His face is so serious, but it's also so close and it's all Kate can do to keep breathing as she leans in, finally giving in to what she's had to fight the whole evening. And they're kissing, and it's nothing like the warm but chaste morning kisses of the day before, and also nothing like the frantic but unsteady kisses before that. His lips are on hers, mouth open, hot, insistent, slow, purposeful. His hands are at her waist, and under her top, she draws her breath in as he touches skin. It's ridiculous. It's wonderful. It's absurd. It's like coming home.
Oh God. She's making out with Richard Castle and she never wants to stop. Her hands have found their way under his shirt, and he's leaning into her, laying her down on the sofa, one hand under her shirt, and now one in her hair, his thigh moving until it is pressed against her- and suddenly there's an insistent ringing somewhere, and her instinct is ignore- but she knows the ring tone, and recognises the precinct. Kate hesitates a moment and that's all it takes. Rick is pulling back, breathing heavily, and she truly has no idea how he's stopped, as he looks down at her ruefully. "Your phone, I take it?"
She blushes. "Work. Yeah…"
"Well-" He takes a deep breath. "You should call them back. For one thing, I have a kid I need to tuck in, who could come downstairs any minute. For another?" He pauses. "The first time we do this? Phones are going to be off, and we're not going to be fully clothed on a sofa." He shakes his head and gets up. "I'll be back in a second. Just going to tuck Alexis in."
Beckett lets out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Shit. What is this even? She feels like she's about sixteen years old. Sighing, she picks up her phone to return Jones' call.
When Rick gets back, he's smiling sleepily. "She's fast asleep."
Kate smiles back uncertainly. Meeting Alexis the other morning was one thing, but this evening had opened her eyes, as far as parenting is concerned. It looks like hard work. She's struck again by just how different Castle is in his own home, to when they first met. Or even to when they had coffee. Let alone how different he is to the media persona. She's pretty confident that the cocky playboy is nothing more than an act. Maybe a very good act.
"Everything okay with work?"
"Uh-huh." She blinks sheepishly. "Yeah, they got a confession. Jones- the lead detective on the case- he said he'd call me to keep me informed."
"I wasn't wrong the other day when I said you were a workaholic, huh?"
"Just part of the job, Castle."
He sits back on the couch next to her, close enough that their knees are touching, his eyes shining in anticipation. "Tell me about the case. What happened this time? Something gory?"
"Wow. Can you at least pretend to be sympathetic? Just a little bit?"
"Uh-huh. Sure, sure. Bad guy does bad thing, very sad. Tragic. And interesting!"
Kate rolls her eyes. "Very convincing." But as she tells him, he listens attentively, nodding along.
"This is awesome." And off her look he clarifies- "And terrible, I know. But I mean, that you can tell me all these stories. This kind of inspiration is what a writer's dreams are made of!"
"These stories I tell you? They had better inspire you quietly. And subtly. I'm not kidding. If your plan is to use my work stories as inspiration for your next book- if I see these stories on the pages of the next Richard Castle bestseller, so help me God-" She breaks off on his look. "What? What?! You've already done it, haven't you? Written out these stories?"
He shakes his head, looking, what? Amused? Concerned? She can't place it. Nervous. He looks nervous. "Not the stories you've been telling me… more… you."
"Tell me you are kidding. Tell me you haven't got some crazy idea-"
"Kate. Beckett. Listen to me. Now, you know I'm done with writing Derrick-"
She purses her lips. "Actually, no, I have known you for all of what, two weeks? So no, I didn't know you're done with Derrick. And hey-" Kate narrows her eyes. "I like Derrick. He's bad-ass."
Rick waves his hand, brushes her concerns away with the gesture. "So I told you I had a meeting with my publishers today?" Kate nods. He'd mentioned it at dinner, but he hadn't gone into details. "They've agreed to let me finish the Storm series, and start on my new series- and- well, I have this new character in mind… she's smart, beautiful, inspiring, she's bad-ass- basically, she's based on you."
Kate groans as she buries her face in her hands. And here she'd been, thinking the press reports of his impulsive behavior were exaggerated. How did he even come up with this? "No. No way. The world does not want to read a book about me. Go back to your publishers. Promise them more Storm. A sequel to Flowers for her grave. Or more-" Fuck. She should never have gone over to him that day in the restaurant. Never had her book signed. Never called him. She should never have had coffee with him, and she most definitely should never have kissed him. Shit. "More- I know- rewrite A skull at springtime!"
He's shaking his head, laughing softly. "Sorry Beckett. It's too late. You can be willing or unwilling, but no matter what, you're my muse."
"Your muse? Seriously. You did not just call me that." She drains what's left of the wine in her glass, and holds it out to him, waiting expectantly for a refill. "Well, Castle. You'd better open another bottle of wine. Or some vodka. I'm going to need to drink a lot more to get my head around this."
Well, Rick mused. That went well. Or, not as badly as it could have gone. He's based a handful of his characters on real people before, but none were as intriguing as Kate. Neither of them have said much for the last hour, drinking wine. Their knees are still touching, and he's pleasantly buzzed, which he doesn't think is really due to the alcohol. No. It's touching Kate, even so casually, which is intoxicating. It's a kind of comfortable silence, punctuated with the occasional glare from Kate. But he's not going to take those too seriously. She may not have said much, but she hasn't left either.
"Are you really going to visit Alexis' Mom soon?" When she breaks the silence, Rick's surprised she's changed the subject.
"I've actually got us flights booked, a few weekends from now. I haven't told Alexis, though. If Meredith cancels at the last moment, it's better if Alexis isn't disappointed. I mean, you saw how worked up she was tonight, and that was just a family tree-"
"I meant what I said. Families are complicated. The space next to your mother's name on the family tree? What's that all about?"
Castle shrugs. "Like you said. Families are complicated. "What about yours- your Dad, I mean- is he around?"
"He's- it's- hey! Yeah. He lives in New York." Her voice is bitter. "This thing- if you do this thing- you're not- I mean, what I told you? You get that I don't tell people that, right?"
"Right." He's watching her closely.
"So if you really do this stupid thing, and base a character on me-"
"A series-"
"A character on me- how does this work? Did your character's Mom die? Is her Dad an alcoholic? Is that the- I don't know- the backstory for this character?"
"For Nikki. And no, not exactly. I mean, maybe something happened to her, too, something that drives her, makes her the best- but not- it won't be the same, Kate. You'll know it's you. I'll know it's you. Most people? They're not going to know."
"What about the people I work with? You don't think they'll find out? You don't think the detectives will- detect? And- Nikki?"
"Nikki," he confirms.
Kate falls into silence again, but he's content to sit silently too. His hand has found its way to cover the fists she's making in her lap, and he watches their hands intertwine, feels her relax against him as his thumb makes circles against the top of her hand. He leans back to the side of the sofa, given her room to nestle against him, her head on his chest. They'd been making out before, and God but it had been a long time since he'd kissed a woman like that, and meant it, like that. He takes a deep breath. He knows it's gone past midnight, so surely she's not planning on going home tonight? But he knows he's put a lot on her already, all this talk of Nikki- so he can't bring himself to push his luck any further. So he lies there, eyes closed, breathing in her scent, and thanking his lucky stars that she's trusted him enough to stay this far.
"Castle?"
"Mmm?" He's so sleepy, so relaxed here, with Kate in his arms.
"Castle- you mentioned something before about not wanting to be fully clothed on this couch-" And at that he's awake, looking at her, as she blushes and bites her lip- "so, what do you say? Shall we go be less clothed, someplace else?"
