Page 10 of Strange Seduction (Strange #2)

You Know Better, So You Did Better.

Still Day One.

I couldn’t stop replaying our conversation.

Not the part where he said he loved me. Not the part where he looked at me with those tired, honest eyes and swore he just wanted a future with me. No, my brain latched onto the part—the vasectomy reversal.

The solo decision.

I wasn’t angry. Not really. Just… off-balance.

We’d always known this relationship would require balancing acts.

Time zones. Career goals. His schedule. Mine.

But now we were standing at the edge of something else—something real and rooted.

And I wasn’t sure if we were ready to jump at the same time.

What scared me most wasn’t that he saw a future together; I saw one for us, too.

What scared me was that I wasn’t sure what my future looked like anymore.

Because of the way he said it—“I’ve been thinking about our future”—I felt everything shift.

Suddenly, I wasn’t just Carmen Reyes, Theodore Clayton’s long-distance girlfriend who was fresh out of law school.

I was Carmen, someone’s future mother, and Theodore Clayton’s future wife.

All things that I had accepted when our shared future wasn’t force-ripe, and knocking on my door sooner than it needed to.

Fuck .

If I weren’t careful, my whole life would start being about futures I hadn’t prepared for yet, nor did I agree to take on already.

God, I wish we had talked about this first.

But he hadn’t meant to hurt me.

I knew that.

Theo always moved from the heart. And that heart, for better or worse, had always made room for me and held my best interest.

So, for now, I’ll trust his plan.

And that plan currently involves us stepping out of the room for a bit of fresh air and scenery.

When he told me to get dressed, I didn’t argue.

Well. Not completely.

“Seriously, where are we going?” I asked, tugging a dress off the hanger. “If you say something cryptic like ‘you’ll see,’ I’m gonna throw your phone out the window.”

He grinned. “You’ll see.”

“Theodore.”

“You’re gonna like it, I promise.”

I rolled my eyes but followed him out anyway.

We drove into Florence. He let our old playlist run—songs we used to listen to on FaceTime when we were a thousand miles apart. His hand rested on my thigh.

Neither of us said much, but it didn’t feel tense.

“Can I be honest?” he asked suddenly, though he knew he didn’t need permission. “I’m surprised you took what I said so lightly.

I cocked an eyebrow. “Lightly, huh?”

“Meaning,” he explained. “I expected you to kick my ass.”

“I mean, I can still do it if you want me to. Pull over.”

“Haha,” he mock-chuckled. “I’m being serious, Carmen. It’s not like you. What’s going through your head right now?”

I sighed, not knowing the answer myself.

“Honestly, Teddy. It’s your choice, ultimately. It’s your body, after all. God knows I’ve made choices for my own body without consulting you in the past.”

He pinned his lips shut at the mention of it. It was still a weird subject for us, well, him mostly. Sometimes I wish I had included him in the decision-making, but I couldn’t change the past. And though he didn’t mention it, I knew a tiny part of him resented me for it.

“Look. At the end of the day, it was always my responsibility to protect myself from any more slip-ups. You did your part by telling me before we did anything, so thank you for that.”

His grip tightened on the wheel. “Yeah. Of course.”

The rest of the ride was quiet until we pulled up to a sleek, black, and glass building downtown. Not touristy. Not romantic. Just… polished. The only English thing I could make out was the words ‘Corner’ and ‘Stones’.

“Is this your office?” I asked, squinting up at it.

“One of them,” he said, throwing the car in park.

“You really brought me to work?”

He shot me a look. “You bought €110,000 worth of bags into our hotel suite, but I can’t show you where I make the money?”

Fair.

Inside, the building was so like him: clean lines, confident design, surprisingly warm once you got past the minimalism. It has him written all over it, like most things in Italy.

When we walked in the door, the receptionist smiled when she saw him.

Random Voice: Hm.

“Mr. Clayton! Bentornato .”

“Giulia,” Theo greeted stoically. “This is Carmen.”

Her whole face pressed thin.

Random Voice: Hm.

“It’s so nice to meet you. He talks about you all the time.”

“Does he now?” I glanced at him.

“Relentlessly,” she added, giving him a knowing look.

Random Voice: HM!

My God, shut up!

Theo gave a tight smile and gently touched the small of my back. “Come on. Everyone’s dying to meet you.”

Everyone?

Apparently.

Because as we moved through the space, people actually waved. As if I were someone important. One woman gave me an air kiss and said she loved my shoes. A tall, stunning woman in a leather blazer intercepted us mid-hallway.

Random Voice: Why were there so many women in this bitch?

“ Ciao capo, come stai ? You got a second?”

“Not right now,” Theo said. “I’m showing Carmen around.”

The woman turned to me, brows raised. “This is the infamous girlfriend?”

I laughed. “That depends. What’s he saying about me?”

“Smart. Pretty. Lives in New York. Probably too good for him.”

I grinned. “Oh, that sounds accurate.”

She introduced herself as Mila—Theo’s assistant—and gave Theo a look I couldn’t read. Then she leaned in toward me.

“He’s grumpy when you’re not around,” she whispered. “So, thank you for coming.”

I’m starting to like this place.

Theo showed me around—glass meeting rooms, a terrace with a view of the Arno. I didn’t say much, mostly because I was trying to picture him actually doing it. Commanding meetings. Running this whole show. Speaking Italian with the staff as if he’d lived here his whole life.

I didn’t need to imagine it, though; he was really doing it and not playing around.

Eventually, he brought me to the back—to this wide, gorgeous office with windows for walls and light flooding every inch.

“Wow,” I said, walking in. “This is so sexy.”

He laughed. “The office?”

“Sure. We’ll say the office.”

He came up behind me. “You still think of me as the man who used to do sketches in that dorm back at Eden?”

I turned. “Sometimes. But mostly, I see the man who worked hard to be here. The man who built this. You amaze me every time.”

His face softened. “I want you to be part of it.”

I leaned into him. “I will. One day.”

He grinned and was about to speak when someone cleared his throat behind us.

We turned to see the source. A man—tall, golden-brown skin, close-shaved beard, sleeves pushed up, Rolex glinting on his wrist—stood in the doorway with a folder in one hand.

“Didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said, his voice deep, smooth. “Just wanted to drop this off before the nine a.m.”

Theo nodded. “You’re good. Carmen, this is Vincent. Head of Strategies. He’s the brains behind half our contracts and clients.”

Vincent’s eyes met mine, and I felt it—that pause, just a second longer than polite. His gaze flicked from my eyes to my mouth, then back again.

Not in a sleazy way.

Just… aware .

He held out a hand. “Pleasure to finally meet the woman we hear so much about.”

I shook it, noting the warmth of his palm and the confidence in his grip before he let go.

“Nice to meet you, too.”

His eyebrows went up in surprise. “Not American?”

I chuckled. “No, no. I’m from Belize.”

“Ahh. I never heard an accent like yours before.”

I shrugged. “‘Cause you never met someone from Belize before.”

That made him smile.

“Where’s Carter?” Theo asked.

Vincent kept his eyes on me when he replied, “Left already.”

“Damn, I wanted to introduce you to him too. Maybe next time.” Theo glanced at the file Vincent handed to him, then at the clock on the wall. “I’ve got to make a quick call before the other office closes.” He turned to me, “I’ll be five minutes. You good here?”

“Yeah,” I answered easily.

He leaned in, pressed a kiss to my cheek, and just like that, he was gone. The door clicked shut, and silence settled.

Vincent smiled again, slowly and unreadably. “He talks about you a lot, you know.”

“Yeah…” I said, easing back against the edge of the desk. “So I keep hearing.”

Silence.

Vincent didn’t look away. I didn’t either. And I suddenly became very aware of how my dress fit.

“So,” he said casually after a while, “how old are you?”

I narrowed my eyes, amused. “I thought Theo told you everything about me.”

“Not everything.”

“Hm. Well, I’m twenty-five.”

“He’s older than you.”

“Not by a lot.”

“You’ve been together long?”

I nodded. “Since college.”

“He loves you.”

“I know.”

“You love him?”

“Of course, I do.”

He tilted his head, studying me. “Hm.”

I raised a brow. “What?”

“Nothing. Just…interesting.”

“What is?”

“You and Theo. You make sense. He needs someone who can keep up.”

I scoffed. “You think I just keep up?”

“I don’t know, Ms. Carmen. What else do you do?”

“I do what I like.”

A flicker of a smirk played on his lips. “And what do you like?”

“Control.”

He leaned against the doorframe, hands in his pockets. “Hm. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’m not sure I like the idea of you holding onto that information.”

He grinned at that, amused that I caught on to what he was implying so quickly. “You know. I pictured you completely different.”

“Oh?” I asked, half-curious, half-wary. “What’d you expect?”

He shrugged, eyes scanning my face. “Didn’t expect you to be funny. Or this sharp. That’s rare.”

“So I’m the opposite of whatever you had in mind.”

“No.” His gaze didn’t waver. “You’re better.”

That hung in the air for a second too long.

I leaned back on my hands. “Does Theo know you flirt like this at work?”

“Pretty sure he assumes I keep it mostly professional.”

Random Voice: He didn’t deny the flirting.

“Do you?”

He smiled. “Mostly.”

I laughed, more entertained than flattered. This man was, to say the least, interesting. And interesting was a problem I didn’t need right now. “Well. Maybe keep it to yourself.”

The glass door creaked open behind us.