A/N: It's been a long time since I posted (more than 3 years now!) and a lot has changed in my life since then (including buying a house, finishing grad school, new jobs, adding a third cat and two dogs to the family and putting in a pottery studio in my basement). I started working on this almost a year ago and I've been blocked for several months and finally decided to start it up again last night. I think I'm on the right path to finishing this. I'm hoping to update with some regularity. I anticipate 13 chapters and an epilogue. Enjoy!
After many years of playing the persona of a playboy bachelor, Rick Castle felt that the glitz and glam of the lifestyle had lost its luster. He wasn't impressed by the shiniest object anymore. He didn't care if scantily clad women fell all over him because he was a rich single man, well, that part he didn't mind so much. He longed for a connection with someone real. He wanted a long-lasting, once-in-a-lifetime love, not a fleeting moment of lust, no matter how intense the feelings were. He saw the appeal in the long, slow burn because it represented something he lacked in all past romantic relationships, commitment, devotion, and true friendship.
Rick found himself sitting at a bar nursing a whiskey, running possible story lines through his head and writing down ones that had potential in his moleskin notebook. He managed to scratch down a few notes that didn't seem entirely awful, but most of his notebook was filled with garbled thoughts that he subsequently crossed out. He'd been blocked for months and couldn't find the spark to light up his creative thinking, that is until a hot flame parked herself next to him at the bar. Rick turned to see who was next to him and he saw the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen setting her small purse on the bar top and giving him a tilted smirk.
"Hi, I'm Kate. You must be Jenny's friend."
Rick's brain short circuited and fried right in front of the woman who set him on fire. He must have been more drained of inspiration than he thought if eight words made him combust.
"I've never been on a blind date before," Kate admitted, rubbing the heels of her palms against the purple fabric of her dress that was draped over her thighs.
Rick sat gaping at this woman, waiting for his wings to melt because he got too close to the sun. Certainly, she couldn't be talking to him.
"It's Malcolm, right?" Kate asked and with that Rick fell back to earth.
"Oh, wait," Rick began, knowing he was going to regret saying more, "I think you may have me mixed up with someone else."
Kate's smile was wiped from her face and she bowed her head to avoid making eye contact, "I'm sorry. My friend said my date would be sitting at the bar and I wrongly assumed since you were the only one sitting down that you were him." Kate gathered up her few belongings and turned to escape from her seat.
"Wait, you don't have to leave." Rick reached out and placed his hand over hers. Kate stopped and looked back at him and Rick smiled. "I could wait with you if you don't mind. I could use the company."
Kate bit her lip and lowered herself back onto the stool. "I suppose that would be okay."
"I'm Rick, by the way." He held out his hand, which she took.
"Kate."
Halfway through her second drink and nearly an hour since arriving, Kate realized she stopped looking for her actual blind date soon after she started talking with Rick. She didn't even know if he had shown up during that time because her back was to the other side of the bar and she hadn't bothered to take her eyes off the man who had her captivated. It wasn't until her phone started ringing that Kate fell back into reality.
"Oh, crap," she said. "It's my friend. She's probably calling to scold me for standing up my date." Kate gestured to a quieter corner of the bar and explained that she'd be right back. "Hello?"
"Kate, what the hell? If you didn't want to go on the blind date, you could have just said so."
"Sorry, Jen. I didn't mean to stand him up…I'm actually at the bar right now. I just happened to mistake a different guy as Malcolm and we've kind of hit it off."
"Seriously? Is he at least cute?"
"He's actually Richard Castle."
"Oh, never mind then. I would have ditched Malcolm for a rich guy too."
"Jenny," Kate admonished, "it's not like that and I didn't mean to ditch him. I lost track of time while talking with Rick."
"Well, I'll let you get back to your date then. I'll have to figure out how heal Malcolm's broken heart in the meantime."
"Oh, shut up. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow."
"You better."
Kate hung up with Jenny and dodged around people to get back to the bar where she spotted Rick being accosted by a busty blonde in a dress that seemed more appropriate for boudoir photography than at a bar. The twisted flare in her gut surprised her. Was she jealous over a man she's only known an hour? Maybe she was. Even if she wanted to leave, she still had her jacket sitting on her chair, so she'd have to face the potential awkward situation of staking claim to a man who may not want to be claimed. As she approached her not-date and the blonde, Rick looked up and the relief at seeing her was evident. So maybe the situation wasn't going to be awkward at all, at least not on her end.
"Sorry about that," Kate said, slipping back into her seat catching the eye of the other woman whose sneer wasn't as subtle as she probably intended.
"Hey, you're back," Rick seemed to visibly relax once she was back in his proximity.
Once Rick's attention was no longer on her, the blonde harrumphed and stalked off to find her next target.
"Who was that?" Kate asked.
"Uh, I don't know actually. She started hitting on me and I tried to tell her I was here with someone and wasn't interested, but she didn't seem to care."
Kate flushed at hearing how Richard Castle willingly turned down another woman to continue talking with her.
"I hope that wasn't too presumptuous of me," Rick placed his hand over hers like he did when she mistook him for Malcolm, "saying I was here with you. Because I've had a really good time talking with you and I was hoping you might say yes to an actual date."
Kate's smile took over her entire face and she flipped her hand so her and Rick's palms kissed. "I'd love that, actually."
Two days later, Rick and Kate went to one of Rick's favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants that he often went to with his daughter. Kate looked gorgeous, as Rick expected she always did, wearing a simple yet elegant green dress that complemented her hazel eyes.
Rick had been on many first dates in his lifetime and a fair amount of second dates as well, but his date with Kate felt like something he'd never experienced. How could he feel such a strong and deep connection to someone he only met a few days prior? It was obvious to him that Kate was feeling a similar connection just by how engaged she was in getting to know him and not even concerned about his wealth. Many dates had shown him the tell-tale signs of someone who was more interested in his money than him and he could judge within ten minutes the type of person who sat across from him. Kate was one of the few who didn't seem to care about his money. The one downside of the night was knowing that he shouldn't move too quickly despite a desire pulling him in a direction of a lifelong commitment that was too soon to consider.
The dinner was perfection, as it always seemed to be every time Rick was there. He settled the bill, after Kate finally gave into him paying, and took her hand as they exited the restaurant.
"I had a really good time tonight," Kate said, as they walked the darkening street.
"Me too. I'd love to do it again sometime."
Rick guided Kate closer to the exterior window of a kitschy gift shop that sold souvenirs emblazoned with "NYC" that would likely become landfill trash within the year. With the shop, which was closed for the evening, providing illumination from the gaudy neon signs in the window, Rick and Kate faced each other. The corners of Kate's mouth lifted and she lightly bit her bottom lip when she looked into Rick's eyes and saw the desire burning brighter than the "WE SELL BEER" sign flashing above their heads.
"Can I kiss you?" Rick asked.
Kate whispered a stilted, "please," before launching herself toward him.
Rick drew her into his arms at the same moment and their lips managed to find each other in spite of their ungraceful way of getting there. He didn't know how the night could have been more perfect, but kissing Kate proved to him that he had no idea how good life could be.
Their tongues met and danced and Rick felt his heart soaring like it was being pulled from his chest by a bouquet of balloons. Kate's right hand stroked his cheek while the left was draped across the back of his neck.
With heaving breaths, they separated and Kate said, "Do you want to come back to my place?"
Kate woke with a start as an unfamiliar ringing blared out from across the room. The arm strown over her waist and the warmth at her back reminded her of the previous night. For the first time after having slept with someone on a first date, she felt a warmth of affection color her cheeks and a lightness in her gut. She had no regrets.
The ringing stopped and the man at her back groaned and grunted into her ear, "sorry, I should have shut off the ringer."
Kate turned in his arms and waited for him to open his eyes. The soft morning light allowed her to see his eyelids fluttering before he fully opened them. She grinned when their eyes finally met.
Rick chuckled sleepily and leaned forward to give Kate a quick kiss. Before he could pull away, Kate held him closer and deepened the kiss.
Twenty minutes later, the pair laid on their backs, panting after a rigorous round of lovemaking. Kate turned her head to look at Rick and he did the same, both of them wearing sated smiles. They both let out astonished laughs at the sight of the other.
"Wow," Kate said simply.
"Yeah, I know. I could definitely get used to waking up to that every morning."
"Same."
"I mean, we did have sex three times in the last twelve hours, so this might seem forward of me, but I've never experienced anything like that before," Rick admitted.
"Me neither. It was surprisingly intense and I don't mean to be so forward either, but I don't think I can give that up easily."
"Good, so we're on the same page." Rick continued to grin at her. "Can I take you out again tonight?"
"Absolutely."
Later that night, Rick and Kate went on their second official date. Rick told himself that he would try to slow things down a little, but when he picked Kate up at her apartment and she stepped out of her bedroom wearing a black, body-hugging, lacy dress, all his blood flowed south and he realized if he survived the night without ending up in bed with her, he deserved a medal of some kind. His expectations of following through were almost non-existent and he was grateful he wasn't a saint.
The couple went to a more upscale restaurant and indulged on expensive wine and fancy albeit small meals. They left the restaurant with their appetites still craving something more. Rick suggested they get ice cream, hoping the cold treat would cool his boiling and lustful desire as well as fill his stomach better than the three scallops he had as his entrée.
Kate ordered a waffle cone with two scoops of chocolate brownie chunk and sat down at a small patio table with her cone and began eating it while Rick ordered his favorite potato chip fudge. After paying for the two of them, Rick turned to see Kate licking at the chocolate ice cream. Ice cream was a bad choice.
He was quietly lamenting over the torture when he sat next to Kate and she asked, "what are you muttering about?"
Rick shifted in his seat like he was sitting on rocks. "Oh nothing, just that you are absolutely killing me."
Kate stopped mid-lick and gave him a raised eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Rick cleared his throat unnecessarily, "I was hoping I would be able to slow the pace between us just a bit so we don't crash and burn or something, and I thought ice cream might, uh, cool me down a bit," Rick eyed Kate up and down, "but I'm realizing that you are not making it easy for me."
"Am I? That's too bad." She took another lick of her ice cream then stared him dead in the eyes with a sultry and wicked smirk. She rested her hand on Rick's thigh and he jumped like he'd been zapped with a stun gun. "A little jumpy tonight, I see."
Rick tore his attention away from the woman determined to murder him and make it look like natural causes. He stared straight ahead and said, "you are an evil, evil woman."
She shrugged and asked, "what are you going to do about it?"
Rick looked back at Kate and she gave him a crooked smile, her eyes alight with a playful and brazen gleam. He grabbed her hand that still rested on his thigh and yanked her to her feet. "Come on, we can eat while we walk…or run."
For the second night in a row, Kate fell asleep following two rounds of sex with a man she had known less than a week. She wasn't the type of person to jump into bed with someone so quickly, but with Rick it felt so natural to wake up with him. She wasn't in love with him, but she knew it wouldn't take long before she actually was. Rick had expressed worries of them crashing and burning because of how quickly they were moving, and it was a fear of hers as well, but she was on the speeding train heading toward an unknown future but not willing to escape yet.
Around midnight, Kate woke to Rick kissing her forehead as he stood over her, backlit by the living room light they left on when they arrived several hours prior.
"Hey," she said heavy with sleep.
"Hey," he responded, "I hate to leave, but since I spent last night here, I really should be home when my daughter wakes up tomorrow. Gotta do Sunday brunch after all."
"Oh of course, don't feel bad about it. I completely understand." Kate sat up and reached to her bedside table to turn on the lamp. She squinted until she adjusted to the brightness.
Rick sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand. "I had a really great time tonight."
"Me too."
"Are you free sometime this week? I really want to see you again."
"Yeah, I'll have to text you later to see when I'm free, but I really want to see you again too."
"Good. I better get going, but…" Rick leaned over and kissed her, in what was meant to be a quick peck, but the second his lips touched hers, they were like magnets unable to pull apart. After several seconds of making out, Rick reluctantly pulled away. "All right, I really have to go."
"Okay, I'll see you later," Kate said, her hand moving from Rick's neck and down his arm as he stood up, not wanting to lose contact with him.
When she heard the door to her apartment close, she flopped back and stared at the ceiling for a few moments, wishing Rick was back in bed with her. She turned and grabbed the pillow he was sleeping on and sunk her face into it, grateful it smelled like him. With the subtle scent of his cologne wafting from the pillowcase, she sank back into unconsciousness.
