Page 7 of Waiting to Love You
I guffaw, which causes Leia to scowl in my direction as we pull up to a red light at the edge of town. “Look. I get you have issues with the military, but not all men are like your father. From what Brady has been saying, this deployment will be their last. No more deployments.”
“I’ll consider being more than friends with Seth if you stop giving Riggs such a hard time. Anyone can see that he’s head over heels in love with you.”
I know this is a sore spot for Leia, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Leia and Riggs have had this love-hate relationship ever since I’ve known them. Everyone else can see how much he cares about her, but I doubt either of them has noticed yet. Seeing these two interact is like watching a little boy pick on the girl he secretly has a crush on.
“Whose side are you on, anyway?” Leia scowls in my direction as she pulls into the long drive leading towards the family portion of the property.
“Yours. Always yours. I’m just saying that maybe if you were nicer to him sometimes, he wouldn’t give you such a hard time.”
“Bristol, I doubt that’s even possible for him at this point. Riggs has been giving me a hard time since we were teenagers, and I don’t see that ending soon. It’s like he gets a sick thrill out of pushing my buttons.”
“Some people might call that foreplay,” I retort as Leia pulls her car to a stop in front of her dad’s farmhouse, tucked into a corner of the property.
A large covered wraparound porch takes up almost the entire front of the house with a porch swing positioned to give you the perfect view of the sun setting over the mountains when you sit there. It’s a warm butter yellow color with white framed windows practically covering the front of it and a manicured garden with perfectly trimmed bushes and a bright array of flowers, which gives it an even more welcoming feel.
“Well, I just call it fucking annoying.” Leia sighs as I feel my door fly open, and a powerful set of arms comes around my waist, lifting me out of the car and into the air.
My entire body tenses for a moment until the smell of vanilla and sandalwood invades my senses, and the soft hairs of a beard rub against my cheek, causing me to relax. “Hey, Walker.”
I giggle before lifting my legs to wrap around his muscular waist and throw my arms tightly around his neck. I use every muscle in my body to squeeze him tightly to me before leaning back and resting my chin on his chest. Walker hasn’t changed a bit since he came back to town a few months ago. His dark brown hair is styled perfectly to give it that just-out-of-bed look without being too messy. His cerulean blue eyes are bright with happiness as he plants a kiss on my forehead.
“How’s my Bri Bri doing?”
“You could at least let her get out of the car first.” Leia groans as she smacks my captor hard on the shoulder, causing him to chuckle softly.
“I could, but I know the moment she and Seth lay eyes on each other, they’ll be in their own little world.”
My cheeks burn instantly as I unwrap my legs from around his waist and wiggle in his grasp. It only takes a few moments for him to realize what I want before he lowers my feet to the ground. It seems everyone has picked up on my attraction to Seth, which can lead to nothing good. I know they mean well, but pushing Seth and me together is a bad idea. He has his career, and I have my business to focus on. Neither one of us can pick up and move to be with the other.
Sure, long-distance relationships are a thing and work for many people, but I refuse to be second in the relationship. My mom used to kid around and say if the military wanted my dad to have a family, they would have issued him one with his uniform. Which may have worked for her, but not me. No matter how much my heart might want Seth, there’s no way I can let that happen.
“Stop being so dramatic.” I huff before taking a step away from him. I’m average height for a woman at 5’5”, but Walker towers over me. I look more like a toddler standing near him than the thirty-two-year-old woman I am. “What the heck have they been feeding you, Walker? I thought people were supposed to stop growing in their twenties.”
“I haven’t grown at all. Maybe you’re shrinking in your old age.” Walker pats me on the head twice before I swat at him. “And I’m not being dramatic, and you know it. When are you going to give Seth a chance?”
“Bristol doesn’t have time for men right now. She’s focusing on turning her business into a success,” Leia says before wrapping her arms around his waist in a quick hug.
“And I don’t recall Walker asking you.” Riggs saunters down the front steps toward us, a devious smile spreading across his face.
“I don’t recall speaking to you.”
“Here we go again.” I groan before pushing my door closed with my butt and leaning against it. There’s no telling how long we could be out here for one of Riggs and Leia’s verbal sparring matches.
Walker leans against the car beside me before crossing his arms over his chest. “I really wish there was a way to get my two favorite people to get along with each other.”
Riggs’s chocolate brown eyes sparkle with amusement as he stares down at Leia, a mischievous smirk plastered across his face. His muscular body leans slightly forward, as if there’s a magnet pulling him closer to her. If it were anyone else, I would step in, saving my best from the torment, but Riggs is different.
“I was fine until he opened his mouth and started speaking,” Leia retorts as she lifts her chin slightly and glares at Riggs.
Leia can’t stand Riggs for some reason only the two of them know. Although, I have a feeling Walker knows, because why else would he keep forcing these two together? Whenever I ask her, I get a vague answer about him being immature and annoying, but never anything more. There must be some sort of history between those two, but after all these years, I’ve stopped trying to figure it out. If they want to fight with each other like children, so be it. However, I have a feeling that they don’t hate each other as much as they’d prefer for all of us to believe.
“You have a thing for mutes? If I had known, I’d have cut out my tongue and given it to you as a peace offering years ago.”
“I hate you.”
“You love me; you just haven’t figured it out yet.” Riggs snickers, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her to his side.
Leia’s entire body melts into his embrace as her eyes drift shut. For a few moments, she looks like she is in pure heaven, but then her face morphs into what looks like indifference before she pushes away from him. “I’m going to go check on Dad.”