Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

"You're sure it's not too…"

Kate trailed off, waving her hands in front of her body, eyes flicking from her daughter to her best friend. They were gathered in her apartment, Al and Lanie cross-legged on the couch holding juice as Kate stepped out of the hallway to the bedrooms.

"Too what?" Lanie asked, raising a brow. "Girl, it's perfect!"

Al scrambled off the couch, sliding her cup onto the coffee table the moment before she ran into her mother's arms. "So pretty, Mom."

"Thanks, kid," Kate said, then looked over Al's head to her friend. "Lanie. You're sure?"

The woman nodded. "That's the dress, Kate. No doubt about it."

Kate had picked up the dress after work, an impulse buy knowing that she was going to need one for the book release party but she wasn't really sure if it worked. Mercury grey satin was covered with ruched black tulle hugged her body, leaving her shoulders bare. She held her right elbow in her hand, her feet balanced on one another. The pair of black heels were in the hallway outside of her room, strappy things that she had to dig from the back of her closet.

"In that case, we need to get you off to Grandpa's, Al," Kate said. "Rick's going to be by to pick me up anytime now."

"I'll take my little chica to Grandpa Jim's." Lanie got up, picking up the glasses from the coffee table and downing the rest of the apple juice. "It's on my way home and you'll have time to do your hair and make-up before your Writer Boy shows up to sweep you off your feet."

"He's not my…" Kate started then stopped, shaking her head with a smile. "Al, go get your shoes and bag."

The girl dashed off to her room and Lanie moved to follow but Kate grabbed her elbow. "Lanie, you're sure this dress works? That it's not too… I don't know… sexy?"

"Kate, that dress is the right amount of sexy. Trust me. Richard Castle will be on his knees by the end of the night."

"Ready!" Al had reappeared with her shoes on, a backpack over her shoulder for the night.

Kate leaned down, pressing a kiss to Al's cheek. "Behave, kid. I'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon at Grandpa's and maybe, if you're good, we'll get lunch at-"

Someone knocked on the door and Lanie shot Kate a grin before opening it. "Well hello there," she said, moving aside to let Castle in. "We were just going. Come on, Al!"

But Al ran right past Lanie and into Castle's knees. "Hi, Rick!"

"Hey, Al," he said, shifting so the bouquet of flowers in his hands wouldn't be crushed by the girl's hug. "Spending the night with Grandpa or is this fine lady taking you for the evening?" he asked, winking at Lanie.

"Grandpa. Flowers for me?"

Kate hissed, "Al," but Castle only grinned. "Who else would they be for, beautiful?"

The light in the widened blue eyes as Castle handed her the bouquet nearly buckled Kate's knees right then and there. She held onto Lanie's forearm, watching as Al turned around with the flowers in her arms. "Mom."

She looked up at Castle and found him smiling over at her. "Better get those in water, Al, before you take off with Lanie," she said, moving to get a vase down from the cupboard over the sink. Behind her, Lanie chatted with Castle as Al fought with the cellophane wrapping around the stems of the flowers.

"Can I bring them?" Al asked, clutching the vase to her chest, the water sloshing around in the glass.

"Yeah," Kate said, giving her a nudge with her knee. "Now get going so Lanie can get home." Again, she bent down so her eyes were level with Al's before she brushed a kiss over the girl's nose. "Love you, kid."

"Love you, Mom."

Lanie winked at Kate as she said, "I'll make sure she and her flowers get to Jim's intact. Have fun, you two!"

The door closed with a click behind them, leaving Castle and Kate standing at opposite ends of the front hallway. Kate played with one of the folds of tulle on the dress nervously, not looking at him though she knew that he was watching her carefully.

"I need to-"

"You look absol-"

She let the laugh held in her chest bubble out when they spoke at the same time. "You first," she said, smoothing her toes over the top of the opposite foot.

He took a few steps into the kitchen, twisting his hands together, the silver of his cufflinks glinting streams of light onto the floor and walls. "You're so beautiful, Kate."

"Thanks," she whispered, blinking up through her lashes at him. "You're not so bad yourself. Clean up well."

"Now you."

She hooked a thumb back toward her room. "I need to do my hair."

"Would it be corny if I said you look fine right now?" he asked with a charming smile.

"A little, yeah. I'm just going to be a minute, Rick." She turned, padded back to her bedroom. In the mirror, she lifted up a handful of her curls then let them fall onto her shoulders. She had wanted to pin them up, do something befitting of the event, but now that he had complimented the simplicity of leaving it down, she wasn't sure. It did look nice, loose and tumbling over her shoulders.

So instead of picking up the hairbrush and attacking the curls with the pile of bobbypins she had gathered, Kate found the mascara in her make-up bag and started dragging the brush through her eyelashes. It took five minutes for her to finally believe that what she had done with the eyeshadow and liner and lipstick was acceptable.

Still, she tossed the tube of pink lipstick into the little black clutch she had borrowed from Lanie next to her cell. Nervous habit of nibbling her lower lip might require touching up the color.

He was leaning against the counter of the kitchen, studying the bookshelves across the room when she walked back out into the hall, ducking down to scoop up her heels. "Almost ready. You know us women," she teased as she balanced her butt on the back of the couch to buckle the ankle strap of the shoes.

"Take your time, Kate. You're the star tonight, after all."

She felt a blush creep on to her cheeks as she straightened, pulling on the hem of her dress, suddenly aware of how the bottom only hit halfway up her thighs. "Not true and you know it. You did all the work."

"Let's agree to disagree. You did most of the heavy lifting. Sitting in my office while writing is not difficult." He held out his arm with a close-lipped grin. "Come on, Cinderella. The carriage awaits."

"I'm not a princess either," she said, slipping her fingers of his elbow anyway. "I don't need rescuing."

"Course not."

He waited as she locked the front door, tossed the keychain into her clutch before ducking her eyes back up to his. "Sweep me off my feet, Charming."

The car outside was not the horse-drawn carriage from the fairy tale. Nor was it a stretch limo like Kate thought it would be. Instead, it was a plain dark blue car, a sedan that could have been found in a suburbanite's garage out in White Plains. Kate stopped on the sidewalk, pulling Castle to a halt next to her.

"What is this?"

"Uh," he hesitated, glancing from Kate to the car, then back. "Our ride? I mean, I can get a bigger car if you want but I just figured that you'd want to be as out-of-the-limelight as possib-"

She cut him off with a kiss. Not hot or passionate or devouring, but sweet and thankful and soft. Without knowing it, his hand snaked up to rest between her bare shoulder blades, fingers splayed over the warm skin. Kate sighed, moving her head to rest on his shoulder, her lips pressed to the column of his throat.

"What'd I do to deserve you, Rick?" she whispered, her mouth tickling his skin.

He let his hand trail down her side, running over the tulle until his palm rested on her hip. "Same goes, Kate. Now get in the car before we both miss the release party when I drag you back upstairs."

She hummed, the vibrations moving down to his chest as she stepped back, a cheeky grin covering her face. "Not so Charming after all," she said, moving toward the car to open the door. Kate slid into the back seat of the sedan, scooting over to let him get in next to her.

Castle sat close to her. Too close for the sticky July heat that clung to them as they entered the air-conditioned car. His fingers danced over her naked knee, teasing the joint as the driver pulled away from the curb. Kate captured the digits against the bit of thigh uncovered as she sat.

"Rick," she said, just enough of her detective-voice in the tone to make him stop. "Book release party."

"We can skip it."

She shook her head, the brown curls hitting his shoulder. "No. I want to go see Nikki."

Castle tilted his head toward hers, his nose brushing her hair away from her ear. "You know that you are Nikki, right?"

"You're confusing fact and fiction, Rick."

Ignoring her little growl of warning, he kissed the spot below her ear. "Mmmm, no I'm not. You're fact, she's fiction. I can't do this to Nikki."

He felt her lips turn up in a smile even as she pulled her head away. She placed a hand firmly on his chest, keeping him away. "Stop for, like, five minutes, okay?" His lips moved from her ear as he shifted to meet her eyes. "At this party, will there be paparazzi?"

"Uh, yeah. Probably." Oh. The constant media, the overly bright camera flashes, the reporters that stalked his every move? That was old news to him. But to Kate, it'd be new and foreign and scary to have her privacy invaded. "Listen," he started, turning to face her, his knees brushing hers. "I can't promise that they'll leave you, leave us, alone tonight. But in the future, I'll talk to Paula about keeping them to a minimum."

Kate turned her hand over, lacing her fingers through his on the warm leather of the seat between them. "Just wanted to be prepared. You know?"

"I should have thought to warn you."

"Not your fault." She smiled, letting her head fall against his shoulder. "So, I'm Nikki." Castle hummed, nodding. "She's exactly like me?"

Castle looped his arm over her shoulders, fingers tickling her upper arm. "Ask what you really want to know."

He was not going to make this easy for her, was he? Kate sighed, shifting so her nose dug into his shoulder joint. "Does she have a kid? Because I know you said you hadn't put one in the book back when we talked before but…" She trailed off as if she realized that she had begun to ramble.

"No." They were close to the restaurant holding the book release party but he need to tell her before she read it. "No, she doesn't have a daughter. There are some things, no matter how fantastic they'd play out in a story, that are private. Al, she's ours."

"Ours?"

Well that was a verbal misstep. "I mean, I didn't want her to become public fodder. She's five. She doesn't need to be plastered over Page Six if I happen to take her out for ice cream and the media catches us."

Kate snagged the hand he had draped over her shoulder, weaving her fingers into the spaces left by his. With a quick, hard squeeze, she pulled and trapped his palm against her waist, holding it there as it became a warm spot in the chill of the air conditioning.

"I don't care what the press says," she started before he cut her off.

"But you will if they start painting Al as our illegitimate love child."

Kate's glare stopped what had promised to become another rant about how cruel the paparazzi were. "Shush and let me finish. I don't care what the presses says, Rick. You are the sweetest, most thoughtful man I've known." She paused, smiling over at him. "Well, my dad might actually beat you out. Just because."

"Daddy's girl?"

"Parents' girl. I didn't play favorites and neither did they."

They car stopped and Castle leaned his head down to Kate's ear. "Ready or not…" He got out first, putting a hand back into the car to help her out. Shielding her for a moment, Castle tugged on the hem of her dress, pulling it as far down as it would go. "Smile, Kate. Thirty seconds of light and we'll be done." He tucked her hand into his elbow. "Ignore the questions. Just smile and you'll outshine even their cameras."

The carpet gave under her heels, catching her off-guard. Castle placed his hand over hers, waiting until she got her balance before stepping forward again. "Gotcha," he whispered, voice low enough that the reporters couldn't hear.

"Thanks," she whispered back without having to force the smile. Maybe sometimes a girl could use a knight in shining armor to catch her as she fell or to gather up her lost slipper or awaken her with a kiss.

Sometimes. The other times, Kate Beckett could handle herself.

They did ignore the questions that were shouted out at them, most of them having to do with exactly who was on Richard Castle's arm. When someone asked if she was his 'latest play-toy,' she felt the muscles of his forearm bunch under her hand.

"Easy, Rick," Kate muttered, smile still in place as she tightened her fingers on the suit jacket. "Ignore them, remember?"

As soon as they were into the restaurant, he spun her into a hallway occupied only by a few of the black-clad waitstaff chatting with their platters hugged to their thighs. Castle pressed her against the wall, his hands cushioning some of the blow from their place at her waist and shoulder blade.

"Rick, what're you-"

He cut her off with a hot kiss, her head bumping back against the wall as his mouth slanted over hers. His hands crept up, tangling into her hair to hold her against him, trapped between his body and the solid wall behind her. Breaking away for a moment, regaining their breath, Castle let his head fall against hers.

Kate closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing. "What was that?"

"You're not a play-toy, Kate."

She gave him a push backwards, stepping with him so that her feet were between his. One hand reached up, brushing over his cheek as she smiled up at him. "I know. I know, okay?" Kate waited for his nod before stretching up on her toes, the heels of her shoes coming off the ground, and giving him a soft kiss. "Can I go see Nikki now?"

"I need to sign books. Think you can amuse yourself for half an hour or so?"

"I'm sure I can find another cute guy to hang out with," Kate teased, moving toward the entrance to the hallway, her fingers reaching back for his.

He tried to snag her wrist and failed, jogging the few steps to make up the distance. "Kate…" he growled, trying to tug her back.

"Kidding, Rick. Besides," she said with a grin, "you're handsome. Cute does not beat out handsome."

"Some might say I'm ruggedly handsome."

Kate gave him a little kick in the shin before going into the foyer of the restaurant now crowded with other guests. "Must be your chiseled jaw line. Now go sign books."

He let his fingers trail over her back as he moved to the booth where people had started lining up. She saw him glance toward her as he sat, picking up the first of the Sharpies on the table. Kate winked at him before scanning the room for something to do.

He hadn't let her look at the book as he was writing it. She hadn't given into temptation when people on the fansites had begun posting spoilers online. So the display of books off to the side of the room drew her in.

The cover was a deep red, not terribly different from his previous books that lined her bookshelves back at her apartment. However, it was the woman on the left side of the cover that had her narrowing her eyes.

"Little risqué for Rick, isn't it?"

She looked to her right and saw a dark haired woman sipping from a glass of champagne, studying the cover. Her dress was a flurry of bright flowers on the single-shouldered short gown, double-hooped earrings swinging as she tilted her head.

Kate shrugged, playing with the fabric of her clutch. "It's different from his usual."

"I tried to tell him to do away with the gun but he insisted that his muse would shoot him where it would hurt if there was more than the hint of nudity on the cover. He's got respect for this girl, whoever she is."

Then the woman moved away with a syncopated click of her heels. Kate looked back at the books. Yes, the person on the cover was close-to-naked but the gun, raised up in a traditional Weaver stance, covered anything that Kate would want to shoot Castle over. She picked up one of the books resting on a stand, turning the hardcover over. Before she could open the front cover to see the most important part of the book, Kate shifted over to the corner, leaning her shoulder against the wall.

Flipping past the copyright and title pages, she held the first few pages down as she read the dedication.

To all of my friends at the 12th.
And to the extraordinary KB and her heartbreaker – thank you.

She felt her heart jump into her throat and it took a few tries to get it to settle back into her chest. Hugging the book to her stomach, Kate pushed off from the wall and started over to the booth where Castle was still schmoozing with the dwindling line of guests. She scooted into the booth, across from him in the horseshoe shaped bench. He looked up, smiled quickly, and went back to scrawling his name over the title pages of the books placed in front of him.

Once the last book was signed, he sighed, capping the Sharpie and placing it on the table. "Hey, beautiful."

Kate pushed the book across the table at him. "The dedication."

His smile faltered, glancing down at the book then back at her. "It's not too personal, is it? I mean, I didn't want to include Al if you didn't want her there but she's as much a part of what helped with the story as you are and…" he trailed off when he saw Kate grinning, whether it was at his bumbling or something else entirely.

"It's perfect."

Thing was, did he realize just how perfect the dedication, those few words spoken indirectly to her through Heat Wave's dedication, were? Probably not.

Castle reached across the table, wrists resting on the cover of the novel, as he wrapped his fingers around hers. "So it's okay?"

"Yes," Kate said on a short laugh. "It's… It's lovely, Rick. You know what else would be lovely, though?" His brow rose, eyes bright as he watched her. "Feeding me."

He picked up the Sharpie, uncapped it and spun the book around between them. "Well, it just so happens," he said softly as he held the cover so she couldn't see what he was writing, "that we're in a restaurant. What can I feed you, Miss Beckett?"

When he got out of the booth, he held onto the book.

"Don't I get my book back?" she asked, following him as he walked over to the table with food.

Castle shook his head, handing her a plate even as he kept the novel tucked under his arm. "Nope."

"Why?"

"Food first, reading second. Here, try the pasta," he said, holding out a forkful of fettuccini alfredo for her. She kept her plate away from the fork. "Okay then."

Kate skirted around him to the front of the line, glaring. "Castle. My book. Now."

"Oh, we're using 'Castle' now," he murmured, picking up a roll from a basket. "Eat something, Kate, and you can have the book back."

With a grin, Kate snagged the roll from his plate, broke off a piece, and popped it into her mouth. "There." She held out her free hand. "Book."

"Ooh, you're clever." Defeated, he placed the book into her hand then gave her a gentle push out of the way. "Let me get food, woman."

Taking another bite of the roll, Kate balanced the book on her hip.

Kate, who knew coffee could lead to this?
I am forever grateful.
Rick

"Who knew…" she whispered, rolling a piece of the bread between her fingers before eating it. "Who knew indeed."