Free Come As You Are by Melinda Barron Page A

pulsed inside her and she felt the warmth of him fill her, from her insides all the way up to her heart. She closed her eyes to hold back the words that threatened to spill out.
    “I think I love you, too,” he whispered against her neck. “As a matter of fact, I know I do.”
    He put his hand on hers and guided it to the mechanism that launched the ball, pulling back and letting it fly. He kissed her neck as they worked the flippers together, moving the machine as they jiggled.
    “We’re going to make it tilt,” she said.
    “Life is full of tilts. And I can’t wait to face each one of them with you.”

Chapter Twelve
     
 
     
     
    No, stay with me
    I command it
    The room is cold, oh so cold
    How dare this man and his two companions presume to come in here and take my toy
    She may not be worth anything, but she’s all I have now
    Candice!
    I can see you floating, wavering
    Your spirit is lighter than it has been in years
    She’s mine! Mine! Mine!
    You’re happy now, laughing
    Talking with the woman who tried to take you away from me all those years ago
    It didn’t work then, it won’t work now
    Wait…wait…wait
    No!
    She’s fading…fading…fading
    The woman is crying
    The man is smiling
    Candice is gone
    Now I’m alone
    Until my new love comes back
    And she will
    She must
    Or I will have nothing
    * * * *
    “Are you sure you’re up to this, Martin?” Franco put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and gently squeezed. Tempest could see the concern in her lover’s eyes as he studied his friend.
    “Yes, I’m sure. Besides, Pebbles will be doing most of the work since I crossed Candice over this morning.”
    “That takes a lot out of him, but we helped build his energy back up today.” Rumer stepped up and kissed Martin. Behind him, Noah wrapped his arms around Martin and pulled him into his chest and they effectively made a sandwich. Martin and Noah shared a kiss and Tempest smiled.
    The love these three had for each other was strong, as strong as that of Quinn, Dev and Fletch.
    Franco turned to her and winked. The message was clear. “We’ll get there. Allow the game to play out, tilts and all.”
    “Tell me exactly what we have to do,” Tempest said as Pebbles stepped through the gate. They were all in her garden now. It was the first time she’d been back to the house since “the incident” almost two weeks now, and she hadn’t realized how much she missed it until she’d seen it.
    She wanted to be back here, at the place she was making her own. But she didn’t want to live here alone anymore. She wanted Franco here with her. They’d discussed it quite a bit lately, finally deciding that, when the incubus was gone, he would move in with her. He’d go to work at Franco’s Grill every night but he’d come home to her.
    There had been no declarations of everlasting love and marriage. Yet. But she knew they were coming. With Franco, you couldn’t rush things, and that was something she loved about him.
    “I’m going to cast a circle in the middle of the room,” Rumer said in answer to her question. “You two will be in the center of it.”
    This was the part that Tempest wasn’t sure she liked. Sex would attract the incubus, but it would also give him power.
    “That’s why we’re not going to have sex,” Franco said. “Remember what we said. The one thing the incubus doesn’t understand is love. He understands the physical aspect of it, but not the emotional. We’re going to neck and pet, just enough to attract him, but not enough to give him a jolt of energy. When he’s there, Pebbles will do the rest.”
    “Which is?”
    “Incubi are hard to kill,” Pebbles said. “I’m going to try and banish him with a prayer, and if that doesn’t work, then Rumer and I will work together to capture him in a spirit jar. There he’ll stay until I can find a way to get rid of him permanently.”
    Tempest nodded, grateful when Franco wrapped his arms around her. She felt cold, and more