"Hey!" I wave Todd over.

He leaves the four guys and joins me.

"What're you doing?" I ask, eyeing the odd earmuffs he's carrying.

"Going to the range."

"Golf?"

"No, Claud." He rolls his eyes. "Shooting range."

My mouth drops open, and surprise crosses his features. "Oh. Yeah. You don't know about that." He shifts. "Petr is teaching me to be a man and part of that is shooting a gun."

"Petr taught you to shoot a gun?" I place my hands on my hips.

"Responsibly," he says.

I purse my lips, about to lecture him about violence and guns and everything else.

"My fault," Petr says from behind me. One of his arms wraps around me, and he presses me against his warm frame. "Yell at me, not him. I was supposed to tell you, Claudia." He winks at Todd.

I eye Petr then Todd. "You're both in trouble, as far as I'm concerned. I'll deal with it later, Todd. I wanted to tell you something."

"What?" He's looking between us as if expecting a different kind of news.

"I talked to Simon," I say carefully. "Everything's going to be okay."

Todd's gaze rivets to mine. "We don't have to leave Glory Glade?" he asks, astonished.

"Not if we don't want to."

He's frozen for a moment before he flings his arms around me in a very rare display of affection. "I don't want to," he whispers to me. "I want to stay here with Petr."

"Depends on how well you two behave," I remind him with false sternness. I'm bursting with happiness at the news but trying hard not to reveal what's been going on.

"I'll be good," Todd promises. He pushes away from me. "Can I pleeeeeeeease go shooting?"

I glance up at Petr, unable to stay upset long with everything swirling in my thoughts.

"One of the guys is going down with them," Petr explains and nods to the man he introduced as Riley.

"I suppose," I murmur.

Todd doesn't stick around to see if I change my mind but darts away quickly. I wait until he's out of earshot before rounding on Petr. Pulling away from his touch, I glare up at him. "Care to explain?"

"Can I ask you to just trust me?"

He has a way of deflating my negative emotions, of grounding me. Holding my gaze, Petr is smiling faintly. This time, when I see the happiness in his face, I don't feel envious of him and Todd the way I have before. I feel like I, too, can participate in their little happy club. He's done more to help my brother than I ever could. If he asks me to trust him ...

"Always," I murmur.

"Good," he responds and takes me in his arms again. "He's a good kid, Claudia, and he now understands what it means to make a decision like using a weapon."

"You've done so much for him. For us," I say, a little distressed by the enormity of Petr's involvement in my life while I tried to pretend he wasn't there.

"When you care about someone, it's what you do," he shrugs.

"It's not what I do! I made you ask me out every day for weeks."

"Twice," he teases.

I groan.

"Or is it three times?" He pretends to consider.

"Stop!" I retort.

He laughs. "Not trying to escape before you have my hide for Todd learning to shoot, but I've got a family affair to wrap up," he says. "You want to meet me upstairs on the couch where we first kissed? It's a little less crowded." His eyes are twinkling again.

Hell, yes, I do. But I play it cool. "You'll find out when you get upstairs, won't you?" I reply.

He winks. "You'll be there." Kissing me lightly on the lips, he moves away.

I watch him, floored. In the matter of half a day, my life has gone from ruined to perfect. It's been so long since I experienced this kind of happiness, I'm not sure what to do with it or how long I'll last before I outright explode.

Chapter Seventeen: Petr.

If I woke up this morning with the notion that Claudia would be here tonight, looking at me the way she did, I would've laughed at myself. It didn't seem possible after nearly a month of rejections that she'd change her mind.

But she has, and I can't get through my duties as host fast enough. Her expression when she said the words it's over is stuck in my mind. The shadow that's been in her gaze since we met was gone, replaced by the spark of a person I always suspected was beneath her thick exterior.

Thanks to Todd, I understand what this means, even if I can't tell her I know. She's done running, and Todd can stay here like he wants to.

I get my shot with Claudia after all. I can't recall the last woman who managed to touch my emotions and stir my blood with this amount of intensity. There's one obstacle left, now that hers are gone.

My leg.

My step slows as I ascend the stairs to the second floor. If I had to guess, Claudia isn't the kind of person who will care that I'm half a man, but the voice is there, challenging the idea any woman could accept me as I am.

Quashing it, I reach the top of the stairs and stride down the hallway. I haven't been this nervous or excited about spending time with someone since I was a teen, and knowing it's the woman I've been waiting for ...

I take a deep breath to settle my rattled senses. I want tonight to last forever.

The second floor is vacant for now. A little later, when family return to their guest rooms, it'll be more crowded.

Claudia is in the middle of the couch where we first kissed, her legs tucked beneath her and head resting on the back of the couch while she stares into the fire. There's a softness to her features that hasn't been present before now, a light in her eyes as if she's found new life.

"Just my luck. You decided to show up," I tease and sink onto the couch beside her. Wrapping an arm around her, I pull her into my body and breathe in her scent. She rests a hand on my chest and relaxes into me.

I love it, the tiny sign of surrender after two months of restraint. We sit together in silence for a long moment. It's harder than I expect for me to keep my hands from roaming her body. If I've learned anything from our interactions, it's that she sets the pace and tone, which means I have to be patient a little longer.

She lifts her head and straightens enough to gaze at me. I touch her soft cheek and admire the way her plump lips part as she looks at me.

I can't get over how changed she is. The burden she's carried for four years is now gone. "You're beautiful," I murmur and trace her lips and jaw with my thumb. "I've thought so from the first time you rejected me."

She smiles. "I never meant for you to be hurt or suffer or anything else."

"I know. You're too sweet for that."

"God, it killed me some days to tell you no!"

"That makes two of us."

"I am sorry, Petr." She searches my gaze.

"Don't be." I smile and touch my forehead to hers. "I'm happy you're happy now."

"You are the best person who ever lived." She takes my cheeks and kisses me, this time with far less control than before. Her hunger is contagious, the brittle barrier of restraint between us cracking fast. I shift to better embrace her and kiss her deeply, enjoying the feel of her warm body pressed to mine.

I trail kisses down the side of her jaw and to her neck. She shivers, clutching me to her closer. I push her shirt down to reach her collarbone. My tongue flickers out to taste her skin, and I almost groan.

Everything about her is absolutely perfect.

She takes my face again and kisses me wildly once more. I'm doing my best to rein in my desire, but it's hard when the woman I want most in the world is all but daring me to break the bonds on my control.

"If you keep kissing me like this, I'll assume you want to stay tonight," I break away and whisper, gazing into her gorgeous gaze.

"On your floor?" she asks with faux innocence, breathless.

"Anywhere you want," I reply with a grin. "Is that a yes?" I hold my breath and wait, watching her expression. She confessed to being afraid earlier, and I see the flicker of fear that crosses her features, accompanied by a familiar yearning and desire. "Whatever you're ready for," I say gently. "You can tell me no for another month, if it makes you more comfortable."

"I trust you, Petr." She traces my face with her fingertips. "Today is already the best day of my life. I want to spend it with you. So ... yes. I'll stay."

Laughter comes from down the hallway, a sign at least one guest is headed up to our area. Leaning back, I take Claudia's hand.

"C'mon. I have an equally good couch in my room," I say with a grin.

She's blushing and smiling, her hair mussed from the couch and eyes radiant.

We hurry down to my room. I open the door and lock it automatically before tugging her towards the promised couch. The fireplace in here is lit as well, and I stop before it, facing her.

"You doing okay?" I ask and pull her into my arms.

She smiles up at me. "Best day ever, Petr."

"You haven't seen my leg yet," I half-joke, immediately hating the note of uncertainty in my tone.

"Petr," she says. "You're not worried about me rejecting you because of your leg, are you?"

"Nah." But I look away a little too quick. She's smart enough to catch it.

"You are," Claudia murmurs. "Why?"

I try to shrug it off. "A couple bad experiences with women."

She rises on her tiptoes and plants a light kiss on my lips. "Show me."

"Now?"

"You were planning on taking your pants off tonight, weren't you?" she retorts coolly.

I laugh.

"Show me." Claudia moves out of my grip and steps away, the look on her face one she uses with Todd.

"All right." My hands are clammy as I unbutton my jeans. "You may see more than my leg," I say with a grin, unable to control the erection straining my jeans.

She glances down and turns pink, then smiles. "Strip, Petr."

"Yes, ma'am."

I lean down to untie my shoes and nudge them off then push my jeans to the floor. The single, tiny button on my boxers is thus far managing to contain my arousal.

Her eyes go from it with a wicked grin to my leg, and she grows thoughtful. The prosthetic's combination of skin-toned rubber and metal doesn't fool anyone. A prototype, it was designed for function rather than to be aesthetically pleasing.

"Oh, Petr," she murmurs at last.

"Might as well show you the full effect," I grunt. Peeling off my sweater and t-shirt, I turn my back to her. "The blast hit me from behind. No scars on my chest but my back was tore up pretty bad."

My heart is pounding. This is where I struck out twice with two different women over the past year. The leg shocked them; the knotted, gnarly scars across my back did them in. It didn't matter I have washboard abs and an upper body chiseled in the gym. They'd been unable to get over the fact I'm not a full man anymore and what remains of me is badly damaged.

When she touches my back, I flinch, not expecting her soft, cool hands on my skin. She traces the scars and runs her hands over my back before sliding in front of me. There are tears in her eyes that make me almost curse.

Brianna broke down and sobbed at this point.

Claudia picks up the dog tag dangling in the middle of my chest. "It's Mikael's," I explain. "Katya has the other one."

I brace myself for rejection. It hurt coming from Brianna, and I didn't care nearly as much for her as I do Claudia.

Claudia ... she'll crush me. I don't know when I fell this deeply for her, but I'm there now, and all I can do is wait. There are tears on her cheeks. I close my eyes, not wanting to see her revulsion when she rejects me.

She places her hands on my chest and runs them up to my shoulders, her touch light enough to tickle. Her fingertips trace up my neck to my cheeks, and she lifts onto her tiptoes again and pulls my head down to her simultaneously.