I entered the ball room with Penny and my father just a little after 7. After Bruce had left, I had ransacked my closet for an appropriate dress as Penny had said it was black tie. I had finally found one that even Penny would deem suitable. It was a form fitting dress, hugging my curves but with a halter top that covered most of my chest. Its one daring aspect was the way the back plunged to just above my tailbone.
True to form, the minute we'd walked in my father and Penny had been greeted by several people swarming to their sides like flies to honey. I had melted into the background and snagged a glass of wine from one of the trays as it passed, shocking the waiter who had been holding the tray. He hadn't noticed me in the corner.
I felt anxious at seeing Bruce again even though it hadn't been 2 hours since I'd last seen him but my nerves were jangling.
Penny noticed the tension in my shoulders and she sidled over to me.
"Don't worry. You'll knock him dead!" Her easy smile of confidence helped a bit but she was soon floating around the room, chatting with friends, acquaintances, and my father's business partners.
Feeling the wine's warmth spread through my limbs, I began to relax. The midnight blue silk was helping me blend into the crowd and I managed to slip unnoticed past knots of people to finally take up a post in the rear of the room where I could see everyone entering.
Bruce wasn't there yet. That didn't surprise me. He was notorious for being extraordinarily late even to parties thrown in his own honor.
My side-swept waves were resting on my right shoulder and I was just running a hand through them when I heard conversation pick up from the front of the room and sweep back towards me.
"Four girls this time? Has he no shame?"
"*whistle* What I wouldn't give for his way with women."
"Good Lord, where did he find them- the Playboy Mansion?"
A lump formed in my throat as I realized they could only be talking about Bruce. I took a deep breath and steadied my nerves. I knew I looked damn good. I'd spent an inordinate amount of time creating smoky eyes that were set off by my onyx earrings and the effect that it produced with my hair and dress was enough to make even Penny approve.
I shouldn't be worried about the bimbos on his arms being prettier than me but I was. Tamping down that thought, I moved around a crowd of people that had drifted in front of me.
He looked good in his black suit and tie. The girls on his arms soon drifted off into the crowd probably looking for refreshments as Bruce began discussing this and that with Gotham's elite that filtered past him.
I was nursing my second glass of wine when I saw his gaze sweep the crowd and pass over where I was. I saw his head stiffen and begin to come back to where I was. I slipped behind a large gentleman who was very loudly discussing the properties of good brandy and followed the wall around until I was on the opposite side of the room.
Finding Bruce again in the middle of the room chatting with an executive from Wayne Enterprises, I suppressed a laugh as I watched him scan the side of the room I'd just vacated.
I saw Penny across the room and saw Bruce begin to head in her direction. Noticing his advance, Penny glanced around and, catching my eye, saw my shake of the head. She smiled and winked. She wouldn't give me away.
Moving easily between people, I moved up until I was within five feet of my sister and my boss with a large potted fern between us that shielded my face as I listened to their conversation.
"…so sorry your sister couldn't make it."
"Oh she had plans for this evening that she couldn't postpone." Penny's voice dripped honey and I could hear the laughter in her words.
Bruce could too. "Ah, yes, I'm sure they were very important. Please excuse me- I see someone I know."
He left Penny's side and walked over to the man and woman who had just entered. I recognized the man from the news as the police commissioner and I assumed the woman was his wife.
I turned back towards the crowd and resumed my people gazing while keeping Bruce in my peripheral vision. I watched as the orchestra started up and people began to clear space in the center of the room for dancing. Penny was one of the first out on the dance floor. She loved dancing, even if she wasn't bumping and grinding on her partner.
I saw another waiter walking close to me and I exchanged glasses for a full one. Taking a large gulp, I swallowed and closed my eyes, sighing.
"I knew I'd find you." The softly spoken words just behind my right ear caused me to start violently and almost spill my wine.
I whirled around, my pulse racing. "Don't do that!"
I glared at Bruce. Truth be told, I was rather put out that he had actually found me so early in the evening. I would much rather have preferred it for the game of cat and mouse, or rather cat and bat, to continue for most of the evening.
He grinned. "Don't like these parties huh? Interesting that you chose this one to come to." The cockiness his in demeanor almost had me putting my wine glass down and leaving but it went against my grain.
"Well every now and then a girl likes to dress up and feel pretty for an evening." I bit the words out as I knew he was irritating me for the sheer hell of it.
"Pretty?" Bruce's voiced dropped an octave and became softer as he reached out and ran a hand down my hair. "Georgiana, you're beautiful tonight."
My mouth went dry, my knees went weak and I thought to myself, 'Good Lord that was a line if ever I heard one but damn it all if it doesn't just make me want to throw myself into his arms.'
"Flatterer." I narrowed my eyes at him as I took another drink of my wine.
"It's not flattery when it's the truth. So… I'd ask you to dance but I think I know what the answer would be." His gaze on me made me uncomfortable and I looked away.
"If I were to dance with you, all of my mother's friends who are here would tell her and then I'd have to deal with her trying to shove her expectations of who she thinks I'm supposed to be down my throat again. Since I just got it through her head that she should just give up on me, I'd rather not give her new kindling for that particular fire."
Wistfully, I looked towards the dance floor. "It would be nice to dance though."
Bruce smiled and took my hand. "Follow me."
"What? No- Bruce, I can't go dancing with you out there, I just told you!" I began to attempt to pull my hand out of his grasp but it wasn't budging.
"We're not going out there." He turned and pushed a spot on the wall behind us. A portion of the wall swung inwards and he led me inside.
"Um, how did you know that was here?" I tried to keep the nervousness from my voice but I knew he could tell by the way his hand gave mine a gentle squeeze.
"I own this penthouse." He led me through a series of rooms: kitchen, living room, dining room, until finally we came to a balcony. Opening the door, he led me outside. The night was cool with only a slight breeze.
Going to the railing, I could hear the faint music of the orchestra playing around the building.
I turned around and leaned against the railing. "I thought you only had a room at the Le Grand."
"Oh I have several bolt holes around the city in case I need them." Bruce smiled as he saw my eyes roll at 'bolt holes'. Only a billionaire could see one of the most gorgeous penthouses in the city as a bolt hole.
"So, how about that dance?" His hand reached out, an offer that was very tempting but one that I hesitated to take.
I bit my lip and turned back to Gotham's sky line. "I don't know."
I felt him move up behind me on my left. "What don't you know?"
"I don't know what this is. I don't know if I can leave it at just a dance. You're the first person to really notice me, to really see me in the last decade and I don't know if I want to ruin that by wanting so much more than just a dance." I blushed and then flinched as his hand came to rest gently on my shoulder.
"Georgiana, you're the first person to really see me since Rachel died. Who has looked past the man and seen the beast and accepted that man and beast are and have always been- one. Trust me when I say, I understand your trepidation but that maybe it's time to take a leap of faith and see where it leads."
The quiet words startled me out of my own reverie and I turned to face him.
The openness and vulnerability etched onto his face made my heart ache. Having seen him over the past few months and seen his demeanor for what it had been- a mask, I understood how hard it must be for him to expose himself thus to me.
Realizing this, I let go of my reservations, twining my arms around him and kissing him with all that was in me, willing him to understand that I understood but was still scared.
As he responded, banding his arms around my waist and bringing me up face level with him, I felt my heart begin pounding, a fast staccato against Bruce's steady thrum.
I pulled back just enough to look him in the face.
"We're really going to do this? You, billionaire playboy who can have whoever he wants at his beck and call, and me, little miss nobody archivist extraordinaire who you ignored for all of high school? Really?" The incredulity in my voice was unable to be missed.
"Yeah, we are and I didn't ignore you. You intimidated me." Twinkling, his eyes smiled at me as my jaw hung open.
"Me? Intimidate you?! No way!" I stared at him gawking.
"Yup, you were smarter than me back then, probably still are. "
"Pssh, so says the boy genius who's multibillion dollar company wouldn't be where it is without him." I grinned back at him now, accepting the compliment for what it was.
"So," he said, stepping back and letting go of everything but my left hand.
"How about that dance?"