WHISKING IT ALL
CHAPTER THREE

Kate stretched and opened her eyes to the illuminated room, grateful that she'd remembered to shut the curtains the night before. She frowned when she turned over and found the other side of the bed empty, but she heard the sound of running water and turned her attention to the bathroom.

The door opened to reveal a bare-chested Rick, droplets of water clinging to his skin as he wore only a towel hanging low on his hips. She dropped her gaze to the front of the towel, willing it to fall to the floor, but judging by the fact that Rick had obviously showered, a lazy morning in bed seemed out of the question.

When her eyes trailed back up to his face she saw him smirking at her, and her face warmed. "Going somewhere?" she asked, sitting up against the headboard, letting the sheet fall and grinning at the way his gaze dropped to her bare chest.

Rick turned off the bathroom light before moving over to her, and he tucked his thumbs in the top of the towel. When he leaned over she turned her head, so he brushed his lips to her cheek. "I should get home," he rumbled against her skin. "And you have to check out."

Kate glanced past him at the clock on the nightstand and swore. While she didn't technically need to be home by any specific time, it was almost time to check out, and she needed to work all weekend to have any chance of catching up on what she'd missed.

Rick stepped back when she pushed the covers away, and as she went straight to the bathroom, he grabbed his boxers from the floor. "I'll go downstairs and let Mother know you're running late. Should I bring up a coffee for you?"

"No, I'll grab-" Kate froze and poked her head out, toothbrush hanging from her mouth. "Did you say 'mother?'"

Rick tugged his boxers on and reached for his t-shirt, which he shook out a few times before pulling it on. "Yeah, Martha's my mother. I'm surprised you didn't make the connection," he continued, shoving his arms through his sweatshirt. "Same last name, and it's not that common around here."

Kate finished brushing her teeth and went back out to grab fresh underwear and a clean shirt from her suitcase. "I didn't know her last name." Panic rose in her chest when she realized that Rick would effectively be telling his mother that they'd spent the night together. "Wait, no, I'll call down," she insisted, reaching for the phone. "Otherwise she'll know - oh God, and the trash has the con-"

"Relax," Rick interrupted, walking over and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Mother won't care. In fact, if she even notices it, she'll be glad we were safe."

"Oh my God," Kate groaned, covering her face with her hands. "The whole town will know in, like, an hour."

Rick laughed and brushed a kiss to her forehead. "Probably," he agreed. "All it takes is one person seeing us leave together, and it's all anyone will be able to talk about." He gave her butt a light tap and went in search of his jeans. "Kevin and Jenny learned that the hard way."

"Kevin and Jenny?" Slightly less panicked thanks to Rick, she went back into the bathroom and pulled her hair in a messy bun so it wouldn't get too wet in the shower. "Your Kevin, and Jenny from the restaurant?"

"Yeah, they got together right before Christmas. My point is, everyone will know that I stayed here last night. At the B&B," he clarified. "Mother doesn't gossip about me so she won't tell, and neither will I, but people will come up with their own ideas that something happened between us." When Kate stepped into the shower, he leaned against the doorframe. "But in the grand scheme of things, nobody will give a shit. It's harmless gossip, something to make life interesting."

Kate sighed and turned on the faucet. "Fine." She poked her head around the shower curtain. "Thanks. I won't be long. Twenty minutes, maybe a half hour."

Rick leaned forward and pecked her on the lips. "Take your time."

Kate was downstairs twenty-seven minutes later, not surprised to see Rick still talking to Martha. Knowing of their relation, she could see the family resemblance. They had the same smile, their eyes were almost the exact shade of blue, and they had identical crinkles around their eyes when they smiled.

True to Rick's word, Martha didn't say anything about her son's presence - or his knowledge of her running late that morning - although Kate thought she saw the older woman smirk. She threw a look at Rick, but he just shrugged and leaned against the wall.

"Your stay was comfortable, I hope?" Martha asked as she took the room key. "And productive?"

"Of course."

Martha handed her a receipt, which Kate glanced over before tucking it in her purse. "I'm looking forward to seeing how the bakery does," she continued, leaning forward against the counter. "Hopefully things will pick up here in the spring and summer so we can work together. Provide cookies to our guests, or something."

"Hopefully," Kate echoed, reaching for her suitcase, and making sure her briefcase was securely attached. "Thanks, Martha. I'll give you a call when I know I'll be back."

Rick pushed himself off the wall when Kate passed him and he opened the door for her. "Bye, Mother," he said over his shoulder before following Kate outside. "If you can spare a few minutes, can I buy you a cup of coffee?"

Kate raised her brows and unlocked her car, stuffed her bags in the trunk. "Wouldn't that just encourage the rumor mill?" she teased as she shut and locked the car. She flung her purse over her shoulder anyways and followed Rick towards the cafe, just one short block over. "I should get on the road as soon as possible," she told him when they walked in, and Kate was relieved to see it was almost empty.

"Hey Roy," Rick called out to the only other customer. "How's it going?"

Roy took one look at the two of them and beamed. "I should be asking you that question." He grabbed his cup from the counter and approached them both, extended his hand for them to shake. He winked at Rick. "I heard you two had a drinking contest."

"Uh-"

Kate noticed the tips of Rick's ears flush when he stammered, and she took pity on him. "He thought he could chug faster than me," she explained with a chuckle. "Turns out he needs more practice."

"Ah." Roy jerked his head out the front window. "I couldn't help but notice your car's still at the restaurant, Rick."

"I slept at my mother's," Rick blurted. He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Had a few too many to drive."

Roy just lifted his eyebrows, and Kate could tell he didn't believe Rick. Well, at least she knew how the rumor would start, she thought with a mental shake of her head. God, she couldn't wait to get back to the city, where nobody gave two shits about who was sleeping with whom.

Well, Lanie would care. She'd been trying to set Kate up with various men for over a year, and would be thrilled to hear her friend finally got some action.

"I hear you two will be working together," Roy said after a brief silence. "I'm glad. I tried to get Theresa to buy from you, but it was one of the few pieces of my advice that she ignored." He lifted his cup. "Anyways, I better go. Getting new floors in the office today. Nice to see you both."

"Bye, Roy. Shit," Rick muttered when the older man left. "I have to tell Mother to cover for me."

Kate stepped in front of him and crossed her arms. "Oh, really? I thought you didn't care what others say," she pointed out with a smirk.

Rick put his phone back in his pocket after typing a quick text. "I don't. I was thinking about you." He let out a loud sigh then shrugged. "Whatever. Come on, let's order. My treat. And I won't make you stay if you need to get going."

"Yeah, I should." She ordered her latte and took note of Rick's order of a mocha, extra whipped cream. "Extra?" she teased when they stepped aside to wait for their drinks. "Are you twelve?"

Rick winked at her. "You know I'm not," he said in a low voice, causing her to blush. "I'm just in the mood for a little extra fun this morning." He shoved his hands in his coat pocket and shrugged his shoulders. "So, you have something waiting back in the city?"

"Hmm?" Kate had let her mind wander, already mentally planning the rest of her weekend. "Sorry. Yeah, I missed quite a bit last week. And I didn't have as much time to work as I hoped, so I'll be going into the office tomorrow."

When their drinks were placed on the counter, Rick picked them up and thanked Javi, the former Army Ranger who owned the cafe. "Corporate law must be hopping, then. I assumed it would be pretty much nine-to-five."

Kate took her coffee and curled her hands around the warm cup. "Well, court is. It's everything else that takes time," she explained, nodding her thanks when he opened the door for her. "There is a lot of contract negotiation, like our meeting the other day," she added with a glance at her companion. "Our contract's straightforward, but they can get pretty dramatic with NDAs and confidentiality and stuff. And we have a hand in crisis management. And we have a ton of clients."

"Wow." Rick took a long drink of his mocha, and they were silent until they reached her car just a minute later. "Well, I won't keep you." He glanced down at the ground and shifted his weight between his feet. "It was nice to see you, Kate," he said, his gaze soft when he lifted it to hers. "I'm glad we could catch up."

Kate's fingers flexed around her cup and she almost reached for him, until she remembered they were in front of his mother's business. She held his gaze for a long moment before she shook her head and put her coffee on top of her car. "Who cares?" she muttered before taking his face and pressing her mouth to his.

He pulled back when her tongue brushed against the seam of his lips, and he smiled, tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "People will talk," he pointed out.

She shrugged. "Now they don't have to speculate as much."

He laughed, and kissed her once more before stepping back. "Sure," he teased, "stir the gossip mill, then leave and let me deal with the fallout."

Kate smirked and slid into the car. "I think you can handle it," she shot back. "See you around, Rick."

"Drive safe."

"You had sex."

Kate paused pouring wine to give her best friend a glare. "Excuse me?"

Lanie raised an eyebrow. "Don't 'excuse me,' Kate Beckett. You had sex. Recently." She reached for her glass. "Who, when, and where?"

"Where?" Kate followed her to the couch. "Lanie, you know I'll tell you almost anything, but that might be where I draw the line."

"Okay, you know that's not what I meant. Although…" Lanie grinned. "No, I meant 'where' as in: your place, his place, random bathroom? How'd you meet him? Tell me everything."

Kate leaned back against the arm of the couch and curled her feet under her. "Okay, remember how I told you I stayed with my aunt for a few weeks when I was fifteen?" She told Lanie everything, how she and Rick had met when they were kids, how he was now the owner of the dairy.

"Let me guess," Lanie interrupted. "You two reconnected, you had instant chemistry, and after a night of passion, you've decided to move to Southbridge to live happily ever after."

Kate glared at her over her wine glass. "This isn't a Hallmark movie, Lanie. But you're right." She shrugged. "We did have great sex," she admitted. "At the B&B where I stayed. Oh, that his mother owns, by the way."

"Oh my God, it is a Hallmark movie. Tell me," Lanie continued, mirroring Kate's pose, "how amazing was he, and when are you going back?"

Kate felt her face flush. "Lanie!" she exclaimed, reaching out to smack her friend's knee. "It was just sex. Really, really great sex."

Her mind wandered back to the night before, when the world seemed to shrink to just the two of them in a comfortable bed, his hands covering every inch of her, his mouth blazing a trail of its own, leaving her breathless and thoughtless as they moved together. He seemed to take stock of her reactions to certain moves or well-placed kisses, and went back to them again and again until she could barely breathe. Gone was the gangly, clumsy teenager, replaced by a confident, strong man.

And, as much as she insisted to Lanie that it was a one time thing, she certainly wouldn't mind if she and Rick saw each other again on a personal level.

"You like him," Lanie said, bringing Kate's attention back to the conversation at hand.

Kate scoffed. "We're business associates. It wouldn't do any good to hate him."

"Uh-huh." Lanie leaned back and gave her a knowing look. "So if I look at your phone, I won't find a text letting him know you got home safe?" When Kate reached a possessive hand towards her phone, she chuckled. "You know you can't lie to me, Kate. So, when are you going to see him again?"

Kate sighed in defeat. Lanie had always been able to see right through her. "I don't know. At this point I don't have another trip planned."

"Okay, well, you said Alexis is doing special orders for Valentine's Day, right? You should probably go next weekend to be there. You know, in case she needs help." Lanie gave her a knowing look. "And if you happen to run into Rick, well…" She trailed off and gave her eyebrows a suggestive wiggle.

"Sure," Kate chuckled. "You're right, though. It probably is a good idea to go as often as possible, at least until I can be sure the bakery can stand on its feet or I can hire someone else." She nudged Lanie's knee and relaxed back into the couch, her hands curved around her glass. "Okay, girl, now tell me about the guy you're seeing."

Lanie winked. "How much do you wanna know?"

Kate groaned as she collapsed on the bed, not even caring that she still had her shoes on. She'd have to take them off at some point, but at the moment, she was too sore to move. She was relatively fit, as she squeezed regular exercise into her morning routine, but she wasn't used to the hours of movement that the bakery required. Standing, bending over, lifting heavy boxes of eggs and flour and trays of cookies and cupcakes didn't hold a candle to 25 minutes on the elliptical.

With Valentine's Day just a week away, and more than a dozen orders for various quantities of baked goods, Alexis had needed the extra pair of hands. Tory had helped, too, and had proved to have an eye for decoration.

After a few minutes of willing her back to stop screaming, she managed to push herself off the bed and kick off her shoes. She was immensely grateful to Martha for giving her the Presidential Suite again, as it had the en suite bathroom with a full tub, instead of a standalone shower. She found a bath bomb in the toiletries basket, and after getting the water to her desired temperature, she plugged the drain, dropped in the bath bomb, and let the tub fill.

She undressed as she gathered her yoga pants and oversized sweatshirt. As she padded back towards the bathroom, the white noise of the water was drowned out by a knock on the door.

Kate swore under her breath and turned the water off before grabbing the provided fluffy robe from the back of the bathroom door. Tying the belt around her waist, she made sure she was covered before she opened the door. "I'm sorry, am I being too - Rick!" she exclaimed when she saw him leaning against the door frame, hands in his coat pocket and a crooked grin on his face.

"Heard you were in town, thought I'd see if you want dinner," he said, pushing himself off the door. He glanced down at her robe. "But either I'm interrupting something, or I'm right on time."

Kate stepped aside so he could come into the room. "I was just going to sit in the tub for a while," she explained.

Rick hung up his coat and sat on the edge of the bed. "Oh? What's sore?" He leaned back on his hands. "I'm pretty good at giving massages," he teased with a wink.

Kate snorted. "You just want to get in my pants."

"Judging by the robe," he teased, his gaze traveling down her body, "you don't have pants on for me to get into." He sat back up. "Seriously, though, I can come back later."

Kate narrowed her eyes, pretending to consider his offer, as if her entire body wasn't trembling with desire at his presence. She played with the edge of her robe, biting her bottom lip when she noticed his eyes darken, and she took a sultry step towards him. "You're already here," she almost purred, kneeling over him and nudging him to his back. "I don't want to waste this time, do you?"

Rick grinned and slid his hands under her robe before stretching to take her mouth with his. He nipped at her lip and she gasped, gripping his hair, holding him to her as her tongue tangled with his. He lifted his hips as hers rolled, and he groaned, then wrapped his arms around her before flipping them over.

Kate threw her head back with a gasp. "You're wearing too many clothes," she panted, tugging at the buttons of his flannel.

He stood and started to unbutton his shirt, but when Kate untied her robe and slid it off, he stopped and stared at her. His own shirt was forgotten and he hovered over her, and trailed his hands along her bare skin. "You're gorgeous," he breathed, sifting his fingers through her hair and leaning down to press a soft kiss to her mouth.

Kate moaned and curled her arm around his neck, keeping him against her, and she tried to unbutton his shirt with her free hand. After several tries she tore her mouth from his and tackled the shirt with both hands. "Why is this being stubborn?" she snapped.

Rick chuckled and propped himself up so she could work faster. When she nudged the shirt off his shoulders he stood again, quickly undressed and, after retrieving a condom from his wallet, kneeled above her once again.

"You sure you don't want to take that bath?" he asked, his voice strained with arousal.

Kate took the condom from his hand and tore it open. "If you don't hurry up here, I will."

"I didn't just come here for this," Rick insisted a short time later as they lay side-by-side, sweat cooling on their bodies. "Just so you know."

Kate shivered and retrieved the quilt from the floor. She pulled it over them both and curled into his side, rested her chin on his broad chest. "I know. But you won't hear me complaining."

He chuckled and draped his arm around her shoulders. "No, really. Kevin mentioned he saw you at the bakery, so I came by to see if you wanted dinner. I didn't even know you were naked under that robe until you took it off," he added.

"Ha, sure you didn't," Kate teased, poking his side. "Out of curiosity," she continued, propping herself on her elbow and looking down at him, "is that offer for dinner still available?"

"Of course. Are you hungry now? Or do you want to take your bath?"

"I could eat," she admitted, arching her back and groaning when she felt her spine pop. "Oh God, that felt good."

Rick's gaze was dark when she met it, and he slid his hand down her side. "I'd like to escort you back here when we're done," he said in a low voice. He leaned forward to press a kiss to her shoulder. "If it's okay with you."

Kate hummed and ran her fingers through his hair. "I think I'd really like that."

The first thing Kate noticed as they walked through the door was that, despite being in a small, sparsely-populated town, the restaurant was packed. She and Rick greeted a busy Jenny, who waved them to a small table in the bar. Rick placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her, and the heat of his touch was almost as strong as everyone's stares.

"Ignore them," he murmured in her ear. When they reached the table he slid one chair out and motioned for her to sit, then took the opposite seat. "According to Mother, people have been speculating about us for the past two weeks. But I don't care," he continued, nudging her foot with his. "And you shouldn't either."

Before Kate could respond Jenny placed menus and glasses of water in front of them, and promised she'd return shortly for orders. Kate gave the menu a cursory glance and sipped her water as she considered Rick's words.

She hated being the subject of rumors, especially when she couldn't directly address them. There had been enough speculation at the firm about whether receiving her partnership had been the result of more than just her work ethic. She assumed that the talk in Southbridge was more innocent than that, but she still felt bad that Rick had to hear it.

"It really doesn't bother you?" she asked, leaning forward. "Wouldn't people think that you're being unprofessional by sleeping with a client? And wouldn't it affect your business?"

Rick shrugged. "It hasn't so far. What you have to understand is that not much happens around here," he continued, "so any kind of rumors or gossip are snatched up like a real-life soap opera. If you live in a small town and you don't know everything about everyone, you're doing it wrong."

"Well, if you insist." Their conversation was interrupted by Jenny's return, and they each ordered a burger and a beer. "By the way," Kate continued after a minute, "I'm sorry I didn't let you know I was coming this weekend. I wasn't sure if I'd have time to see you."

Rick smiled and nudged her foot again. "It's fine. Alexis told me she got a bunch of orders for next week. I'm glad that people were so excited to jump on it."

"Me too," Kate agreed with a sigh. "I gotta be honest, for a couple weeks, I was worried we'd have to close. I'm still not convinced we can start having regular business hours outside the tourist season, so I'm taking it month-by-month. I know business," she added, "but I don't know bakeries. I'm leaning on Alexis a lot."

"That's smart. Alexis knows her stuff."

Their food arrived just then, and they ate in silence, shared glances and smirks when he stole a fry and she gave his hand a light smack.

"Later," he rumbled just loud enough to be heard over the restaurant din, and Kate's cheeks flushed.