A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. Crazy week. Flashback in italics.
Alexis was out of time. For the last month and a half, she had been avoiding the 12th precinct where her dad and stepmom spent most of their time, but tonight her hand was being forced. Kate and her dad were taking her out for dinner to celebrate the end of her penultimate semester of her undergraduate education, and they'd asked her to meet them at work. Her sexual encounter with one of their coworkers six weeks prior, had the potential to make her visiting the precinct an uncomfortable experience.
Alexis was still processing the events of Halloween. In the weeks that had passed since then she'd spent more time thinking about the night she had spent with Kevin than she thought possible. The distraction was entirely unwelcome, as the college senior had devoted the month of November to submitting the last of her law school applications. She'd discovered that writing her personal statements for these applications took twice as long when her mind kept replaying every way the detective had made her moan.
Being with him had ignited something in Alexis. While her sexual experiences up until recently had been fine, good even, or so she thought, this most recent encounter had transcended those. She hadn't imagined that the pleasure she'd experienced with Kevin was attainable until he had showed her. Sex with her boyfriends had always been gentle and sweet, but never passionate and mind-blowing. She hadn't understood why the whole world seemed to be so sex obsessed. She had enjoyed herself, but it was nothing spectacular. And then Alexis had gone home with Kevin and lust had burned like fire through her veins, arousing her and making her crave his touch unlike anything she'd ever needed before.
Immediately following her first one-night stand, Alexis had planned to put the experience behind her quickly. That plan had proved to be unrealistic. It was like the floodgates had been opened and she was unable to banish thoughts of that night from her mind. Every night, instead of slipping into peaceful rest, Alexis tossed and turned as she was plagued with visions of the way Kevin had known exactly how to touch her to evoke such bliss. She remembered the way he made her come apart with his tongue, something no other man had done to her, not successfully at least.
That first night, back in her own bed, she snuck her hand into her panties, hoping that release would allow her to finally fall asleep. Never had she felt herself so wet. She tried to think of anything but him as she brought herself off, but as she rubbed her clit furiously visions of his blue eyes staring down at her intensely appeared behind her eyelids and sent her over the edge. It was a sexual awakening for Alexis, to discover the way her body craved the newfound sensations.
Since then, she had been questioning whether it was the circumstances of casual sex that had allowed her to feel free enough to truly let go and find her pleasure, or if it was the chemistry she shared with Kevin specifically. When she thought about going out and picking up a new guy to help her answer this question, she felt the same trepidation she'd felt on Halloween prior to crossing paths with the detective. The anxiety she felt when she imagined being that vulnerable with a complete stranger worked in direct opposition to arousal. Alexis thought it unlikely that she would be so lucky as to find another ideal man on a second attempt. Ultimately, she decided to put a pin in that idea until she could be certain it was something she wanted, and while it was on hold, she couldn't shake the mental link that associated Kevin with being so incredibly turned on.
Now she was in the elevator of the building where he worked, unsure if she wanted to see him or if she hoped he wouldn't be there. If she managed to slip in and out without running into him then she wouldn't be confronted with any major realizations and could stay in her self-imposed limbo a little longer. But if she saw him and felt the same draw she had during their night together, Alexis wasn't sure she'd be able to stop herself from doing something embarrassing. She didn't want to seem like a naïve kid, with unrealistic expectations on a one-time hookup, but part of her was ready to beg him for more, whatever he was willing to give so long as he would make her feel the way she had on Halloween. She knew she needed to play it cool though and not just because of the audience they'd undoubtedly have in the middle of the bullpen. She thought back to the advice she'd received from Taylor, when Alexis had finally explained to her best friend exactly how she knew the men they'd picked up that night.
Alexis had practically hidden in her room for the rest of the weekend following Halloween. At first, she just wasn't willing to risk another awkward run in with Detective Esposito in her kitchen, but the longer she stayed in her room the easier it was to pretend that it had all just been a crazy dream. When Monday came, her classes forced her to venture back into the world and over the course of the week Alexis slowly regained confidence and stopped waiting for mystery consequences around every corner. Although this newfound calm was largely due to the fact that with her and Taylor having opposite schedules, she hadn't interacted with anyone that knew about her little walk on the wild side.
That first weekend of November though, she couldn't escape Taylor's inquisition. Saturday morning, Alexis emerged from her room to find Taylor plating a large tray of waffles and fresh fruit. "Good, you're up! I was about to drag you out of bed," the dark-haired girl greeted her cheerfully.
"Yes well, not all of us consider sunrise yoga a good time," Alexis grumbled still slightly groggy from sleep, sinking into a seat at their kitchen table.
"How would you know when you've never once joined me?" Taylor asked smirking.
"I know because you leave for yoga at 5:30, and that's just inhumane," the redhead quipped back at her roommate.
"Fine, but some of the women from the studio invited me out clubbing with them tonight. Will you at least join me for that?" Taylor asked staring Alexis down with her best puppy dog eyes. Alexis felt herself almost ready to give in until her best friend continued, "Maybe we can find ourselves some more hunks like we did last weekend."
Alexis could feel the heat in her cheeks and knew that her face was scarlet. The blush was betraying her embarrassment under Taylor's perusal. "What's with the face, red?" the brunette asked, a look of genuine concern on her face. "You're not regretting it, are you?"
"Not regretting it exactly…" Alexis trailed off. Looking for a way to prolong the moment and collect her thoughts, she turned her focus to her plate, soaking her waffles in a heavy coating of maple syrup. "It's just that well, it turns out they kind of both work with my dad and I didn't realize until I'd already slept with him, so now I can't help but feel unbearably awkward," she said frantically, all the words rushing out quickly in one breath.
"Wow! I kind of threw you straight into the deep end, I guess. Sorry about that," Taylor apologized lightheartedly. "So how exactly do they 'kind of' work with your dad? I mean just how well does he know your mystery man?"
"They're both homicide detectives on the same team as my stepmom, so dad does all his research with them. He sees Kevin pretty much every day and they're close friends, so it would be really, really bad if he ever found out."
"Oof. Okay, but other than that…how was he?" Taylor asked, leaning in almost conspiratorially and waggling her eyebrows.
"Ugh, crazy good," Alexis answered. "That's what makes this so awkward. How am I supposed to see him around and not remember all the dirty things we did to each other?"
"Why wouldn't you want to remember good sex?"
"There's no point in getting hung up on something that can never happen again. Why put myself through the torment?" Alexis questioned in return.
"Who says it can't happen again? This 'Kevin' was practically drooling over you at the club. I'd be shocked if he wasn't up for a repeat performance. Besides he's a guy. If you want sex all you have to do is ask nicely. Sometimes not even that," Taylor retorted before popping a raspberry into her mouth and winking.
"Well Kevin isn't most guys. He's kind and responsible and probably still thinks of me as a kid. Anyways, I only really see him with my dad around. It's not like I can just go up and ask, 'Hey Detective Ryan, want to do me again sometime?'" Alexis snarked.
"I'm just telling you not to rule it out," Taylor said, holding her hands up in a gesture of innocence. "Next time you happen to see him, pay attention to where his eyes go. I'd bet twenty bucks that he can't take them off you. And probably not your face either."
Alexis had enough on the topic, and changed the subject to Taylor's personal life, getting the brunette to go off on a tangent. Able to finally listen instead of being interrogated, she dug into her waffles enthusiastically.
As the elevator doors opened to the bullpen, Alexis was prepared to follow Taylor's advice to assess how Kevin reacted to her. She gave herself a once over making sure her outfit was still in pristine condition, stylish but functional for the start of winter, a black cable knit sweater dress covered with a long, emerald green wool coat that contrasted against her copper hair, and her tights clad legs stuffed into tall leather boots. From the entrance to the floor, she could see the backs of her father and the three detectives as they huddled around the murder board discussing their current case.
As she made her approach, Kevin was the first one to notice her. His eyes glanced right over her before he did a double take, and she felt a sense of satisfaction as she watched him swallow, nervously loosen his blue striped tie, and then run a hand through his short hair. Fortunately, Detective Esposito was the only other person to notice his partner squirming, and he turned around to see what had caused it.
"Oh hey, Alexis," he greeted jovially, and Alexis appreciated that he for one was able to act like nothing had changed. "What brings you to the precinct?"
At that Richard Castle whirled around with a huge smile on his face, eager to say hello to his little girl. Alexis, however, was still looking past her father at Kevin whose gaze was scanning down from her head to her toes and back up, lingering in a few choice places. Not letting her attention stay on him long, she made note of the way he'd checked her out then turned to listen to her dad as he spoke, "Hey, pumpkin! Are you ready to celebrate?"
"Definitely! I could not be more ready for this break. I'm so glad to be done with finals and law school applications," she said, letting her dad pull her into a bear hug.
Extracting herself from her father's arms, Alexis turned to Detective Esposito to answer his question. "I just finished the semester at Columbia, so these two are taking me out to dinner," she said, gesturing towards her father, whose arms were now wrapped around the shoulders of his wife.
"Congratulations. Only one more semester to go, right?" Kevin asked, finally chiming into the conversation.
The eye contact between them was far more charged than the simple question would reveal, but Alexis felt as if his eyes were piercing through her somehow. She smiled, doing her best to seem nonchalant, and nodded, "Yup, one semester and then on to law school."
"I'm so proud! My baby girl's a genius," Castle interjected, earning a chuckle from everyone in earshot.
"Well let's get this genius some food. She's earned it," Kate said patting Castle's arm before linking her arm through Alexis's. "See you tomorrow, boys. Call me if we get any updates before then," she commanded Ryan and Esposito, pointing at the murder board.
"Ooh, call me too. You know I hate to be left out," Castle shouted at the detectives as he started walking backwards towards the elevator, bumping into a desk as he went.
Alexis and Kate started following him, arm in arm, when Alexis turned over her shoulder to say goodbye. "It was nice seeing you guys," she said and waved, her words directed to both men, but her eyes locked on Kevin.
As she walked out of the building with her dad and Kate, Alexis had a renewed spring in her step.
