“I’m going to hate you for this,” she warned.
Her words stopped Micah in his tracks. Maybe he had pushed too damn hard. Now he was beginning to second-guess his behavior, something he never did. He knew she was teasing, but was there some truth to what she’d said?
“Don’t hate me,” he said huskily, reaching out to tuck a stray spiral of her blonde hair behind her ear. “I think you want this, but you’re too afraid to do it alone.”
Her eyes locked with his, and Micah froze as he saw the vulnerability in her gaze. Feeling sucker punched as he stared into her unusual light-green eyes, he again began to question his motives and his actions. He sensed that Tessa needed to do this, but he felt like a bully for forcing her to do anything she didn’t want to do. Honestly, all he wanted to do was wrap his arms protectively around her and keep her safe. Tessa had been through so much, suffered so many losses. Yet, she was more alive than any woman he’d ever known.
“I won’t hate you. I promise,” she answered softly, putting a hand on his forearm as he pulled his fingers away from her hair. “You’re right. This is one last ghost from my past that I need to put to rest. Believe me, I wouldn’t be trying this if part of me didn’t really want to.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, still feeling uncharacteristically uncertain.
She nodded slowly, and Micah felt himself relax. He captured her hand in his. “Then let’s go.” Suddenly, he wanted this first step to be over just as much as Tessa did.
“Are you sure the rink is ready?” she asked nervously as he tugged her toward the door.
He nodded. Micah was absolutely certain the skating arena was prepared for her to practice. He’d had workers there since the day he’d arrived in Amesport. The place was in good-enough shape for them to use, and the ice had been completely repaired so Tessa would be safe. The building might be neglected, but it was sturdy.
He grabbed his own skates from the chair by the door as they exited the front entrance, letting go of her hand as they stepped outside and into the humid, warm air. Fall hadn’t yet arrived in Amesport, and the weather was unusually hot, the midday sun out in full force.
He locked the door as Tessa walked to his vehicle, a large black pickup that he’d rented when he’d arrived in Maine.
Tessa didn’t speak as they drove the short distance to the arena, which gave Micah more time than he needed to think.
What if she gets hurt?
He grimaced, knowing she’d have to eventually practice some risky moves that could end up with Tessa bleeding and broken on the ice. By education, he was an engineer, and he made his activities as safe as possible. His team was constantly coming up with new safety features for his equipment, which had made him the leader in the industry. Sure, he’d broken a few bones and gotten banged up more times than he could count. There was always an element of risk, certain things beyond his control, but he thrived on the excitement, and he was pretty sure of his engineering skills. His main goal was to keep improving his equipment. People like him were always going to participate in dangerous sports, but he wanted to at least decrease the risk as much as possible.
But it’s not about me this time.
It wasn’t him taking the risk, and that scared the hell out of him.
Concern continued to eat at him as he parked the truck and they made their way into the old rink.
Tessa immediately sat down on one of the wooden benches and started to haul on her skates. “I didn’t know you could skate,” she said, her glance curious now.
He waited until she looked at him again for an answer before replying, “I played a lot of hockey as a teenager and some when I was in college.” He didn’t have the skills she used to have on ice, or the finesse, but he could hold his own at rough-and-tumble skating.
He put on the skates he’d had his assistant send to him, in a steadily darkening mood, wishing to hell he’d never read Tessa’s mail. How had his charity found Tessa, anyway? Micah had known about the planned reunion event, but he didn’t have a clue how the organizers had tracked down past Olympic athletes. Tessa stayed far away from the media, from what she’d told him, and he doubted the committee had even known she was deaf. They only knew that she had retired, which was the story in the sports world. Nobody knew much more about her sudden retirement, and since it had been years, almost nobody cared.
Honestly, he didn’t get that involved in the Sinclair Fund. The organization was large and had employees to deal with the day-to-day business. All of the Sinclairs gave to the Fund, and they recommended it to other businessmen, but none of them was really actively involved. It wasn’t possible since they all had busy lives.
“I’m ready,” she said stoically as she finished lacing her second skate.
Hastily finishing with his laces, he stood at the same time she did, following her as she stomped toward the ice. She removed the blade guards from her skates and tossed them onto a bench. “I can do this,” she whispered quietly.
Micah’s heart sank as he watched the indecision and a flash of fear in her expression. He was so damn tempted to just haul her back to the truck and forget about the damn skating.
Her words weren’t meant for him; she was trying to reassure herself.
That she needed to pep-talk herself onto the ice was reason enough for Micah to call off the whole damn thing. Tessa didn’t need to prove herself to anyone.
She stepped onto the ice quickly, so fast that he didn’t even have time to talk to her, see if she wanted to just leave. He was guessing she felt that she needed to either make a move or run back to the truck. His heart swelled as he watched her face her fear head-on.