California Dreaming
Chapter 9
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The next morning, Kate woke to a crick in her neck and a pillow that moved. It took her brain more than a few moments to realize what had happened, where she was, and why her pillow was breathing. Rick Castle. She'd fallen asleep, watching a movie with Castle and it was his hand running through her hair. Kate froze, then mentally winced, realizing that it was exactly that movement that would clue him into the fact that she was awake.
"Morning," he greeted softly, his voice a rumble against her ear. His hand traveled down over her shoulder until it rested at her waist, keeping her from jumping away immediately.
"Morning," she answered tentatively, unable to stop the need to escape. She'd broken down some serious walls for him the previous night, and she needed time to put herself back together again after that.
Castle's hand stroked up and down her side, the soothing motion relaxing her body again. Since when did she let this man have all of the power over her? Slowly, tentatively, she allowed herself to relax and found her eyes fluttering closed again. They'd been up late and she was tired.
"Kate?"
"Hmm?"
"I want to take you out."
Her eyes flew open and she pushed herself upright, supporting hands resting on his chest. "What?"
He refused to meet her gaze, looking down instead at her hands. "I want you to let me take you out when we hit LA tomorrow."
She didn't know what to say. A big part of her wanted to scream 'yes', without questions and without thought, but another part of her was adamant that she think her answer through. She shifted until she was facing him as close to head on as she could. "You want to take me out?"
"Nothing too public," he promised her quietly, still refusing to meet her eyes. "Low-key, quiet, I promise."
Her brain raced. He'd actually asked her out. She'd never, in a million years, believed that he'd ever actually get the guts to do it, yet here she was. Kate managed to pinch herself subtly, out of his line of sight. Apparently she wasn't in a dream.
"I want to thank you," she heard him say. "For putting up with me."
"Rick," she said gently, a finger tracing the pattern on the couch cushion, fear welling up in her at the prospect of allowing Castle to 'take her out'. "You don't have to thank me. I already told you, I'm rather used to you pulling at my pigtails."
"Kate, come on," he cajoled, finally looking up at her.
There was a playfulness in his eyes that had been there since he'd picked her up for the trip and an underlying uncertainty that surprised her. Rick Castle wasn't the type to get upset if a girl turned him down. He'd just move onto the next one. It made her question even this need to 'thank her', as he'd put it.
"You promised I could say 'no'," she reminded him quietly.
"I hope you don't."
There was that damned sincerity again! He was killing her and making her swoon at the same time. She was still vulnerable from opening herself up the previous night, still without her usual defences against his charm, let alone any defences against this quiet vulnerability.
"Kate," he began quietly, gently, picking up one of her hands and gently tracing random figures with his thumb. "I have the entire afternoon to myself tomorrow, and I want to spend it with you. Please?"
She chewed her lip. This was the side of him she only saw with Alexis, and only caught glimpses of when she was having a rough go. The intensity he focused on her turned her on and overwhelmed her simultaneously.
"Okay," she finally answered softly, not even really believing the word had come out of her mouth. "But one misstep and I get my vacation back."
She was absolutely floored when he leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "You won't regret it."
She couldn't believe how fast her last day in San Francisco whirled by. It wasn't like she'd done anything particularly adventurous, but the next thing she knew, she was packing her suitcase the next morning for their flight to LA.
And her afternoon with Castle
Her stomach was in absolute knots about it as she folded her clothing carefully in her suitcase. Order was comfort to her, and it was calming to be methodically packing up her things.
"Kate?"
Her head snapped up, taking in everything spread across her bed and winced. There, in the corner, was the pile of bottom drawer secrets that Lanie had quite obviously shoved in her bag just prior to Kate's departure. With hasty hands, she reached for them, shoving them into her bag just as Rick poked his head into her room. He stood there for a few moments while she continued meticulously folding and packing. "You're watching me again," she said. "Is there something you wanted?"
He didn't reply. When she looked up at him there was a smile on his face she didn't recognize. It was softer, more amused. "I like watching you," he answered instead.
His candidness made her blush and she mentally cursed herself for the action. Usually the flush wasn't so quick to surface. "Well stop it," she murmured. "We're not at the precinct."
"Exactly. Which is what makes watching you here, away from work and the stress so much more… interesting," he replied
"Doing research again are we?"
He laughed quietly. "Kate, Kate, Kate, when are you going to learn that Nikki Heat is only based on you."
She ruthlessly tamped down on the flush she could feel kicking around her cheeks. God, he was killing her with this flattery stuff! And why did he have to make it sound so low an intimate? She found herself reaching up to tuck a non-existent hair behind her ear. "Is that why you're still following me around?"
He merely grinned at her, a disarming tilt of his mouth that made her stomach flop. Instead of responding to her question, he said, "Hurry up." He stepped through the doorway. "Or we're going to be late!"
Kate chewed the inside of her cheek as she continued carefully packing everything away. He'd given her space the previous night, as if sensing that though he'd made some good steps behind her walls, she needed time to rebuild or she was going to get flighty. Kate had spent the night thinking about their afternoon, analyzing what it meant, trying to decide if she'd made the right decision. Even now, she didn't have an answer to that question.
She reached for the little black dress Lanie had all but forced her to bring, eyes widening as she caught sight of the red satin beneath. Her best friend had done more than encourage her to pack date clothing, she'd taken it upon herself to pack Kate appropriate underwear too. It seemed her uncharacteristic pause was enough for Castle to see there was something up, especially when she made much quicker work of packing the dress than she had the rest of her things.
His eyes narrowed. "What are you hiding, Detective?"
"Plenty," she retorted almost automatically, a smirk dancing on the corners of her mouth. The last thing she needed Rick seeing were the pieces of red satin and lace. She'd never live it down.
"Oh, I already know that," he replied with a disarming smile. "But I saw you try and hide something very red and probably very scandalous in that suitcase."
"What makes you so sure it was scandalous?"
"Other than the fact that you're about as red as whatever you shoved in there? The fact that you shoved it in your suitcase like a hot potato."
Kate hadn't even realized she was blushing. She tried to cover it up with her well-perfected eye roll. To his credit, he hadn't come to investigate on his own. "Lanie snuck in a couple of things without my consent."
That sent Rick's eyebrow into the air. "Does the good Doctor Parish know where you keep-"
"Don't even, Castle," she said, slamming her eyes closed. She'd walked into that! "Just… don't."
"I was going to ask if Lanie knew where your bathing suits were," he answered innocently.
She shot him a look that told him she didn't believe him in the slightest, but considering he'd just saved her from answering, she really couldn't throw stones. "You know exactly what swimwear I've brought with me, Rick," she reminded him.
"Well I haven't seen that one yet, which tells me you aren't even really comfortable wearing it. It's a shame, you know, to keep a body like yours hidden." His face went dreamy. "I can see it now…Red strings…."
She did everything in her power to hide her increased flush. Too bad what he was referring to wasn't a bathing suit. And too bad for her he'd inadvertently painted pictures of the two of them, her dressed only in that red. She mentally slapped herself. She wasn't going to sleep with him. Right?
"So here's what I propose, Detective Beckett. First, we get settled at the hotel, then you slip into that red bikini. I'll get everything ready and then sweep you off your feet."
Kate rolled her eyes, ignoring the fact that he probably could sweep her off her feet. Scarier than that? She'd probably like it too much for her own good. "You're only seeing a bikini like that in your dreams, Castle."
"Oh no, Kate. In my dreams, that bikini would only be on my floor."
He only barely missed being whacked with one of the decorative pillows on the bed.
So, I have a feeling Kate is OOC in this, but I'm banking on the backstory that she shared a lot the previous night and her walls are falling down. And as I was writing this (especially the second part) I was like "My goodness why am I writing Kate blushing all the time!" Which would be the catalyst to me theorizing that Kate in this is OOC.
And I was almost done this one, so I decided I'd see if I could get 200 reviews by tomorrow and if I didn't I wouldn't post to tomorrow, not because I hate you guys, partially because I'm a review whore, but because most of this was written and I'd intended to get more work done today than I did... Long story. Anyway, thank phalangesbyfive and the anonymous Fran (reviewers 200 and 201) for this being up before tomorrow morning!
The next one is kind of written. Stuff needs to be added and it needs to be cleaned up in consideration of everything that's already written, so it could be up any time between now and Thursday. But my reading week starts Friday so I'm hoping that I'll get plenty of stuff done next week, but I have to get a couple of papers and things done too.
But please keep reviewing? You guys are blowing my mind with all of the reviews...
