The Elevator Pitch

Chapter 2

"Why didn't you tell me you broke up with Demming?"

Deathly silence settled on the already silent elevator car. Nothing inside the old building reached out a hand in friendship or loyalty to distract from Castle's question. No creaks, no groans, no settling joists or floorboards. Kate was beginning to think they might be the last two people on earth.

She frowned and looked down at her feet. She tucked her hair behind her ear. Hedging, feeling put on the spot, she started to jiggle her left knee. Anything but look at him even in the dark. Eventually, she cleared her throat and said, "How…how do you know about that?"

Castle roared in like a lion to fill the silence. "How do I know? Because we ran into him down by the front desk and he asked where you were."

"Not in front of⏤"

"Mm-hmm." He nodded vigorously. "And when Gina told him that school's out and we," he said, indicating himself and Kate, "aren't joined at the hip anymore, Mister Robbery Detective helpfully informed her that he understood I was supposed to be sweeping you off to the Hamptons this weekend."

Kate closed her eyes. "Oh, God. Did Gina⏤"

"Gina's gone."

Kate came out of her corner and sank back down to the floor beside him. "I'm…Castle, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to mess things up for you. Tom must have put two and two together. Because he didn't hear any of that from me."

He waved her apology aside. When he spoke, he sounded resigned, matter-of-fact. All of the heat had left his voice. "Don't be sorry. It's fine. I'm surrounded by detectives. Nothing stays secret for long around here, right." He sniffed and shook his head. "Never would have worked out anyway. We've been down that road before and, believe me, there are plenty of good reasons why Gina and I got divorced."

Kate's relief at being forgiven was short lived. On hearing these last remarks, feelings of indignation resurfaced. She turned to face him. "So…then why did you invite her?" The wounded whine was back in her voice, but she didn't care.

Castle didn't answer her question immediately. In the confined space of the elevator, his silence was disconcerting; Kate was more used to being incapable of shutting him up.

Finally, he said, "When…when you said you needed a word before. When we were drinking with the guys and…you pulled me out." Castle blew out a breath. "What did you want to say to me?"

"You mean when your ex-wife showed up and draped herself all over you?" Kate shot back without even thinking about how it might sound.

She heard Castle turn his head towards her. The whisper of his neck against the collar of his shirt told her that he had whipped it around quickly. "Were you jealous? Of Gina?"

"You were clearly jealous of Demming," Kate said in retaliation, making no attempt at denial.

Castle nodded slowly and then with more vigor. "Fine. Yes, I was jealous. Arrest me. I asked you to come with me to the Hamptons first. You turned me down, and that's your prerogative, obviously. But then you make a new plan to go on vacation with the Robbery Squad guy. Way to make your partner feel wanted."

At that moment, Kate was glad of the dark, of the blackout, and of the lack of witnesses. She found herself fighting a smile when she said, "Castle, this isn't seventh grade."

"I'm well aware of that," he said, sounding terse by comparison.

The accusation in his voice dissolved Kate's smile away to nothing. "What does that mean?" she demanded.

"It means that this is real life, Beckett. If…if you want me to stick around at least leave a note in my locker."

Kate smiled bashfully. "You don't⏤"

"I don't have a locker. Yeah, I'm aware. Why don't I have my own locker, Beckett?"

Now they were both smiling. Kate toyed with her hair, grateful Castle couldn't see. "I thought you were leaving. Your last case, remember? You'd had enough of us…of me," she added softly. "You've got a book to write…for Gina."

Before she finished speaking, Kate felt something touch her leg. She made a small gasping sound before realizing that it was Castle trying to find her hand. His fingers stroked her own, and she let him. He sought her out more confidently, fingers tangling before slipping between hers, curling up into her palm, curling her toes. She let him take her hand. Now it meant that she held his hand, too. Her heart began to race, and the heat in the elevator suddenly increased with a vengeance. It felt like a furnace inside that metal box.

Out of the darkness, Castle's voice, deep and quietly resonant, said, "Tell me what you wanted to say to me today. Please? You know me, Kate. The suspense is killing me."

"It wasn't killing you when Gina showed up. You couldn't get out of there fast enough." The bite in her voice was mostly hurt, and they could both hear it for what it was.

"I'm sorry. I was stupid. In my defense, if I may?" When Kate squeezed his fingers to tell him to go ahead, he said, "When you turned me down and then Alexis decided to ditch me, too⏤"

"For Princeton, Castle," she reminded him.

"Still. I didn't want to be alone," he admitted in a small voice. "It sounds pathetic, I know. But then all of a sudden, you're dating Demming after you lied and said you were out of vacation days and couldn't spend one weekend with me. My ego got the better of me, Beckett. I didn't want to throw a pity party for one out by the beach. So...when Gina called last night and we got chatting on the phone...that's no excuse. It's just pathetic. Believe me, I know how pathetic I am."

"Okay, nice mea culpa. It wasn't a lie about the vacation days. Not totally," Kate said. "But that aside, it's clear we've both been idiots."

"We're intelligent adults," Castle said, to which Kate made a scoffing sound which he wisely decided to ignore. "Why can't we just admit that there's something between us?"

Kate let go of his hand and Castle sighed audibly, assuming the worst. But she dropped her head to her knees, feeling half-faint and half needing time to think. Eventually, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Please don't make me regret this, okay?"

Castle turned towards her and his knee bumped her thigh. There was excitement in his voice when he said, "Name it. I promise you won't regret it."

Kate blew out a short puff of air to psych herself up. "If we ever get out of here…"

"Yes?" he said eagerly.

"I will go to the Hamptons with you."

"Oh my God!" Castle squealed. He reached for her hand, holding it against his chest joined with his own. Her heart started pounding. "This is going to be so great. You will not⏤"

"On one condition," she added, cutting him off.

Castle reined in his excitement. "Like I said, name it."

"No more ex-wives, Castle. No more picking up random women on my cases, and…no…no more naked women on the cover of the Nikki Heat."

"Is that last one a deal breaker because⏤"

Suddenly, the lights flickered on accompanied by a background hum of electricity. They turned to look at one another, blinking in the sudden glow from the overhead panel. Their noses were almost touching.

"When did you move so close to me?" Kate said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

Castle looked affronted. "I could ask you the same thing, detective. My mother would not be happy to hear that you tried to take advantage of me in a stalled elevator car."

The grinned at one another, their eyes twinkling. Kate's gaze flickered down to Castle's mouth and when it shot back up she found him watching her closely. He intensified his grip on her hand.

"I…I think I should say at this point before wires get crossed or some new disaster befalls us that…Kate, I don't want to spend just one weekend with you." He frowned to himself and added, "Or rather I do very much want to spend the weekend with you, but…I lied before when I said I wanted us to be friends."

"You don't want to be my friend, Castle?" She tried to keep her face straight and her voice suitably crestfallen, but as soon as he looked at her the game was up. She burst out laughing and slapped her hand on his thigh. "Your face," she said breathily. She looked so pleased with herself.

That was when Castle made his move. He slid his hand under her collar, fingers scorching the skin beneath her hair and gently drew her towards him. He skimmed her lips with his own, not really touching just hovering there, breathlessly waiting for her to decide. He felt Kate's grip tighten on his thigh, saw her look at him as if something had just clicked into place, and that's when he kissed her.

Their first kiss was slow and languid, though to her heart it felt anything but. They were so deeply absorbed in one another that they missed the first sounds of help arriving.

"Fire department! Anyone down there? Call out!" a deep male voice bellowed.

Reluctantly, they pulled apart. Castle groaned and dropped his head into the crook of her neck. Kate laughed quietly as she ran her hand over the back of his head, savoring the softness of his hair beneath her fingers and the warmth of his cheek pressed against her skin until later when she would make sure to be touching him again. Touching all of him.

"Help me up," she said, holding her hands out to him.

Castle sighed again and clambered to his feet then he hauled Kate upright, straight into his arms.

"Down here!" she yelled out.

"Yeah, down here. Get us out," Castle added, wrapping one arm around her waist more tightly while pounding on the elevator doors with his free hand.

He kissed her forehead in an unexpectedly tender gesture and cleared his throat. "Just to check, this is not…hey, I was bored and lonely when I was trapped in that elevator with you but now that we're out⏤"

Kate silenced this fear with a kiss neither of them would forget for a long time. They were still locked in an embrace when the elevator doors were pried open and a laser beam of torchlight flooded in from the floor above their heads.

"Got two love birds down here," the fireman yelled to one of his crew. "Pass me a harness and let's wedge these doors apart with a Halligan."

"Ladies first," Castle said with a smirk and a lift of his eyebrows.

"You just want an opportunity to stare at my ass, don't you?" Kate said.

When he grinned and nodded his head, she burst out laughing. "Maybe get a feel, too, if I'm lucky," he admitted, adding, "Purely in the interests of safety as I help you up, you understand."

Kate nodded slowly. "Safety, of course. In that case, I say gentlemen first. It's time we made a bid for equality around here."

The fireman interrupted them. "You want me to flip a coin?" he called down. "Look, I don't care who stares at whose ass. We got dispatch calls up the wazoo today. But if you're not ready, we can always leave you down there a little longer..." He gave Kate a wink.

Later that day as the sun prepared to set, they stood side-by-side on Castle's deck listening to the roar of the ocean, absorbing the steady vibration rising up through their bare feet as waves pounded the beach. He glanced at his phone before discreetly slipping it back into his pocket.

"Gina?" Kate said.

Castle let out a low rumble of laughter and turned to face her. "I'm not going to get anything past you, am I?"

"You haven't been getting anything past me for the last two years," she reminded him. "Not a problem, is it?"

Feeling bold, he skimmed her bare arm with the back of his knuckles, watching in fascination as a trail of goosebumps rose across her pale skin. He shook his head. "Not in the slightest. Life's complicated enough without keeping secrets, right?"

Kate took a sip of wine and stared out at the horizon. "On that note, I am sorry about Tom. About not telling you that I'd ended things with him. My strategizing, as you called it, didn't quite work out. But I've learned my lesson. Won't try to get all my ducks in a row next time."

"Why did you break the Robbery Detective's heart?" Castle asked, fighting a grin.

Kate flicked his arm with her nail. "Don't be smug. It doesn't suit you."

Castle caught her finger and held on, using it to draw her closer to him. He wiggled his eyebrows. "Did I tell you that dress totally suits you?" he said, giving her a long, appreciative look.

The lemon-posset sundress clung to her body, the chiffon floating around her knees and thighs. The pale fabric was almost fine enough to see through. Since her back, chest, and arms were bare, Castle realized that this was as close to naked as he'd ever seen Kate Beckett, and she looked sensational.

The evening air was still warm, but Kate felt her skin flush the longer Castle looked at her. She had always known that he was attracted to her, but since this afternoon he had definitely become more open about it, allowing her to see his desire with more naked, serious intent. It was turning her on and dissolving her own boundaries to nothing. "You didn't have to. I already knew that you'd like it," Kate said confidently, making Castle laugh in surprise again.

"Knows all my tells already, huh?" He chuckled. "I'm not sure what to make of that."

"Is this weird?" Kate asked out of the blue. "Us being here. No work. Just..."

"Friends?" Castle said.

"I thought you didn't want to be my friend?" Kate said bravely. She put her glass down on the deck rail and turned to face him.

Castle wet his lips and swallowed roughly, but his eyes never strayed from her face. Not to the thin straps of her dress or to the low-cut neckline that exposed her natural cleavage. She was impressed by his sincerity despite the blip with Gina, which they were managing to move past at breakneck speed.

"I..." He cleared his throat. "I want to be your friend, Kate. I do." He held out his hand and she took it. "I think we could both use a friend." He lifted his eyebrows as if to ask the question, and Kate nodded in response. He took her other hand and drew her close to him so that their toes were almost touching. "But...I'd be lying if I said that was all I wanted us to be."

Kate licked her lips and pressed them together. "I see."

Castle tilted his head to watch her. His eyes seemed bluer than ever despite the warm glow from the sunset, which was now a riot of peaches and pinks. "Would that be a problem for you, detective?"

Kate smiled softly and quickly shook her head. When the breeze whipped her hair across her face, she let go of Castle's hand to smooth it away and tuck it behind her ear. "I just don't want..." She paused, frowning, searching for the right words.

Castle reached out, gently slipping a finger beneath her chin to tilt her head up so that they were looking at one another again. "Hey, what is it? You can tell me anything, Kate." He said this with such sincerity that it quite took her breath away.

"When you asked me to come out here with you, did you ever worry it might ruin what we already had? Our...partnership?"

"I can't say that was on my mind when I asked. It genuinely was a spur of the moment offer. You work so hard. I just wanted you to have a break for a change. You deserve it, Kate. But I don't want to put our partnership at risk, either. If you think being here as more than friends is going to ruin what we already have, we can stay friends. Nothing more. No hard feelings." He looked out at the water for a moment before turning back to her again. "Cards on the table?"

Kate nodded, willing to listen to whatever he had to say. She could feel herself getting more and more invested in him the longer they talked, touched and flirted. So she really hoped he had a plan.

"I love coming to work with you," he said. "It's not about the research or the books anymore. You've given my life real purpose, Kate. You open my eyes to so many terrible and wonderful things every day that I'm with you. Corny as it sounds, you've made me a better man, a better father, too."

She toed the wooden board beneath her feet, embarrassed by the string of compliments. "You've made my work life a lot more fun. Which is not something I imagine most homicide cops ever get to say. But you have. It's true. I'd really miss it if you weren't there."

"Miss it? Or miss me?" he probed.

"You're pushing your luck now, Castle." She grinned and her eyes flashed. "But yeah, I'd miss you," she confessed softly. "Of course, I'd miss you."

"So..." He took her hands in his again, swinging them gently. "Is this us agreeing to stay friends? Or..."

Kate wriggled her fingers out of his grasp and the light in Castle's eyes dimmed a little, though he put on a good show of not being disappointed. But then she lifted her arms and laid her hands on his shoulders, pausing briefly to look at him before sliding her arms around his neck and drawing him into a warm, inviting embrace. Hesitantly, Castle settled his hands on her waist.

Kate nudged his nose with her own. "We have the potential to be a lot of things." She leaned in until her lips were grazing his ear and whispered, "Friends, partners...we can be whatever we want to be."

When she found his mouth, dragging him into a breath-stealing kiss, Castle groaned with pure longing. He splayed his fingers wide, broad palms spanning her back, thumbs coasting up and down her sides, relishing the feel of her, finally. He slid his hands lower, fingers digging into the soft flesh of her ass, claiming her as he roughly pulled her to him. They both shuddered when their bodies collided, skin tingling, nerves coming alive as they ground up against one another.

"We'll make it work." Castle panted out the words between desperate, hungry kisses.

Kate braced herself against the guardrail and let her head fall back, allowing Castle to ravage her neck and chest with his lips and teeth while his body pressed hard against hers, anchoring her to the wooden deck rail. She ran her fingers through his hair, keeping her eyes tightly closed, giving herself over to the dizzying flood of sensations assaulting her entire body.

Out at the beach that sunny evening, she decided to believe in the power of new possibilities. She gave up strategizing, controlling and surrendered to fate as her partner slipped the strap of her sundress off her shoulder, sucking on her bare skin before kissing her cheek and whispering in her ear, "I promise, Kate. We'll make it work."

Without a word needing to be exchanged, they took a pause to slow things down. Castle went back inside to fetch the bottle of wine from the fridge. Once he had topped up their glasses, he turned around to find Kate leaning on the deck rail with her back to him. She was tracking the progress of the slowly sinking sun as if it was her first time on earth. For his part, Castle felt as though he was seeing his own corner of paradise through fresh eyes, her eyes, and as he watched Kate for a second or two longer, he marveled at the twists of fate that had brought them to this place and this moment in their lives.

Eventually, he picked up their wine glasses and carried them across the deck to offer a toast. He held his glass aloft and the sun turned the rosé an even deeper shade of pink. "To blackouts and drama," he said. "May we navigate them together...with courage and style. Always."

Kate touched the rim of his glass with her own and took a sip. She squinted as a ray of sunshine flared high catching her off-guard. "Actually, I'd take the quiet life any day," she said, laughing as she waved her wine glass around them and added, "And by quiet I mean luxury like this, of course."

Castle beamed with pride and puffed out his chest. "Of course. You deserve nothing less."

They stared at one another for a long time, their eyes locked, searching each others' face, their pupils dilating with the drop in light and the skyrocket of sexual tension.

Kate gasped when she chanced a look over her shoulder and glimpsed the sun finally settling squat and fat on the horizon. Beams of light shot up and outwards, like a child's drawing. "I've got to hand it to you, Castle. You put on quite a show." She beckoned him closer. "Come on. Let's watch. Sun's almost gone," she said with more excitement than he'd heard from her in a long time.

So he took her glass, setting them both on a nearby table, and returned to stand behind her. He placed his hand high in the center of her bare back, massaging her shoulders and enjoying the warmth of her skin beneath her hair. He got a kick out of seeing her shiver when he trailed the tip of his finger down her spine. But the absolute best moment came when she didn't pull away, instead, she reached blindly behind her until she found his free hand and tugged him towards her, banding his arm across her stomach.

Castle needed no further invitation to nestle in close. With his feet planted either side of hers, he wrapped his arms around her body, holding her back tight against his chest, his chin nudged into her shoulder. He kissed her temple and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "This place already feels different with you here." He pressed a second kiss to her hair before adding, "Good different," to clarify what he meant.

She turned in his arms. Her back was to the sun when it finally slipped below the horizon, but she didn't care. There would be plenty more sunsets, of that she was confident. "I'll drink to good different," she said, then she kissed him slowly, teasing his lips apart with her tongue, sliding inside to taste him. Taking her time over everything.

Eventually, she drew back to look at him in the lavender light of dusk. The shadows were lengthening and the breeze was getting up. She had an expression of devilment on her face when she palmed his ass with both hands through the back pockets of his shorts and squeezed. "Now...tell me, Richard," she said, glancing past his ear at the stunning house that glowed like a beacon behind them, "does this mansion of yours have an elevator?"

The End

A/N: Thank you for embracing this story. Love to hear your thoughts on chapter 2. If I don't respond to messages or reviews right away it's because FF is still not sending me any alerts. If anyone knows how to fix that I'd be grateful for advice. Thank you for your feedback so far. Have a great week, Liv