Southern Comfort: Compass Brothers, Book 2 by Mari Carr and Jayne Rylon Page A

emotions it evoked wash through her. She’d lied about being experienced. Like a fool, she’d saved herself for him. Spent years turning down dates and eschewing relationships out of respect for what she thought was true love. She’d been an idiot.
    If it hadn’t been for Paul, she would have rectified that oversight on her twenty-first birthday. She’d gone out intent on experiencing the life she’d been denied while deluding herself into thinking Seth was the only man she ever wanted to be with. Paul had pulled her out of the bar before she could add yet another mistake to the list she’d tallied up over the years…all because she’d fallen in love with Seth Compton when she was twelve years old.
    He moved back, though their lips were just a hairsbreadth away. “Let me show you what you’ll be missing if you choose Paul.”
    His words splashed over her like ice-cold water as everything crashed down on her. Paul. The trust fund. The will. The wedding she was about to miss.
    She pressed against his shoulders, and he moved back. She crawled out of the bed, embarrassed by her nudity. She should be moving beyond the stage where she was modest in front of him, but it was too new, too unfamiliar. She looked around and spotted his T-shirt hanging on the back of a chair. God only knew where he’d hidden her clothing. Grabbing it, she drew the soft cotton over her head as he moved to the side of the mattress, facing her. “I have to get out of here.”
    “Dammit, Jody. Do we really need to go over this again? I told you why I couldn’t let things between us go too far.”
    “You’re right. We’re beating a dead horse,” she said, tugging the T-shirt down, wishing it covered more. As it was, it only hit her about mid-thigh. “And you know what, hotshot, those reasons haven’t changed. I’m not gonna bend over and be a good little submissive for you. I’m not gonna play some weak, helpless woman in this macho kidnapper scenario you’re working on. What I am going to do is get dressed, go home and marry a man who’s never pretended to be anything other than who he really is.”
    Her comments had struck a chord, but by the set of Seth’s jaw he wasn’t giving up yet. His stubbornness in the face of hers was more proof that a relationship between them would never work. Instead of compromising, they’d continue to butt heads until one of them had brain damage.
    “You know what,” she started. “You were wrong to wait for me to grow up. You should’ve snatched me up when I was young and stupid and willing to do anything for you. You let the hourglass run out.”
    He shook his head. “You don’t get it, Jody. I didn’t want the young girl with stars in her eyes. I wanted the woman I knew you could be. The woman you are now. I don’t want a doormat. I want an equal. I want you.”
    She laughed, though the sound didn’t portray happiness. “Oh the irony. You didn’t want me when I wanted you. Now when you do want me, I’ve moved on. Life’s a bitch.”
    Her words were harsh, sarcastic and full of shit.
    “I don’t believe you don’t want me.”
    She shrugged. “I don’t really care what you believe.” She glanced around. She needed to get the hell out of this room, away from him before all the months she’d spent hardening her heart collapsed around her. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
    He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, then took in her appearance. Obviously, he decided in her current get-up she wasn’t a flight risk. “Go ahead. I’ll make us some breakfast.”
    She nodded once, then turned to cross the room. As she passed the kitchen counter, she spotted the keys to his truck. She could feel his gaze burning into her back as she walked away. When she got to the counter, she pretended to step on something.
    “Shit,” she said, bending down to brush away the make-believe annoyance while laying her other hand over the keys.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing,” she grumbled. “Just