Author's Warning: Yeah, this one is definitely for more mature readers, though not TOO explicit, I think.
Kate lay in bed, doing just what she'd said she would. She was thinking.
Rick said he loves me, Kate thought.
It shouldn't have surprised her, the way he'd been acting lately, but the famous 'Richard Castle' telling her he loved her… she never would have believed the story if she'd read about it in a tabloid. He's just trying to get in her pants, is what she would have thought.
But Rick had gracefully- though obviously disappointedly- accepted Kate's wishes and he hadn't pushed her to sleep with him. And he'd been right: Kate knew him better than to believe he'd lie about being in love with her if he wasn't, just to get her to sleep with him.
He said he loves me, Kate marveled. And Alexis did, too. And for Kate, that fact struck harder than Rick's admission. She knew Rick's attachment to his family, his devotion to his little girl. Rick would do whatever he could to protect Alexis from a casual relationship, especially if the girl respected the woman as much as she obviously looked up to Kate. Rick wouldn't encourage a relationship like that between them unless…
He really does love me, Kate concluded.
This last admission led Kate to analyze her own feelings. Regarding Alexis, the conclusion was easy to make; Kate loved the girl like the daughter she'd yet to have. But her feelings for Rick were a little more complicated to figure out.
Qualities she'd once found annoying she now thought were… endearing. Maybe even admirable. And if she were honest, he'd only been annoying because she'd been fighting the attraction so hard.
Yes, she decided, she was definitely attracted to him.
She knew he was fun and he met the world with so much joy. He met even their difficult cases with a joke. But he knew when Kate needed him to be serious, too, and he was always there for her. She'd seen him with his family often enough, especially recently, to know he was unswervingly loyal and supportive. And if she let him, she knew he'd be the same for her.
Kate wanted that. She wanted Castle's support and unfailing smile and the joy he brought to everything in his life. She wanted his keen mind to keep her on her toes. She wanted to come home to him and his family every night, knowing they would be a safe haven for her if she let them.
And that desire made it easy for her to finally conclude, I love him, too. All of her worries suddenly melted away when she admitted that. Alexis getting hurt, Kate getting hurt, all of it melted away as she realized that it didn't matter. Things changed, but as long as she could let the Castles love her and love them with her whole heart in return, it didn't matter what would happen tomorrow. Only letting them know that she loved them, too- today- mattered.
The man says he loves me- I love him too- and I'm sleeping in here alone?
Kate threw back the covers and as she donned her robe, she came up with a plan. Though she knew she'd give herself to him tonight- if he was even still awake- she couldn't make it easy, now could she?
Kate knocked tentatively on his closed bedroom door, quietly in case he was already asleep.
Kate couldn't hear anything for a long moment, until Rick finally called, "Come in, Alexis."
She opened the door slowly and said, "It's not Alexis."
"Kate!" He exclaimed, surprised. And then he panicked. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything is fine," she assured and then she hesitated. "I just…" Instead of continuing, she turned and closed the door behind her and then approached Rick's bed.
"What's wrong?" he prompted when she started worrying her bottom lip and looking generally uncomfortable.
"Rick," she said uncomfortably. "I need to talk to you about something."
"Kate," he replied, sitting up in bed and making sure to hold the covers up over his stomach. "Is everything okay?" he asked again.
"No. I had to tell you something." Her gaze stayed riveted on his bare chest, though Castle took that as her reluctance to meet his eyes.
"Please tell me what's wrong? You can tell me anything."
Kate looked away and for a long moment she was silent. Finally she moved to kneel on his bed, sitting back on her feet. "I lied," she finally confessed in a small and quiet voice.
Rick's response to that small confession was a physical pain in his chest. But he cautioned himself not to jump to conclusions and as calmly as he could, he asked, "What did you lie about, Katie?"
When Kate finally made eye contact, Rick saw it, there in here eyes… amusement. Her lips slowly curved into a mischievous grin and she finally spoke. "Do you remember when I told you I wouldn't be wearing anything silky or lacy while I was staying here?" Before he could respond, she concluded, "I lied." She quickly untied her robe and opened it as she rose up onto her knees, letting the white terry cloth fall back onto the bed.
Stunned, Rick simply stared in awe at her silk and lace covered- if you could call it covered- body for a long moment. And then his brain registered the trick she'd played on him- he remembered his physical response to it- and he glared at her.
"You!" he eventually gasped, but couldn't think of an appropriate name to call her; he wanted to curse at her for her trick while he simultaneously wanted to call her any and every endearment he could think of. Instead, he sprang forward- quicker than Kate thought him capable of moving- grabbed a fistful of lace and silk, and yanked her forward.
"Hey!" she complained, landing on top of Rick. She barely had time to register that nothing but her lacy nightie separated their bare bodies. She rolled to the side and inspected the damage to her nightie as Rick rolled with her in an attempt to cover his nudity against her body. "This was expensive!" she complained when she found the holes his fingers had torn in the delicate material.
Rick pushed her flat onto her back and moved over her. "I'll buy you another one," he informed her. His fingers found the little holes again and tore the nightie down the front. "I'll buy you a hundred of them," he said, leaning down to kiss the soft expanse of skin down the center of her bared chest. "And I'll tear every single one of them off of you if I have to," he added, pressing his body down upon hers.
Kate laughed exuberantly, and while Rick was preoccupied by the sound of her laughter and the sight of her body, Kate sprang. She wrestled Rick onto his back- though he put up little resistance- and rose to sit over him, her knees on the bed on either side of his body.
"You didn't have to tear it," she informed him. Kate finished tearing open the lace and then let it drop behind her as easily as she had shed the robe. She planted her hands on his chest and leaned over him. "All you had to do was ask nicely and I would have removed it for you."
"Oh?" he asked, to which Kate nodded. "Then would you please remove those?" he asked, staring down at her matching black lace panties.
Kate slowly stood up on the bed, one foot on either side of Rick's hips. She made a show of sliding her fingers beneath the waistband and wriggling her hips out of the skimpy garment. She kicked the scrap of lace to the floor and remained standing over him.
Rick sat up, his hands moving to touch her. They wrapped first around her calves, sliding up her long legs. He twisted to kiss the outside of one thigh, right over a spot where he had noticed earlier that evening she had a single freckle. "You are so beautiful," he said against the skin of her thigh. His hands moved up her legs to grasp her hips and she fell when he pulled. She landed straddling his lap and quickly decided there were worse places she could have fallen to. And there were definitely worse people she could have fallen for.
Kate met his gaze with her own and smiled softly. "I love you," she confessed quietly.
Rick smiled at her, his grin turning teasing as he said, "I know." He kissed her quickly, and then added, "I've always wanted to say that. Very Han Solo, don't you think?"
Kate laughed in response, wrapped a hand behind his neck and pulled his mouth to hers in a consuming kiss. "You talk too much," she murmured against his lips and then tried to kiss him again.
Rick held her back a little. "You know I have to get you back for tricking me like that," he informed her, his face totally serious.
"Oh, really?" she challenged, moving her hips distractingly over his lap. "You think you can trick me? I'm smarter than you, Castle."
"I know ways of torture that will make you scream," he challenged.
"Oh?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant though her throat was involuntarily constricting, lowering her voice. "Prove it."
"Yes," Rick just managed to say before shoving his fingers into her hair and consuming her lips with his own.
And wouldn't you know, Rick Castle managed to find a particular sweet torture that did in fact make Kate Beckett scream.