowing exactly what he wanted.
“Why?” She shot him an innocent look.
“Come with me and I’ll show you.” He held out his hand.
His expression was both mischievous and passionate, his eyes beckoning.
Tessa couldn’t have refused even if she wanted to, which she didn’t. Even if it was only for a few days, she wouldn’t be seeing him or feeling him for a while.
She reached out and let him take her hand.
CHAPTER 16
“So we all have to know. Are you banging Micah or what?”
Tessa thought it was strange that although her world was silent, she could almost imagine the voices of all of the women around the table trying to talk at once. The question had come from Mara, and her friend had tapped her arm before she spoke so Tessa could look at her. It had been that way with all of the women tonight, each of them tapping her forearm if they had a question for her or something they wanted to tell her. Way different from what she’d feared, Tessa found she was actually enjoying the boisterous table of females and their nonstop chatter. It wasn’t awkward at all because the women were savvy enough to signal her discreetly so she wasn’t excluded from the conversation.