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"Hey babe, you ready?"
Castle cranes his neck around the bathroom door, sees Kate in the mirror with her hair half pinned up. She's got a few strands trailing down her neck, the dress only zipped halfway so the mountain range of her spine lies bare.
God, she's gorgeous. How in the hell did he ever manage to deserve her?
Kate turns to shoot him a look over the rise of her shoulder, her eyes outlined in charcoal or some other mystical element that makes her this feral sex goddess.
There's no way in hell he's making it through dinner with his hands to himself.
"Did you just call me babe?" She presses her lips together so they pale, a straight and unforgiving line he just wants to breach.
Instead, he shoves his hands in his pockets and leans back against the doorframe, shooting for casual.
Probably falling somewhere on the side of hopelessly infatuated, but no matter. Her eyes are brimming with tenderness, like she knows he's a bumbling idiot and loves him anyway.
"I. . .yeah?" His voice somehow finds a place to break on the single syllable and he coughs, tries to swallow it back.
She just ruins him. All the time, and when she tries-
God help him.
Kate smirks and stretches out a hand to him, reeling him in until her hips fit in the cradle of his. "I'm not a babe, Rick."
"No. A goddess, more like." He falters, not quite sure where it's safe to kiss her, but even as she laughs at him she's arching her neck to press her mouth to his.
Mm. No lipstick, then. Just the cold pleasure of menthol. Must be that lip balm she saves for special occasions when she's trying to kill him.
"Could you get my zipper?" She breathes against his cheek, and he drops his hands to bracket the arc of her waist, turning her back around.
He sets his chin at her shoulder and kisses the shell of her ear, meeting her eyes in the mirror and offering a soft smile before he steps back to tackle the zipper.
Holy shit, he likes this dress. A tight, black thing that cherishes every curve and line and plane of her. A square neckline like a picture frame for the fragile ridges of her collar bones, the shadowy place between her breasts.
Castle bands an arm around her waist and tugs her back against him, her hand settling over his at her stomach. He circles the space below the knuckle of her third finger, nudging his nose at her cheek.
"I want you to wear the ring. We're going to dinner as a couple and I want them to know."
She shakes her head, a wash of grief across her face that clutches in his gut. "I can't. We're not engaged, technically."
"You said that you want to marry me someday. That's exactly what being engaged is, Kate." He has to battle to keep his voice soft and easy, the cliff face of his own jaw too sharp in the mirror.
"Okay. I see that." She moves out of his grasp, disappearing into the bedroom, and he thinks that's it. Conversation over.
Only, when he follows and she's in the closet rifling through her ridiculous shoe collection, she still watches him.
"Castle. This is Kevin and Jenny's dinner. Think about it. They've been trying for a baby for a while, and now they want to have us come for dinner?"
She steps into the heels, a nude pair he thinks might just be the death of him, and a smile flirts at the corners of her mouth when she finds herself at eye level with him. He goes for her hips again, lifting a hand to brush an errant curl away from her face. His fingertips dust over her cheekbone and she leans in to the touch, her eyes so tender on his.
"So you think they're gonna tell us Jenny's pregnant."
"Exactly." She grins, so much pride in the lift of her mouth. Of him, he thinks. For getting it. "So let's not steal their thunder, hmm?"
"Yeah. Okay. And when I ask again, and you say yes, we can have an announcement dinner of our own."
She laughs, but he doesn't miss the flash flood of want through her body before she buries it.
Uh huh, Kate. He sees it.
Castle keeps his hand at her spine like a buffer the whole way to the Ryans' apartment, the solid wall of his body at her back. Keeping close. It should be stifling, but she's drawing comfort from the heat of him.
He looks good. Just a suit, but the first three buttons of his dress shirt undone offer her a stretch of skin she wants to get lost in.
She caught a glimpse of them reflected in a window across the street and it knocked the breath right out of her. They look great together, but it was Castle that got to her. How his whole body echoes hers, working to keep her close.
And yeah, okay. She looks good too. The dress makes her feel tall and lithe and sexy, but it's the soft smile she can't seem to help and the loose line of her shoulders that caught her attention. He makes her feel safe, and home, and it shows all over.
"Hey, Castle?"
He turns to face her, still cradling her hand in his own. "Yeah?"
"I'm really glad we're doing this." She lifts her eyes from the floor to gauge his reaction, her mouth lifting at the corners when he grins at her.
"Dinner?"
Kate lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug, knowing it makes shadow pool at her clavicle. "Being together."
"Oh." His face washes with light and he leans in to kiss her, cradling her cheek as the elevator doors slide open. "Me too. I-"
He pulls back, stepping out of the elevator and seeming to forget about the clasp of their hands until she crashes against his side. His jaw is tight with the words he won't let go, and Kate can't help but press her mouth there in encouragement. "You can say it."
"I love you, Kate."
She grins, coming around to scrape her teeth over his lip in confirmation. "Yeah. I do too."
He nods and starts to move away, but it's not enough. She doesn't understand why it's still so damn hard to just say it.
It's not like he doesn't know. It's just that she hasn't said it to anyone except her dad for such a long time that the words taste strange underneath her tongue, crash against the back of her teeth.
Kate catches two fingers in his belt loop, tugging him back to her.
"Rick. I love you too."
His face breaks open with light and he beams at her, arrested with adoration in the middle of the hallway. Kate smiles back and squeezes his fingers, nudging him to move.
At the door, Castle brands her mouth with his own, taking a moment to trace his tongue over her teeth and curl his hands at her shoulders. Like he thinks she won't let him touch her in front of their friends.
Honestly, she's not sure she can keep her hands off of him.
He knocks, shooting her a sideways grin so full with joy that it makes her heart pound. So much of the little boy in him. It's beautiful.
Ryan answers, ushering them both inside and taking Castle's jacket. He seems nervous, his palms clammy when he pulls Kate in for a hug, and she has to bite back a laugh.
"Okay?" She lifts an eyebrow at him and he nods, running a hand over his face.
"Fine. Yeah. Glad you guys could make it."
Kate grins, threading her fingers through Castle's and tugging him in against her side. "Of course. Anything we can do to help?"
"No, no, go sit."
Ryan ushers them towards the couch, and Castle huffs a sigh that curls around her neck. "Dude, relax. It's just us."
"Right. Yeah." Kevin offers them a half-formed nod and then he's disappearing into the kitchen to join his wife.
Kate settles on the couch, Castle nestled close to her side with his hand still enveloping hers. "You think they're okay?"
"Yeah. Just nervous, I guess." Kate leans in to kiss him, a hand coming up to cradle his cheek and smooth her fingertips over the scatter of stubble at his jaw.
He hums into it, smiling against her mouth so she has to pull back. She keeps their foreheads pressed together, her nose nudging into his.
It's ridiculous, really, that they're suddenly so incapable of keeping their hands off of each other. It's been over a year.
Only, every time she looks at him she can't help picturing his face as he waits at the end of the aisle for her. Every time he says her name, she hears him adding my wife on the end.
He leaves it unsaid, but she knows it's there.
A knock on the front door jolts Kate and she shifts, puts a few careful inches between herself and Castle. It's only Espo and Lanie, she knows that, but even so. . .it's embarrassing.
Castle laughs, leaning in to kiss her again and then sweeping up to pay tithe at her temple. "Are you ashamed of me, Kate Beckett?"
"No. Just don't want to overshadow the Ryans."
He nods at that, squeezing her hand and then standing to greet Javier and Lanie at the door. Kate follows, feeling useless just sitting on the couch.
"Hey guys." Lanie says, leaning in to let Castle kiss her cheek and then drawing Kate in for a hug as Rick and Espo carry out some complex ritual handshake.
Lanie gets her mouth at Kate's ear, quiet and insistent in her questioning. "You guys are good? Javi tells me you're not taking the job."
"I'm not. And yeah, we're good." Kate meets Lanie's eyes, lets her friend see the truth of it there.
She and Castle are. . .more than good.
Jenny comes through from the kitchen and leans in to kiss her husband's cheek, a hand falling to her stomach. Kate won't say anything, let them make the announcement, but she's pretty sure.
Kevin's going to be a dad.
More dinner party to come, I promise. I'm just trying to keep these chapters under two thousand words for easier reading.
Tumblr: katiehoughton
Twitter: seilleanmor
