Southern Comfort: Compass Brothers, Book 2 Read Online Free Page A

throwing her father’s words in the stable back in her face.
    “We’d love to have you join us,” Paul invited, his smile charming. She pinched his arm covertly and his grin faded quickly.
    “Fine. We’ll wait here. Don’t take too long.” She tried not to wince at her imperious tone. She hated sounding like such a bitch, but she couldn’t seem to temper her bitterness around Seth. She was nursing a broken heart and doing a shitty job of it.
    Seth headed down the hall to the bathroom. When she heard the door close, she turned to Paul. “Jesus Christ. What the hell are you doing?”
    Paul tried to look sorry, but failed. “I forgot how good-looking Seth is.”
    She closed her eyes. “You cannot be serious. You’re attracted to Seth? My Seth?”
    “Technically, he’s not your Seth. You don’t want him anymore, remember?”
    She frowned. “You can’t have him.”
    “Jody.”
    “Don’t you Jody me. We’re here to fool my family into thinking we’re in love and we can’t wait another minute to spend our lives together. That’s the only way they’ll allow me to go through with this. I explained that to you. That’s hardly going to work if you start coming on to Seth.”
    Paul nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll behave.”
    Jody sighed. “This is still a good plan, Paul. The stipulation in your father’s will was outright cruelty, and we won’t let him win.”
    Paul kissed her on her cheek. “I love it when you’re on a mission, but this isn’t your wrong to right, Jody. There are lots of people in the world who think homosexuals are freaks of nature, and my father simply happened to fall into that lot. You have to be very sure you’re willing to sacrifice a year of your life. That’s a lot to give up to help me meet some silly stipulation in a will. Especially if you’re doing it to spite Seth.”
    “I’m only twenty-one, Paul, and a year isn’t that long. Besides, you don’t have time to find anyone else. The will says you have to be married by the end of July to claim your trust fund. Are you forgetting about your plans for it? Think of all the good that cancer research facility could do.”
    Paul shrugged sadly. His mother had passed away from the disease when he was only ten. Sometimes Jody wondered how different his life would have been if she’d survived. His father, a cold bastard on good days, had treated him like a leper after discovering his only heir and namesake was gay. “I guess you’re right.”
    “There’s no doubt about it. You’re going to earn your master’s in architecture at Cornell and then you’ll build the best damn cancer research facility in the world.”
    Paul laughed. “I do appreciate your confidence in me, sweetheart, but trust fund aside, all I’m saying is Seth isn’t the only man out there. There are other fish in the sea. What if you run into your fish while you’re stuck with me?”
    Jody shook her head. “There aren’t any other fish for me.”
    Paul reached for her hand. “Oh, Jody. That’s not true.”
    Coming home and seeing Seth again was every bit as hard as she’d known it would be. She’d put off the return as long as she could simply because she kept waiting for some miracle to occur. Unfortunately, her feelings for Seth were stronger now than ever. She pushed the thought aside, tried to bring the remaining tattered shreds of her pride to the forefront. “I’ve been such an idiot, Paul. I can’t keep playing this Follow the Stud game.”
    Paul laughed. “Is this some twisted version of Follow the Leader ? Have you been holding out on me, Jody? Sounds exciting.”
    Jody chuckled and shrugged, appreciating her friend’s attempts at alleviating her pain. “It’s only fun when you catch the stud. Which every woman within a ten-mile radius of this ranch has done with the exception of me.”
    Paul glanced back down the hall where Seth had disappeared. “Seth doesn’t strike me as the type to kiss and tell.”
    “Oh,