Lanie walked in the kitchen, laughing.
"She's freaking out?" Johanna asked, preparing dinner.
"Totally."Lanie said. "She must have tried a dozen outfits. In four years in college, I've never seen her like this over a guy. Not that she dated much anyway."
"Really? Why? You don't have to tell me but ... as her mother I wondered why she never brought anyone home with her on breaks. I'm not even sure she mentioned a specific guy ..."
" Well, she dated. Not a lot but she had a few guys. But it never went really far. She never talked about it. But she took some break ups rather hard. She always looked disappointed or something."Lanie explained. "But she was ok, don't worry." she added when she saw Johanna's face.
"What do you think of this one?" Kate asked arriving in the kitchen with yet another outfit.
She was wearing black skinny jeans with a red blouse. Her hair was falling over her shoulders but her face was cleared by hairclips. Both women looked at her and just ... stared.
"Wow." was all Johanna could say.
"Really, it looks good?"
"Good? Girl, he's gonna have a heart attack when he sees you." Lanie exclaimed. "But you should put your red heels on, that is definitely going to do it."
"You think?"Kate asked, blushing.
" Darling, even if he was blind he wouldn't be able to resist you!" her mother confirmed.
Before Kate could answer, there was a knock on the door.
"Oh my God he's here!" Kate freaked out.
Rick opened the door of the restaurant for her and she felt like she had just stepped into Italy.
"Oh my God Rick, this place is ... I ..."
" I know right? Come on, let's go to our table." he said, placing his hand on the small of her back and leading her to their table.
Kate couldn't help but shiver at the sensation of his hot hand coming in contact with her back, even through the barrier of her blouse. Rick pulled the chair for her and went to sit. The waiter haded them their menus and left ... but not without throwing a flirtatious smile at Kate who glared at him. Rick laughed.
"What?" Kate asked.
"I think you just ruined his evening."
" Well, I din't want him to ruin our evening." Kate said, smiling at him.
"As long as you don't look at me like that, our evening will be good."
About an hour later, they left the restaurant.
"Can you tell me why we couldn't have dessert? I saw a tiramisu on the menu that was calling my name."Kate said.
"Come on. You'll have something better than this tiramisu. You can take it next time." Rick said, taking her hand in his and starting to walk down the pavement.
"Next time? Pretty confident here Mr. Castle" Kate teased.
"Well, I mean ... I thought this was going well and ... are you making fun of me?" Rick asked when he saw the look on her face.
"Well, you're too easy. Now, where are you taking me?"
"Alexis and I found a special spot in the park. We have a magic view from there and the night is clear right now so it will be great. We can get dessert later."
After a few minutes of walking through the park, Rick stopped. He sat down on a bench, followed by Kate. He put his arm around her shoulders.
"Now look up." he said, smiling at her.
She did as she was told and ... wow ... just wow. In the sky, the lights coming from the buildings were creating a weird but beautiful light effect.
"It's ... wow. It looks like the Northern Lights." she said, looking back at Rick who was still looking at her.
Smiling, Kate closed the distance between the two of them and kissed him lovingly. As she was kissing him, she tried to focus on what she was feeling. She didn't know what it was but she knew that she hadn't felt it before. She had to talk to him now. Before she fell too hard. She had been disappointed before and she'd prefer to know right now if he was like the others. She definitely hoped he wasn't.
"Kate, I can hear you think. What's wrong?" Rick asked, his forehead against hers.
She closed he eyes and sighed. That was it. THE moment that always made them run away.
"Kate, do you want me to take you home?" Rick asked, concern clear in his voice.
" No. It's just ... there's something I have to tell you. It's not easy to say so please don't make fun of me." Kate said, tears gathering in her eyes.
"Kate, I won't make fun of you. I promise." Rick said, squeezing one of her hands.
"It's just that ... well ... I don't normally tell guys so soon after we met but with you ... it's different. I've never felt that before, whatever that is. So I want to tell you now to save myself a heartache when you go up running away from me because I'm such a freak."
"Kate, you're not a freak. You could have two heads that I would still lo ... like you. Now tell me because you're starting to make me nervous here."
"Well, I didn't ... I've never ... I'm a virgin." She said, almost whispering the end of her sentence.
"Oh." Rick said, clearly surprised. " And?"
" And what? That's it. It's not enough for you? That was certainly enough to have the others running away." Kate said, getting angry as she remembered the few times she had admitted that to a guy.
"Well, I cannot say that I'm not surprised but ... I would not leave you just for that. I mean, sure it's important but ... that's not what I'm looking for. Well, not mainly what I'm looking for. No, that's not what I meant. Uh ...! It's just ... Kate, you're so special! I've never felt for a girl what I feel for you now and we haven't even known each other for a whole week. And I have to admit, it scares me. But I don't want to let you go."
"Really? You don't want to just ... leave?" Kate asked, really surprised. Sure, she had hoped to hear something like that but still, she was not used to that type of reaction.
"Really. I just want to be with you Kate. And if I have to wait for you, I will." Rick said sincerely, placing his hand gently on her knee.
"Wow. You really are the perfect man." Kate said, smiling.
"I know." he replied, kissing her softly.