Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or any of the characters.
A/N: I sincerely apologize for making you all wait this long for an update. I've been extremely busy these past couple weeks and I'm afraid it'll only get slightly worse so just hang in there with me. Your continued support and encouragement throughout this story is the main reason I keep writing new chapters for you guys. Thank you so much.
Sneaking into the stables proved to be easier than Kate thought it would be. Because of the festivities commencing inside the grand hall, most of the servants in the palace were in there walking around with trays of food or drink, offering them to people. Hardly anyone was in sight, but Kate still insisted they use several side hallways to minimize the chance that a wanderer from the party should see them.
Once inside the stables, Rick led her over to a beautiful chestnut gelding. Telling her to stay there, he fetched the horse's tack from a large shed. As he was about to start saddling the horse, Kate said, "Can I do it?"
Looking at her with a surprised expression, he told her, "I didn't know you knew how to saddle a horse."
"Rick, the thing's you don't know about me, could fill a book," she retorted. "And, yes, I do know how to do this. I know how to ride as well. I actually like to race when I can with a couple of my friends. I believe you were talking to two of them earlier: Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan."
Lifting an eyebrow, he said, "Why, Kate, I didn't know that you were watching me so closely tonight."
Realizing her slip, Kate tried to backpedal. "I, uh—well, I wasn't—I just might have…spotted you with them so…."
He gave her a look. "Mhm. You want to try to make that sound more convincing?"
She shook her head. "No, I'm good." Glancing around, she said, "We should probably get moving before anyone sees us out here. You go find a servant to deliver that message you made up to my parents while I get the horse ready. You remember what you said, right?"
"Of course. Have a servant tell Johanna and James Beckett that their daughter wasn't feeling well so she got a ride home with a friends and left the carriage for them."
"Good, now get going."
"As the lady says." Rick bowed slightly then wheeled about and went in search of a stray servant to deliver his message.
Chuckling and shaking her head at his ridiculousness, Kate went to work. She was nearly an expert at putting tack on a horse. When she'd had lessons as a child, she demanded that they teach her to take care of her own horse and not just leave it to the stablehands. She also refused to learn only sidesaddle riding. If she was going to own a horse, then she was going to learn to ride it the real way.
Smiling to herself, she recalled her father's reaction to her stubbornness. He'd nearly had a heart attack! Her mother, on the other hand, only encouraged her to pursue whatever she wished to do. Jim Beckett had taken some convincing, but eventually he realized that his little girl was a polar opposite to other girls her age. Where they'd wanted to learn sewing and housework, she had wanted to learn how to race horses and archery. Archery, though, was among the many talents she kept secret from everyone, but those who lived on the Beckett estate.
Finished saddling and bridling the horse, she was lost in her thoughts. Absent mindedly stroking the horse's neck, she failed to notice that Rick had returned. A throat clearing from behind her, alerted her to his presence. Looking at him, she saw adoration written all over his face.
"You ready to go?" he asked her. "I don't necessarily think you want to be standing here in that wet dress much longer."
"You know, it is getting kind of uncomfortable, now that you mention it," she said. Grinning, he grabbed the horse's reins and led the two of them out of the stables.
When they were outside, he helped Kate into the saddle, saying, "You know you're going to have to ride side addle, right?"
"I know," she grumbled. As he was about to pull himself up behind her, she suddenly gasped. "What about the guards outside the palace gate? They're obviously going to see us!"
"Kate, calm down. They're not going to care the least little bit that we're leaving. Their job is to keep things out, not in so they really won't pay all that much attention to us. They'll forget us the moment we're out of sight." He swung himself up on the horse's back and settled his arms around her so that he could grab the reins. Kicking the horse's sides lightly, they set off.
It turned out that Rick was right: the guards at the gate didn't even give them a passing glance as they rode out. Kate let go of the breath she didn't realize she had been holding.
Both were silent for several minutes, content to just be in each other's company. Eventually, Kate broke the silence. "Why did you pick this horse? Why not any others?"
"Because," Rick explained, "he's actually mine. I'm not a huge fan of riding in a carriage, so I decided to take my own horse."
"Why a gelding? Don't most princes want to break their own stallion to show some manly display of dominance or something like that?"
"That's true, but I chose this guy a couple years back because I like dependability in a horse better than the unnecessary hassle that comes with unbroken stallions."
"That makes sense, I guess," she responded.
"Do you mind if we go a bit faster?" he asked her. "That way we can reach your house a lot sooner." At her go ahead, he nudged his horse into a trot followed by a canter. Holding onto Kate tightly, he was mindful of where his hands rested. They may have shared an…intimate moment back in the courtyard, but that didn't mean he wouldn't respect her wish that he not let his hands stray. It was slightly difficult and a tad bit uncomfortable going so fast with Kate sitting sidesaddle in front of him, but he didn't care so long as he got her home quicker.
The rest of the ride was spent in silence, neither feeling the need to speak. They covered the short distance to the Beckett house in a matter of minutes. Upon arrival, Rick slowed the horse back to a walk and stopped him in front of the house. Sliding down from the saddle, he held out a hand to aid Kate off the horse. Tying his horse to a post, he walked Kate to her front door.
"I guess this is goodbye. For now, at least," Rick said.
She hesitated, thinking a moment. Coming to a decision, she told him, "It doesn't have to be goodbye just yet." When he tilted his head to the side in a silent question, she added, "You could come in for a few minutes."
His face lit up with mischief. "I'm being permitted to see the inside of the Beckett mansion? Yes, please!" he exclaimed.
She rolled her eyes as she led him inside. "I wouldn't exactly call it a 'mansion.'"
"Maybe not, but it is rather large, and that's coming from me!" he replied.
"What's the matter, Rick?" she teased. "Not used to seeing large things?"
He scoffed. "Oh, please. I've seen plenty of large things in my day." Realizing what that sounded like, he tried to take it back. "Not in that I—I'm not—" he sighed exasperatedly. "You know what I meant."
She didn't even bother trying to hide her amusement. "God, you're so easy, Rick," she told him before beginning her ascent up the staircase. Halting on the fifth step, she cast a look back at him, still standing in his same spot. "You coming?"
Caught off guard, all he could say was, "W-What?"
"Come on, Rick. I'm not going to have you stand there in the entrance with the odd chance that someone stumbles upon you. So you are getting the once in a lifetime opportunity to come into my bedroom. Are you just going to stand there, or what?" Closing his jaw that had at some point fell open, he hurried up the stairs after her.
She weaved her way down a few long hallways and past many doors before stopping at one, opening it, and pushing him inside ahead of her. Closing the door behind her, she pointed to a chair that sat in a random corner of the room and ordered him, "Sit."
Doing as he was commanded, he remarked, "Your bedroom isn't what I expected it to be."
"And what exactly did you think it would look like?"
"I don't know. Full of spikes and objects you use to torture other gentlemen with," he said with a shrug.
Waving a hand at a door to his right, she said, "No. That's all in the other room next to you." The lighting of several candles that were spaced throughout the room caused the room to brighten dramatically. Their shadows still danced along the walls from the flickering of the flames. Rick saw Kate pick up a candle holder and carried it over to a dressing screen that was set up. Suddenly a question popped into his head.
"Kate? Where are all your servants and maids? Shouldn't they be up until you and your parents returned home?"
"They should, yes, but my mother ordered them to all go to sleep considering that we probably wouldn't have been back until late. She didn't see a reason for them to have to wait up for us when we're all perfectly capable of getting ourselves ready for bed on our own."
"I've never heard of a noble treating their servants like that before," he said. "Your mother sounds like a generous and kind lady."
"She is," Kate replied. "You'd definitely like her, Rick. She's got your sense of humor."
He smiled. "Well, I hope to meet her one day soon."
"Because that's just what I need: my mother and my…whatever you are, teaming up against me."
" 'My whatever you are'? I thought we were at least close enough to be considered friends," he told her.
"Friends don't do…the things we were doing earlier," she informed him.
"And what exactly were we doing earlier, Kate?" His voice had dropped an octave lower and a shudder nearly ran through her body. God, what that voice did to her. Not to mention the memories that were reappearing in her mind.
Swallowing a lump in her throat, she said, "Nothing that we're going to be doing again, anytime soon."
Stepping behind the dressing screen, she reached behind her and tried for a few minutes to unlace her dress. Damn it, she thought. Sighing with frustration, she gave up and called out, "Rick?"
"Yes?"
"This might sound awkward, but could you come here and help me unlace this dress?"
Hearing him get up from his seat and walk over to the screen, she stepped out from behind it. Turning so her back was to him, she swept her hair over one shoulder to keep it out of his way. Sensing his hesitation, she encouraged, "It's alright, Rick. I need your help. You can touch me, I'm not going to snap at you for it."
Finally he began to unlace the dress. Slowly. He was afraid that if he went too fast he'd end up ripping the dress completely off and taking her to bed. No, he needed to be in control. Kate Beckett was a lady and deserved nothing less than his complete respect.
Little did he know that the woman whose dress he was currently unlacing was having just as difficult a time in controlling her thoughts and actions as he was. He may have left a respectful distance in between his and her bodies, but Kate could still feel his hot breath on her neck. The tension was high and thick. How do we always manage to find ourselves in situations like this? she thought to herself.
He was already done the first half of the laces and had begun working on the second half, when Kate decided that she'd had enough. Spinning around, Kate grabbed his face in her hands and dragged his mouth down to hers.
Once again startled by her kissing him, it didn't take him nearly as long as the first time to recover. Their mouths moved together and he placed his hands on her hips. Moving forward, he slammed her back into the wall that was a few feet behind her.
Never breaking their kiss, his hands slid up her sides, feeling her curves through the material of the dress. She nipped at his bottom lip and he groaned into her mouth. Coming up for air, Rick slid his hands to the back of her thighs and hoisted her up. Pushing up her dress so that she could wrap her long legs around his waist, he attached his mouth to her collarbone.
Kate moaned as pleasure and desire coursed through her. There was a fire blazing in her stomach and every new kiss, lick, or suck only served to fan the flames higher and higher. This time, she could feel, Rick wasn't going to hold back. He didn't seem to care if he left a mark or not. And quite frankly at this point, neither did she. She tossed her head back and it thudded against the wall. "Rick," she moaned as he found a particularly sensitive spot beneath her ear.
When he set her feet down on the ground again, she pushed on him so that he was walking backwards, first checking real quick to see if they had a clear path. Pulling off his still wet jacket, leaving him only in a nice shirt, she fiddled with the top button of his shirt. She hadn't noticed how far they'd walked across her room until Rick had actually spun them and the backs of her knees hit her bed. Rick laid her down gently, still peppering kisses all over her neck.
Kate brought her hands up to tangle in his short hair. Pulling his head back, she slid her hands to his cheeks and cradled his face. His blue eyes were staring down at her, filled with so many feelings that she wasn't ready to talk about just yet. Bringing his mouth back down to hers, they kissed slowly. Whereas their previous kisses had all been rushed and frenzied, brimming with passion and the release of tension, this one was soft and—dare she say—loving. This man made her feel things that she'd felt for no other before.
Removing her hands from his face, she reached down and untucked his shirt from his pants. Her hands found their way under his shirt and she ran them all across Rick's back, feeling the hard muscles move under every caress. Lightly scratching her nails on the skin near his waist, she heard him moan her name. Moving her hands to the top buttons on his shirt, her dexterous fingers had two undone before he began a trail of wet kisses down her throat to exposed part of her upper chest.
Gasping, Kate lost her concentration and could only focus on how close his lips were to her covered breasts. "Oh God," she breathed out in pleasure."
Distracted as they were, it's understandable how they didn't hear two others come into the room until one of the newcomers gasped and yelled, "Katie?!"
Snapping her head up to look at the others in the room, Kate nearly fainted. "Mom?! Dad?!"
So how did you guys like it? What did you think? This was the first time I've ever written anything more than a simple kissing scene so I hope it was okay.