Chapter 18: The Safe House
The villa was a fortress of quiet. The only sounds were the dry chorus of cicadas in the olive groves below and the occasional soft pop of a dying log in the enormous fireplace. Moonlight streamed through the arched windows, painting the terra-cotta floors in cold, geometric shapes. The air held the day’s heat, along with the scent of sun-baked stone, dry rosemary, and the faintest trace of gun oil.
Selina stood at the window, a silhouette against the deep blue night. She wore one of Kate’s white t-shirts, which hung to her mid-thigh. Her bare feet were silent on the tile. She held a glass of local red wine, untasted. Behind her, Kate was methodically checking the perimeter alerts on a tablet, the blue light etching harsh lines into her face.
“It’s clear,” Kate said, her voice too loud in the stillness. “For now.”
“He won’t look here,” Selina replied, not turning. “Too sentimental. He thinks I only hide in shadows and sewers.”
“You stole a Goya from the Museo di Capodimonte two years ago. You used a villa in Pontedera as a staging post. Alfred has the file.”
Selina finally turned, a slow pivot. “You memorized my file.”
“I study my enemies.” Kate placed the tablet on a heavy wooden table. The click was final.
“And your lovers?”
The word hung between them, new and brittle. Kate didn’t flinch. “Especially them.”
Selina set her glass down. She crossed the room, the moonlight catching her legs, the curve of her hip under the thin cotton. She stopped a foot from Kate. “We’re not in the air anymore. No purring engine. No ocean underneath.” She reached out, her fingers tracing the fresh scar on Kate’s shoulder, a gift from a rooftop chase three nights prior. “Just this stone box. And us.”
Kate captured her wrist. Not hard, but firm. “What do you want, Selina?”
“What I always want.” Her green eyes were unblinking. “To feel everything until I can’t feel the past knocking.”
She closed the distance, her mouth finding Kate’s. This kiss wasn’t like the ones on the jet—it was slower, deeper, a deliberate unwinding. Kate’s hands came up to cup Selina’s face, thumbs stroking the sharp lines of her cheekbones. The kiss tasted of wine and a shared, unspoken dread. It was a confession without words.
Selina’s fingers found the hem of Kate’s tank top, pulling it up and over her head. She broke the kiss to trail her mouth down Kate’s neck, over the corded muscles, taking time to lave a nipple with her tongue until it peaked into a hard, tight bud. Kate’s breath hitched. Her hands slid under the white t-shirt, palms skimming up Selina’s bare back, feeling the ripple of old scars and powerful muscle.
“Bed,” Kate growled, her voice already thick.
“No.”
Selina took her hand and led her away from the fireplace, into a patch of clear moonlight in the center of the large room. The tiles were cool and smooth underfoot. She pushed Kate down, not onto a surface, but to her knees. Then she followed, mirroring her, so they knelt facing each other, bathed in the silver light.
“Here,” Selina whispered. “I want to see all of you.”
She leaned in, kissing Kate again as her hands made quick work of Kate’s shorts, pushing them and her underwear down over her hips. Kate kicked them away, the fabric skidding across the tile. Selina shrugged the t-shirt off her own shoulders, letting it puddle around her knees. They were naked now, skin glowing in the moonlight, knees almost touching.
Selina’s gaze was a physical caress. She reached out, her fingertips tracing the strong line of Kate’s collarbone, down the center of her chest, over the flat plane of her stomach, through the coarse red curls below. Kate shuddered.
“You’re beautiful,” Selina said, the words so quiet they were almost lost in the cicada song. “It’s fucking infuriating.”
She leaned forward, pressing her body to Kate’s, skin to skin, breast to breast. The contact was electric. Selina kissed her shoulder, her neck, her jaw, as her hands slid down Kate’s back, over the swell of her ass, pulling her closer. She guided one of Kate’s thighs over her own, then shifted, mirroring the movement until their hips aligned, their centers met.
They both gasped at the contact. Hot, wet skin pressed against hot, wet skin. Selina locked an arm around Kate’s back, her other hand gripping Kate’s hip, holding her in place. Kate’s hands found Selina’s shoulders, her nails digging in.
“Like this,” Selina breathed against her mouth. “I want you like this.”
She began to move. A subtle, rocking grind of her hips. The motion created a slick, slow friction where their bodies were joined. Kate’s head fell back, a low moan tearing from her throat. She met the rhythm, pushing back against Selina, increasing the pressure.
It was an intimate, consuming embrace. Every shift brought their clits into exquisite, torturous alignment, sliding together through soaked, sensitive flesh. Selina’s breath came in ragged puffs against Kate’s neck. She could feel every muscle in Kate’s back and ass working, the powerful thighs trembling as they held the position.
“Fuck, you’re so wet,” Kate groaned, her hands sliding down to grip Selina’s ass, pulling her even tighter, forcing their cunts together harder.
“You did that,” Selina hissed, biting Kate’s earlobe. “You. Only you.”
The pace built, not into a frantic pounding, but into a deep, relentless rhythm. Their hips rolled in a synchronized, grinding dance. The slick, obscene sound of their sex filled the quiet room, a stark counterpoint to the gentle night outside. Selina’s fingers clawed at Kate’s skin, leaving pale trails. She was gasping, her forehead pressed to Kate’s, their eyes locked in a furious, vulnerable stare.
“Look at me,” Selina pleaded, her voice breaking. “Don’t look away.”
Kate’s blue eyes were wide, drowning. She was close. Selina could feel the tension coiling in Kate’s belly, feel the inner muscles fluttering against her own. She changed the angle slightly, lifting her hips, grinding her clit directly against Kate’s in a tight, focused circle.
“Come with me,” Kate choked out, a desperate command.
Selina nodded, a sharp jerk of her chin. “Now.”
The climax didn’t crash over them; it unfolded from the core, a rolling, deep-wave detonation that seemed to pull from their very bones. Kate’s cry was a shattered thing, muffled against Selina’s shoulder as her body locked, hips stuttering. Selina followed, her own orgasm a silent, seizing riot, her mouth open in a soundless scream as the pleasure tore through her, wave after wave, amplified by the feel of Kate coming apart against her.
They clung to each other, suspended in the sensation, until the last tremor faded. Then, slowly, their grip loosened. Their foreheads remained pressed together, their breath mingling in the cool air. They were still joined, spent and shaking on their knees.
After a long moment, Selina pulled back just enough to see Kate’s face. Tears had cut clean tracks through the sweat on her cheeks, gleaming in the moonlight. Selina didn’t mention them. She just leaned in and kissed them away, salty on her lips.
They slumped sideways, not to the hard tile, but into a tangle of limbs on the plush rug nearby, too exhausted to move further. The moon had moved, leaving them in shadow. The fire was embers.
Kate’s arm was thrown across Selina’s waist, her face buried in Selina’s hair. “The permutations,” she mumbled, her voice hoarse and slurred with exhaustion.
“What about them?”
“Didn’t account for this.”
Selina smiled into the dark. “No one ever does.” She listened to Kate’s breathing deepen toward sleep. The stone walls felt less like a prison now and more like a cradle, however temporary. Outside, the cicadas sang their endless, unknowing song. Gotham was a world away. For a few stolen hours, the only truth was the weight of an arm, the sync of a heartbeat, and the profound, terrifying silence of a past momentarily kept at bay.
For a few stolen hours, the only truth was the weight of an arm, the sync of a heartbeat, and the profound, terrifying silence of a past momentarily kept at bay. Selina floated in that silence, her consciousness tethered only to the warm solidity of Kate beside her. Then a log collapsed in the fireplace with a soft, percussive thud.
Kate was awake and upright in a single, fluid motion, her body reacting to the sound as a threat. She was halfway to her feet before her mind caught up, leaving her crouched naked on the rug, muscles corded, eyes scanning the dark corners. Selina watched her, propped on an elbow, a smirk playing on her lips that didn’t reach her eyes.
“Stand down, soldier,” Selina murmured. “It’s just the fire dying.”
Kate’s shoulders slumped, a breath leaving her in a sharp exhale. She didn’t return to the rug. Instead, she sat back on her heels, running a hand through her cropped red hair. The moonlight carved her into something statue-like and mournful. “I can’t turn it off.”
“I know.” Selina sat up. She reached out, her fingers tracing the knobs of Kate’s spine. “The engine’s always running. Trust me, I specialize in stealing from people who never sleep.”
“This isn’t about theft.”
“Isn’t it?” Selina’s hand stilled. “We stole this. This night. This quiet. From him, from Gotham, from the whole goddamn script we’re supposed to follow.” She shifted, kneeling behind Kate, pressing her front to Kate’s back. She kissed the tense junction of neck and shoulder. “So let’s enjoy the loot.”
Her hands slid around Kate’s waist, palms flattening against the hard plane of her stomach, feeling the residual tremors. Kate leaned back into the contact, her head tilting against Selina’s. “How?”
“By not thinking.” Selina’s mouth traveled along Kate’s shoulder. One hand drifted lower, through coarse red curls, her fingers parting slick folds without preamble. Kate jolted, a gasp catching in her throat. “Just feeling.”
She worked Kate with a deliberate, knowing slowness, two fingers sliding deep inside her, then withdrawing to circle her clit with agonizing precision. “You’re still so fucking wet for me,” Selina whispered, her teeth grazing Kate’s earlobe. “Even when you’re playing sentinel.”
“Selina…” Kate’s name was a plea and a protest. Her hands came up to grip Selina’s thighs where they bracketed her, her knuckles white.
“Shhh. Just take it.” Selina pumped her fingers, curling them on each inward stroke, finding the spot that made Kate’s abdomen clench. Her other hand pinched and rolled a nipple, pulling a sharp moan into the quiet room. Kate was shuddering, her back arching, every disciplined muscle yielding to sensation.
Selina felt the impending climax tighten in Kate’s body. She slowed. She stopped. She withdrew her hand completely.
Kate whimpered, a raw, frustrated sound. “Don’t you dare.”
“Turn around,” Selina commanded, her voice low and rough.
THEY SWITCH POSITIONS.
With a growl, Kate pivoted on the rug, pushing Selina onto her back. She loomed over her, a powerful silhouette blotting out the window’s light, her breath coming in harsh waves. “You don’t get to pull that shit.”
“Then do something about it,” Selina goaded, spreading her thighs in open invitation.
Kate descended on her. Her mouth was hot and demanding on Selina’s, kissing her with a possessiveness that felt like a claim. She broke away to bite a path down Selina’s throat, over her collarbone, taking a breast into her mouth. She sucked hard, her tongue lashing the nipple until Selina cried out, her hips bucking off the floor.
“You want to feel everything?” Kate rasped against her damp skin. “Let’s feel it.”
She shifted lower, her strong hands hooking under Selina’s knees, pushing them back and wide. She looked at the glistening, exposed flesh for a heartbeat, a dark hunger in her gaze. Then she lowered her mouth.
There was no teasing finesse. Kate ate her with a single-minded, devastating intensity. Her tongue was a flat, broad stroke against Selina’s clit, then a plunging invasion inside her. She licked and sucked with the focused rhythm of a martial art, one hand cupping Selina’s ass to angle her higher, the other thumb spreading her open wider.
“Oh, fuck, Kate—right there, don’t stop, please—” Selina’s words dissolved into a choked stream of obscenities. Her hands scrabbled in Kate’s hair, not guiding, just clutching. The orgasm built like a flood behind a cracking dam, terrifying in its force.
Kate felt it. She drove her tongue faster, fucked her with it, then sealed her mouth over Selina’s clit and sucked, hard.
Selina came with a shattered scream, her body bowing off the rug, every muscle locked in a seizing, electric arc. Kate didn’t relent, working her through the crest and into the shuddering, oversensitive aftershocks until Selina was pushing weakly at her head, gasping “too much, too much.”
Kate finally released her, lifting her head. Her lips and chin were slick. She crawled up Selina’s body, her weight a welcome anchor. Selina, still trembling, reached for her, but Kate caught her wrists, pinning them gently above her head on the rug.
“My turn,” Kate breathed, her blue eyes fierce in the dark.
She guided Selina’s hand down between their bodies, making Selina’s fingers slide through her own wetness, then into Kate’s. “Feel what you do,” Kate murmured, her hips beginning to grind against Selina’s hand. “Now fuck me. Hard.”
Selina, still hazy from her own climax, obeyed. She pushed two fingers deep, setting a relentless, pounding rhythm. Kate rode her hand, her forehead pressed to Selina’s, their shared breath a hot, panting syncopation. “That’s it,” Selina coaxed, her voice wrecked. “Come all over my fingers. Show me.”
Kate’s control snapped. She came with a guttural, broken shout, her cunt clenching rhythmically around Selina’s thrusting fingers, her entire body shaking through the release. She collapsed onto Selina, a dead weight soaked in sweat.
For a long time, they lay tangled, the only sound their slowing breath. The moon had traversed the sky, casting its light elsewhere, leaving them in near-total dark. Selina finally spoke into the hollow of Kate’s shoulder. “We should move. Before dawn.”
Kate’s arms tightened around her. “Five more minutes.”
It wasn’t a soldier’s request. It was a lover’s. Selina closed her eyes, memorizing the exact pressure of those arms. The past wasn’t just knocking now; it was starting to beat the door down. Their stolen night was bleeding away, and the only thing left to steal was time, minutes at a time, from the inevitable.