Page 11 of Strange Seduction (Strange #2)

Theo stepped inside, eyes flicking between us like he’d walked into the tail end of something he couldn’t quite name.

Vincent straightened, all ease and business again, taking the folder from Theo. “Let me know if you want changes.”

Then he turned to me, gave a respectful nod, and a smile that could’ve passed for harmless—if you weren’t paying attention.

“Pleasure, Carmen.”

And with that, he disappeared out the door and down the hall.

Theo shut the door slowly. “What the fuck was that about?”

I crossed my arms, still leaning on the desk. “What do you mean?”

Theo stared at the door for a moment longer before turning back to me, expression unreadable. “Vincent looking at you like that.”

“Like what?”

His eyes narrowed. “Like he wanted to risk it all.”

“Was he?” I asked, with fake ignorance. “I must’ve missed that.”

Theo’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t smile. “Don’t play dumb, Carmen.”

I shrugged, biting back a smirk. “He asked how old I was. That’s hardly a seduction.”

He stepped closer, slowly and measured. “It’s not what he asked. It’s how he looked at you when he asked."

I lifted a brow. “What—like this?” I dropped my voice low and sultry. “ How old are you? ” Then I grinned. “Please. I’ve had Uber drivers flirt harder.”

Theo didn’t laugh. He stopped in front of me, hands braced on either side of the desk, caging me in. “It’s not funny.”

“No,” I said, breath catching just a little, “It’s not.”

Because now he was close enough that I could smell his cologne, feel the heat radiating off him, the subtle clench of his jaw. That controlled, simmering thing he did when he was trying to play it cool but was anything but.

His gaze dropped to my mouth. “Did you like it?”

“What do you think?”

His jaw flexed again. “Carmen.”

I tilted my head, voice softening. “I didn’t flirt back, Theo. I wasn’t disrespectful. He also knows I belong to you.” My voice lowered deliberately. “You’ve made that very clear.”

Something flickered in his eyes.

Something primal.

Like possession.

Or hunger.

He leaned in, lips brushing the shell of my ear. I let my eyes close for a second, letting the tension wrap around us like silk, and loving every minute of it. Something told me that playing into his possessiveness would lead to some delicious repercussions.

Theo’s hand moved to my waist, sliding around to the small of my back. His touch was warm.

“You’re playing games,” he muttered.

“Not intentionally.” I exhaled slowly, my voice threading with heat. “But if I am… I’m losing.”

His hand splayed wider at my back, pulling me gently but firmly until he stood between my legs. He didn’t kiss me. Not yet. Just hovered close, noses almost touching.

Theo groaned low in his throat, one hand sliding up to cup my jaw, thumb grazing the corner of my mouth.

“Do you know what it does to me? When other men look at you like that?”

“I think I have an idea.”

“No,” he said, pressing his forehead to mine. “You don’t. Not really. I want to ruin the thought before it ever fully fucking forms in their heads.”

“They know who I’m with,” I smiled. “But maybe you should remind me who I belong to.”

His mouth finally, finally covered mine—hot, demanding, all tension and teeth. I melted into it, hands curling into the front of his shirt as he kissed me like he needed the taste of me to survive the next breath.

When he pulled back, both of us breathing hard, he murmured, “Let’s go home.”

I smirked, lips tingling. “Thought you had to work all day.”

“Fuck work.”

And with that, he grabbed my forearm and led me out the door.

˙???˙

The drive back was quiet, but not cold.

Theo’s hand stayed on my thigh the entire ride. His thumb moved in slow movements, back and forth, which made my brain scatter and reform on a loop.

It wasn’t just the possessiveness that did it for me.

It was the way he poured all his focus into how he was gonna claim me. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he thought of all the ways he would remind me who I came to Italy for. He planned to remind me that we weren’t just bodies orbiting each other—we were tethered.

Mind, body, and fucking soul.

By the time we got to the hotel, the sky had dipped into a hazy golden hour.

He let us in, holding the door open as I stepped inside. I kicked off my heels, and he locked the door behind us.

Still silent. Still tension. He loosened his tie, tossed it on the armrest, and looked at me.

Not at my body. At me.

“I don’t want to fight with you,” he said.

I nodded. “We’re not fighting.”

Something in him eased—just a little.

“Good,” he murmured. “Because I can’t keep missing you like this. Not when you’re standing right in front of me.”

My breath hitched. “Then show me who I belong to, Theodore.”

That was all it took.

He crossed the room in three strides, his hands finding my hips. His mouth found mine again—less desperate than earlier, more intentional.

I missed you. It spoke. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.

His hands slid under my dress, fingers skimming the curve of my thighs like he needed to memorize me all over again.

“Don’t wear shit like this around my employees again,” he demanded, lips grazing my neck.

I laughed into his shoulder. “You sound jealous.”

“I am,” he growled, nipping just below my ear. “I want every man who looked at you today to know—this?” He cupped my ass, pulling me into a deeper kiss. “This is mine.”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.

Not when his mouth was on me like that. Not when he was walking me backward toward the bedroom, fingers already tugging at the zipper on my dress.

“Theo—”

“Get on the bed,” he said, voice low and rough.

I blinked, tilting my head with a soft hum. “Hm?”

He kissed me again. Then, against my lips, he repeated, “Bed. Now. And take off the dress.”

I raised a brow. “I think you’re forgetting how this works, Theodore. You want me on the bed? Put me there.”

Our eyes clashed, neither of us flinching.

He could command boardrooms and billion-dollar deals, but he still couldn’t command me, and that made him smile.

With a fake, frustrated groan, he slid the dress from my shoulders, which left me in my panties—then kissed me once, before laying me down himself. I let my legs rise, planting my feet on his chest to keep him from moving closer.

“Carmen,” he warned, voice taut.

I smiled up at him, teasing. “You wanna calm down first?”

“Carmen.”

“I just think we should acknowledge that I haven’t had sex in, oh, I don’t know—a long fucking time.”

He froze. “I know. I haven’t had sex either.”

“Well, you’re not the one on the receiving end of all this pent-up frustration.”

Theo’s eyes darkened. “I’ll be gentle.”

“Right, but your veins are popping like you’re about to bench press me. That’s not the energy of a gentle man, Teddy bear.” I sang.

His jaw ticked. Again. “I’ll be gentle.”

“Promise?”

“Carmen.” His voice dropped into something that shook me deep in the gut. “I said. I’ll be gentle. Like I’m always gentle with you, Sweetness.”

I exhaled, the air shaky in my chest.

“Slow,” I whispered, pulling him down by the collar of his shirt. “I want slow.”

He paused there, forehead pressed to mine, his breath ghosting over my lips. For a second, all that urgency melted, and there was only heat.

“You sure that’s what you want?” he asked softly.

I nodded. “I want to feel everything .”

Every inch and every vein that I have been deprived of over our time apart. I wanted to feel his sweat on me. I needed to feel him struggle to hold it in as we waited to release together.

Honestly, I think he wanted that too.

Theo kissed me softer then. Slower. More deliberate.

His hands skimmed over my body like he was reacquainting himself.

His fingers mapped the very curves of my waist, the dip of my hips, the softness of my thigh that yearned to be wrapped around him.

Every place he touched, he lingered as if he needed to relearn every detail after all the time apart.

I arched toward him without thinking, a soft gasp catching in my throat.

He kissed it away.

“Fuck, Carmen,” he said, voice thick. “You don’t even know what you do to me.”

“I do,” I whispered. “Because you do the same to me.”

His mouth found mine again briefly, and then lower, moving with reverence down my chest, my stomach, pausing at my hip like he needed a moment to breathe me in.

“You’re shaking,” he said softly, running a hand along my leg.

“I know,” I whispered. “It’s not nerves. It’s…” I trailed off.

“I know.” He kissed the inside of my thigh, slowly removing my soaked panties in the process. “It’s okay.”

It was more than okay.

When he moved over me again, there was a tenderness in his movements that made my chest ache. I hesitated but still looked him in the eyes. He was so confident and strong. His body tensed, and I felt his veins pulsing through his skin.

He felt like raw power.

I helped him undress, slowly stripping away the last things keeping our bodies apart after all this time. My eyes tore open when he removed his briefs.

My God. How the fuck was I taking this in college?

“You ready?” He asked, wrecked with want. He wanted to be inside me already, though the size of him had me second-guessing. Still, I wasn’t about to back down. Not after all that shit-talking I did to get him started in the first place.

“Yes, give it to me.”

Lord, give me strength!

After some controlled breaths, I was ready to take him. He eased inside, letting me squeeze his hands as he whispered praises against my skin. I loved it. Especially the stinging as he stretched me out to take him. It reminded me of everything I was missing and proved an undeniable fact.

I definitely belonged to him.

Every slow roll of his hips, every press of his mouth to my skin, felt like an apology wrapped in desire. Like he was saying sorry for the years apart.

My fingers dug into his back, pulling him closer. “I love you so much, Teddy.”

Theo’s eyes locked on mine. “I know, baby. I love you, too.”

He moved inside me with a patience that felt like he wasn’t in a hurry to reach the end because being together was the point. Our rhythm built slowly, each stroke steeped in intention, and made me wonder if the rooms really were soundproof.

And when it finally hit, it was fireworks.

Not the metaphorical kind. Real ones. Blinding and hot and loud, exploding in my chest like my body had split open to feel this. My cry wasn’t soft—it bounced off the walls and might’ve been a little too loud if the room wasn’t soundproof.

It made me realize I didn’t give a fuck if they were or not.

Theo held me through it, hands firm and mouth at my neck, like he needed to feel every second of my climax too.

“I got you screaming like that, baby?”

My legs started to tremble. “I—you—fuckkk.”

He could feel the cocky grin. “Come on. Use your words.”

My fingers clawed at his back as he rammed into me still. “Who got you screaming right now, Carmen? Tell me. Let me know who it belongs to.”

I was undone right there, arching into him. “Theo…”

I barely got that out before my eyes rolled into my head. He followed right after, a low, guttural sound breaking from his chest as he buried himself deeper, his release pouring out with a shudder that made him collapse over me, spent and breathless.

For a while, we didn’t move. Just the sound of our breathing, the soft brush of fingers over damp skin, the steady beat of his heart against mine. He finally rolled to the side, pulling me with him until I was tucked into the curve of his body. Still catching my breath, still too dazed to speak.

Then—

“I wanna go again.”

I blinked at him, barely managing a laugh as I turned to face him. “Gimme five minutes. Maybe ten. I think you broke me.”

He grinned, cocky and unbothered. “You’ll live.”

I chuckled softly, running my hand down his cheek. “First. Put the piercings back in. I wanna look into the eyes of the man I fell in love with while he fucks me senseless.”

˙???˙

We lay there for hours after what felt like thirty rounds.

The man would not stop, and I knew I’d be sore in the morning.

We were tangled so tightly together that I couldn’t tell which limbs were mine and which were his.

My legs were draped over his hips, I think .

His hands were on my back, I think. And fingers lightly tapping on my skin.

We didn’t speak for a minute, and the only sound that filled the room was the soft, shaky sounds of breathing, and his heart hammering against my ribs.

Theo’s voice was quiet against my temple. “I missed you.”

I smiled into the curve of his shoulder. “I missed you, too.”

“I’m sorry about my behavior,” he said. “I was just… frustrated.”

“I know.” I squeezed his shoulder. “It’s okay.”

He sighed, but there was a trace of possessiveness in the way his fingers tightened slightly. “Still… I don’t want you talking to other men.”

I rolled onto my side and looked at him. “You might want to tell that to your friend. He was the one talking with me .”

Theo’s jaw tensed. “I’ll talk to him. But what about you telling Marcus you miss him and can’t wait to go back to him?”

I narrowed my eyes. “First of all, that’s not what I said. I said I missed everyone. Big difference. Secondly, Marcus and I are working on something, okay? He’s harmless. And third—” I gave him a look “—I knew you were eavesdropping.”

He shrugged, unapologetic. “Just a little.”

I groaned, flopping back onto his chest. “Ugh. I’m too tired to be mad at you right now, so pretend I stormed out dramatically.”

He chuckled, voice low and lazy. “I’m exhausted, too. In fact…” His hand slid to my thigh. “I think I’m still inside you.”

My eyes flew open. “What? Did you—Theodore, did you cum in me ?”

He blinked. “I… don’t know.”

“You don’t know ?” I sat up, glaring at him.

“I don’t,” he said, unfazed. “You distracted me.”

“Theodore.” My voice sharpened.

“It’s okay,” he murmured, pulling me back down. “I’ll get you something in the morning.”

“Oh my God,” I muttered, covering my face. “It’s like Eden all over again.”

He laughed into my neck, clearly unbothered. I, however, was already making a mental note to get a checklist of pharmacies in Rome ‘cause this man was determined to get me pregnant.

“What are you and Marcus working on anyway?” he questioned.

Random Voice: Oh, you know. Just releasing a murderer onto the world. No big deal.

“Attorney-client privilege. I can’t say yet,” I answered. It wasn’t a lie, because technically, my Dad was one of Marcus’s clients. “But what I can say is we’re working together on a case. So don’t make it into something it isn’t. Trust me on this.”

He groaned and closed his eyes. “Okay, baby.”

When he finally snoozed off, I sent a text to the Girls group chat:

Me: Just landed in Fuck City.