Slow Burn

Chapter 11

With gentle pressure to the lower curve of her spine Castle guides Kate further along the hallway away from the hotel's front doors. He looks over his shoulder, just once to be sure, nods and discreetly holds up one finger.

It's a brief exchange, but she gets it; his daughter always gets it.

Kate twists her body, trying to look around as she says, "I could have sworn I saw Alexis."

But Castle slides his arm around her waist, distracting her with this bold and possessive gesture, and it's unexpected enough that it throw her off the scent. "Let's go find that seating chart, and then I need to visit the little boy's room," he says.

Kate smiles at him affectionately. "What?" he asks, grinning back at her.

She doesn't tell him that for once the words "little boy's room" have not stirred images of pungent urinals and toilet stalls with the seats flipped up, but a white crib with a pale blue mobile suspended above, tinkling as it turns to the strains of a lullaby; a closet full of tiny clothes on tiny hangers; a white bookcase full of "Corduroy," "Peter Rabbit," and "Goodnight Moon"; a baby's name spelled out on the door in pastel-colored wooden letters.

Their baby.

She shakes her head. "Nothing. Let's go do some reconnaissance."

They find the seating plan posted on a large board outside the reception hall.

Castle jabs a finger at the sign almost knocking it off its easel. "There!"

"Oh, thank God," Kate says. "We're on the same table."

He frowns and peers closer. "Mm. But we're not seated together. Okay, time for Operation Plus One. Follow my lead. And bring your best poker face."

Castle takes off before Kate can stop him. He fishes a twenty out of his wallet, approaching a young waiter with the bribe. "Hey, buddy. Table five. I need you to make sure that Kate Beckett is sitting next to Richard Castle. I don't care who you have to move to do it, just make it happen. Understand?"

The young guy hesitates, caught like a deer in the headlights by the unexpected request. Frantically, he looks around to see if his boss is watching when Castle presses the money into his damp palm. The writer points at Kate across the hall. As instructed, she doesn't smile back. She is inscrutable; this is her poker face. "See her? She's a cop. Manhattan homicide," he says when the waiter holds back. "Don't let me down...Chad," he reads off the guy's badge. "Or they will never find your body. Capeesh? Now go!"

Kate crosses her arms and rolls her eyes when Castle comes sauntering back to her. "Looks like you scared the hell out of that kid." When he opens his mouth to explain, she holds up her hand. "Don't tell me. I'm a cop. I need to maintain at least some vestige of plausible deniability."

"He needed toughening up. Kids today are too soft. Now, I'm off to the⏤"

"Little boy's room. Yeah, you said. I'll get us a glass of champagne. Meet you in the bar."

As soon as Kate's back is turned, Castle hustles out to the lobby where Alexis is loitering behind a large potted plant. The disguise is poor; her red hair stands out a mile between the Kelly green fronds. But, thankfully, Kate has gone the other way and everyone else is too busy hobnobbing to notice.

"Do you think she saw me?" Alexis asks her dad. "I thought for a second I'd been made."

Castle kisses his daughter on the cheek and relieves her of the bag she's carrying. "Been made?" He laughs. "Well, someone's been spending too much time with the NYPD."

Alexis smirks. "Yeah, dad, and I don't think that someone is me."

Castle briefly looks inside the bag. "Thanks for bringing this. Seriously, you're the best."

Alexis shrugs. "Who else would you have as your wingman?"

"And that will never change," Castle assures her, giving her a parting hug.

"Enjoy the wedding reception. Give Kevin and Jenny my love. And I hope everything goes well later." She gives her dad a wink.

Castle nods, his heart full to overflowing with love for the special women in his life. "This will be the icing on the cake, so to speak. She already said yes! Can you believe that?"

Alexis hugs him even tighter. "Congratulations! How could she not, dad? You guys are made for each other. Anyone can see that." She squeezes his hand and begins to back away, thumbing over her shoulder. "I'd better go. My Uber is waiting. And you should go back inside before Kate gets suspicious."

"You're the best, pumpkin. I love you," Castle says, blowing her a kiss as he hurries away.

Kate is looking for him when he practically jogs back into the lobby bar a few minutes later. A bead of sweat runs down his back between his shoulder blades. He whips a white handkerchief out of his pocket to dab his top lip.

"I thought you'd got lost. Again," she says, handing him a glass of Champagne. Her glass is already drained to halfway.

"There was a line for the bathroom if you can believe." She doesn't. Castle is definitely up to something, though she isn't sure what.

"Cheers!" they say to one another, clinking glasses with secret smiles and dancing eyes.

Castle leans in to whisper in her ear and Kate curls around him, shivering when his lips graze her jaw and it tickles. "Here's to us," he says under his breath as she touches her fingers to his ribcage beneath his jacket, getting a thrill from allowing herself this secret pleasure while everyone else is still in the dark.

She catches his cuff as they straighten up, sliding her index finger up along the soft skin beneath his wrist. "To us," she mouths, watching Castle's eyes darken at her touch.

Suddenly, it's all too much: her touch, the smoldering looks, holding everything inside after so long. He's all out of patience for secrecy and decorum, especially with her. He takes her by the hand and drags her off to the darkest corner he can find in the bar.

"I want us to start with our honeymoon tonight."

Kate's mouth falls open but no words come out. "I…what?" she eventually gasps.

He moves even closer so that their bodies are just barely touching. "You're right. I wasn't delayed in a line at the bathroom just now. I lied."

She crosses her arms. "Original way to start off a marriage. Go on."

"I was…organizing things."

"What things?"

He bats the question away. "Okay, so hear me out before you say no. Promise?"

Kate looks dubious. She narrows her eyes.

"Promise, Beckett. Come on. You have to promise," he wheedles.

She smiles indulgently and holds out her little finger. "Pinkie swear."

Castle hooks his little finger around Kate's and they grin at one another. "Pinkie swearing, Beckett. Badass. I love it."

"Okay, I swore your little oath. Now share," she says with faux exasperation.

Castle takes a couple of deep breaths to psych himself up. When he's pumped, he goes for it. "I want us…to have our honeymoon tonight." He holds up a hand to silence her objection. "I know it sounds a little crazy, but what do you say, Kate? Honeymoon with me?"

Kate bursts out laughing, but her face shines with a burning desire to say yes. Instead, her mouth says, "You're so right. It does sound crazy." She pokes him in the shoulder. "You sound crazy, Castle."

"And you love that about me," he persists, standing his ground with this daring reminder.

Kate's cheeks are flushed and her eyes are shining when she nods and says, "I do. Yes. Among other things."

"Good," he says, trying to center himself again. "That's good." He takes another deep breath. "So I took a leaf out of the kids' book."

She frowns, not understanding the reference. "Kids? What kids?"

"The hoodies. From last night. Down by the river. I got us a room."

She releases a disbelieving burst of laughter. "You got us a room? So some...some...hooligans tell you to get a room and you...you got us a room?"

"Yeah, and not just any room." Castle puffs out his chest. "Can you believe this hotel has two honeymoon suites?"

Kate chuckles and shakes her head at him. "Castle, no hotel has two honeymoon suites. That's just not…no."

"Okay. So that part was a lie, I will admit."

Her eyebrows rise and she says, "Another lie? Oh, great. This is really shaping up well." But she takes a sip of champagne and gestures for him to keep talking, that she's prepared to hear him out.

"I went to talk to reception about booking us a room for the night."

Kate can't believe what she's hearing. "You? Oh, wow!"

Castle ignores her surprise. Being brave has got him this far in the last twenty-four hours, so he's doing this. "Anyway, turns out Ryan was too cheap to stump up for the honeymoon suite and it was just sitting there empty, so…"

"So…? You thought you'd book it for us? Castle," she hisses, "we're not even married. We haven't even…" Her eyes widen and she looks around to see who might be listening in to their conversation. She lowers her voice to whisper, "Slept together."

"Don't I know it!" he declares, earning himself a hard stare from Kate. "But that's the best part."

She frowns because she doesn't understand his logic. "It is?"

"Or it's why this makes so much sense."

Kate is dubious, but she finds herself wanting him to persuade her; she needs the story only he can tell. "Okay, I'm giving you some latitude here, Castle, But you're gonna have to enlighten me."

He takes her hand, holding it low between them so that no one else can see. "We're topsy-turvy, you and I. Always have been. We do everything backward. You started out hating me, Kate, instead of waiting until we're out on the porch in our rockers and I'm grinding my teeth or chewing with my mouth open. We're topsy-turvy, upside down, and I love you so much that some days it hurts to look at you. So I figure, let's start out with the honeymoon suite before any more craziness steps in our path or gets in the way. What do you say?"

Bravely, he holds onto her hand and waits. When she eventually rolls her eyes and nods, he hands their Champagne glasses off to a passing waiter and takes off, leading her after him.

"What? We're going now? They haven't even started the reception yet," she protests.

"No, not now. I want to find somewhere private so I can kiss you. But I'm having your luggage sent up to the room."

Kate pulls him to a halt, forcing him to turn around to face her. She frowns and cocks her head, placing a staying hand on his chest. "My luggage?"

"Yeah, I found the overnight bag you stashed in the trunk of the Bentley. Should've given me a little heads up and I'd have had more time to do the same. God, I love saying that. Stashed in the Bentley," he repeats to himself. "We sound like Parker and Lady Penelope."

"I think that was a Rolls-Royce," Kate corrects. "Anyway, my bag was there so that I could change into this dress after I was done with my paperwork at the precinct this morning, not because I planned on staying the night."

The air goes still.

"Oh." Castle's face falls. He lets go of her hand. "Oh, God, I'm…sorry. I'm doing it again. I'm getting ahead of myself, putting the damn cart before the horse." He deflates, shoulders slumping, defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

Kate watches him for a second, pouting like a petulant little boy. He's adorable. She makes him wait a little longer before she smirks and says, "Or the Bentley before the wedding rings and the apartment and the myriad other things people usually do in these situations."

Castle slowly lifts his head. She's not yelling, or slapping him, or running away. She's teasing him. He sees a chink of light in the darkness, and this reenergizes him. "But we're not other people, Kate," he hastens to point out.

She nods soberly. "No. That's true. We're not."

"So…is that a yes?"

After a beat or two of indecision, Kate nods helplessly because how could she not when this wonderful man is the one doing the asking. "I guess, it's a yes, Castle." But before he can jump off the deep end she holds up a finger. "With one caveat."

He's practically vibrating with joy and excitement that she said yes. "Name it. You want the Bentley? Whatever it is, you can have it."

"We give the honeymoon suite to Kevin and Jenny, and we take whatever suite they have booked."

He pauses, and a slow, sexy grin blossoms on his face. "Deal," he says softly, so proud of her and so proud of himself for falling in love with such a gorgeous human being. "I will go and sort that out right now."

"Before you do." She grasps his wrist and pulls him close to her. "Come here."

She ducks her head, kissing him swiftly and softly before he or anyone else is aware that it's happening. Then she straightens his tie and pats his chest. "Now you can go. And don't come back without a couple more glasses of Champagne. We're celebrating, remember?" she says, offering him her warmest smile, the one that makes his heart ache and sing in equal measure, the smile she saves for him alone, the smile that says, "I'm yours and hurry back because I want you by my side."

Castle has to clench his hands into fists to stop himself from reaching for her and just making out with her in the middle of the bar. He returns her dazzling smile before he speedwalks off down the hallway to sort out their room.

Kate is standing in a corner humming to herself when she hears a woman slow tutting behind her. She turns at the sound to find Lanie standing by her elbow. Like Kate, she's looking out across the bar. "So, you and writer boy. Still just 'good,' huh?" she says. "You sure there's nothing new you want to tell me?"

TBC...

A/N: Happy there are still people enjoying this story. Reports of its imminent conclusion seem to have been a false alarm. Thank you to the kind souls who continue to review. Liv