Southern Comfort: Compass Brothers, Book 2 (7 page)

“Beautiful.” The voice behind her fit the fantasy. She opened her eyes and found Seth’s dark brown gaze soaking in the dress…and her.

“Seth,” she whispered to his reflection in the mirror.

“Your father told me you’re moving the wedding date up.”

She nodded, unable to speak.

A flash of pain crossed his face before it was overshadowed by anger. “Don’t marry him.”

She smiled sadly. “I have to.”

“Why?”

She lowered the dress and turned around to face him. “I promised.”

Seth shook his head. “That’s a shitty reason.”

She walked away from him, carefully returning the dress to the box. “No, it’s not.” She replaced the lid and carried the whole thing over to her dresser before returning to sit on the edge of her bed.

Seth walked over, standing directly before her. Her gaze drifted to her bedroom door, and she wasn’t surprised to see it closed. Knowing him, it was locked as well.

“You’re not in love with him.”

She tilted her head, realizing it was pointless to continue the deceit. “No. I’m not.”

“But you’re still going to marry him.”

She nodded. “He needs me.”

She’d promised Paul and she didn’t break her promises. Ever. Given the facts that had come to light about Seth and his desires today, suddenly hiding in a loveless marriage for a year seemed preferable to losing herself to this cowboy who had far too much control over her sanity, her sense of self.

“I’m not giving up,” he warned her as he bent closer.

“I wish you would.”

His fingers tipped her chin up until her lips were just a breath away from his. “You can’t marry him when you’re in love with someone else.”

“Someone else?” she asked.

“Yeah.” She tried to move away, tried to escape, but he trapped her to the mattress, pushing her back in a move that couldn’t be described as anything more than pure dominance. “Me.”

His kiss proclaimed the truth of his statement and, though she struggled for release, he refused to relent, refused to let her hide from the truth.

His fingers worked at opening the button and zipper of her jeans and her traitorous hormones broke free. She pushed his hands away when he started to pull the tight pants down, shoving the jeans over her hips herself. He’d given her just a hint of what he had to offer and, wrong or not, she wanted it again. Wanted more.

Paul’s comments flashed through her mind. She’d saved herself for Seth, for this. Would it be so bad to take a tiny taste?

The second the denim cleared her knees, he lifted his foot, pushing the denim and panties completely off in a move that was rough, hungry. She opened her legs, welcomed him between. The full weight of his body crushed her. He continued to kiss her as he rubbed his jeans-clad erection against her.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, wanting to direct more of the incredible sensations toward her clit, her wet opening.

He lifted himself up on one elbow, his lips still devouring hers as he ran his fingers along her slit. He pulled away briefly, his eyes narrowing. “Why the hell are you denying this? Your cunt is dripping and hotter than a Texas summer. Enough is enough, Jody. You’re planning to marry someone else, while your body is on fire for me. Don’t you think it’s time you admit it?”

She feigned ignorance, while attempting to get her breathing back under control. His fingers were wreaking havoc on her ability to think. “And what exactly is it you think I should be confessing?”

He grinned. “That you want me and only me.”

She closed her mouth, afraid the words would slip out despite the common sense that said she had no business being here.

“Looks to me like you might need a little demonstration.” He thrust two fingers into her pussy, and she gasped at the tight, delicious sensation of the rough way he was claiming her. Over and over, he pressed into her as her body began to tingle, sparkling with the bright light of her orgasm.

“You want me. Say it.”

She shook her head, refusing. His thumb brushed her clit firmly and her hips began to move, seeking out the touch, looking for more. Seth bent his head and bit her nipple through her shirt. She gasped, her fingers gripping his shoulders tightly. He lifted his head. “Put your hands on the bed beside your head.”

“I want to touch you,” she admitted.

His gaze darkened, and she shuddered slightly at the pure dominance written there. He wasn’t holding back, wasn’t hiding his true spirit from her any longer. This was what she’d waited a lifetime for.

Seth, with the mask off.

Seth, willing to give her anything, everything.

“Put your hands on the bed,” he repeated, his tone proving he wouldn’t ask again.

She moved, letting her hands fall, palms up above her shoulders. The pose felt like surrender and for a moment, she wanted to balk, to move them back to his body.

His gaze stopped her. He devoured her, his eyes, his lips, his hands telling her how much he liked what he was seeing. His fingers began to stroke her faster, harder. “Come for me, sunshine. Let me see you explode.” His words provoked the action, and she shuddered, crying out at the intensity as her hands closed into fists, but never left the mattress.

Seth didn’t relent, didn’t allow her surcease, as he continued to thrust harder, faster. She was on the verge of a second orgasm when he quickly pulled out.

“No,” she said, anger permeating her dazed mind when he chuckled.

“I want everything from you,” he warned, his dark, sensual tone sending another ripple of arousal through her.

When his finger returned, it wasn’t to her pussy, but instead he pushed one wet digit into her ass. Her scream would have brought down the roof if he hadn’t captured it with his own mouth, thrusting his tongue against hers as his finger plunged deeper into her ass. Her orgasm hit her like a freight train, and she clung to him as she quivered in the aftermath.

Seth’s kisses didn’t stop, but they grew softer. Soft enough that she managed to regain her scattered wits. She’d wanted a taste. Seth had given her a feast. She’d let things go way too far.

Furious with herself and with him for tempting her so, she turned her head, pulling her lips away from his. “Dammit,” she cried. “You can’t come in here and bully me like this.”

He laughed. “I haven’t even started to bully you yet.”

An image of him tying her up, forcing her to one orgasm after another floated through her mind. “Shit,” she muttered. “Get off of me.” She tried to push him away, but moving her six foot two, nothing but pure muscle cowboy was a bit like trying to shove a skyscraper.

“Not yet. I have a question for you, and I want an answer.”

She pursed her lips and waited, worried about what he might ask.

“Are you a virgin?”

Her heart lurched and she knew hell would freeze over before he got that answer. “None of your damn business.”

He pressed her against the bed, but she refused to be cowed. “You keep saying that, but it is.”

She shook her head. “No, it isn’t. Go away.”

Seth stared at her for a painfully, long minute, but she didn’t budge. Finally, he spoke. “I don’t need you to answer. I know the truth.”

She sucked in a deep breath. She’d been riding a horse since the time she learned to walk. She was fairly certain any definite, hard proof of her virginity was long gone.

A brief glimpse of his earlier anger returned. “Why did you wait?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“If you’re gonna settle for a loveless marriage, why bother saving yourself at all?”

She didn’t have an answer. She’d been a silly girl with more honor than sense. She’d waited because in her heart, Seth had been her future. It was an old-fashioned notion, but she’d clung to it thinking it would prove to Seth she was worthy of him and his love.

“It was a mistake,” she said quietly.

“I see.”

He rose from the bed. She sat up, wrapping the comforter around her waist. The movement wasn’t based on shyness as much as a way to rebuild her defenses. “You won’t tell my dad, will you? About Paul and I not being in love. I really think it would be easier for him if…”

Her words died at the pain flashing in Seth’s eyes. Easy didn’t seem to be an option anymore.

“You gonna tell me why you’re marrying this guy? It doesn’t make any sense.”

She shrugged. “I have a good reason. Honest.”

“But you’re not going to tell me what it is.”

She shook her head. It felt like it was going to explode. She was on the verge of tears, something she didn’t want Seth to see. “Not tonight. Later. I promise.”

“No,” Seth replied. “I won’t tell Thomas. I’ve been keeping your secrets for nearly a decade. I don’t plan to break that tradition now.”

She smiled sadly as her mind drifted over all the confidences she’d shared with Seth through the years. The time she’d broken her mother’s favorite vase, Seth helped her glue it back together. The time she’d put a dent in her dad’s new truck, Seth found a mechanic to pound the ding out. The time she’d snuck out her junior year in high school to go to a party, Seth dragged her home, not betraying her to her father.

He’d been her friend, her protector and now he wanted to be her lover. The thought made her entire body ache. “Thanks.”

Walking toward the door, he opened it and turned to look at her. “This isn’t finished.”

When she was certain he was out of earshot, she whispered, “Yes, it is.”

Then, she gave in to her tears.

Chapter Five

“You planning on pulling your head out of your ass anytime soon, son, or are you just gonna stand around and let my little girl make the biggest mistake of her life?”

Seth looked up as Thomas climbed the stairs to the front porch of his foreman’s cabin early the next morning. Seth placed his cup of coffee on the table next to him. It was his day off and he’d planned to spend it alone, trying to figure out where the hell he was supposed to go from here. Jody was driving him insane. He’d tossed and turned all night, waking up three times to jerk off to the image of her as she came in the tack room and again in her bedroom. She was gorgeous, sexy-as-hell and driving him out of his mind with desires he’d never experienced.

“Excuse me?” he said as Thomas rested against the porch railing, crossing his ankles as well as his arms.

His boss had never given him any indication that he’d welcome Seth approaching Jody romantically. The only words Thomas had issued the past four years had been more along the lines of warnings for Seth to keep his damn hands to himself.

“I believe I made myself clear.”

“What would you have me do, Thomas? Jody’s more headstrong than Hugh Natter’s bull. Trying to get that girl to change her mind on anything is like trying to dig a hole the size of the Grand Canyon with a teaspoon.”

Thomas silently studied him for so long, Seth had to fight the urge not to squirm. “Never pegged you for a quitter. You gonna let that Paul character take your woman?”

Seth narrowed his eyes. “You wanna let me know exactly when Jody became
my
woman. Last time I glanced her way you threatened to apply the bander you use on the bulls to castrate me. That’s sort of a far cry from calling me
son
, wouldn’t you say?”

“I wanted Jody to go off to college, to get her degree. She’s a smart girl and leaving this place to continue her education was good for her. You know it, and I know it. She left here a willful, opinionated, inexperienced girl. Now, four years later, she’s come back to us an intelligent, mature woman. I knew you’d be a big obstacle in her way if you decided to pay that girl any attention and I knew it would be a mistake for her to stay here. She needed to see a bit more of the world, meet people who weren’t ranchers, experience a bit of culture.”

Seth nodded, begrudgingly. The time away from home had done wonders for Jody. “You’re right.”

Thomas took his admission with a smugness that made Seth want to roll his eyes. “Now she’s graduated with honors and with a knowledge of Ag Science that makes her the perfect life partner for a rancher.”

“Last time I looked, I was a foreman.”

Thomas uncrossed his arms, rubbing his chin as he sighed. “That could change pretty damn quick with ring and a few words spoken before a Justice of the Peace.”

Seth was pretty sure throwing a punch at his boss would get his ass canned quick, but he rose anyway, his fists clenched. Thomas’s words were an affront to his morals and an insult to his daughter. “If you think I’d marry Jody to inherit this goddamn ranch, then you don’t know me at all. How dare you haggle with your daughter’s life? I don’t give a fuck who you are, if you think you can sell Jody off—”

Thomas chuckled and put his hands up. “Just checking, Seth. Wanted to make sure your intentions were true.”

Seth tried to hold on to his irritation, but he couldn’t blame Thomas for double-checking. “Had your fun?”

Jody was set to inherit a shit-load of money from her old man one day and there weren’t too many cowboys in the state who didn’t know it. Difference was his family was pretty well off too and he learned a long time ago, money didn’t make you happy.

Thomas’s grin slowly faded. “You gotta stop her, Seth.”

Seth thought of the previous night. Of how she’d come apart in his arms and how she still pushed him away. Jody had pride by the bushel and overcoming the mistakes he’d made in the past as well as asking her to go back on the promise she’d made to Paul was proving tougher than he thought.

“How?” he asked, silently praying Thomas had an answer. God knew he was running out of ideas.

“Be creative.”

Seth shook his head. “Shit. That’s the only advice you have? Be creative? What the fuck does that mean?”

Thomas rubbed his jaw and Seth figured he and his boss were mirror reflections of frustration. “Hell if I know. Only thing I do know is you love her and she loves you. It’s time to make the insanity stop.”

Thomas turned, stepped off the porch and walked away.

Insanity, Seth thought. Yep. He had that in abundance.

It was late afternoon when Seth heard footsteps on his porch. He glanced up to find Jody peering through the screened door.