Playing Hard to Get
Chapter 10
It was almost 9:00 when Kate got out of the taxi with Lilly after paying the driver, and she just stood there. OH, GOD! Yes, fine, she was scared to death. If they had, what did that mean? Maybe it didn't really have to mean anything. After all, Castle was a playboy. But what Alexis had told her confused her. It didn't jive with what she knew, or thought she knew about Castle.
Yes, she'd had one-night stands. It was just that she wasn't looking for a one-night stand. Truth be told, she wasn't even looking at all. She hadn't dated anyone since Will. Until her date with Castle. All right. It was a date, and it had even felt like a date.
Her best date ever, in fact. She groaned. Did it have to be Castle?
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She wasn't really sure, but somehow she was at his door, still holding Lilly, who was wide awake but not actually trying to do anything. Was that because of her? Could Lilly feel or maybe smell what she was feeling and thinking?
"How about if you knock?" Kate asked, looking at Lilly. "Fine, I'll knock." Except she didn't. Her finger hovered just above the button for the buzzer, but she didn't press it. She was being silly, she told herself. She was a grown woman, for Christ's sake. She had made decisions all by herself since she was 19 years old. Very big and very important decisions, in fact. So why was this one getting to her? That was easy to answer. It was Castle she was talking about here.
Kate gave the door two very soft knocks. "He's not home." THANK GOD! She was late, and he wasn't home. And then the door opened, and he stood there in all his handsome boyish charm. Except right now, he looked worried. Kate cleared her throat since there was a frog in it. "Hi, sorry I'm late." To be accurate, she was one hour and two minutes late, but who was counting?
"Come in. I was getting worried. I can't help it, it's my imagination. You got mugged, the taxi driver decided to hold you up at gunpoint, Lilly got hurt, and you had to find an emergency vet. By the way, I know where three of them are, if you ever need one." Rick had even more things that could have gone wrong, but he stopped there.
"No, none of those." Kate put Lilly down and didn't see anyone else, not even Dahlia.
"Alexis has Dahlia in her room, and Mother is out. She's not likely going to be back till morning, knowing her. She can stay up all night but get up early in the morning? Not unless the house was on fire and maybe not even then." Rick made a joke of it, and Kate actually managed a small smile.
"Something to drink? I have lots of choices. Various juices, soda, wine, something harder, coffee with an additive perhaps?" Rick offered. He went over to the kitchen and didn't see Lilly following him. She knew over here somewhere was water and puppy food. There always was at this place.
Kate was conflicted. Alcohol might keep her courage up, but if she drank too much, a repeat of what happened after their date might happen. "Wine is fine, please." It was only a little alcohol, and to get her that drunk, she would have to drink a lot, a whole lot.
"I've got a new one that I heard about recently. We could give that one a try. I only have the one bottle unless my mother found it first." Rick searched for it, found it, and proceeded to open it.
"Castle, I..." Her courage was fading fast. Then she saw a glass of red wine in front of her. "Thanks." She was definitely going to need that.
"Would you prefer the sofa or my study where it might be more private?" He was ever so happy that Kate wanted to talk. His memory of what happened after their date here in the loft was a bit sketchy.
Rick knew they had made it to the loft. Next came something, and somehow he was pretty sure they ended up in his bedroom. He couldn't be sure if what happened after that was fact or his fantasy. He could see Kate naked in his mind, and she was gorgeous.
Okay, when he was younger, he had gravitated towards women with large-to-really-large breasts. He chalked it up to hormones. All boys his age had them. He wasn't sure if he even had blood back then, only hormones.
He could tell without seeing Kate naked that she didn't have large breasts, but they were big enough for him. Plus, he had already fantasized about what those long legs of hers could do to him. Squeezing the life out of him was his first bet. AND BOY, WHAT A WAY TO GO!
"Study, please." She wanted some privacy. "Is Lilly alright out here?" Did she need to pick her up and bring her with her?
"She's fine. Besides, Alexis will be down before bed. I have no doubt that she'll spot her and likely automatically take her outside when she takes Dahlia out and then take her up to her room."
"Oh, okay." Kate did her best to lean down while not spilling her wine. "You be a good girl." Kate petted her and followed Castle into his study. She took the loveseat while Castle sat on his chair behind his desk since she didn't leave any room for him.
"Castle, I... I really did enjoy our date. One of my best dates ever."
"Just one of your best dates ever?" It was supposed to have been her greatest date ever. If he had failed, he would have to plan an even better one. Once he worked up the courage to ask her out on another one, that is.
"Your head is big enough already. I don't see the need to make it bigger," Kate retorted since he wasn't going to get the whole truth out of her.
"Touché." She had him there.
"Do you remember much about what happened after our date?" She could work off of what he remembered and maybe piece it together.
"You don't remember?" He remembered just bits and pieces and some he thought he had fantasized.
"I remember coming here, and I think we had something more to drink, which was probably a bad idea. You don't want to mix alcoholic drinks. Bed things tend to happen. I mean, BAD things tend to happen." Great, she was screwing this all up already.
Okay, that told Rick something, but he still had some blank spots. "Sounds about right. Keep going."
"That's just it. After that, my memory is kind of spotty." Kate drank half of her wine in one gulp. She also realized that this wine was rather tasty. She could honestly say she had never tasted anything like it.
"Do we need my murder board to piece it all together?" Rick could start a whole new blank screen and start adding things. It was standing right behind him.
She shook her head. "I don't think so." She didn't need what she remembered to be on a board, let alone that one. "I remember waking up in bed with you. I'm guessing we fell asleep somewhere along the way." Kate tried that to begin with.
"I did wake up in bed, but I was all alone. The sheet to one side was still a bit warm. I'm guessing that was you," Rick said, and Kate nodded.
"Not to be crude, but I remember waking up sans clothing." He meant as in totally naked. Hell, even the sheets hadn't been over him. If Kate had actually been next to him in his bed, that would mean she had seen everything. As in everything. Except for maybe his butt.
"Yeah." That was about as far as she was willing to go to say she was just as naked. "I remember waking up and seeing this lion on your wall watching me, judging me.
Rick nodded. "That's Leo, he's my mascot."
Kate blinked. "You have a mascot?"
He lifted an eyebrow. "Don't you have one?"
"Not mounted to my wall, I don't. I just have Lilly." Kate drank more of her wine. "I saw everything, Castle." Just where the hell had her filter gone? Where the hell did that come from?
Rick gave her a grin. "See anything you liked?"
"Shut up." Yes, she had seen something she liked. The question was, had she done anything about what she had seen and liked?
"I didn't find a used condom anywhere, and I have a drawerful left over from when I was married to Gina. I didn't see the need to throw them away."
"OH, GOD!" If they had, her only protection was her birth control pill. She was still about a week or more from her period if she had one at all. Her periods didn't run like clockwork. Her doctor had given her all kinds of reasons why.
Stress, low body weight, obesity, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), use of birth control, certain chronic diseases, early perimenopause, and thyroid issues.
Her doctor thought stress, low body weight, and the birth control pill she used were the most likely reasons. She still had a prescription for the pills she had been using, so hadn't yet changed to a different one.
"Beckett, did we...?" He could think of all kinds of words for doing the deed but held his tongue for once.
"I don't know!" Kate drank the rest of her wine. She got up to take the bottle off his desk, filled her glass, and sat back down again.
"I couldn't see any marks while I was in your bathroom. Nor in mine when I got home. I wasn't sore the next day, or at least not that kind of sore." She meant muscle sore, as in muscles that hadn't been used in a while.
Rick tried to be diplomatic about asking when her last time having sex had been. "So you haven't...?"
"No, it's been a while. I've been busy." Kate defended her not having a bed partner of late. Not that how many she had slept with was any of his business.
"Yeah, same here. Except for when my ex-wife showed up. That might have been fun, but boy, was that a mistake! If I ever do that again, I might kill myself." Meredith was a piece of work and not someone he needed back in his life. Ever.
Kate ignored him talking about having sex with his ex-wife and got back on topic. "So you don't remember much?" She swallowed another gulp of wine. She was also starting to feel something. Somehow Castle was looking better and better all the time. She was even looking at him and remembering what he looked like down there. Boy, did he have a reason to live!
If she had had sex with that thing, she would want to remember that. Surely she would be sore after that especially given how long it had been since the last time.
"I remember bits and pieces," he said. "I kind of remember throwing something white and not caring where it landed."
That jived with where Kate had found her bra. So maybe something had happened.
"I also seem to recall having my shorts yanked off fiercely. Like they were ripped off me. I found them later, and they were a little stretched but salvageable."
That actually did sound like something she would do if she wanted to get to him. "Go on."
"That's where things get fuzzy." Rick put his glass down, got up, and walked over to her. He took her glass of wine and sat it on his desk. Then moved her legs aside and sat down next to her.
"See if you can follow this." He had a theory. "We had a really nice date. We went out for drinks that I believe were a bit strong. Maybe there was a new bartender or something. Anyway, we come back here so you can pick up Lilly and go home.
"Except we had more to drink. And ended up in my bedroom." Rick paused to give her a chance to correct him.
Kate could see all that. "So far, so good."
"We end up stripping each other's clothes off. Given that I couldn't find a used condom, though maybe we didn't use one, which is entirely possible, neither of us might have been thinking straight by then." Rick waited to give her time to say something.
"Go on." She was seeing every bit of it.
"You couldn't find any signs that you had done something. No marks, no...whatever." He couldn't think of a diplomatic way to talk about a woman's juices, secretions, discharges, whatever. "Maybe we just fell into bed and slept in each other's arms. Maybe we didn't do anything at all. Couldn't stay awake long enough to do anything." That was his theory, anyway.
Kate was sitting there listening to him. But she was also getting lost in his eyes. She kept moving her own eyes to focus on his lips, his so kissable lips.
"Makes sense. So we didn't..." Kate was partly relieved and partly disappointed. She wanted to know how having him inside her would feel. What that thing would feel like then.
"I don't think so, though I could be wrong. But statistics show that too much alcohol diminishes the capacity to, ah. To have...to be able to do that."
"Statistics." Kate nodded, then she gave in, grabbed his head, and kissed him. It wasn't just a kiss. It was a hard, savage kiss. She wanted to press her lips to his as hard as she could and keep kissing him, so she was. Initially, he was a bit solid, but soon, he kissed her back.
She even felt his arms go around her and pull her into him. Kate kept kissing him as savagely as possible. Like she expected to suck the life right out of him through his lips.
The second she felt a hand on her breast, she moaned into the kiss. That hand lasted a few seconds. Kate broke from the kiss. "Castle, we need to stop." If she didn't stop, they would end up having sex on this sofa, the floor, on his desk – something, or more likely, all three. She was hot, and she was wet, and she knew it. Her last ounce of control had gotten her to stop.
"Stop!?" Rick was breathless, though his mind did register the word stop. If there was anything he was or people thought he was, he wasn't a rapist. If the woman said stop, he stopped. End of story.
"If we do this, I want it to be for the right reasons, Castle. Not some bout of lust that we'll regret later."
"Reasons…" Rick's brow furrowed. "You still don't trust me? That nine-year-old kid isn't presently sitting here, Kate." Rick used her first name for a change, and she didn't fail to notice it.
"I'm not going to be a one-night stand, Rick. I don't want one of those." She didn't want any more of those. But she wasn't sure she was ready for the other either.
"And you think I do." Rick didn't make it a question. He made it sound like a statement. "You've been reading too many articles in the papers, magazines, or my website if you believe that. Yeah, I'll admit it. I had my fair share of one-night stands in my younger days. But until my ex-wife came to town, I hadn't gotten laid in sooo long." Suddenly, he wondered if maybe that was why it had been so good.
Kate studied him. His face, his body language, all of him. "And where does that leave us?"
"Go on another date with me. Maybe I can show you a Rick Castle you're not used to seeing or think you're seeing. I promise it won't be as grand as that one. We can do something simple.
"We could play pool, ping pong, bowling, darts, Karaoke..." Rick was on a roll.
"Whoa, slow down there, Castle. A simple meal will be fine." Then Kate replayed what she said. She had just agreed to another date with him.
"I can do that," Rick told her. "Does this mean you'll take that monitor on my leg away?"
"Keep dreaming." Kate smiled at him and watched him frown at her. "If you stay like this, maybe it'll finally go away. I like this Castle a lot better." He wasn't acting like a kid, and he wasn't lying to her or not keeping his promises.
He had a very serious look on his face. "I can do that."
"We'll see. I should collect Lilly and go home."
"You could stay," he said hopefully. "I promise there'll be no funny business."
"Are you trying to get me naked and back in your bed?" Kate tilted her head while she looked at him.
"It's entirely up to you." He grinned at her again. "But I wouldn't mind if you did."
"Maybe another night." Kate stood up to leave. "Oh, and maybe you could buy more of that wine. That stuff did something." She was still working out just what, but it had definitely done something.
"If you like it, I'll buy a case of it. So have you decided what to do with your money?" He knew she had at least cashed his check.
She shook her head. "No, I have no idea. Not enough to buy a house outright, I don't need a car, don't really need new furniture, and I don't take vacations."
"You'll think of something." Rick smiled at her. "Or I will for you."
"You do that. Knock yourself out. I'll see you tomorrow." Kate was ready to leave.
"Do I get a kiss goodbye?" She had kissed him already, and he was more than ready for another one.
"You... Fine." Kate rolled her eyes and bent down to give him a quick kiss, but it lasted a little longer than she had intended. She had to admit it, that man was a good kisser.
"'Night, Castle. Come on, Lilly, let's go home." Kate saw her and scooped her up. Kate looked at him again, walked out the door, and closed it behind her.
Rick finally walked out of his study. "Was that Kate leaving?" Alexis asked hopefully.
"She came over to talk. We actually talked." He almost didn't believe it. It felt unbelievable.
"And?" Alexis was willing to listen.
"She said yes to another date." Rick could hardly believe it. "Wanted something simple this time."
Alexis beamed at him. "That's good. Lunch at that burger place down the street, maybe?"
"I could do that." It was just that he really wanted somewhere grander to take her to. He wanted to be different. To stand out above all the other guys she had dated.
"I'm taking Dahlia out for a walk. I'll let you plan your next date with Kate. Don't screw this up, Dad." And with that, Alexis left with her puppy.