Page 13 of Waiting to Love You

“Having second thoughts?”

“I can’t promise you anything more than tonight, Seth.”

“I’ll take it.” I grasp her neck and pull her toward me, sealing our lips together in a searing kiss.

She may not be ready to admit her feelings for me, but they’re there, and we both know it. I need to prove to her she means so much more to me than just a quick roll in the sack. I know there is a bigger reason she is so weary of starting something more with me. Maybe she was hurt badly in the past. Maybe it could just be that she isn’t a fan of guys in the military. Either way, I need to figure out how to make her see that being a Marine is not my entire world. That it will be nothing more than a distant memory after this next deployment. Especially now that I have her. Just being near her completes me in a way I didn’t know was possible. Now the only thing I need to do is convince her to take a chance on me. Not a hard task, not at all.

Chapter 4

Seth

Six Months Later

Ihit end call on the satellite phone I’ve been using.

“Maybe next time,” I mumble to no one as I push off my bunk and head toward the mess hall.

There’s been an ache in my heart ever since I deployed. I spend most of my time missing the only person I’ve ever given my heart to. Sure, we only spent one night together, but that night meant everything to me. I knew the moment the sun came streaming through the window that morning that my heart would only ever belong to her.

When Brady asked me to attend a yoga class to help a friend of his, I scoffed at the idea. Attending a yoga class, let alone any type of fitness class, never crossed my mind. Give me a couple of free weights and a treadmill and I’m good. But something deep in my soul told me I’d regret it if I didn’t go, so I reluctantly agreed. And I’m glad I did because that day I found that thing—or, better yet, that person—I’ve been missing in my life. I knew the moment I laid eyes on Bristol that she was entirely too good for me. Her long red hair and brilliant smile could light up a room, but her eyes captivated me. When she looked at me, it was as if she was looking into the deepest parts of me, setting my soul ablaze for the first time in my life.

After that, I always found an excuse to head to Tyson’s Creek with Brady. He knew something was going on but never once made a big deal out of it. He seemed just as eager to head home to Tyson’s Creek as I was. It might have something to do with the beautiful girl I saw him with at his going away party before we left to head over to the sandbox for the next year. I’m pretty sure that something happened between them that night, but he hasn’t said a word about it. I wish he would talk to me, but who am I to give advice to anyone about relationships?

The connection I feel toward her has only grown stronger since I woke up that morning. The moment I laid eyes on Bristol Reid, I knew she was someone special. The more time we spent together, and the more I got to know her, I could see our future playing out before my eyes. Bristol is the type of woman I can see myself settling down and starting a family with. When we are together, all my worries and troubles turn into nothing but background noise.

It took me months to get Bristol to admit the attraction we felt toward each other. To give me a chance to show her she meant the world to me, even if there was no guarantee that I’d return. I knew deep in my soul that if I didn’t find out how delicious she tasted as I licked the salty sweat from her skin, or how it felt to have her pressed tightly to me as she moaned my name, I’d regret it for the rest of my life. However, now that I know all those things, the idea of never having them again tears me in two.

Bristol wanted one night together, no strings attached, but to me, it was so much more. I knew I was shipping out in a few weeks, but it didn’t matter to me. I wanted—no, needed—to know everything I could about Bristol, or I’d have regretted it for the rest of my life.

“Finally decided to join the land of the living?”

The only response I give Brady is a grunt as I grab a tray and begin piling on food.

“So talkative today.” He rolls his eyes as I head toward a table in the back.

I’ve known nothing but being a Marine, having signed up as soon as I was old enough. Being a ward of the state helped me cut through a lot of the red tape, making it easy to enlist a few months before my eighteenth birthday. Ever since my parents died when I was eight years old, I bounced around between foster homes, each one making the hope of finding a family a little more impossible, before being placed in a group home my freshman year of high school. I was old enough to take care of myself, and as long as I stayed out of trouble, they left me alone. Being part of the system taught me to keep my head down, but I always yearned to be a part of a family once again.

“Seriously, man. Who pissed in your Wheaties?” Brady asks, breaking me from my thoughts as he takes a seat across from me in the mess hall.

“Just trying to figure out what the hell I want to do when my contract is up,” I mumble as I shove another bite of food into my mouth.

I’ve spent the last two decades in the Marines, trying to find my place in the world. I’ve traveled across the world fighting for my country, which gave me a sense of belonging for the first time since my parents passed away. But I always felt like something was missing. There was a part of me that was still searching for that one thing that would bring me back to life.

“You could always come home with me,” he responds matter-of-factly, as if he hasn’t just handed me my heart’s desire on a silver platter. “My dad told me they’re looking for guys at the station. Since we’re in the military, all we have to do is pass the civil service exam and then attend the academy. Nothing too hard.”

Having no family of my own, I had nowhere to go during leave periods or holidays, so ever since I met him, Brady has always invited me to join his family. But I had no way of knowing that this last trip would change the direction of my life forever.

“Maybe.” I try to remain calm as images of reuniting with Bristol again filter through my mind. She told me we couldn’t be anything more because she couldn’t live with not knowing if she was the most important person to me. That if given the choice, I’d choose her over everything else. Maybe this is my chance. “But don’t you have to wait for a date to open?”

“Yeah, but I doubt you’d have to wait too long. Besides, maybe you could work at Ace & Hammer construction company with me until a spot opens at the station,” Brady suggests.

I met Vance and Connor, the owners of Ace & Hammer, a few times during my visits to Tyson’s Creek. Brady and I are a few years older than them, but it seems everyone in Tyson’s Creek is friends or at least cordial with each other. The same was true for me. Connor and Vance didn’t bat an eyelash when Brady brought me home on leave. The three of us became fast friends, much to Brady’s delight. They seem like pretty decent guys, but they’ve both been dealt a pretty shitty hand in life.

Vance and Connor started a construction business after Brady enlisted in the Marines. They both started taking business classes while they worked on building their company from scratch. Since they were one of the few construction businesses in the area, they started small, keeping their prices affordable and working off word-of-mouth referrals, but their business really exploded after doing a job in Magnolia. I guess tearing an old farmhouse down to the studs and rebuilding most of it in about a week is good for business.

After getting to know each other better, Vance offered me a job. He said any friend of Brady’s was a friend of theirs. At the time, I didn’t think twice about it, but now, that offer seems even more appealing by the minute.

“What the hell do you know about construction?”

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