Slipping up behind him, she ran her fingers across his bare shoulders. That one touch set off so much heat in her.
In Boone, he reacted differently.
His whole body went stiff.
“Meredith,” he whispered. It was as if her name was sent out there on a prayer. It barely left his lips.
His heart thundered at what she’d witnessed.
Here came the test of what they had between them. This moment would define it. The spirits brought her to him.
This would be everything or nothing.
“Boone.”
His name sounded so foreign to his ears. He couldn’t believe she was there. It was as if, somehow, he’d conjured her from their bed.
He was afraid to move.
He was afraid to breathe.
He was afraid to look at her.
Here he was, in the middle of his spell, and he was covered in ash and blood. He didn’t want her to see him like this. He didn’t want her to be afraid of something an outsider would likely mock. Faith was the core of his beliefs, and he needed it in his life. It grounded and centered him, and she’d found him doing spell work.
Merry leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. His whole body shook.
“Boone, you left me,” she whispered, running her hand down the front of his chest through the beads, feathers, and bloody ash.
“I’m sorry, Merry,” he whispered.
“Is this a love spell?” she asked, trying to piece it all together.
Well, that ugly Voodoo cat was out of the bag. Not only had she heard his words, but she’d pieced it together. Why wouldn’t she? Merry was smart.
What was he supposed to say now?
No?
That was laughable because Merry had picked it up in seconds. So, he went with the truth.
“In a way, I guess it is. In Voodoo, there are spells that bind souls, and this is one of them. Mine recognized yours, and I want to open the path so yours can do the same.”
Her heart skipped.
It already knew.
She already knew.
Not only did he want to keep her safe, but he wanted to claim her as his own. She’d been around Doctor Magnus and Armstrong enough to hear about the different religions and cultures. She also wasn’t ashamed to admit that today, while he was out with Elizabeth, she’d tried to study up.
“You want my soul?”
He faced forward, afraid to look back at her. “I want all of you.”
There.
He put it out there.
Merry stared down as he stayed on his knees. He was wearing his pajama bottoms and nothing else. Boone was putting it all out there in an effort to reach her.
It was probably the sweetest thing anyone ever did for her. While she didn’t believe in his deities, he did.
That was faith.
It was the same unshakable faith he had in her, and them. It was sexy.
It was sweet.
“Can you do that if someone doesn’t want to?” she asked, breathing in the scent of the smoke. It reminded her of Boone. Here, she’d thought that smell was cologne, but it wasn’t. It was incense that coated his skin and made her all tingly.
It made her love his religion that much more. It was literally a part of him.
“No. You can’t steal will. I don’t practice Juju.”
Merry had to make a choice. “What do you have to do to bind us together?” she asked.
“The ritual needs to be completed.”
“And that entails?”
“Sex, a few symbols.”
He didn’t move.
Boone could hear her breathing. It wasn’t lost on him that they were polar opposites. He was a cop who loved his religion. Merry was a scientist who didn’t believe in any of it. On the spectrum of life, they were miles apart. In theory, they shouldn’t work.
He waited for her to scoff at him.
Boone suspected it was coming.
“I see.”
He heard her moving behind him. His heart sank. He wished he’d waited until she was at the morgue. He’d rushed into something, and now she would run. Letting her see this was a bad idea.
Merry pulled off her t-shirt, and let it fall to the floor. Moving to stand in front of him, she dropped to her knees wearing nothing but her panties. If they were going to do it, they might as well do it right.
“Then let’s do it and see where it goes.”
He couldn’t believe her words.
“Miss Peyton. Cher.”
She touched the beads around his neck. They weren’t scary or skulls. They were red and black, and they reminded her of a very pretty rosary. Lifting one of them above his head, she placed it around her neck. It hung between her breasts almost inviting him to continue.
Boone watched her.
He couldn’t believe what she was doing. It seemed so unlikely that he’d find a woman who accepted this. He’d met, dated, and told each and every woman the truth. He believed in being honest, open, and true to himself. He simply couldn’t find a woman who shared that belief.
They all ran.
They all laughed.
They all freaked out.
Merry didn’t.
“Let’s do it, Boone.”
He wanted to, but it felt like a dream. Honestly, he never though this day would come. He’d found his other half, and she didn’t fear what lived in him.
“What’s next?” she asked, taking his hands. “Blood?”
He stared at her, and there was fear there.
Well, she had news for him. Blood, skulls, and death didn’t frighten her. Waking up without him did. If he needed this, then she would do everything to make him happy. After all, in two days, he’d healed a hole in her heart.
She was in love with another cop.
Merry never saw that coming. It was more proof that the universe and fate were insane.
This was important.
What did the ceremony matter if she couldn’t offer him that same healing?
“Yes, the spell uses blood and fire,” he answered.
Merry turned and lifted the two bowls from the altar. One had ash, and one had blood. She held them in the palms of her hands. “Okay, mark me up.”
“It’s blood.”
She knew what he was thinking.
“My life is all about blood, death, and sorrow, Boone. This doesn’t scare me. Trust me like I’m trusting you. I need that to heal more. You want my heart, then you have to trust me with yours too. You believe in this, so believe in me.”
He was surprised.
She’d heard his prayers.
“Go ahead.”
With shaking fingers, he dipped them in the blood.
“Wait.”
His hand paused.
“That’s not a dead hooker vintage, is it?”
He got it and laughed. “It’s chicken. I don’t have to…” he began, only to have her smile gently at him.
She was teasing him.
“I’m okay. Go ahead.”
He moved his bloody finger from the one bowl to the ash filled one. “It’s bone.”
“Go ahead, Boone.”
He took a chance. With gentle fingers, he drew the corresponding symbols over her heart. The ones that he knew would begin to cast the spell to keep her in his life, or so he believed.
She watched him, saying nothing.
She wasn’t scared, and she wasn’t trying to leave. It gave him hope.
It gave him peace.
He began chanting as he drew more slashes across her pale skin. When he pressed his thumb into the ash and then kissed her forehead with it, he waited.
“My turn?” she asked.
He nodded. Merry put the bowls down and dipped her one finger in it. The texture didn’t bother her at all. Again, working in a morgue with dead people did that to a girl. It took a lot more than chicken blood to freak her out.
She touched his heart.
Then she touched his forehead, mimicking h
is actions. Merry saw the thump in his neck from his artery responding to the surge of blood.
She glanced down, and he was now erect too.
Whether it was a spell or a bunch of malarkey, it didn’t matter. He believed and that was what counted.
That was enough for her.
He closed his eyes and began chanting, offering a prayer to the deities.
This was the best day of his life.
When he opened his eyes, she was watching him. There were serene lavender ones filled with such love and trust.
He knew how she felt.
He could see it.
If Merry never offered him the words, he would at least have this moment for the rest of his life.
It was precious.
“Now?” she asked, touching the feathers dangling across his tan flesh. She had to admit, she was pretty turned on. Somehow, she suspected it was the sexy Native man before her. Then again, he looked so raw, primitive, and insanely sexy. It was hard not to want to jump him.
“We seal it. Only I don’t know if I can,” he whispered.
He saw the tears in her eyes and the surprise.
“Oh. I see.”
Boone realized what she was thinking. “Oh, cher, it’s not that. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“How will you hurt me?” she asked, touching his hand on her cheek.
“I’m wild right now. I want to take you in some sweaty romp, and I don’t want to scare you. I don’t want to make you run. If I even touch you, kiss you, or think about us…I’ll go too far. I can’t promise to be gentle.”
There.
He said it.
The truth was now out there for her to make her decision. Boone needed wild, and Merry…she’d been broken.
Oddly, Merry was curious what that would feel like with him. Boone did sweet and gentle to the point her heart wanted to weep from the beauty of it. Now he was offering her something she never had.
Passion.
She’d never had that before, and here it was, kneeling in front of her.
“Boone,” Merry whispered, moving closer to him on her knees. They were body to body. The man was a saint. Other than drawing the symbols on her chest, he wasn’t staring down. She gave him credit.
She’d checked him out.
“Meredith,” he muttered when she pulled off some feathers and dropped them around her neck. Then he watched her hesitate when she touched the largest of necklaces.
It was an important one.
It had been his parent’s. They’d used it on countless spells as a couple. They’d made love wearing it, and they’d married wearing it.
He was curious what she would do.
Merry touched the red beads. They rolled across her fingers like glass. They were cool to the touch, and they felt special.
They felt old.
She noticed they were longer than all the others, so she took a chance. Instead of taking them off his neck, she lifted them and dropped them around her head. They were both wearing them at the same time.
She saw it in his eyes.
That was something that mattered.
“Boone.”
He couldn’t think. He wanted to dive onto Meredith and take her. She’d instinctually known.
How?
He didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. Merry just bound them together in the next part of the spell without him having to tell her what to do.
This was his sign.
Boone wanted to have her forever as his. This was meant to be.
Merry’s hand slid up his chest and to his hair. She let her fingers move through it. The silkiness was so alluring. Then she did something so very un-Merry-like.
She roughly pulled him down and took his mouth with hers.
Boone wanted to roar in happiness.
Merry was initiating this. As her mouth devoured his, nipping, scraping, and biting his, he wanted all she had to offer.
When she pulled away, they were both breathing heavily. “Nothing ever felt so right.”
He couldn’t breathe.
He closed his eyes.
“Boone?”
When he opened them, they were wild. He pounced, not giving her a single chance to say anything more. They slid across the floor, her naked, and him in nothing but pajama bottoms. Beads wound around them, feathers tickled, and they refused to let up.
Merry moaned as he bit her on the neck. Her body arched into his as his mouth tore down her defenses.
He was starving, and she was the feast.
She was right.
Nothing before this moment ever felt right. Now, everything was falling into place. With Boone, she trusted him enough to feel this passion.
She trusted him with her life.
“I’ll always cherish you,” he vowed.
That made her so happy. His words ignited something in her. It was like her whole body was on fire, and she couldn’t put out the flame.
As they rolled, she ended up on top. Sliding down his body, she left a trail of kisses, not even caring about the ash and blood. She was hungry too.
For him.
Yanking down his pajamas, he moaned as her hand found him. Then she took him wildly into her mouth.
Boone shouted her name as she began working him hard.
All he could think of as he watched his demure scientist take him with her mouth was that the Gods had indeed granted his prayer.
She was his.
After this moment, how could she not be?
As she stroked him, her teeth scraped down the length of him, Boone nearly came right then. In order not to embarrass himself, he pulled her up his body, rolled, and pressed her into the carpet.
When his hands pinned hers above her head, he realized what he’d done. He let go.
“NO!” she ordered. “NO! Don’t treat me differently. Treat me as me, not my past.”
He got it.
She wanted him like he wanted her. She took his hands back in hers proving she wasn’t afraid.
“Make me feel,” she whispered. “Make me come alive for you, Boone.”
God, that’s what he wanted.
Sealing his mouth to hers, they rolled again and again. They’d found themselves against the altar. When Boone pushed her legs apart, Merry begged for more.
Her words drove him wild.
He needed to be in her.
There was no way he could handle it. This woman…she undid him. She met him in the middle.
That was what he always wanted.
Sliding up her torso, he found her wet and ready. Without freeing her hands, he thrust into her body.
Merry came the second he buried himself in her.
There was this heat, mingling with the scent of his body and incense. She’d never forget it as long as she lived.
It was the man she loved.
As he began moving, sliding erratically in and out of her wetness, she whimpered and begged for more.
It drove him wild.
“I have to have you,” he muttered, biting her on the earlobe.
She moaned. “Oh, Boone, God! Come already. I need to feel you explode in me.”
His body shook.
He pictured himself doing just that. It was maddening. Maybe it was the spell, and maybe it was them.
All he knew was the red beads were still in place, circling around them. It spoke volumes.
When she kissed wildly across his throat, he wasn’t ready for what happened next.
She bit him this time.
Hard.
He exploded.
Boone came so hard that he’d thought he’d never feel his body again. Merry tumbled with him, trapped beneath him. As he emptied himself into her, his heart was already hers.
She owned him.
The clock on the mantle ticked, and they said nothing.
She held him, as he rested his head on the symbols on her chest.
Finally, he needed to know.
“You didn’t have to do this, Meredi
th,” he whispered. “I know you don’t believe.”
“Yes, I did have to do it, Boone. Believing or not, I needed to do it.”
“Why?”
“Promise you won’t laugh at me?” she asked, running her fingers through his hair.
He lifted his head. “I will never laugh at you, cher. It’ll never happen.”
She thought about how she was going to phrase it.
Then she simply went with it.
“Do you believe in love at first sight?”
He wanted to pray some more. He wanted her to tell him the words in the worst way imaginable.
“Yes.”
“Me too.”
He got silent.
“Boone?”
He closed his eyes and lowered his head. He prayed the binding love spell worked.
“I love you.”
His heart kicked in his chest. He couldn’t speak. This tiny woman managed to twist him up and make him a mess, and she felt the same about him.
He was blessed.
Lifting his head, he stared into her eyes. “I love you too. I knew when I saw you, but now I have a terrible problem.”
She was confused. “What?”
“Promise you won’t get scared?”
That worried her. “Okay.”
“I can’t live without you. You have to be mine. I don’t know what to do about us now. I can’t let you leave me. I’ll die inside without you. You’re the life in me, Merry. You’re the only thing I need to live.”
He was right. The words should have scared her, but they had the completely opposite effect on Merry.
She was at peace.
Well, until she dwelled on it. What really scared her was what she had to say next.
“I can’t run anymore, Boone. I have to go back. If I leave the FBI, he’s going to find me. I have to fight my demons. You have to let me go back there.”
His heart ached.
“I know, cher. I know. I don’t have to like it, but I accept that it’s coming.”
She ran her hand up and down the tattoo on his back. “I’m sorry.”
He believed her.
“We’ll work it out. If it’s meant to be, and the spell is meant to work, we’ll figure it out.”
She kissed him. For once, she wanted to believe in the silly spell and his faith. Merry wanted to have this one thing in her life. Boone was infallible, trustworthy, and safe. He was everything she always wanted and so much more.
When she set him free, he scooped her up from the floor. “Let’s go soak in my bathtub. I want to hold you for the rest of the night.”
Blood Shall Run (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 15) Page 42