Page 5 of Strange Seduction
I held her there for another second.
“Wait ‘til we get home,” I muttered against her temple.
She perked up instantly, “Okay!”
Laughing under my breath, I placed her gently on the ground and opened the car door wider for her. She slid inside as the staff loaded her bags, and I climbed in after her, slamming the door shut behind me.
When the driver pulled away from the tarmac, I turned toward her, excited to finally be in her presence. But instead of finding her watching me like I expected, I found her holding up an old-ass camcorder.
I blinked. “Um… what are you doing with that?”
She looked over the top of it, one brow raised. “Documenting.”
I stared. “Why?”
She didn’t answer right away. Just aimed the lens at me like I was the subject of a low-budget indie film. Then, in her best overly-serious narrator voice, she asked,“So tell me. How has the break been for you, Theodore?”
I narrowed my eyes at her, but I could already feel the corners of my mouth twitching. “Long. And lonely.”
She panned the camcorder dramatically down to my lap and back up to my face. “Did you miss your emotional support girlfriend?”
I chuckled. “Desperately.”
She leaned in, as if conducting an actual interview. “How would you describe your mental state during the separation?”
“Fragile,” I deadpanned. “I almost died.”
She laughed, lowering the camera slightly. “Aww. Poor baby.”
“Seriously, though,” I said, gesturing to the camcorder. “What’s with the camera?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I bought it off a guy in Times Square. Thought it’d be fun to document our two weeks together. Like one of those old-school vlogs our parents used to do.”
I eyed the device. “Sweetness, that camera’s newer. This is givingGood Luck Charlie.”
She sighed. “Yet another way my life is like a 2000s teen sitcom.”
Whatever the hell that means.
“Why do you want to record?”
Her expression softened, eyes dropping for a second before she met mine again. “I don’t know. It’s just…every time we were together before, everything felt rushed. And when you leave, all I have to hold onto are the gifts you brought me, the book you wrote me…and whatever memories stuck. I want this time to bedifferent. I want us to have something to look back on. I want to focus on us.”
I exhaled slowly, my chest easing. “I get it.”
“Yeah?”
I looked at her. “I want us to have memories to look back at, Carmen. It’s a great idea.”
She blushed. “Thank you, Teddy.”
I reached out and took the camcorder, turning it to her. “My turn. How was your flight?”
“So much fun!” she chirped, practically bouncing in her seat. “The flight attendants kept bringing me champagne. I think I went through like… three bottles?”
Of course she did.
Then her face froze. She turned to me, wide-eyed.
