Chapter 12
Castle cracked the door open no more than needed and squeezed out of the bedroom. Alexis stood in the foyer, just a few steps away, amongst the discarded clothing scattered about the floor, a solitary item she'd plucked from the pile dangling from her finger, a Cheshire cat grin plastered across her face as she eyeballed it.
"I can explain!" he blurted, having no idea yet what the hell he was going to tell her that wouldn't get him into hot water with Kate.
Alexis raised her head slowly, the grey tee branded with an NYPD logo held in her outstretched arm. "Is Detective Beckett going to be my new mommy?" she asked, with a torrent of amusement-laced sarcasm.
"That's- what? Detective Beck-" He stammered like a fool, clearly trapped with no feasible escape route.
"You've paid for a top-notch private school education, Dad. I can read. And unless you've taken up with Detective Esposito who seems completely against your type, I have to assume this belongs to Detective Beckett." She pulled the tee open by each shoulder, the traitorous letters sneering at him. They might as well have been a flashing neon sign above his bedroom door for all their subtlety: Kate Beckett's in here! Kate Beckett's in here!
Castle approached and snatched the shirt from her hand, a blush creeping up his neck and into his cheeks. "I'd like to be able to tell you it isn't what it looks like, but this is all ridiculous enough already, I think." He squeezed the tee tightly in his fist, punishment for its betrayal. "So much for secrets," he mumbled under his breath.
"So, it's true then? You and Beckett are…dating?" She'd realized midway through that he wouldn't have been able to handle the first version of the question that'd come to mind, the less chaste version- not now, not ever, not from his daughter's mouth. "When did this happen? I mean besides for, like, the past five years now."
"It's four years, actually," he corrected ridiculously, as though that were the important part of the conversation. He flung the shirt over his shoulder and crept around her, picking up their remaining articles of clothing from the floor as he went- some more humiliating than others. "And it's very, very new." He stood upright, lost in the sublimity of the thought. "Wonderfully new," he added softly.
"And after all this time, after everything you've been through together, you want to keep it a secret? I figured you'd be calling Page Six and taking out ads when it finally happened."
"Yeah, well, I would, but it's complicated, Alexis. If I decide to go back to work with her at the precinct, which isn't definite yet, they have strict rules about partners dating, and I don't want anything to come out that might get Kate into trouble or jeopardize her job. You don't really know her, but I'm sure you've gathered from stories I've told you that Captain Gates can be a royal pain in the ass, and she plays by the book. She already doesn't like me all that much. I certainly don't want to give her any more reason."
Alexis stepped into him and wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug. "How could anyone not like you, Dad? It's impossible not to."
"You're not getting a tattoo," he shot back preemptively, assuming her adulation masked an adolescent want of something he surely wouldn't approve of.
"Whatever you guys are doing in there has your brain on the fritz. I don't want a tattoo or anything else. I was serious." She pulled back and looked up at him. "I'm really happy for you- for both of you. And if you want me to keep your secret, I will. I'd recommend you keep the lingerie on the floor in the foyer to a minimum, though. You know how Gram can be. You'd never hear the end of it."
"Oh, I'm painfully aware of how my mother can be. From now on, clothes stay on until we're in the bedroom."
"Gross, Dad."
"Right, sorry."
"I need to get going. I just needed to stop home for some notes I forgot for study group. Tell Detective Beckett I said hi…and that she'd better not screw this up." She snickered, only half-serious.
"I'll do that, thanks. At least that first part." He kissed her on the forehead.
"See you later, Dad."
He watched as she disappeared up the stairs to her room and then he retreated to his own, their clothes piled in his hand. He came through the door still somewhat stunned by the last few moments, and Kate was nowhere in sight. He wandered into the bathroom and found her sitting on the vanity, his robe from the back of the door wrapped around her like a blanket. "Hey," he said, matter-of-factly, as though nothing at all had happened. "You look adorable like that."
Kate peered up at him from beneath her eyelashes. "Don't even try to flatter your way out of this."
He dropped everything from his hand onto the floor. "Excuse me? Need I remind you how our clothes ended up there in the first place?" He moved toward her and pushed the hair from her face. "If you don't remember, it would be my great pleasure to paint the picture for you."
"Stop it." She pushed his hand away, playfully so. "What did you tell her?"
"Well, actually, she told me." He bent down to the floor and dug her tee from the bottom of the pile. "She saw your very subtle NYPD shirt, here. Remind me again, how long have you been a cop? Kind of a rookie mistake, Detective." He was enjoying the tease, and the fact that it was obviously getting a rise out of her.
"So you're saying this is my fault?"
"No, no, fault implies wrongdoing. And let me be very, very clear. There will never, ever be a time I'll find anything wrong with what you're doing if it involves you showing up at my door and tearing off my clothes as well as your own."
"Thanks for that pass, Castle. Your charity knows no bounds." She pushed herself from the counter and clutched at the robe, her bare shoulder soft and exposed. "We already suck at this, Castle, this whole secret thing. We couldn't even make it one day. And now I have to face Alexis knowing that she knows and knowing how she found out."
He floated his fingers along the curve of her neck. "I know my daughter. She won't say a word. It's going to be fine. We just have to keep things in the bedroom. Or, in the bathroom, I suppose."
"I should probably just go, Castle. Your mom will probably be home soon, and, honestly, all of this has pretty much spoiled the mood."
"Has it?" He tugged lightly at the collar of the robe and it dropped to the floor. His fingers circled her wrist and he drew her body against his insistently. His warm mouth found her neck, his tongue's scrutiny of the skin there rendering her knees weak.
"Okay, maybe just one more time," she purred.
XXX
Kate arrived at the precinct the next morning before anyone else, her body well on its way to full recovery from its recent bout of exhaustion. She'd slept like a baby with Castle near her, touching her- his hand, his breath, the knob of his kneecap, it didn't much matter. The previous night was their first full night apart in five days, but he'd left her body humming with such gratification, she'd fallen asleep the instant her head had hit the pillow, and she'd woken with an intense desire to dive back into her life.
Her desk was a wreck, files and paperwork covered every inch. Espo and Ryan had left her everything they had on the Thorne case under a Post-it that read: 3 AM. Need sleep. See you in the morning. Clean your desk! She studied the board and the files the boys had left, all the pieces of the puzzle she cursed herself for missing out on. She was in love with the discovery, the exploration, the resolution inherent in her job. It lit her up, it turned her on, and it filled her when nothing else could. She fingered the rough patch of skin on her forehead left by the accident and she fought off the pangs of guilt and disappointment that jabbed at her from beneath the surface. She was there now and she forced herself to accept that was enough.
She checked the time on her phone and nearly two hours had passed. She'd missed a text from Castle, somehow, her attention focused solely on the mess at her fingertips. Why he was already awake at that hour, she didn't know. I can still smell you, it read, and her lips curled upward, her eyes scanning the room for anyone who might be around to see, as if they'd be able to tell why. But she was still alone, so she indulged her mind, let it wander back to the warmth of his sheets and the heat of his body. You're the most beautiful distraction, she typed in reply, before hiding the phone away in her drawer to try and refocus. Espo and Ryan would be in soon enough.
XXX
"Hey, boss." Espo tapped Kate on the shoulder and it caught her off guard, her eyes still scanning notes from the case. "Glad to have you back."
"Hey, Espo, thanks, it's good to be back. Not that I missed you or anything."
"Course not," he chuckled, "why would you? You were off having fun instead of resting like you should've been. In fact, you sure you should even be back? You still look a little…" He shrugged his shoulders and squinted his eyes, pointed at the purple and green spots on her face.
"Like you're one to talk, Espo. What's your excuse?" She pointed right back at him, the dark band along his cheek still pronounced.
"Fair enough," he replied quickly in dismissal. "How long you been here? You check out the file?"
"How the hell could I miss it? Really appreciate you leaving it out for me to find, so neat and organized," she quipped. "Read it a few times now, yeah. Lanie's got the watch?"
"Yeah, I called in a favor last night, if you know what I mean." He smiled arrogantly, a pat on his own back. "Should know later this morning, hopefully. She's got the sneakers and the pants from the bag CSU found hidden in the spare tire too- blood on both. Wish all our suspects left behind such thoughtful gifts."
"That would be nice. A bit less fun for us, but-"
"True that. You know, speaking of favors, looks like someone did one for you too."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
His eyes dropped to her neck and he nodded.
"What?"
"What do you mean what? It's like high school all over again."
"Espo, just spit it out," she barked, her tone a combination of aggravation and growing anxiety.
"It's called a hickey, boss. And you've got one." He grinned ear to ear.
"I do not," she insisted. But she could feel the panic creeping up from her toes. She'd gotten up so early. She'd barely looked in a mirror. Shit. What if she did?
"Guess your time off didn't suck, huh?" He released a raucous, in-your-face laugh.
Her head darted rapidly around the bullpen as she touched her fingers to her neck nervously. "Espo-"
"Naw, I'm just playin' with you."
"What?" She could barely think straight.
"I got you so good."
"You're such an ass, Espo. It's not funny."
"It worked, didn't it? All secretive about not being in the city. Please. You know you have to tell me now, right? I know there has to be some juicy story now." He held his finger out in an accusatory point. "Wait a minute. You didn't."
She fumbled out an I didn't what? that wouldn't have convinced a child of her bogus confusion, let alone a man who knew her as well as Espo did.
"It was him, wasn't it? It was Castle."
Kate literally had no idea what to say- like the few days away from her job had robbed her of all brain power, of all ability to think on her feet, to improvise.
"Come with me. Now. And keep your damn voice down." She grabbed his arm and pulled him across the bullpen, shoved him into the break room.
Dammit. It hit her. Now two people knew. Two people in less than a day's time.
Espo knows, she texted Castle once she'd managed to straighten Espo out, gather herself and get back to her desk. He says he won't say anything. We really suck at this.
XXX
"That was Lanie," Espo announced, hanging up his phone. "Ryan, come on." They both stopped at Kate's desk. "You comin' with? It's gonna be fun waking this a-hole up."
"You guys go. I'm still catching up on some stuff. Besides, you guys did all the work on this, this one's your fish."
"Then we'll call you on the way back."
"Be careful."
"You know it." They headed toward the elevator, both amped up for the impending confrontation.
"Oh, and Espo, remember to duck this time," Kate joked.
Espo smacked Ryan across the back of the head. "Thanks a lot, jackass."
"It's her first day back at work. She needed a laugh." He patted down the hair Espo had tousled. "Not sure I'll ever get tired of telling that story."
"I'll show you tired," Espo grumbled. "Press the damn button and let's go."
"Oh, I pressed a button, it sounds like," Ryan said with a grin, and the elevator doors closed in front of them.
Thirty minutes later they arrived at Jimmy Vincent's building and parked around the corner to wait for the backup team to arrive, strictly precautionary. Based on everything they believed about what their suspect was capable of, it was a smart play to have another team ready.
"After all the crap we've seen, it's still hard to believe someone could do something like this, ya know?"
Espo felt it too, he just rarely wore it on his sleeve. "Yeah, it's pretty messed up. But, I still think we're doin' some good out here every day. I try to remember that. Helps take the edge off it."
Ryan caught a glimpse of the patrol car pulling up in his side mirror. "They're here. You ready?"
"Hell yeah, I'm ready."
They stepped from the car and walked around the corner to the front of Vincent's building. It would still be early for him, the club owner who'd told them he usually worked all night and slept until afternoon. They pressed the button for his unit on the callbox outside, over and over, sometimes holding it down for blocks of seconds at a time- anything to annoy Vincent enough to answer. He did, finally, and in less time than they'd imagined, his voice screeching back at them through the metal box.
"What the hell do you want?" he shouted, his voice coming through like he was talking through a tin can, muffled and hollow.
"NYPD, Mr. Vincent. We need you to let us in. Now."
"What the hell is this about?"
"Now, Mr. Vincent."
The front door buzzed loudly and Ryan pulled it open. They climbed the stairs to the third floor, electing not to waste time waiting for the elevator, and approached unit 3C with their weapons drawn. Espo pounded on Vincent's door with his fist, the tiny knocker under the peephole bouncing up and down from the force.
"Jimmy Vincent!" Espo shouted, "Open up!"
They could hear the click of the deadbolt turning and they both took a step back. "Slowly!" Ryan instructed.
The door opened and Vincent appeared, still dressed in the clothes they presumed he was wearing at the club the previous night. He looked at each of them, their guns pointed directly at him, but he didn't flinch, didn't take an extra breath, didn't bat an eye. "Detectives, what's going on, exactly?" His tone was flat, infuriatingly calm.
"What's going on, Mr. Vincent, is you're under arrest for the murders of Talia Thorne and Tony Gionta." Espo advanced on him and pulled him through the doorway, pinned him against the wall in the hallway and patted him down. He had a small pocketknife on him, and Espo threw it to the floor where Ryan kicked it away.
Ryan informed him of his rights while Espo cuffed him and spun him around by the collar of his shirt.
"I told you before, it's Jimmy," was the only thing he had to say.
Vincent was as quiet as a mouse during the ride back to the 12th, glaring standoffishly at Espo's reflection in the rearview mirror the entire time.
XXX
Kate had just managed to clear her desk of the mess of paperwork when her cell phone rang. Expecting that it was Espo or Ryan, she reached for it without paying attention to the name or image that appeared across the display. "Beckett," she answered, very much in work form.
"Wow," Castle oohed, "I haven't heard your work voice in far too many days. Say it again, just as sexy."
"You need to get out more."
"I need to get in more. Want to meet me in the stairwell?"
"What?" She looked around the bullpen but saw only her colleagues. "Are you here?"
"Don't react," he told her and he hung up.
Thirty seconds later, he strolled off the elevator and past her desk to Gates' office. He didn't stop. He didn't look. He just kept walking. He peered around her office door but the room was empty. "Hey, Bill," he called out to the desk across the way, "Captain in?"
"Yeah, she's in. I just saw her head down the hall."
"Great, thanks."
Kate watched him as he stood outside Gates' office awaiting her return. He never once looked her direction, waved, nodded, smiled- anything. He just stared up at the television playing the news like he was in a waiting room somewhere. For a guy who claimed to be so cool under pressure, he looked anything but. He couldn't have looked less natural, less relaxed, less like a man with nothing to hide.
"Mr. Castle? What are you doing here?" Gates returned a few moments later to find him hovering. She glanced over at Kate who shrugged her shoulders and crooked her mouth as though just as confused. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Actually, I was hoping we could talk for a minute if you aren't too busy."
"I'm always too busy, Mr. Castle."
"Right, yes, of course."
"But come in anyway," she huffed. He let her walk ahead and he flashed Kate a goofy thumbs up.
She could only imagine how badly this was going to go.
She sat up as straight as she could to keep an eye on what was happening between the two. Castle hadn't sat down and he was gesticulating nervously. He did that.
"Hello, Detective Beckett," she heard from somewhere over her right shoulder, and she turned to see Espo and Ryan leading a smug Jimmy Vincent to an interrogation room. She caught Espo's eye and he hers, and then Espo's face became one giant knowing grin as he spotted Castle standing in Gates' office. Kate countered with a most stern expression of displeasure and he reined it in immediately with a fake cough.
Her first day back was about to get very interesting.
XXX
"So, may I ask what exactly has changed in just the last few days, Mr. Castle? Our last conversation felt quite final."
"Yes," he replied, but nothing followed.
"Yes, I may ask?"
"No. I mean, yes, at the time, it was final." He sounded like a bumbling idiot. "I've had more time to think about it and I've had something of a change of heart."
"Is that so? And now I should- we should- just welcome you back with open arms, is that it? This isn't a place for whims, Mr. Castle." She pulled her glasses from her face and set them down, noticed the quick dart of his eyes in the direction of Kate's desk. "Have you spoken with the team about this? Detective Beckett, most importantly. Their input would be critical in my decision, of course."
"Of course, yes, I understand that. I haven't had an opportunity to talk to them yet, but-"
"Make certain you do," she interrupted.
"Yes, sir."
"I don't claim to understand much of what they see in you, Mr. Castle."
That one stung a bit.
"Nevertheless," she continued, surprising him when she did, "they seem incomplete without you."
He wanted to smile but he held it back.
"If they agree to this, if I agree to this, don't make any of us regret it, least of all Detective Beckett. You're her partner. She needs to be able to count on you."
"I understand."
"That's all, Mr. Castle." She banished him without another glance, and he walked contentedly from the office until he realized he now had to get Espo and Ryan to agree to it. He'd walked out on them too. It definitely wasn't a sure thing.
Kate stood when he reappeared and she followed a few steps behind as he made his way toward the elevator. Gates stood as well, though neither saw her as she watched them standing awkwardly together, staring at the glowing button on the wall. The corner of her mouth curled slightly as they stepped into the elevator car together and the doors slid shut.
"What was that, Castle? What did she say?" Kate turned to him anxiously.
He cupped her cheeks and pulled her against him, his mouth on hers hard and fast. She succumbed to his insistence and grabbed at his waist. The elevator chimed as they moved lower, floor by floor, until they reached his destination. "Call me when you're done later," he said, and he walked through the doors, her lips tingling, left to wonder.
XXX
Kate took the stairs back up to the 4th floor. Something about Castle's comment earlier about meeting him there, however off-the-cuff it was, had gotten to her, and she took each step with her imagination entertaining the possibilities.
She came through the door into the bullpen to find Gates waiting. "They've been in there with Mr. Vincent."
It wasn't a question and it wasn't an order, but Kate jumped into line, nonetheless. "Yes, sir, I was just on my way to observe."
"Yes, I thought I saw you headed in that direction, Detective." Her sarcasm was entirely overt. "If it seems like they need you, you get in there."
"Yes, sir."
Gates went back to her office and Kate moved on to interrogation to watch Espo and Ryan at work with Vincent. She flipped the audio switch on the wall and listened at the glass, her eyes fixed on their suspect but her thoughts elsewhere. She pictured herself in Castle's shoes, outside that very glass weeks before, watching and listening until everything had changed so suddenly with just a few words.
"He fuckin' deserved it. Fuckin' idiot was useless. Greedy goddamned bastard was supposed to be long gone. He fuckin' wanted more." Vincent had said the words like they could've been any words at all, and Kate's mind flashed back to her own. She wondered if Castle had heard her deliver them in such an unceremonious, cold tone. "Talia? Goddamned druggie. Only one dumb enough to miss her was Micky. Idiot. She got what she deserved. So did he."
Kate snapped back into the moment, hearing what Vincent had just said, what he continued to say. He was going on about ridding the planet of Gionta, the greedy asshole, about how worthless and expendable Talia Thorne was, about how Micky would've ended up dead with a needle in his arm eventually anyway so what did it matter. "Greedy goddamned bastard," he kept muttering, as he stared at the baggie containing his gold Rolex on the table at Espo's hand. Kate could see the wheels turning in his head, like he was working his damnedest to remember when it'd been ripped from his wrist and how it'd delivered him to this point. "I want to call my fuckin' lawyer," he announced a moment later.
"Sure thing, Jimmy," Espo taunted. "Good luck with that. Oh, and tell your lawyer he'd better call someone to fill in for you at the club tonight…and every night after that." He grabbed the baggie and Ryan the file and they left Vincent sitting there alone.
"That was- unexpected," Kate said as they closed the door behind them.
"Guy's a narcissistic prick. He probably loved every minute of it."
"Ryan's right. If you'd seen this guy the past few days, well, those pointy heels of yours would've come in handy."
They made their way out to Kate's desk. "I missed the beginning of the show, so fill me in."
"Not so fast," Espo blurted. "What the hell was Castle doing here?"
Ryan's head snapped in his direction. "Castle was here?"
XXX
Kate had been home less than ten minutes when the knock at the door came. She'd called Castle on her way out of the precinct and had told him to meet her at her place, no chance of awkward interruptions there. She'd managed to change into more comfortable clothes and pull her hair up off her neck, their plan to order dinner in, so she didn't much care about her unkempt appearance.
"Hey," she said, opening the door to a handful of wildflowers. "You know, I half-expected you to be sitting outside my door waiting for me when I got home."
"Is your implication here that you believe me to have stalker tendencies? If so, you don't really deserve these." He pretended to toss the bouquet over his shoulder.
"If the five books fit."
"Actually, it's six. She's in the hands of my editor now. Of course, that didn't really help my counterargument any. Quick, take these because you're so pretty."
"Mhmm," she hummed, as she invited him in, the flowers in hand. "They're beautiful, Castle, thank you."
"You're very welcome. Now come over here so I can greet you properly."
"I'm the one who lives here, Castle, so I should be greeting you properly." She placed the flowers on the kitchen counter and stepped into his body, his inches on her far more pronounced with her bare feet. She rose up onto her toes and glided her lips along the length of his neck. He smelled of soap and confidence, and when the tip of her tongue slipped out for a taste, it brought back with it a hint of salt. "Castle," she whispered, at the arc of his lobe, "I welcome you to my home."
Her mouth was on his before he was able to summon a reply, the goose bumps along his bare arms evidence of the effect of her seductive tone against his skin. His hands grasped at her hair as the intensity grew, as she pushed him backward against the counter, as her fingers clawed at the edge of his shirt to hunt for skin.
When she finally pulled back, his lips were a deep shade of pink, his breath uneven in the most captivating way. "And that's how we do it here at Casa Beckett. Please, come again soon."
He chuckled and cleared his throat at the same time, a sound he could probably never duplicate. "Now that one's just too easy, so I'm going to take a pass. You can owe me one for my restraint."
Kate backed away and reached into a cabinet for a vase.
"Hey, no more wrap on the wrist, I see. Is it feeling good enough for that?"
"Been trying today without it. It's been a bit sore, but I was basically at my desk all day, so it was a good time to experiment. Speaking of today, how come you didn't tell me you were coming in?" She fiddled with the paper and the elastic around the flowers as he looked on.
"Right, that. I didn't want you to be thinking about it, I guess, not on your first day back. I was sure you'd have enough to deal with as it was."
"Yeah, I only had to think about it for half the day this way, thanks," she wisecracked.
"I'm sorry. I'm impulsive and reckless- just ask Gates."
She reached into a drawer for a pair of scissors. "Is that what she said?"
"Not today, no. Actually, it went pretty well. I don't think she was entirely warm to the idea of me coming back, but she's basically leaving it up to you guys, the three of you, to decide if you want me around. That felt right to me- more than fair given how I left."
"Sounds very generous of her. I'll talk to the guys about it, then." She snipped the ends off the stems and organized the flowers in the vase, ran some water and put them on display. "These really are beautiful, Castle."
"As are you," he said.
"So, six-book-writing stalker, what are we ordering to eat?"
XXX
Their food delivery arrived within the hour, the moments until then spent making out on the sofa like a pair of overly-anxious teenagers. They couldn't get enough of each other, the four years of wanting and wondering built up needing to be quenched. It was a whole new world of exploration for both, cataloguing tastes and sounds and responses and patterns, and the only thing each discovery seemed to spark was a hunger for more.
"Thanks for answering that," he said, a pillow across his lap, as she walked back through the kitchen with the bags of food in hand. "If I'd gone, I would've owed him a much bigger tip. And maybe a promise I'd never call again."
"Never know, Castle, maybe you would've been his type…up for anything."
"Nice one."
"Thank you very much." She took a bow, most pleased with herself. "Of course," she continued, leaning over in front of him, her hands braced against his knees, "I'd never let him have you." Her eyes made a slow trip down his body to his lap. "That is mine now and mine alone."
He swallowed visibly, deeply. "Have I told you how much I'm enjoying this new side of you?"
"Oh, it's not new, Castle. It's just new to you. And there's much more to come."
He angled his back off the sofa cushion and pressed his mouth against hers. "Let's eat, so we can be done eating."
They'd set up the food at the coffee table again, casually and comfortably, propped up on pillows, close to one other. They talked and laughed and ate, Castle sharing a chapter note from his editor that he'd found particularly absurd, Kate sharing details of the Thorne case that Espo and Ryan had sealed up earlier.
"So, the dirtbag brother set the whole thing up? That's diabolical. I should use this in a book, somehow."
Kate squinted her eyes disapprovingly as she swallowed down another bite. "Without Abruzzo's statement and the trooper finding that car, it might not have come down the way it did. It's incredible, you know. Money makes people do crazy things, Castle. Like you buying that weird, gold hand sculpture in the loft, for example."
"Jealous." He shook his head and she smiled. "You know, this is one reason I'm very glad I don't have any siblings."
"What, so they can't ruthlessly kill the person they'd hired to murder your girlfriend in hopes of setting you up to get your share of a nightclub? Of course, you'd never come to find out they'd done such a thing because you'd already OD'd on heroin with the help of said murderer- someone you thought was one of your own loyal crew, incidentally- who tried to make it appear you'd been so devastated by what you'd done, you took your own life. Is that why you're glad, Castle?"
"Well, that's pretty specific, but, yeah, I suppose so. And may I add, I found your Cliffs Notes version kinda hot. Not the multiple heinous crimes part, of course, but the succinct delivery was particularly appealing. I should think about having you write my book pitches for me."
"We should think about getting you back to the 12th so I don't have to walk you through any more cases after the fact. It's much less fun this way." She put down her chopsticks and leaned back against the edge of the sofa. "Do you want to talk to Espo and Ryan on your own first or do you just want me to talk to them?"
"Actually, I thought about this today after I left the precinct. I was thinking about maybe having a dinner party at the loft- something small, just us, Mother and Alexis, Lanie and the boys. It'll give me a chance to talk to everyone at once, try and get back in their good graces. Plus, everyone likes a good dinner party, right?"
"I suppose. We just have to be careful, Castle. I mean, Alexis and Espo both know about us already. If anyone else senses anything's going on, this could all snowball out of control."
"Well, I thought about that too."
"Thought about what?"
"About just telling everyone. Just going for it."
"Wait, what? I thought this was about you coming back to work, Castle, and about an apology. Now you want to risk everyone knowing? What about Gates?"
"It is. It is about coming back to work, and about apologizing, but it's also about loving you and wanting everyone else I love to know it. I kept imagining how hard it'd be to be that close to you every day, trying not to look at you like I know what every inch of your body tastes like- trying to somehow hide that from everyone."
She looked at him with a scowl.
"Look, I want to be able to promise that I can behave myself 100 percent of the time, but your mere existence makes that impossible. And I couldn't help but wonder if trying to keep it from just one person might not be easier than trying to keep it from many people. But-"
"But?"
He scooted in closer, ran his fingers along the back of her neck. "But I know you're not comfortable with it- not yet, at least. I know now isn't the time and we can't risk your job. I know that. No one wants you hurt in all of this, Kate, least of all me. I've waited so long for this, and, honestly, if I could, I'd tell anyone and everyone who would listen how much I love you." He reached for her hand. "For now, though, as long as I can tell you, I'm happy."
"Tell me," she whispered.
"I love you. I love you. I love you." He smiled exuberantly.
Her lips met his softly. "Dinner party, huh?"
"We'll be careful. I'll fix everything. It'll be great, I promise."
"I hope so, Castle," she sighed. "Have your party."
"Thank you!" he exclaimed, before leaping up and grabbing his jacket off the nearby chair. He pulled his phone from one of the pockets and began typing furiously. "I'm texting everyone now- Friday night, dinner, my place."
She could literally feel the buzz of excitement radiating off of him, and she sat there watching him, hoping she wasn't going to end up regretting this.