Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons #3)(70)

He tried not to look too desperate as he asked, “Pizza?”

Holly considered. Glanced at her bags behind her, then toward him. “Give me five minutes to change.” Luke avoided the urge to sag with relief. “And order two this time,” she added with a hint of a smile.

And even with Catwoman’s low, sultry voice still purring in his head, the ghost of a real smile on Holly’s mouth made everything vanish.



* * *



—

“I can’t move,” Luke groaned to Holly forty minutes later, patting his aching stomach as they sat a conservative distance apart on the couch. The TV flickered atop the lit fireplace, his apartment cozier than he could remember in recent memory.

Holly set her pedicured feet on the leather ottoman, stretching out. “I sense a food coma coming on.”

Luke smiled at her, scrolling through the channel guide. “You want to watch a movie?”

A casual, tossed-out-there question. One that might very well constitute a date, if he’d asked it at another time and place.

Holly paused again. He braced himself for the rejection, but she said, “Sure.”

Luke eyed her. “You’re being…nice.”

“Would you prefer I not be?”

“No, I just…I wasn’t sure where we stood after my family’s gala.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but his phone buzzed on the couch between them, and her eyes dipped down.

Bruce Wayne was displayed in big letters across the front of his phone. Christ.

Luke gave her an apologetic wince and hurried into his bedroom, shutting the door.

Luke picked up right before it went to voicemail. “Hey, man.”

He could practically hear Bruce’s frown through the phone. “Hey yourself.”

Luke stepped into his walk-in closet, shutting the door there, too. Just to be safe. “What’s up?”

Another pause, heavy and long. “What the hell is happening over there?”

And there it was. The call he’d been waiting for these weeks. “I’ve got it under control.”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

Luke gritted his teeth. “I don’t answer to you.”

“No, but you answer to the people of Gotham City.”

“I’ve got it under control,” he repeated.

“You call three women wreaking havoc on Gotham control? Poison Ivy: she’s been mostly harmless. An environmental fanatic, but harmless.” Luke could have sworn he heard Bruce ticking the items off on his fingers. “Harley Quinn: not so harmless, but has been quiet since her ex-boyfriend went to Arkham. So the way I see it, this newcomer—Catwoman, whatever you call her—she’s the ringleader.”

“I know.”

“She’s the one you need to lock up,” Bruce went on.

“I know,” Luke snapped.

Another one of Bruce’s Pauses. “I should come back.”

“No,” Luke growled. “You should not. One, I’ve got it under control; two, you’ve got your own mission to deal with.” That Bruce still hadn’t told Luke about.

Luke felt just a tinge guilty—just a tinge. Because aggravation aside, the idea of seeing Bruce go head-to-head with Catwoman…It made something in his stomach twist a bit. Just enough that he didn’t want Bruce coming home anytime soon, mission or no.

Bruce sighed tightly. “Call if you need anything.”

Luke debated reminding Bruce that he wasn’t some underling, but only said, “Sure, man.” Bruce terminated the call without further farewell.

Luke sighed, staring at the built-in oak shelves of his closet. No, he didn’t answer to Bruce. Never had and never would. But he did owe this city some semblance of safety.

Taking a moment to gather himself, Luke loosed a long breath before heading back into the living room. “Sorry about that,” he said, setting the phone on the coffee table before sitting on the couch once more.

Holly lifted a groomed brow. “Friend of yours?”

“He’s my boss, so…yeah?”

“I thought your father was the CEO.”

“He is, but it’s the Wayne family’s company.”

“And I suppose you and Bruce Wayne are card-carrying members of the Rich Kids Club.”

“And you’re not?”

She blinked at him. “It’s different for boys.”

He leaned back on the cushions. “Yeah, yeah. Says the girl who told me Europe was boring.”

Holly rolled her eyes. “A bit of posturing.”

“Why did you come here, then?”

The amusement on her face died. Went quiet. Those green eyes again wary and distant.

Luke pressed, wondering if he sounded like an idiot as he asked as casually as he could, “Bad breakup or something?”

Holly swallowed. “You could say that. I wanted…a fresh start.”

He tucked his hands behind his head. “Well, I’m glad you did.”

“Was that a nice thing you just said to me?”

Luke chuckled. “Smart-ass.” He pointed toward the TV with the remote. “Pick a movie. Any movie.”

A challenge and dare. Her green eyes flickered with it. “All right. Carousel.”