Enlightenment Addition:
Dear readers, I have started a brief addition to "Enlightenment" for Labor Day weekend. is set between the last chapter of "Enlightenment" and the first chapter of my sequel, "Jump," which is several chapters along now. So, read this now, and go find that if you haven't yet!
Magnification Chapter One
"And where is the good Doctor this afternoon?"
"Working today, unfortunately." Kate took her hug and ritual glass of bubbly from Dora at the door and hoped her tone didn't convey her real feelings on the Lanie-less visit. Her best friend had always been Castle's biggest cheerleader, and since they'd been dating, all those yells and pompoms had only been magnified. Besides, this way it wouldn't be two against one in Dora's favor on all the lingerie opinions.
"Well, I'll just have to play devil's advocate on her behalf, then."
And what exactly did she play all the other times Kate had been here? Good grief.
Dora was leading her through the store and down the hall, not even letting her look at what was out in the showroom. Figured. She had already stacked the deck.
"So I have your room all set up—since you said the Hampton's on the phone, I took the liberty of adding some absolutely stunning beachwear to your selection."
"Wait, you have swimsuits?"
"You bet your itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini I do. Though I wouldn't put you in the yellow polka dots. I think I have a nice red and white one in here, though."
Kate had a couple of swimsuits already; of course Castle had already seen her high-fashion stunner.
But she had finally been cajoled into a week-long Hampton's beach vacation with Castle and the family for Labor Day, after enduring months of whining. She supposed she needed more than one swimsuit.
They were almost through the dressing room door when Kate noticed the extra rack in the corner.
"Dora, what is all this?"
"You asked for 'something special' for your vacation. This is the full 'Dora's vacation spectacular'."
The rolling rack was full of every style and color lingerie Kate had ever imagined, and more. And since she had met Dora, her imagination had expanded pretty exuberantly. But there was no way she could buy all of this—not like the day she had brought Rick in with her and walked away with everything she'd tried on… Today she was on her dime.
"Dora, I need one outfit for this vacation, not one for every day."
"I know that, but I've never helped you pack for a vacation with Fresh Start before, so I didn't know what you'd want. I have a feeling you might never have actually gone on a vacation with a gentleman friend, so maybe you're not quite sure either. Therefore, you get the whole kit and caboodle, darlin'."
She was right. The Texan was always right. Damn it.
"Vacations can be a great time to break out of your usual rut—try out somethin' new. So what are you going for, exactly?"
"I'm not really sure."
"Well, see, that's why you're lucky I've got the whole spectrum of hotness covered."
Kate could not suppress the smile, or the eye roll.
Dora started flipping through a set of hangers at one end of the rolling rack. She punctuated each phrase by sliding back a section.
"We have the coy coquette, the demure damsel, the shy savant, oh, or one of my personal favorites, the evil temptress. And then there's this section—now remember, a little kink goes a long way, but if you never dip your toe in the water, you can't expect to get your suit wet."
"Dora!"
She had reached a group of very strappy, sometimes leather, wait—were those actual pearls? And those went where?
"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it, Katie-girl."
Kate's eyebrows climbed as she examined something called a "playsuit" that was severely lacking in the fabric that one might associate with a suit of any kind.
And then it hit her. Dora was dating her father. Oh, she needed to bleach her brain.
She groaned aloud, scrubbed a hand across her eyes.
"Well, I'll leave you to it. If you need some opinions, give me a holler'."
About fifteen bathing suits and twenty lingerie ensembles later, Kate had a very unique but tasteful set to surprise Rick, and a swimsuit that would hopefully drive him completely insane.
Amazingly enough, the lingerie was not as expensive as she had feared. The swimsuit was mildly ridiculous, but not so high that she would be afraid to get in the water.
"Knock knock! You've been in here an awfully long time."
Dora tapped on the door and cracked it open.
"You left me an awful lot of things to try on."
The older woman took that as an invitation to enter, and slipped inside the dressing room.
"Did you make it through them all?"
"Are you kidding? That would take DAYS, Dora. I made it through enough. I found what I need."
Dora crossed to the rack, apparently trying to decipher which items had been tried on and returned to their hangers.
"Did you try on any of the naughty ones?"
"Dora…"
"Fine, fine. Let's see the final picks."
Kate held up the two hangers.
"Now that is a lovely bathing costume. Perfect for teasing him mercilessly in public." She smiled that knowing smile. "And this—" she brushed the openwork lace of the nightie set—"will be the perfect continuation in private. Preferably very private. You did get adventurous—good girl!"
Kate rolled her eyes. Definitely good that Lanie was not in on this.
"Now I'm just gonna throw in a cover-up for the beach. And don't argue, because it's on me. Tell Fresh Start it's my personal gift to him for the weekend."
"Dora, I have things to cover up with already."
"Oh, but I'm gonna guess you don't have one like this. Flirty and light and—the best part—it has laces."
On her way out the door she mimed tying a little bow in the air with her fingers and grinned.
"Bring those on out here and I'll ring you up."
Kate followed, as always feeling slightly intimidated by the petite business woman despite all her reasons not to. Somehow she doubted this cover-up would cover much.
Surprisingly, when Dora selected a hanger from the alcove behind the swimsuits, Kate thought the green print overshirt looked fairly tame.
"Now, about that lingerie. Is the whole family joining you on this little trip?"
"Alexis and Martha are going up as soon as Alexis' class lets out on Friday morning, and they'll be there for the long weekend, but Rick and I are staying the week."
Dora was already behind her register, removing tags, when she answered.
"Oh good. May I suggest you not bring this out—" she waved the black lace number "—until Monday night? Knowing the male mind, once he sees you in this, it's all he's going to be able to think about for the foreseeable future."
Kate did her best to keep a straight face at the sage tone Dora always employed when doling out bedroom advice.
"And if I may be so bold, I imagine his place would rival Southfork as far as square footage is concerned. You ought to take advantage of the real estate, if you know what I mean."
"Dora!"
"Well, why have so many lovely rooms if you're not going to have lovely memories to go along with them! And after all, this trip is about becoming the queen of this castle, pun fully intended. So you might as well own it, Katie darlin'."
The smile froze on her face. Queen of the castle—she was living with him in Manhattan. Whatever this place was at the Hamptons, he was probably trying to tell her it was hers as well.
And where exactly did that put them?
They weren't engaged, but they were certainly more than just dating. She refused to believe he would use this weekend to propose. He knew she was nowhere near ready. They hadn't mentioned it in months. And he was acting too normal. The man couldn't keep a secret to save his life.
No, this weekend wasn't about getting married. But it might be about easing her into… something more permanent than dating. Something involving beachfront property.
Queen of the Castle. Interesting.
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Extraordinary Lines (Castle-only site):
I am honored to have been added to the Castle Archive for "Enlightenment." So if you would like to read the whole thing (M chapters included) all at once to catch up, see this site:
Thecastlearchive dot blogspot dot com slash 2012 slash 08 slash archive-post_16 dot html
