Page 31 of Waiting to Love You

I never told her about my decision to retire after meeting her. Honestly, I don’t think I thought about it myself until a few months after I was deployed. Either way, it would be naïve of me to think she waited all this time for me to keep my promise, but deep down, I hope she has.

“Yeah, still single.” She hesitates for a moment before asking her own question. “What about you?”

I wait until I’m ready to pull into the driveway before I reply. “The answer to that question depends on you.”

“What do you mean?”

I reach over and take her hand in mine, pulling her closer to the center console before leaning over and resting my forehead against hers. “It’s always been you, Bristol. I never stopped thinking about you when I was deployed. I know you didn’t make me any promises beyond that one night, but I hoped that when I came back, you would still be here waiting for me.”

“You know how to lay it on thick, Casanova.”

“Only for you,” I release her hand and climb out of my side of the car.

I know I should probably take things slower and try to ease her into wanting to be in a relationship, but I’ve spent the last year dreaming about the moment we could be together again, and I’m not about to waste another moment on games. Bristol needs to know that I’m all in.

I rush around the truck and open her door. “It’s not much, but the Thomases are giving me somewhere to stay until I can find a place of my own.”

“Oh, so you’re here for the long haul.” She takes my hand and steps out of the truck.

“Have you heard the saying, Home is where the heart is?” I look deeply into her eyes, bring her hand to my lips, and brush my fingers across her knuckles.

She nods her head slightly.

“Tyson’s Creek is my home,” I continue.

She must understand what I’m trying to say because I watch her cheeks flush a light shade of pink.

“Come on, I want to show you my place.” I wink at her before turning and leading her up the stairs to the apartment.

“What do you think?” I ask, releasing her hand to hold the door open as Bristol steps inside and looks around, taking in our limited decorations.

“It’s not what I expected. But also, exactly what I expected.” She giggles as she points at the large television on the wall.

“You know, boys and their toys.” I chuckle. “It’s a little more ‘frat boy’ than we were hoping for, but this place is only temporary for both of us. Once we get started working at the construction company with Vance and Connor, we can make some changes.”

“Somehow, I can picture you doing construction.” She takes a seat, tucking one of her legs underneath her before arranging her dress around her.

“It's not my goal, but it’ll do for now until I can take my civil service exam,” I say as I turn toward the kitchen and turn the oven on to preheat. “Would you like a glass of wine? I figured red would go best with dinner.”

She hesitates slightly. “Sure. One glass won’t do too much harm.”

I quickly grab the bottle and pour her a glass, then pull a beer out of the fridge for myself.

“Oh, fancy,” she giggles as I hand the glass to her and take a seat.

“To be honest, you can thank Mrs. Thomas for that. I asked her for one after I bought the wine.”

Bristol stiffens, placing the glass on the table in front of her before shifting over slightly to put more space between us.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” I sigh, getting up to move to the other portion of the sectional. I’m a lot farther away from her than I want to be, but making sure she’s comfortable is more important.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles as she relaxes back onto the couch. “This is all just a little much for me.”

She reaches forward, grabs her glass, and takes a drink, then moans softly. The tip of her tongue peeks between her lips and swipes the leftover wine off them. I adjust my position on the couch slightly as my cock hardens down my leg.

We sit in uncomfortable silence, our eyes looking around at everything but each other. I knew things might be awkward between us, but this is more than I anticipated. I open and close my mouth a few times, searching for something to say before choosing an easy out.

“Hope you’re hungry.” I smile, pushing to my feet. “I made lasagna for dinner, and Mrs. Thomas baked a pie for desert.”

---