Chapter 14
It was two days before Kate's birthday and despite everything that she had tried to get him to break he had managed to keep the secret from her. She had certainly gotten very creative in her methods, he recalled that memorable evening at her place after she'd caught him in the supply closet. She must do a lot of yoga in order to get that flexible he thought.
But now it was time to set the events unrolling after all the planning that he had done. It wasn't her birthday yet but he had deliberately chosen this day because she was less likely to be on her guard, it was the equivalent of the pre-dawn ambush, hitting the enemy when they were least prepared.
Beckett was just settling into the bath for a good long soak when her phone rang. She could tell it was Castle, even before she picked the phone up from the cabinet where it lay that. His distinctive ring tone (which he'd programmed himself into her phone) was the theme from the Batman series back in the seventies. She wasn't expecting a call from him tonight though, he was meant to be spending a father-daughter evening with Alexis playing laser tag.
"Rick, you're interrupting my bubble bath here," she said without preamble. She could practically hear him swallowing his tongue down the other end of the line.
There was a pause before he said anything. "Sorry, I was just picturing that in full high definition," he said. "Kate, can you please come over to my place?"
"What's going on Rick?" she asked.
"Well I'm kind of stuck and I can't get unstuck without some help."
"What about Alexis or Martha, isn't one of them home, surely they could give you a hand getting unstuck?"
"Actually both of them are out at the moment," he explained. "Alexis ditched me to go to the movies with Ashley, and Mother is out for dinner with her friends. Besides even if they were here I don't think I would ask them anyway, it's kind of delicate."
She tried to imagine exactly what kind of situation he could have gotten himself into that he would be too embarrassed to ask his daughter or mother to help him with. Knowing Rick though, the possibilities were endless. "Ok, I know that I will probably regret asking this, but what have you done Rick?" she said.
"I handcuffed myself to my bed," he admitted sheepishly.
"And ….." she prompted, there had to be more than that, after all she already knew about the time he had gotten Alexis to duct tape him to a chair in order to do research for a book. Being handcuffed to a bed was almost pedestrian for him.
"Well I might be naked as well," he said.
"I see," she said calmly, as if being handcuffed naked to a bed was a perfectly normal thing to do. "And exactly how were you planning on getting out of that?"
"I have the keys, but then I accidentally dropped them and now they're under the bed and I can't reach them. I was lucky that my phone was within reach."
She couldn't help the laughter that escaped her, only Rick could get himself into a situation like this. When she could finally control her mirth she said, "Rick, why would you handcuff yourself naked to your bed?"
"Would you believe it was research for my next book? You know that Nikki is kind of slutty."
"Try again," she said.
"Ok, it's all your fault actually," he admitted. "I was thinking about what you said that day in the supply room, about getting turned on that time you had me in cuffs. And it got me a bit excited. So I ….. you know."
Any urge she had to laugh suddenly vanished. It was a little weird to know that he had been fantasizing about her as he touched himself but also a little bit flattering, and yes, hot as well she admitted to herself.
"So are you going to come over to help me out, or are you just going to mock me?" he asked.
"Ok, I'll be over soon. But I warn you I might take a few photos to post on your facebook account before I uncuff you," she said before she hung up on him.
She let herself into his loft with the spare key that he had given her as an emergency backup in case he ever locked himself out. She was surprised to find it so dark in the apartment as she entered and ran her hand up the wall next to the door, searching for the light switch. "Hey Rick, it's me," she called out to him.
"Surprise!" dozens of voices shouted out at her as all the lights in the lounge flicked on. She looked at all the familiar faces gathered there, Rick's was front and foremost. "But it's not my birthday for another 2 days," she protested.
"That's exactly why we chose to do it today. Happy birthday eve eve," Rick said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek, he wanted to plant one on her beautiful mouth but he knew that she wouldn't appreciate it in front of everyone.
"My turn," Lanie said as she nudged Castle out of the way so that she could hug Kate. "Happy birthday."
"Thanks Lanie," she squeezed her back before Montgomery, Esposito and then Ryan took their turns to hug her. "So this is what you guys were whispering about that day. I knew you were all up to something."
"Yeah, it was all Castle's doing," Ryan confessed. "So if anyone is trouble it has to be him."
"Thanks all of you," she said as she took in all the preparations that had gone into the evening; the decorations, the food and the presents in the corner. "You all look really nice as well, I feel distinctly underdressed," she said as she compared her t-shirt and jeans to the finery her friends were dressed in.
"Don't worry, I planned for that as well," said Rick. "Can't have you looking like the help at your own party. Lanie snuck some clothes out of your apartment, they're waiting upstairs in the guest bathroom for you Cinderella."
"I'm thinking about taking that spare key to my apartment away from you. You obviously can't be trusted," Kate said, looking at her friend.
"Don't give me any of that rubbish. Girl you know that you're secretly happy about this party. Don't pretend that you're not," Lanie waved off Kate's attempt at fake anger. "Now go upstairs, and get changed so that this party can really get started.
Rick waited five minutes and checked to make sure that all the guests were distracted before he snuck upstairs to find her. She was half undressed when he stepped into the bathroom.
"Rick, get out of here before someone notices," Kate whispered anxiously.
"Don't worry, Lanie started challenging people to tequila shots, so they're all busy at the moment, no-one will miss me," he reassured her.
"How did you even get in here?" she asked. "I'm sure that I locked that door.
He gave her his naughty little boy grin. "Well that's what happens when you own a place, you get a key to everything there. And I always find that the most interesting things are behind locked doors."
"No, we can't do that now. You have a house full of people downstairs, including your daughter and mother, and my father I might add," Kate said as she tried to slap his hands away from her body.
"Well in that case we'd better make it quick then. Don't worry I'll still make it good for you," he promised as he managed to divest her of her bra and jeans despite her interference. "But you have to promise to keep it quiet, you know how loud you can get when you come."
"I feel like it's my birthday, look at these presents I've managed to uncover," he said as he looked down at her breasts. He bent down and latched onto one of her nipples, the wet sucking sound he made as he licked at it was quickly destroying her will to resist.
"No, don't," she gave one last half hearted attempt to stop him.
"Hmmm, tastes better than birthday cake," he said as he moved from her breasts to her mouth. "So no bed in here, what do you think we should do instead?" he pretended to contemplate their options. "I think we might do this." He spun her around so that she was facing away from him, her hands reached out automatically to brace herself against the vanity as he pressed her forward causing her to arched her back and push her ass towards him. He put one leg between hers, forcing her to spread them slightly.
His hand slipped between her thighs, testing her readiness. He found that she was already wet, the slick moisture coating his finger as it thrust into her. He slid another one in, stretching her even more. Her hips jerked rhythmically as she rode his hand, impatient mewling sounds coming from her mouth. "Sssssh," he cautioned her. "Remember there are people around. Someone might hear you."
She bit her lip, trying to prevent herself from crying out. She had never thought of herself as an exhibitionist but the risk of them being discovered added an extra spice to the sex, and she found that she enjoyed it.
He suddenly took his fingers away and fished a condom out of his wallet. Once sheathed, he took his cock in hand and guided it into place. The first hard thrust lifted her up onto her toes, she gave a moan at the sensation. She straightened her arms so she could brace herself more firmly, pushing her ass back in time to meet his thrusts. She could feel her body starting to tense when he suddenly stop.
"Do you remember how you teased me in that supply closet?" he asked. "Now it's my turn for revenge." He half pulled out of her
Her eyes flew open at his words and she looked up so she could meet his gaze in the mirror. Surely he wasn't going to leave now. She made an embarrassing moaning, pleading sound at the loss of his cock inside her. She tried to push back further to keep him there but his hands on her hips prevented her from moving. He was smiling as she squirmed in frustration, keeping her like that for thirty seconds before he suddenly thrust in again. The feel of his cock plowing back into her was enough to make her come hard, so hard she forgot the need to keep quiet. Fortunately he still had enough presence of mind to cover her mouth with one of his hands, muffling her scream.
They both slumped forward in the aftermath, his body a warm weight upon hers. "Happy birthday," he finally said as he placed a gentle kiss upon her shoulder.
"Wow, that was quite some present," she said as they both started to get dressed again.
"Actually I have another present for you as well," he said, fumbling around in his pockets.
"Rick, I don't think that we really have time for a repeat performance," she joked.
"No, I meant this," he said. He gave her a flat rectangular jeweller's box. "Go on, please open it," he said when he saw that she was hesitating.
She blinked as she took in the large black pearl on a gold chain nestled on the velvet lining of the box. "Rick…."
"It's an anniversary present, you can't give it back," he said quickly.
"It's not a birthday present? What anniversary was this? Did I miss something?" she asked confused.
"Well we have been officially dating for three months now, and I wanted to give you this because you've made me so happy," he said. "And if you give me any crap about not accepting it then I'll just slip it into the pile of birthday presents downstairs. That way you'll have to open it in front of everyone else and then there's no handing it back."
She knew when she was being manipulated, but he was doing it out of good intentions so she graciously acceded. "Thank you, it's lovely," she planted a gentle kiss on his lips.
"I knew that you wouldn't be comfortable accepting a gift like this from just a 'friend' so I wanted to give this to you privately," he explained as he looped the chained around her neck and did the clasp. They both admired it for a second before she slipped it under her top, the chain was long enough that it wouldn't be visible to anyone else.
"Ok, you head back first. I'll see you down there in a few minutes," she said kissing him again before pushing him out the door.
A/N: The tequila reference is Kie Santiago who thought that they need a tequila night. And sorry to Leep, I know that I condensed their 3 months down to a sentence but I was running out of fluff to say. This story will be wrapping up soon, maybe another 2 or 3 chapters.