Hope 9

Kate had a broad smile on her face as she locked her bike into place outside of the house that Rick shared. She hadn't finished reading that book he had to write a paper about, but she'd read enough to at least help a little.

Amazingly Jen hadn't said a word when she asked if she had any spare condoms that she could have. Turned out Jen had an entire box of them. In turn she'd been forced to listen to her roommate complain about her inability to put them to use.

The second Kate had finished placing her last red mark on his paper, she'd started stripping and was soon helping Rick to strip. The sex had turned out to be just as mind-blowing as their first time.

So much so that she'd gone to the library in search of just how Rick did what he did with his cock when it was inside her. "I HAVE A G SPOT?!" Kate had clapped a hand over her mouth and had furtively looked around to see if anyone had been paying attention to her. As best she could figure, the head of Rick's circumcised cock stroked her G spot on each stroke in and out. "I'm so fucking your brains out, Castle." Apparently her G spot didn't get as sensitive as her clit. It meant she could have an almost limitless number of orgasms from her G spot. "Time to find out just how many orgasms I can have." Kate closed the book and put it back.

"Hi, is Castle here?" One of his roommates had answered the door. He should be here. His bike was out front and locked next to hers and he had just texted her a few minutes ago.

"Upstairs, I think." He backed out of the way and let her in. Kate could feel his eyes on her ass all the way. Not that she cared. Only Rick was ever going to see her naked ass so he could watch her walk away from him all he wanted.

She found his door open and closed it after stepping inside. "Hey, Castle." Kate didn't wait for him to get up. She walked over to him and bent down to kiss him, feeling him kiss her back. "What's up? Our next date isn't for another week. And how was your paper?" Kate had been curious about why he wanted to see her for a moment before their next date.

"I know it's early but we need to plan ahead if we want to go." Rick fished something out of his desk drawer and handed it to her. Curious, she took it and sat down on his bed. She read it through. The school was putting together bus trips for them to purchase. One was going to Vegas, the second was going to Seattle, and the third was going to Yellowstone. In each location there would be a hotel room that they would share with members of their sex. All meals were up to them. All the school was providing help with was transportation and a hotel room.

Kate recounted the offers. "Seattle, Yellowstone, and Vegas." Then it hit her. "Each of these is during our Christmas vacation."

"I know and that's why we need to talk. I don't know if you have plans with your father over Christmas and if you didn't, if you would be interested in one of these. Or if there was someplace else you wanted to go.

"Hawaii is a flight from here to LA and then out to Hawaii if you wanted to go someplace warm. We would need to pay for everything and arrange for everything ourselves. Or we could take our chances and go to Disneyland." Rick was betting that Disneyland would be packed and a poor choice.

"You're trying awfully hard to get me into a bikini there, Castle." Kate couldn't help but grin since she was more then willing to strip and sit on his bed naked not to mention have sex with him.

She watched Rick try to hide his smile. "Guilty as charged." He raised his head to look at her. "Only if you don't have plans with your dad, though." He didn't want her to cancel them if she did just to go someplace with him.

"I don't know; we haven't talked about it." Kate was being honest since she hadn't. "Dad lives in New York." It meant a long flight, though she would take it just to see him. She just wasn't going to enjoy the flight. Especially if Chicago got snowed in for some reason.

"Where were you thinking?" Kate wanted to know where he was interested in going, besides the obvious since he had brought it up.

"As much as I would like to see you in a bikini all day for as long as we're there…" Rick grinned and leered comically at her. Kate outright laughed at him and was happy that she'd brought a condom with her since she was only leaving here after getting laid. "I was thinking of Vegas." That was a bit of a shock to her. "Hear me out. We don't have to check into the room they arrange for us. We could get one of our own; I have the money for it." Actually Rick knew he had more than enough to even get them a Presidential Suite the entire time they were there. "We could do a little gambling, go see a show or two. One of those CIrc de so lay shows," he suggested.

Kate grinned then corrected him. "It's Cirque du Soleil. That would be great; I've heard their shows are gorgeous." She had never seen one of those. "We could see the one that is topless." She waited just to gauge his reaction.

She was pleasantly surprised at his response. Rick shrugged. "It's up to you; it's not high on my list. And I'm not sure we would even be able to tell sitting up in the balcony," he joked. "Also why I wanted to know – I need to start making reservations if we want a room and see a show.

"We could and most likely will rent a car to get around in. We could use it to drive to Phoenix if you want. It's only about 4 hours away. I'm not sure what's there, but we could go." Rick was doing his best to offer her options of what they could do.

"Vegas." Kate thought it over. Seattle was already out. Yellowstone sounded interesting. Going to Hawaii sounded even more interesting. It was just that she couldn't afford to go there.

"I want to see what room you've planned for us, Castle, and I want to see what the show costs us." She had every intention of helping to pay her share.

Kate saw his face light up and she grinned a little. "Vegas?" Rick was happy that she was accepting his first choice. "I'll start looking up costs but don't worry about that much. This is my idea."

She shook her head. "I'm helping to pay for this, Castle, so don't get any ideas. I'll talk to my dad and let you know." A Christmas in Vegas sounded like a lot of fun. It would come without snow, but at least it also meant she wasn't sleeping in the Chicago airport. She had a question for him. "Do you ski?" He shook his head. "I'll teach you." She'd just decided that one of their side trips was going to be a skiing trip.

Kate placed his paper on the bed, got up, and bent down to kiss him. She started smiling into the kiss when she felt Rick start unbuttoning her buttons. It told her that he wanted her. Yes, she'd started it with a kiss and she had every intention of having sex, but it felt good that he wanted her, too.

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Kate was perplexed. It was his turn to take them out on a date and Rick's text had told her to wear a swimsuit underneath her clothes. Except it was cold outside. Did he really want them to freeze to death? Rolling her eyes, she'd put on a bikini under her sweats and her jacket. Wearing her tennis shoes, she was downstairs waiting for him.

She was even more perplexed when she'd been told to invite all the girls on her floor to come with her. She had been told to get them to bring something to eat. Anything they wanted even if it needed to be cooked.

"You're lucky," the girl at the front desk suddenly said and Kate noticed that she was looking at her. "There aren't that many of us that go out on this many dates or do this." She was envious and it showed.

"Yeah, I think so." Kate wasn't willing to talk to her about it, but she was happy. She was rescued when Rick came into the lobby.

"Ready? Our van's waiting." Rick looked around, glancing at a lot of girls until his eyes landed on Kate then he started smiling. All of them were dressed much like he was. A coat to keep out the cold, sweats, and probably a swimsuit beneath that. Everyone had two bags. One was a purse and one held what they were bringing.

Kate wasn't bashful about their relationship anymore; she walked right up to him and kissed him. "What's going to happen, Castle?" He'd been secretive about this date. She really didn't understand why he had asked her to invite her entire floor on their date.

"Everyone got swimsuits and food?" Rick called out and saw a few of them lift a bag. "Then let's go. Some of us might have to stand for the trip." He had arranged for a van that could hold 18 people and it looked like he had more than that. It turned out that Rick had been right. All the seats were taken and the rest were standing all the way to the front where the yellow line on the floor was located.

"Castle?" Kate really wanted an explanation. Rick ignored her as he started the van and closed the door. Then he handed her a piece of paper.

"You're the navigator." Rick had printed out how to get there because he'd never actually been there. Kate took the paper and looked it over. It gave directions on how to get there but it didn't say where there was. Sighing, she told him when to turn and which way to turn as she watched where they were going.

Finally Rick pulled into a parking lot. "Hamilton Recreation Center?" Kate still didn't get it. They were still going to freeze their asses off.

Rick parked where he could and opened the door. "Everyone wait here; I need to find someone first." Then he ran inside.

Kate could only shake her head when the girls started asking her questions yet again. They had all asked her what was going on when she had invited all of them. She still didn't really understand. How was this a date?

They were starting to wonder if he was going to come back when he came running back out from inside the building. "Everyone take one and put them on." Rick handed over slim pieces of bright green pieces of paper. They all knew what they were and pulled the tab off to expose the glue and put them around their wrist. "Okay, listen up!" he waited for everyone to go silent. "Don't lose these." Rick lifted up his own wrist with a band around it. "We have this place until 8:00 tonight. These will allow you access to the gym, the kitchen where we will be cooking our meals, and the indoor pool.

"If none of you have been here, the kitchen is rentable as is the gym. The pool has a number of slides. It also has lockers for you to use. Your wrist bands will get you access to all of this. Just be back here by 8:00. If for some reason you need to leave earlier than that, you're on your own." Rick felt bad about that, but he didn't know what to do about it.

"Everybody go through the door on the end. The kitchen is first where you'll drop off your food bags, next to the lockers, and then go where you want. We start cooking at 5:00 and I'll need some volunteers to help with that. Hopefully what you didn't bring I did." Mostly Rick had brought just meat, fruit, and some bread to make hamburgers with. Everything else had been left to the girls.

He stepped back outside and made sure all of the girls had bands on their wrist.

"I like him, Kate," Kate was told a number of times. "I'm so stealing him, Kate," she'd been told a couple of times. And only once, she'd been told, "You don't want him I'll be happy to take him off your hands."

Jen was last. "Don't lose this one, Kate, no matter what he does or says, ever. He's a keeper." Jen was envious in the extreme. "And my offer still stands, just tell me when not to sleep in our room." Jen hugged her and followed all of the other girls.

Kate was in tears when she left the van and found Rick just standing there waiting, hoping she wasn't going to hurt him. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him for all she was worth. No guy had ever even dreamed of doing something like this. She had no idea how he had arranged for this or even how he could afford it, but she loved him for it.

Kate finally broke from the kiss and let her forehead rest against his. "I love you, Rick." She finally could get the words out and tell him instead of just telling herself.

Rick immediately began kissing her. "I love you too, Kate. Maybe more than you'll ever know," he whispered into her lips. Kate wiped away her tears then kissed him again since she couldn't figure out what to say. He was amazing!

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Kate and all of the girls were having a blast. She hadn't failed to notice that some of the girls had obviously told their boyfriends or had invited a boy to join them. She didn't mind and hoped that Rick didn't either. Besides only the girls had the wrist bands that were their color.

Kate had even taken a peek at the gym. It turned out to not be a weight room type gym, nor did it have a boxing ring. It was a basketball court that she had learned also doubled as an indoor volleyball court. Kate had convinced some of the girls and their boyfriends to join her and Rick in a quick game. Kate had had a blast and was laughing a lot and GOD but it felt good!

She had also noticed that all of the boys were watching the tits bouncing in bikini tops, including Rick. But only she ever got kissed by Rick and she was the only one he said I love you to. Now that they'd said it, Kate had found that it was so much easier to tell him and hear it back. Her heart just kept growing for him after each time.

They lost but she didn't care. She was in his arms and being told that she was loved.

Kate was just getting out of the pool and found that she missed seeing him. He wasn't there to hold her, kiss her, and tell her that he loved her. So she went in search of him.

She found him in the kitchen flipping burgers. Kate came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him from behind. At first he had jumped out of his skin and Kate giggled. "It's just me, Castle. You didn't tell me that you knew how to cook." One more thing to be impressed about.

"I hate to break it to you, but this isn't cooking. Grilling burgers is simple, cooking is not. Between the two of us you better know how to cook or we're going to be eating take-out." Rick joked.

Kate sucked in a breath. Had he just, in a round about manner, talked about them living together or… even being married? For a moment it scared the hell out of her. Then she thought about it. "Mrs. Castle." Kate tried it on for size and found that she wasn't all that scared about it. Still she wasn't ready for it yet. Besides they had only just started making love to each other. "Maybe one day." Still it gave Kate the courage she needed to ask him something.

"Castle… Do you want to come home with me for Thanksgiving? I haven't bought my ticket yet." This was a really big question for her to ask.

"Thanksgiving? In New York? With your dad?" Rick stopped paying attention to what he was doing and instantly went into panic mode.

"Yes, yes, and yes. It's just New York, Castle. Granted we have to stop in Chicago, but it's not snowing yet, and it's just my dad." Kate didn't see the big deal.

New York! …JUST HER DAD!

"I… I mean, I…" Rick was scared out of his mind.

"What's wrong, Castle?" Kate could hear it in his voice and feel it since he had turned into a rock and had tensed up all his muscles. "It's just my dad, he's going to love you." Kate was sure he would. Hell, based on some of the supposed boyfriends she'd dragged home on a couple of occasions, Rick would blow his mind. Her dad would love him!

Rick started to laugh, a little hysteria evident in his voice. "Just your dad in New York."

"Castle?" She didn't get it. Her dad was nice, he would love him. She loved him, loved him a lot. "Dad's a heavy sleeper," Kate assured him if that was what he was worried about. They could make love to each other every night instead of once a week like they did now.

"Meet your dad in New York." Rick could tell Kate really wanted this. But New York was where he'd almost been killed. He hadn't jumped except to retrieve money when he needed it. He hadn't hit a bank in weeks, months really. He wasn't even really sure just how much money he still had. Thousands certainly, if not tens or possibly hundreds of thousands.

"New York, celebrate Thanksgiving with your dad." Rick still wasn't sure about this. "He's not going to shoot me is he?" Rick tried to make a joke out of it since he was still scared.

Hearing him trying to make a joke had Kate relaxing a little; she wrapped her arms around him again. "No, he's not going to shoot you. My dad's a nice guy. You'll see. So… is that a yes?" Kate wanted to hear him say yes.

"So long as your dad doesn't kill me, break my leg or arm, poison me with the food, or slam the door in my face… yeah, I'll go." He could never leave their house. But the airport had cameras, didn't it? Now did he use his passport that said Richard Rodgers or the one that said Richard Castle?

He hoped this wasn't going to be the last trip he ever made.

Rick could hear Kate giggling behind him and felt her lips on his back. "He'll love you almost as much as I do."

"Um… your burgers are burning, Castle."