Florence, Italy
The Hotel Grand
10:45 p.m.
The Hotel Grand nestled in the suburbs of Florence had once been a marvelous sight to behold. Its expanse had been on the high end scale of society, costly but supposedly well worth the money. The hotel stood in very different repose now.
Instead of the symbol of affluence it once had been, it now stood with its opulence dimmed, mostly a shadow of its former brightness. Although it was no longer in the air of royalty, it still retained its proud posture. All of the staff and travelers still held it in high regard, and it now housed and serviced the common man along with the affluent.
It was precisely for this reason that Mr. Bruce Wayne had chosen it.
As he and Ms. Selina Kyle walked down the hallway to their modest suite, they had been stealing little glances at one another. The feelings they were experiencing were new to both of them, and neither had figured out how they were going to explore them.
"So, why the Williams?" Selina asked.
"Well, I figured any farther from Wayne and you'd probably forget it," Bruce said with a grin.
Selina slowly rolled her eyes at him, the same gesture she'd made when Robin Johnathan Blake had told her that the police force of Gotham could protect her from Bane. The gesture was a habit, but still she found herself unable to hold back a slight smile. Either this man could be really charming, or her feelings were in really deep. God help her if both were true.
Bruce smiled at the roll of her eyes. To him, it was one of the sexiest things he had ever seen in his entire life. This woman truly affected him, and Bruce had to admit to himself that he was finding it difficult to adjust to this. He had grown up with Rachel, and they had been deeply connected, but he had never needed… or wanted… Rachel deep down inside his soul like what he was feeling for Selina. When he had learned that Rachel had been spending her nights with Harvey Dent, he had been able to remain calm and cordial and maintain his composure. With Selina, it was as if every move she made, every sight of her eyes, every sound of her voice only drew him into her even deeper. With Rachel, he could be composed. With Selina, he might lose himself.
"I'm glad you travel light," Bruce said as he used their room key to open their suite. "I figure that we'll be moving around for a while, at least until we're certain that things are calm for us."
"A girl should always travel light," Selina said with a teasing smile. "You never know when you might get trapped inside a city about to get incinerated by a nuclear device."
Bruce smiled at her humor, but his smile quickly faded as he noticed Selina making her way over to the adjacent bedroom instead of the master suite. He waited until she had reached the door before he voiced his concerns.
"I thought we might… settle you into the master bedroom," he said quietly and uncertainly.
"And perhaps you presume a little too much, Mr. Wayne," Selina said coyly, reminding him of his words to her during their dance.
"I… I do apologize, Ms. Kyle," Bruce said quickly. "I didn't mean… "
"Good night, Mr. Wayne," Selina said as she closed the bedroom door behind her.
"Good night, Mrs. Williams," Bruce whispered to himself as he walked into the master bedroom alone.
As Bruce closed the door behind him, he could almost hear the jovial voice of his butler, his friend, and his surrogate father in the air around him, as if he were there with him in spirit.
'Just you, Master Wayne? Don't worry, Master Wayne. Just takes a while to get back into the swing of things.'
One hour later, Selina found herself pacing, actually pacing of all things, all over the soft carpet in front of her vanity dresser. She was covered only in the white bath towel she had donned after her long, relaxing bath, and she now found herself truly more hot and bothered than she had ever been in her entire life.
Her life. That was what this was about. Her life. Selina had never been one to be indecisive, and she didn't like what she was feeling now.
Every part of the old Selina was screaming at her to get out, to cut and run, to not get attached to anything that she couldn't walk away from.
Bruce actually thought that whatever this was between them was going to last. There wasn't a storm coming this time, but in a way the opposite was just as bad and perhaps more hurtful. This was too good to be true. That's why it wasn't going to last. This world just wasn't built to be kind. Selina had learned that lesson the night she had lost her mother, and it was one that she had never been able to forget.
Selina walked toward her bags… and stopped. She had left him once. She had left him for dead in a trap that she'd led him into. Still, he had come back to her, with forgiveness in his eyes and the salvation of her life in his hands. She had tried to leave him a second time, but had found herself unable to do so, instead turning around to find herself fighting beside him in his cause. This third time, she wasn't even going to try. She didn't want to.
Even as mismatched as they were, as much as all the odds were against them making it, maybe, just maybe, they were perfect for one another. Maybe they were created to be together.
Selina had to face the fear in her heart. It was the same kind of fear that a bride felt before walking to the altar to be joined to her husband. She smiled to herself at that thought.
Well, she was never one to stand still for long. Either she was going to move forward, or she was going to move backward. With a final sigh, Selina opened the bedroom door and walked out.
In the master suite, Bruce lay on his back after a short but refreshing shower. He was nude underneath his sheets, his bath towel laying on a recliner in the corner. His body now hurt in a number of ways more than ever before. The damage done to his body by the monstrous Bane would certainly stay with him for the rest of his natural life. Still, his heart and his mind had a chance of healing, and that chance was now laying in the next bedroom.
Bruce was unsure of how Selina felt about him, but he knew for certain that he needed her in his life.
Bruce had spent what felt like several lifetimes fighting for a cause which he believed in. During that time, he had seen very few people have a true change of heart for the better. To him, Selina was a shining light. She was living breathing proof that his faith had not been in vain. If she could change, then the city could change, then the world could change.
Bruce was shifting to alleviate another slight ache in his lower back when he noticed the movement in the room. He didn't hear the door which he had locked turn or open, but he felt her presence nearby. He had locked it for her amusement and challenge, but she had picked it so quickly that it obviously hadn't provided the enjoyment he had intended. He waited a moment before looking down at the foot of the bed.
Selina stood still at the foot of the bed, staring down at him, her face partially obscured by the sheer white curtains gently hanging from the canopy completely surrounding the massive over king sized bed. Bruce had thought the canopy somewhat gaudy when he'd first laid eyes on it, but now it gave Selina's appearance an almost luminous effect.
As he watched, Selina slowly walked around to the left side of the bed, her eyes never leaving his body laying prone and only partially covered by the sheets around his waist. Bruce kept his eyes on hers, trying to discern what was going through her mind. When Selina turned and began a slow stride around to the right side of the bed, her eyes dropped to gaze at his uncovered torso, and she didn't restrain a lick of her lips at the sight of him. Bruce took the opportunity to let his eyes flow over her lithe well curved and so feminine body, both firm and soft. When their eyes met again, Bruce was very pleased to find that his appreciatively wandering eyes had not offended her, but had actually seemed to have enticed her even more. Selina's eyes were filled with desire for him, and they were overflowing with a deeper emotion which neither one of them were fully ready to believe.
Returning once again to the foot of the bed, Selina paused before she slowly parted the curtains and let the bath towel slip from around her breasts. She didn't miss the slight flash of Bruce's eyes at her figure, and his attention further empowered her, knowing that she could elicit such a reaction from the normally stolid man.
Slowly, and intentionally making a show of it for him, she slid herself onto the bed, taking her time as she crawled toward him on all fours. She moved with the feline grace of her namesake, her body exuding beauty, power and sex appeal. As Selina began to crawl over Bruce's prone body, both of them moved in unison to pull the sheets past his waist to let her slip underneath the covers with him. The mere feel of their bare bodies pressed skin to skin for the first time was an almost intoxicating sensation, and both their hearts began to race in anticipation. Selina gazed down into Bruce's eyes intensely.
They both knew that there was no going back for either of them. What was between them was too strong to be denied. They had fallen for one another deeply.
They kissed, not wanting to force their thoughts any deeper, afraid of the undeniable truth they'd have to face. She melted into him instantly, and he relented, drawing her in until there seemed to be no distinction where one ended and the other began. Their passion for one another completely overflowed from within them…
