Free The Yearning by Tina Donahue Page B

with her futile struggle to get free. At last, she found her voice and screamed. Seconds later, something crashed into his front door.
    “Jas!” Lily’s voice hollered, followed by Violet’s and Ben’s.
    In an area overcrowded with body-piercing shops, her sisters had located the one nearest the convenience store and saw her car parked outside. Ben used his baseball bat to beat on Travis’s door, leaving several gashes in the wood. Travis’s hostility turned to self-preservation. He took off through the back way, leading down to his business. Her sisters and Ben brought her home. Safe, desire ate at her.
    Jasmine trembled at the memory and what she’d learned later. Travis had served time for brutalizing a girlfriend. Whimpering, she welcomed Violet’s gentle hug.
    Lily insisted, “We’ve come this far. Mike Stearn is not going anywhere. We have to keep him here. It’s the only way. At least until we find Desiree.”
    Jasmine dug her nails into her palms. “We’re never going to find her. She didn’t leave with the Wanderers.”
    “So that means she’s still in the Keys,” Violet said. “She’s probably looking for Connor.”
    Lily snorted. “Did you ever think his disappearance might be because Desiree killed him after seeing him with Jas?”
    Jasmine answered before Violet could. “She wanted to punish me, not Connor. She blames me for seducing him or luring him or whatever went through her mind. He’s the only man she wants. I don’t think she’d harm him.”
    “I agree,” Violet said. “She’s still in the city looking for him. All we need is time to locate her, beg or force her to lift this damn thing, and keep you safe in the interim. That means here with Mike.”
    No. Jasmine argued, “We’re talking about a man’s freedom.”
    “We’re talking about your life.” Violet eased her hold and leaned back. “As far as I’m concerned, nothing’s more important than that. Right, Lil?”
    “Fucking A.” Lily shoved her fingers through her short hair. “Besides, what will he have to complain about? So he’ll be stuck in a soft bed with a beautiful woman and room service for a little while. We’re hardly talking Attica. And even if he doesn’t like it, what’s he going to do? Complain to the cops? Think they’ll believe Jas locked up the big, bad former US Marshal?”
    It was still kidnapping. Jasmine pressed her fingers to her forehead, wanting to reason with them, but could not. A new wave of lust, ferocious and frightening, seized her.

Chapter Five
    In his dream, Mike heard the Sirens’ voices, young and filled with tension, speaking not singing. Didn’t make sense. What were they talking about? He listened and caught the sound of water dripping. On the boulders where the Sirens lured the doomed sailors?
    He tried to reason it out. The voices fell quiet, though the water did not. Its plunk-plunk-plunk made him think of his Glock. Why? And then he knew. Jasmine had put his pistol on the bath’s counter. Her leaking faucet must be making the noise he heard. The last of his dream vanished like warm vapor on a frigid day. Rolling over, he sensed he wasn’t alone.
    His lids made it halfway up on his second try. Jasmine stood at the side of the bed, washed in moonlight, watching him. The edges of her shimmery pink robe parted, showing her bejeweled navel and moist cleft. Carnal greed flashed in her eyes, deeper than before, more intense.
    Her earlier promise about sex games came to mind. It thickened his cock and sharpened his voice. “Get the corset.”
    An immodest smile tilted the corners of her mouth. She padded to the dresser, her robe rippling over her shapely form. The sight pulled him to a sitting position. He inhaled deeply and caught the mouthwatering aroma of smoked meat. She’d placed a tray on the right nightstand, crowding her sexy figurines. He saw two plates heaped with equal portions of steaming ham, potato salad, coleslaw, containers of amber-colored sauce, and