They finished their breakfast in silence… mostly. Kate made small noises of pleasure every so often, just to tease Rick, while he shifted in his chair uncomfortably. But other than that, they ate quietly.
"So," Kate finally broke the silence, her tummy now full. "What's the plan?"
"What plan?" Rick snapped, though he tried to keep his tone light. It wasn't Kate's fault… no, wait, it was Kate's fault he couldn't sit comfortably and just enjoy his stupid breakfast. Those sexy little noises she made were driving him crazy. The worst part was that he could imagine her making those noises as he- Shoot, he thought, breaking off that train of thought just when Kate started talking.
"The plan," she reiterated pointedly. "You know, for the day?"
Rick smiled when he discovered a way to drive her crazy in turn. "This is a vacation, Kate," he informed her. "There is no plan."
She gave him an annoyed look. "You must have some idea of what we're doing today."
Rick smirked. "Yes, I have some ideas. But there's no plan. Does that bother you, Miss Type-A?"
"Nothing bad ever came from having a plan, Castle," she snapped.
His gaze shifted off to middle space, staring at nothing, and he mused, "Unless you were planning to rob a bank." He suddenly perked up and smiled at Kate excitedly, "Oo, or murder someone. I could totally see someone like you with all these detailed plans, getting ready to murder some-" He finally noted Kate's expression and guessed- "Annoying author?"
Kate simply smiled in acknowledgement, and then hopped down from her stool. She grabbed hers and Rick's empty plates and took the dishes to the sink as she said, "Fine. There's no plan. I can live with that. So long as you're prepared to entertain me for three… long… days." She turned from rinsing the dishes, noted his impish expression and quickly added, "Outside the bedroom." When his smirk just widened, Kate snapped, "Not involving sex!"
"Joy kill," he grumbled, still smiling regardless.
Kate grabbed a towel to dry her hands, and leaned her elbows on the counter, facing Rick. "So, you want our weekend to be totally spontaneous," Kate said, trying to understand Rick's thinking. "Yet you want to make plans to have sex. That seems a little backward to me."
Rick was just able to control the stuttering he felt coming on, and said, "Just as long as it's not… not an option." He grimaced over his 'eloquence' there, and added, "You know what I mean?"
"I had no plans to sleep with you this weekend," she told him, her tone light. "In fact, I do believe you made a promise to that effect when you invited me here." Kate smiled then and concluded, "But I know how to be spontaneous when I'm feeling… spontaneous."
"So are you going to sleep with me or not?" Rick asked bluntly.
She gave him her patented 'Beckett glare' before tossing the hand towel into his face.
When he pulled the towel away he was smiling. Well, she didn't say no, he thought, encouraged by that small omission. "Go put some shoes on," he told her. Rick noted her narrowed eyes, and saw her about to object to being told what to do, so he added, "Unless you prefer walking on the beach barefoot."
She moved around the counter and confirmed, "Barefoot."
"All right, then." Rick slid from his stool and when he stood beside Kate, he held out his hand to her. Kate simply stared down at his hand skeptically for a long moment before slowly looking up to meet his gaze. "Oh, come on," he complained. "You kissed me. Holding hands how would practically be redundant."
Kate finally smiled, taking his hand. "You are so easy, Ricky," she teased as they turned and headed to the back door.
He opened the door for her and confirmed, "Yes. Yes I am." They stepped off the porch, directly onto the beach. His backyard opened directly to the surf and Kate noted a jacuzzi off to one side of his partially fenced off, private beach. "Feel free to test that theory any time, though."
She bumped into his shoulder as they walked down to the surf and said, "I meant, you're so easy to tease."
"Maybe you're just a really good tease." Rick frowned then and mused aloud, "I didn't mean that to sound so… mean."
"I like to tease you," Kate admitted, watching as a wave rolled up to splash their feet.
"Truth," Castle said, in that way continuing their game.
"You make it so easy, though." She admitted, smiling up at him. "I don't even have to try sometimes and I can get to you."
"It's not my fault!" he complained. "It's that sexy voice you use, and that perfect little mouth of yours." He stared off into the sky and added, "The way your eyes get all smoky…"
Kate was a little confused now; the words he said were very nice, but even as he complimented her, his tone was a complaint. "Thanks, I think," she laughed.
"You drive me crazy," he admitted, smiling.
"Truth," Kate replied.
Rick stopped walking and pulled Kate by the hand he still held until she was facing him. "You are not the first beautiful woman I've been close to- I've been with plenty of women who would bring a lesser man to his knees. But you… you look at me with those smoky eyes, and your voice gets all soft, and I… I fall apart. I can't remember any of my witty comebacks or even come up with a teasing retort. But I can imagine leaning in and kissing you and then I just want to stay quiet so the moment will last longer."
"Every time we had one of those moments, I hoped you'd kiss me," Kate confessed quietly. "The world would fall away and even the fact that we might be in the precinct wouldn't matter to me. I would have let you kiss me, every time."
Rick just stood there- staring into her eyes- floored by her admission. Finally, he was able to ask, "Really?"
Kate smiled her teasing smile and told him, "You're supposed to guess."
Rick studied her face, trying to recall the game while she looked at him like that. Then he supposed that the best way to test a hypothesis was through practical application. So he moved closer and slipped his hands around her waist. As his face drew nearer hers, Kate's eyes slid closed. Her arms moved up around his neck, and she relaxed into him, allowing his hands and his body to support her. His mouth came down on hers, harder than ever before, and Kate moaned; it was almost the same noise she'd made at breakfast, but this sound had an edge of excitement to it, too. Rick's hand slid to her lower back, pulling her hips against him, and Kate arched her body into his, letting herself get bent backward by Rick's big body towering over her. Rick broke away from her mouth only long enough to gasp, "Truth," before devouring her mouth again. Kate might have let him take her to the sand then, just to feel the weight of his body on hers, but at that moment, a large wave swept up the beach and splashed up their legs. Kate jumped in surprise, then stood back to assess the damage, laughing. The hems of Rick's shorts were soaked, and her own legs were drenched, though her tiny shorts were only spotted with drops of water.
"Maybe we should go back and get bathing suits," Rick suggested, his voice still low with emotion.
"Still trying to get me into a bikini, Castle?" she teased.
"Unless you prefer skinny dipping," he retorted.
She turned and headed back toward Castle's beach house, knowing he'd follow. "I'd rather take my chances with the bikini," she said, reaching out and taking his hand, lacing her fingers through his as they walked. "You may not be able to handle the sight of me naked, frolicking in the ocean."
"If it's all the same to you, I'll take my chances skinny dipping. And since when do you frolic?"
"I frolic," Kate retorted defensively. "I've even been known to skip on occasion."
"Yeah, when you were nine," Rick agreed sarcastically. Then he thought for a moment, recalling a fond memory and told Kate, "The last time I skipped was a month ago."
Kate looked stunned, but said, "Truth?" She knew Rick was an overgrown child sometimes, but to hear he had just gone skipping for no apparent reason, Kate was actually surprised.
Rick laughed at her expression and replied, "Yeah. Alexis and I went window shopping together- a daddy/daughter day- and we ended up skipping from shop to shop."
"That's sweet," Kate admitted. And then she got nervous. It was her turn in their game and she knew the fact she wanted to give- to prepare Castle for when he saw her in a swim suit- but she wanted to keep that part of her life a secret for just a little while longer. Not many people knew about her wild past and she didn't want Castle to think differently of her because of it. Although, she mused, knowing Castle, he'd probably just think it's hot. So she took a deep breath and told him, "I have tattoos."
"Lie," Rick said, rather quickly, though he cast her a speculative look.
She figured show and tell would convince him better than trying to argue with him, so she stopped walking, pulled her hand from his grasp and turned her back on him. With one hand, she lifted her shirt a little in the back, while the other hand pushed down on the waistband of her shorts. Though Rick was momentarily distracted by the sexy little dimples in her lower back, his eyes stuck on the pink heart right below the left dimple. No bigger than two inches square at the most, Rick reached out to touch the small tattoo with his fingertips as he leaned closer to read the cursive script inside the little heart.
"All you need is love?" Rick asked and stood straight again when Kate turned back to face him.
"My mom loved the Beatles," Kate explained sheepishly. "And she believed that as long as someone on this planet loves you, you're never truly alone."
"That's sweet," he said, echoing her words from earlier. And Kate smiled, relieved that he seemed to like the heart.
"Wait a minute," Rick suddenly said. "You said tattoos- plural."
"Very few men get to see the rest of my tattoos, Ricky," she teased him, turning and walking the last few feet to the beach house.
Rick simply smiled, watching her back side as she climbed the porch steps up to the house. He wondered how he was going to make it through the weekend- and keep his hands to himself- if Kate insisted upon teasing him mercilessly?
A/N: Oh, hey, Pretend the walk on the beach actually lasted longer than it seems. It was supposed to be the rest of the morning, or thereabouts, but it totally seems to have been five minutes, doesn't it? Maybe they were speed walking 'cause that's romantic *sarcasm.*
Does anyone have ideas for other tattoos? I think I have some, but what would YOU like to see on Kate? And should Castle have a tattoo also? Because I know Nathan does, so it would only make sense for Castle to have the same one.
This chapter totally made me wonder, does the ocean behave differently on the east coast than it does on the west? Does that question seem really ignorant? In my defense, I only know the Pacific! I've never seen the Atlantic!