"Rick I honestly can't" Kate replies, an amused smile playing at her lips.
"Why not? You already told me you have the weekend off, why not come away with me?" he cries looking up at her through his lashes, his eyes so blue in the light of the restaurant.
"Well, for one, this is our third date, albeit in two weeks, but three meetings isn't nearly long enough for the commitment of a weekend away." She says strongly, knowing his attempts to sway her simply wont work.
"Thats only one reason, if you find out you hate me over the weekend I will personally drive you back into the city, but I will not take your declined answer if that is the only reason.."
"It's not the only reason", his eyebrows quirk up in interest, "personal reasons too", she sighs with that same sad look he's seen before when he's asked about things that may break down her all to evident wall.
"I'll convince you," he smiles dropping the subject allowing the conversation to drift so they can enjoy the rest of their date.
Rick didn't pester her any more on the subject, walking her to the entry door of her building, leaning in to softly kiss her good night with the promise of "until tomorrow" as he swept a strand of hair behind her ear and returned onto the sidewalk.
She had gotten off easily, having prepared herself the whole journey to her apartment to fight off and avoid his questions before he got deeper into her life than she felt ready.
As she relaxed into her couch, hours later, her hair atop her head in a comfortable bun, her outfit for the evening in the wash, replaced by pyjamas, the spring nights making it possible to forego a sweatshirt and tea she relaxed with a book, one of his books.
Her favourite author, not at all like she would have imagined, not shallow or pompous or egotistical, not that any of those traits had bothered her when he was only the author of her favourite books. But getting to know Richard Castle was in itself as good a mystery to solve than any of those he had written, he was thoughtful, well spoken, intriguing and child-like and all together the perfect gentle man from what she had experienced in the past two weeks.
A knock sounded on her front door, loud enough to make he body cringe into the silence that had been her apartment just moments earlier. She huffed a groan, muttering under her breath about the time of night and her relaxation as she headed towards the door of her apartment.
The clicking of locks made Ricks hands sweat as he stood on the other side of the door, sucking in a huge breath of air his panic began to set in 'he should have left it, he's going to scare her away', he thought to himself as the door swung open revealing a pyjama clad, unimpressed Kate Beckett, looking as breathtaking as ever.
"Hear me out.." Rick starts, holding his palms up to her in a ceasefire manner.
"What are you doing here? I thought you had been the perfect gentleman earlier, not pushing me to spill," Kate feigned annoyance, not altogether able to keep the butterflies in her stomach at bay.
"Believe me, I did try, I want to respect everything you want, I want you to have the space you need to ease yourself into a life where I will probably annoy you to no end if I ever get the chance to stick around, but I cant stop, you're such a mystery, one that not only do I want to solve, I'm compelled by this need to know you…" without noticing his speech had driven him forward into the threshold of he apartment, both his hands gently wrapping round her arms in an unconscious attempt to keep her from running.
"Rick… I… you can't just show up at my home unannounced at this time of night, what might my neighbours think?" She wiggled her eyebrows and beaming a smile at him that relaxed his tense frame allowing him to let out the breath he wasn't aware he was holding.
"So… I didn't actually plan on what to say next, i didn't really expect to get this…" his sentence is interrupted by a screeching cry, echoing off the walls of the apartment, "…far?"
She laughs leaning by him to close the door, "and that would be my 'personal reasons'".