Chapter Twenty
Twenty
L iberty had been so vague in her invitation, which had been hand-delivered by Lucy, who she had recently hired to help her out at WiCKed Sisters. Lucy handed it to Merle when he’d started his shift in the tea shop.
It was October thirty-first and the ladies who ran WiCKed Sisters had gone all out, delivering all of the Halloween feels. The entire staff were dressed in black robes that had the WiCKed Sisters logo embroidered on the top left.
He was pretty sure that Liberty was in charge of the playlist, or maybe she was just recycling her own because he recognized all of the songs that were playing. The shop smelled of pumpkin and spice, apples and cinnamon, books, tea and the special autumn oil blend that Liberty had put in the infusers around her area.
The tea shop was busier than ever, especially since Amber Rapp gave the shop another shout-out on her socials, reminding her followers about her favorite witches. They were slammed. Poppy was reading tea leaves for every customer, Liberty was doing back-to-back tarot readings and Sera had been putting intentions in the special grimoires and journals she’d made for the event nonstop since opening.
So the fact that Lucy had brought the invite to him now sparked his interest.
He recognized the scrolled handwriting.
Hanging Hill, 10 p.m. Bring your wishes for the new year and anything you want to leave behind.
That was it.
He watched Lucy with interest as he finished making two chais. She handed an invite to Wes as well, who was helping Sera with the bookstore.
So, it wouldn’t just be Liberty and him.
Which was probably a good thing given that, over the last few days since they’d had dinner with his parents, Merle had shared that he had found the actual John Jones. After their visit to Hanging Hill, she’d left without giving him a kiss. She’d been avoiding him ever since.
She’d been busy in the run-up to Halloween, and last night she’d had some All Hallows’ Eve thing with her mom, Nan, Poppy and Sera. Her female coven. So he didn’t think it was all intentional avoidance, but at the same time, he felt her hesitating.
After the dinner with his parents, he’d walked away free from the past and the worries he’d always carried about being himself. About letting the world see the man he truly was. Things with his family hadn’t changed, but his confidence had, and it made all the difference.
He wanted that for Liberty. The ability to trust who she was wholeheartedly and unapologetically, even if her father remained a mystery. There was no way they could move forward until the both of them were free of the past. And until she confronted her dad—or at least made peace with not confronting him—they were stuck in the same spot.
Merle hadn’t minded it before. But now that he had begun to face his fears, he was itching to get some sort of permanency to the relationship he had with her. A confirmation that they’d gone far past being friends with benefits.
He’d fallen in love with her, after all.
Which was why he was watching her read tarot instead of paying attention to the teas he was making in Poppy’s shop.
“Dude, hurry up with those drinks,” Lasseter said.
He focused on working in the kitchen with Poppy while Lasseter, a recent hire, was out front tonight because they were slammed.
“Sorry. Lost in thought.”
“It looked like you were lost in Liberty. I get it—she’s sort of extra magical tonight, but the customers are getting impatient,” Lasseter said.
Merle nodded and delivered the drinks to the waiting customers before forcing himself to work on the next orders.
There was something extra special about Liberty tonight. Her eyes had seemed bluer than ever when she’d come in. She’d applied black eyeliner and her hair had a slight curl at the end. The figure-hugging black dress she had on under her robe was getting him hot as hell. It accentuated her curves and the low neckline revealed her ample cleavage.
They could stay like this for...well, forever. Friends and lovers who supported and brought out the best in each other.
He couldn’t think of a time when he hadn’t wanted her, and wanted her to see him. Really see him. And while he’d been hiding from everyone, only letting himself be free in the privacy of his home, that had been okay.
But not anymore. He wanted her to see that she figured out the chaos in her life because he had been by her side. His soul had been hungry to be her hero.
For the final hour that the shop was open, he worked with a new energy as he acknowledged to himself that regret had no place in his life anymore. He was done hesitating and trying to second guess what Liberty wanted from him.
Until he stepped up and told her how he felt, how could expect her to do the same?
The last of the customers left as he finished cleaning up the tea shop with Lasseter. Poppy came over and hugged him. “Thanks. Are you accepting the invitation to Hanging Hill?”
“Definitely.”
“I’m glad,” she said. “I think this will do you good. Liberty mentioned you took her to meet your parents.”
“I did. It was really eye-opening,” he said.
“Yeah? Good. I like you two together,” Poppy said.
She went to grab her things. He looked around for Liberty but she’d already left.
When Liberty got to the top of Hanging Hill, her mom had the bonfire going in the center of the stone circle. Even though they were ignoring the unspoken topic of John Jones, Samhain was important and they always prepared for the night together.
This year was different, of course, without Nan. Earlier in the day, Liberty and her mom came up and got everything ready for the ritual tonight. She’d set pumpkins around the clearing while her mother created the frame of the bonfire.
“Everyone on their way?” Mom asked.
“Yes. Mom, before we start tonight, I need to know we’re okay,” Liberty said.
“Why wouldn’t we be, baby girl?”
“Mom, don’t ignore the truth. I’m talking about how Merle found my...sperm donor.”
Her mom looked down at her fingers, which were twisted together. Her mom wasn’t ready for this discussion, but for the Wakefield women, the new year always started on November first. Liberty didn’t want to bring this uncertainty into the new year, not when time together was precious.
She hadn’t felt any satisfaction when Merle told her he’d found her father. Not that she’d been expecting to, but her father had sparked this larger journey for her. The more she sat in the knowledge that she could contact him, the less urgency she felt around it.
Her mind had been puzzling over that. Trying to figure out why she wasn’t as motivated to meet him. And the answer hadn’t come to her.
“What are you going to do?”
Her mom’s voice was low, so quiet that Liberty had to struggle to hear it over the crackle of the fire.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure that this was even about him anymore,” she said to her mom.
“What else would it be about?”
“Making a huge problem for myself so I didn’t have to think about Nan,” she admitted. Her voice broke as the words came out. And tears were in the backs of her eyes. She couldn’t stop them.
“Oh, baby girl.” Her mom pulled her into a hug. She felt her mom’s tears drip down her face. “That’s definitely part of it. I’ve been running away too, because that’s what I do. Working out of town so I wouldn’t have to see her deteriorating.”
Liberty had always believed she was strong in the ways that her mom wasn’t. That the two of them were built to protect each other. “I think I knew if I brought up his name it would put a wedge between us.”
“And then we would fight and Nan would try to make peace, like when you were little?”
Liberty shrugged as she stepped back from her mom. “I guess. Maybe she wanted that too. She did tell me his name. Maybe it wasn’t her mind fog. Maybe it was a moment of clarity where she wanted me to know before it was too late.”
“Perhaps. So where do we go from here, baby girl?” her mom asked, picking up her pointed silk hat from the ground and placing it on her head.
“I think I need time with everything. John Jones isn’t the answer to what’s going on with me,” she said. “He did give me someone to be angry at.”
“Is that all you needed?”
“I’m not sure. But I do know I can’t keep blaming you for not talking about him. He hurt you, and it was his choice to leave me. No one else’s. Sorry, Mama.”
“It’s fine. I wish we’d talked about this sooner. But the goddess must have realized we couldn’t go into the new year with this unresolved.”
“I think so too,” Liberty said.
As her tears dried and the twilight settled around them, people started to arrive. Liberty had invited Poppy, Sera, Wes and Merle. Her mom had invited Cressida and Pam, her good friends. Once everyone was settled around the bonfire, it was time to begin.
Liberty wanted to concentrate on letting go of the past and the fears of the unknown. She knew it would be hard, and having her mother and the family she’d found and made for herself up here on Hanging Hill gave her a surge of strength. She stepped forward to lead the circle with her mom. As they all joined hands, she felt the energy flowing through her.
The wind stirred, blowing through her hair, teasing her. She felt lighter than she had since before she’d learned her father’s name. Lighter than she had since before she’d set herself a task that had never truly been one she’d wanted.
She opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was Merle standing across the bonfire. Their gazes met. The goddess was showing her a path toward what she should be focused on for the new year.
She had never focused on a man, on a romantic relationship, but as her life was changing and she was starting to leave behind some of the more childish things that she’d been afraid to let go of...
Maybe it was time.
Liberty was buzzing after midnight, and when she asked Merle to stay with her after everyone left, he couldn’t say no. She led him to a ring of trees along the edge of the top of the hill.
Standing there amongst the trees with the dappled moonlight falling around her, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was radiant out here like this. He felt a jolt as his cock hardened. There was more to this woman than met the eye. He reached out to touch her hair, letting the soft strands fall through his fingers.
She looked up at him, those blue-gray eyes big and wide, standing in the clearing with the faint smell of fire in the air. The crisp after-midnight chill around them should make him cold, but he didn’t feel anything except the heat that came rushing through him any time he was near Liberty. There was a flush on her skin, as if she was feeling it too.
“There is something ethereal about you in the moonlight. I can’t take my eyes off of you,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said in a husky voice.
Merle brushed his finger over her high cheekbone and couldn’t resist traveling down her face, rubbing his thumb over her lower lip. Her eyes and mouth widened with surprise. He bent over and brushed his mouth over hers. It was languid and sweet, and he closed his eyes despite himself. He didn’t want to miss a second of this night with her. Now that he’d admitted to himself that he loved her.
“You have a very tempting mouth. Tonight, every word you uttered felt like it was just for me,” he said.
“Maybe they were.”
“Maybe? Seemed to me that you were begging me to kiss you,” he teased.
“Perhaps I was,” she admitted.
Her mouth under his was soft, warm and delicious. He took his time kissing her, placing featherlight pecks until her lips parted. The warm exhalation of her breath against his skin sent shivers through his body.
Her taste was addicting. He wanted more of her. So much more than just her kisses. He slid his hands in her long red hair. It tangled around his fingers and he tugged lightly, pulling her head back as he deepened the kiss.
He couldn’t resist touching her, moving his hands over her shoulders, his fingers tracing a delicate pattern down to the globes of her breasts. He caressed her, lower and lower, until the very tip of his finger dipped beneath the material of her top and brushed over the edge of her nipple.
Exquisite shivers racked her body as his finger continued to move slowly over her. He found the zipper at the left side of her top and slowly lowered it. Once it was fully down and the material fell away from her to the ground, he took her wrists in his hands and stepped back.
His gaze started at the top of her head and moved down to her slightly cinched waist. Outside, with her naked, with the smell of the bonfire still in the air, everything felt right. Like this was the place he should be making love to Liberty. Now that he knew how much she meant to him.
He circled his hands around her waist and drew her to him, lifting her. “Wrap your legs around me.”
She complied, the backs of her heels digging into his ass, and immediately he felt even harder than he’d been before. She was warm and wet against him. He shifted until he was leaning back against one of the trees and then carefully lowered her to the ground.
“You’ve enchanted me, witch.” The words came out in a rough growl.
“Should we roll the dice to see how effective my enchantment is?” she joked, her tongue running over his ear.
Damn. He didn’t want to laugh when he was about to enter her body. But she was seeing Merle Rutland, world-class nerd, and embracing that side of him. That made him fall a little more in love with her.
“We don’t need the dice to tell me anything. You’ve got me,” he said. As the words escaped him, he knew how true they were. He hadn’t planned on letting her know that yet.
With her skirt pushed up, he nudged her legs apart with his thighs until he was between them, the ridge of his cock—still encased in his jeans—rubbing against her clit until she was moaning his name.
He palmed her through the panties until she squirmed under him, and then he leaned lower to breathe in the scent of her sex. He caught the edge of her underwear with his teeth and drew them down her legs as she raised her hips for him. Once they were off, he tucked her panties into his back pocket and pulled down his jeans and underwear, freeing his cock.
“You are magic tonight,” he said.
His voice was low and husky even to his own ears. She reached up and gripped the base of his cock, making his blood roar in his veins.
“It’s you,” she said in a raspy voice. “You are the one who’s making...”
“I am making you what?” he asked, thrusting into her grip. “I’m not going to be happy until you come harder than you ever have before.”
He lowered his head again to rub his chin over her mound in a back and forth motion that engorged her clit and made her wet. He parted her with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand and then brushed his tongue over her clit. Her hands were in his hair, holding him against her as she thrust her hips up into his face.
He scraped his teeth over her clit and she pulled him back, panting. “Get inside me, Merle. I want to come with you.”
“Are you sure?” he asked against her body.
“Yesss!”
He shifted, rubbing his body against her until the tip of his cock was against her pussy. She linked her right hand with his left and he shoved his right hand under her hips, angling her so that he could get deeper.
She gripped his shoulders as he slowly entered her. He thrust into her again and again until she screamed his name and he felt her come, clenching him tighter. He couldn’t hold back anymore. He felt his orgasm roll through him like an earthquake, and he continued his movements until he was empty.
When they both were spent, he rolled them over until he was on his back, holding her on top of him like a blanket.
He had never felt peace in his own body the way he did at this moment. This was the gift that Liberty gave him. He loved this woman and wanted her to feel the same way that he did.