Soldier Mine (Sons of War #2)(45)

“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.”