Chapter 12
Lanie's drink almost came shooting out of her nose when she tried to stifle a laugh. Instead, her efforts sent her into a fit of coughing that had her fleeing the table. Javi went off after her, just a step behind.
As nonchalantly as she could, Kate dropped a hand beneath the table and grabbed the skin of the back of Rick's in a firm pinch. It didn't take more than a couple of seconds of that discomfort for him to yank it from where it'd settled uninvited on her thigh.
"You've been to Beckett's apartment?" Kevin asked, the query not some mischievous attempt at a "gotcha" as much as a verbal realization of a personal failure. "I've never even seen it," he whined with discernible envy, sounding like a kid who'd never received an invitation to a popular schoolmate's birthday parties.
Kate rolled her eyes. Kevin was undoubtedly the softer of her two NYPD partners, and for that crown, he required far more work.
"No, Ryan, he hasn't been to my apartment." Having smoothly delivered the fib she hoped would route the conversation elsewhere, she slowly swiveled her head Rick's way, noting the nosy arch of Nora's brow and the puzzled crimp of his. "He writes fiction, and apparently he has trouble keeping his pen capped when he's off the clock."
Rick turned immediately to Nora, a grin curling the corner of his mouth. "I love it when she talks dirty to me," he wisecracked.
"Someone's talkin' dirty?" Javi returned to the table at the tail end of the joke, resumed his seat. "You're Irish, dude. Aren't you supposed to be able to hold your booze?" he mocked, assuming straight off it was Kevin making a fool of himself.
Popping a bite of pork, Rick gestured a thumb in Kate's direction.
"No way. Beckett's getting after it?" He pushed out a chuckle and Kate slivered her eyes at him.
"Your lipstick's all over your face, Esposito. You look like a clown," she snarled and went back to her plate.
Kevin reached out and Javi batted his hand away. "Leave it." He started wiping furiously at his lips and cheeks with his napkin, all but admitting what he and Lanie had gotten up to in the other room, but there was no lipstick, in fact, none, at all. "Oh, yeah, that's hilarious. You're both messed up."
In their corner of the table, like Statler and Waldorf watching from the balcony, Nora and Rick were thoroughly enjoying the trio's show. Thankfully for the three, Lanie came back before the heckling could begin.
"Sorry, everybody, something went down the wrong pipe." She cleared her throat for effect, found Kate across the table and silently checked in. The glare leveled at her came as little surprise. "Okay, I'm definitely going to need another drink. Anyone else while I'm up?"
Rick picked up his bottle and shook it, slid his chair back. "I'll join you."
Kate watched them walk off together toward the kitchen, and she didn't like that at all. They'd already teamed up against her once. That was when Nora leaned in as close as she could. "I don't know why the hell you wouldn't, but if you don't want him, can I have him?"
For Kate, it seemed the nightmare wouldn't end.
"I'm just saying, whatever house you were in before, I think we're both in the doghouse now," Lanie informed Rick as she poured herself a fresh glass. "I don't know what was up with you two out there, but if you want to talk to her, I suggest you try doing it sooner rather than later. She's already got one foot out the door, and from the looks of it, she'd probably enjoy giving either of us a swift kick with the other one."
Rick twisted the cap off the beer she offered, downed several gulps. "I know you and I just met, but has anyone ever told you your pep talks could use some work?" He stole a peek into the other room. "I can't just go out there and kidnap her from the table. I mean, I could but there's that whole kicking thing. I happen to be quite fond of my shins."
"I can see why she'd like you," Lanie snickered. "And why you'd annoy the crap out of her."
His swellheaded balloon promptly deflated.
xxxx
Poised for opportunity to strike and a moment to seize, Rick had kept an eager eye on Kate since they'd finished with dinner. She'd done well at keeping her distance, despite the small group and the modest surroundings, but he had managed to catch them, the fleeting glance or two she'd shot in his direction. Daggers or desire, truth was he was welcomed either. At least, he thought, it was something.
Eventually she snuck away, headed off in the direction of the bathroom, which was when he politely-and gladly-excused himself from a Kevin-instigated discussion on seasonal allergies, and followed after her, parked himself outside the door in wait.
She emerged after a couple of minutes, startled by his unexpected presence and announcing so by way of a colorful expletive, her heartbeat hastened for more reasons than the obvious one.
"I said nice before, but that wasn't even close. You look incredible tonight," he told her when she made a move to pass without any further acknowledgement. It was enough to stop her. "You smell incredible, too."
Lanie had earlier observed the same about him. Somehow, it'd been easier to shrug off then, when the butter of his voice hadn't had her tooth tugging at her lip. For fear of it being discovered, she couldn't bring herself to turn around and face him.
"I still don't understand why you had to come here, why you couldn't have just-"
"Just what," he cut in, "been okay with not seeing you again? Been okay with letting you decide for both of us that what happened the other night was nothing? And Lanie found me, Kate. She called me. I guess she wasn't okay with it either." He paused in hopes she'd come around, but she didn't. "You won't even look at me? Fine, then give me ten minutes alone, and if you still want me to go after that, I promise I'll go."
She couldn't know it, but behind his back he had his fingers crossed, signaling his intention to do nothing of the sort.
"I'm not doing it here, not with everyone," Kate reluctantly gave in after a minute of consideration.
Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth and without pausing to inform the rest of them, Rick guided her straight to the front door and out into the hallway. "A walk?" he suggested and earned a shrug, which he realized was as close to a yes as he was going to get. "Don't get any ideas about pushing me into oncoming traffic," he admonished when they made their way out of Lanie's building.
"I hadn't thought of that," Kate replied more playfully than intended. She was finding it a greater struggle, holding herself at even. "Ten minutes," she reminded him, firm to the point of sounding put on. And it was more than it wasn't.
Without a destination, they set off into the cool night air, the crowd at nearly every restaurant and bar they passed spilling out onto the sidewalk, the white noise of the city weaving its way through the buzz of gossip and laughter.
"A writer not knowing what to say happens more often than people think, but that doesn't make it any easier," Rick confessed, rendered unexpectedly tongue-tied by the mission at hand that was for him uncharted heart territory. "I guess I should say, first, that I'm sorry. I'm sorry I upset you, that night at your place and again tonight. I think, or I hope you know I'd never set out to do that."
Just then, a group of rowdy twentysomethings came bouncing toward them, each of its male members shirtless, one wearing a sash emblazoned "Groom to Be" and an uncertain smile. "You should marry that chick instead," one of the future groom's buddies cackled, speaking of Kate. "She's way hotter than Lucy."
"Poor Lucy," Rick sympathized through a smile as the cohort continued along its raucous path. "It's true."
Kate shook her head, amused by both. "Shut up."
He immediately flipped his wrist, shifted aside his sleeve. "Nope, sorry, still got eight minutes on the clock." Wasting none of it, when they reached the entryway of a closed shop they could step into just ahead, he pulled her in, found his words. "I meant what I wrote in that note, Kate. Something happened when I first saw you-before Lady Raven and the rest of it-and nothing has ever felt like that for me before. To call it attraction wouldn't be enough. To call it love would be too much. I know that. Whatever it is, it's a different and a new I want to live in with you.
"And maybe what got us here wasn't all part of some grand scheme of the universe to bring two people together. I happen to be someone who thinks it would be pretty cool if it were. I think believing in things like magic and superstition and aliens and wishing on stars makes life more fun.
"But even if it was all just a bunch of coincidences, if it turned out I just picked a shitty day to drive my Ferrari, and I just have a thing for mediocre New York pizza and arcade games, it wouldn't make any difference. One or the other, it wouldn't change how I feel, Kate, about you or about you and me. And, yes, I do think there could and should be a you and me, despite that drunk, half naked guy's suggestion that you should be betrothed to another."
If that was him not knowing what to say, Kate thought, anything that came out of her mouth in reply would surely amount to little more than gibberish, so she spared them both.
"We're different, Rick. We live different lives. I need…time to think."
Rick reached out and cupped her cheek without a second thought, softly smiled in the shadows. "Okay," he said, both understanding it and hating it equally. "You can even have the rest of mine." He took his hand away, checked his watch for the second time. "It's not much, but it's yours. Should we head back? Nora's probably wondering where I am."
They merged back into the flow of the Saturday night lot, their arms gently brushing against one another as they walked, passing by the same crowds, serenaded by the same song of the city. The entire way, Kate hoped to feel his hand wrap around hers. Rick hoped the same of hers, but it wasn't hope either needed.
Back at the apartment, everyone was again seated at the table, this time for dessert and coffee, and all heads turned when the pair walked through the door after they'd gone off together so abruptly.
"Where the hell did you two go?" Javi spoke up first for the group.
Kevin shoveled another bite of pie into his mouth. "Yeah, we were thinking about calling the cops." Nora threw him a pity laugh when no one else did. "There's pie," he announced with a nip of bitterness.
Lanie, knowing but appropriately discreet, directed them to the kitchen. "Grab some plates. There's coffee in there, too. If you want tea, the water in the kettle should still be hot from mine."
The galley-style kitchen was comfortable enough for two people to occupy, but that didn't leave much room to maneuver, certainly not without involving a bit of dancing. Kate-of course, familiar-knew where things were kept. She knew what cabinet the mugs were in, which canister on the counter held the tea bags, where the spoons were, and she quickly took charge.
"Coffee or tea?" Rick asked, wanting to help.
Busy carving out two slices of the French silk pie, she flicked her chin in the direction of the three ceramic canisters against the wall. "The big one. It doesn't matter what kind," she told him of the several varieties of tea it held.
He dug his fingers in like it was a game, swirled them around and plucked two at random, passed behind her, close, to get to the stove. "I'll have some, too," he dropped over her bare shoulder, and the warm breath of him tickled her skin.
With the envelopes unfolded, he poured from the kettle. Licking a wayward dollop of chocolate from her knuckle, Kate watched his hands at work, inexplicably entranced by a practice she herself engaged in without any consideration nearly every night.
"Do you want me to put anything in it?"
It took a few seconds for her to process the question and then a few more to peel her eyes from his lips where they'd inadvertently landed.
"Um, there's-up in this one, there's honey," she told him and then they both reached at the same time, his hand blanketing hers on the cabinet's handle.
Next thing they knew, their mouths met in an urgent, hungry kiss, with his fingers tangled in her hair and her leg sliding up his thigh. Forgetting she was still holding it, the metal pie server fell to the floor with an echoey clang, which should've, at the very least, provoked a pause, but it didn't. No, that required the intervention of a curious Lanie who came innocently walking in from the other room to find out what'd happened.
"You're serious. In my kitchen." She stood with one hip cocked and her arms crossed, waited, cleared her throat when none of that was enough.
"Lanie," Kate said and gripped the edge of the counter to regain her balance.
"Kevin's head would've exploded if he'd seen that. You're lucky it's Lanie." She spotted the utensil on the floor, the specks of chocolate and flakes of crust it lay amongst. "What, you can't get your thrill on without trashing my pretty, white kitchen? How about you take yourselves home and have at it there. If the first time was half as hot as that was, you sure have my damn blessing."
Rick waited until Lanie walked out, backed Kate up against the sink and locked her there, an arm at her each side.
"I must say, your best friend has some excellent ideas." He pressed his lips against her neck. "What do you say, Detective? Do you want to take me home or do you need some more time to think?"
She was practically halfway there before he even finished asking.