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.
Claudia flutters kisses across my jaw, up the side of my face, across my nose, eyelids, forehead and back down. The light kisses tickle as much as her touch. I rest my hands on her hips instinctively to steady her. Unable to bear the suspense of her silence, I capture her lips with mine and kiss her hard and deep, aware it might be our last.
When she pulls away, she rests her wet cheek against mine. "I am so sorry for your pain, Petr," she whispers and begins the fluttering kisses once more. "So sorry. You are … too good to suffer. If I could take away your pain … bring Mikael back ..."
I embrace her once more, all but hauling her into my body at the soft, sweet response. "I have a sleeve for it, if you want me to cover it."
"No. Never." She pulls away and meets my gaze, her eyes shining with tears. "Petr, you are beautiful, whether or not you see it." The genuine warmth and affection in her expression mystifies me.
I wipe her tears away, speechless for a moment. I never thought anyone could say something that could reach the depths of me the way her simple words do. Our unusual connection has always been borderline supernatural, in my opinion. I've been drawn to her quiet sauciness and warm heart since we met, and it's only grown from there.
She eases back from me and lifts her sweatshirt off to reveal the faint pink bra beneath. Shimmying out of her leggings, she then stands before me once again. The fear is still in her eyes, but there's trust as well and emotion too intense for me to categorize.
It takes me a minute to process the fact she's not only accepting me as I am, but she's taking the next step forward, too.