Northern Exposure: Compass Brothers, Book 1 Read Free

killed his dedication, nothing would.
    Hell, Silas couldn’t bear companionship some days. He didn’t remember how to be a friend. It’d been too many years. Pride in a hard day’s work and the reassuring discomfort of a solid hangover, which insured he’d passed out for at least a few hours before heading to the job to do it all over again, propelled him forward through week after week.
    “Your friend looks like he could use some cheering up.”
    Why in the hell did his surly temper attract women like bees to honey? It seemed the more he growled and tried to warn them off, the more they wanted in his pants. Insane. Every one of them. Just like him.
    “And what about me?” Red turned to the woman with his best imitation of Silas’s genuine misery. “Maybe I need some of your healing touch.”
    “Don’t worry, handsome. I’m the kind of woman who can handle two strapping men at once.”
    The sassy introduction made the corner of Silas’s mouth curve up despite his resolve. Tough Alaskan women reminded him of Wyoming cowgirls in a hell of a lot of ways.
    Sexy ways.
    Here, like home, the imbalance in the population of men and women made folks open to some interesting possibilities. He glanced at the brazen woman out the corner of his eye. Through vision blurred by windburn and too many fingers of Jack, she bore a slight resemblance to Lucy.
    At least, how Silas imagined the woman of his dreams might look today. A riot of red-gold curls and bright blue eyes had his cock hard in an instant.
    How had he gone so long without seeing her? His parents? His brothers?
    His stagnant life disgusted him. Working toward someone else’s dream. No land to show for it. Nothing like his great-great-grandfather had built and no one to pass it on to anyway. Just fistfuls of cash and far too many meaningless fucks. That might not have seemed so bad in his early twenties, but he’d be thirty soon for Christ’s sake.
    “Lucky for you, Silas and I like to play hard too.”
    “Not tonight, Red.” Silas shook his head then shoved from the bar. He staggered two steps toward the door before his bunkmate and the cute barfly chased after him. “Count me out.”
    His friend’s jaw went slack.
    “Shush, Si.” The woman’s soft entreaty teased the side of his neck.
    Shit, no one had called him that in ages. He didn’t give a shit how she’d found out his name. He had a reputation around these parts.
    It sounded…nice. Right.
    “Let me make you feel good then tuck you in.” The woman ducked beneath his arm and plastered herself against his side. Her soft breasts covered in a fuzzy sweater cushioned his ribs. Without thought, his hand dropped to her ass.
    Maybe she had a decent idea. Some of his desperation morphed into desire, relieving the pressure on his heart. Still, as the front door banged open and they piled into Red’s all-wheel drive truck, he cautioned the minx.
    “I’m in one hell of a mood tonight, sugar.” He couldn’t be sure she’d heard since she didn’t pause her exploration of his jaw on her path to his lips. He stopped her before she attempted to indulge in mouth to mouth. Ever since Colby he hadn’t indulged in the intimacy.
    She straddled him, grinding against his erection through his jeans.
    He took her delicate shoulders in his hands and shook a bit until her gaze met his. “Do you understand?”
    She paused and a slow smile spread across her plump lips when she noticed the beast straining to slip its chains. He couldn’t hide the feral desire in his eyes. Not that close.
    “I won’t be gentle,” Silas growled.
    “Promise?” She bit her lip. “Is it so difficult to believe I like it rough, Compton? I heard you could give me what I need.”
    Gravel pinged off the exterior of the truck as Red departed in a lurch for the seedy dorms a bunch of the oil workers shared. Not having a place of his own to take a woman had never bothered Silas before. Tonight it did.
    He wanted to make her scream.
    He was