"So, tell me, is all these rumors true? Is your girlfriend really an escort?" the reporter asked in live television and Kate felt her heart beat harder in her chest.
Rick only smiled through his small irritation, and he looked past the cameras to catch the eye of the love of his life. He nodded to her and she took a deep breath as she quickly stepped into the camera's vision, a camera immediately landing on her but she tried her hardest to only focus on the man giving her as much courage as he could through his eyes. He held out his hand towards her and she took it as soon as she was in reach. He helped her get closer to him squeezed her hand as she sat down beside him in the couch. Once she was seated she looked at the reporter who looked shocked to have her sit right in front of her.
"This is Kate, and yes, some might know her as Nikki Heat, but the story behind it all isn't as simple as black and white," Rick said with a serious voice and she felt a shudder go down her spine.
Kate knew that whatever happened now Rick would continue to protect her, she just hoped this could bring some peace to the both of them. Rick gave her the two times squeeze they had agreed on that he'd give her when she could start on her story, she'd told him earlier she didn't want to happen to say something too soon, didn't want to embarrass herself or him by speaking too soon.
"My parents got killed in an accident when I was sixteen," she started, biting her lower lip as she drew strength from Rick. "I went into foster care and was soon placed with a family. The man and the woman had a business and they-uh... they forced me into it, I had to do things I wasn't really ready for and after a while of trying to fight it, I just gave up. I didn't care anymore and since I didn't get the opportunity to go to college my hope to break free from them was so far gone I didn't know what else to do than to stay in the business."
Kate took a pause, because she could sure feel the sting in her eyes, thinking back on the exact moment she stopped caring. When she was so far gone she didn't know what to do.
"When you say business you mean as an escort?" the reporter, who seemed to have assembled himself again, asked.
Biting her lip she nodded, "Yes, that's what they called it, when I found out I called them out saying it was prostitution and that there was nothing they could say to change my mind. Only... they did things... locked me up without food was one thing, a teenager can only take as much." She paused for a second, glancing at Rick and giving him a smile through her pain, "He saved me. When Rick and I first met I had absolutely no intention of letting him close to me, but in the end he was the one who gave me reason to believe I could get out of there. Thanks to his connections in law enforcement we could stop the same thing that happened to me to happen to another girl they had just taken in to become a part of the foster family."
The reporter looked at her with wide eyes, apparently not at all expecting the kind of story Kate was telling him.
"Where is the man and the woman now?" he questioned and for the first time she felt relieved of what she could answer.
"They're in prison, and will never bother another girl ever again," she said proudly.
"And the girl you're saying you saved, where is she now?"
"She's safe, we've made sure the family she's in now is 't taking advantage of her," Rick said and Kate squeezed his hand.
The reporter had a couple of more questions, which Rick and Kate took turns answering depending on who the question was directed to. The reporter tried to get information if they had found each other because of Rick calling her as an escort and that's the only thing they had decided to lie about earlier, Kate had insisted on it, not wanting his fans to look at him any differently. Therefore she was the one to tell that story, saying they had met because he had clumsily bumped into her one day on the streets and he had insisted on buying her dinner in order to apologize for his lack of watching where he was going. When the reporter asked why Rick only shrugged and said something in line with 'have you seen her? She's the most beautiful woman I'd seen and of course I needed a reason to ask her out'. That had made Kate blush, hard, and then the reporter informed them the time was up, told the audience who their next guest would be once they came back after commercial break.
"Thank you so much for letting me have the story first Rick," the reporter said and Rick only nodded, shaking his hand and thanking him back for taking them within such short notice.
The second the reporter had thanked Kate as well they were told they needed to leave the camera vision in order for the show to start again. None of them hesitated before they left, saying a quick goodbye to the makeup artist who'd taken care of Rick before he went on and who had, after some asking from Rick, also made Kate ready for the camera even though that hadn't been part of her job. Rick hadn't told anyone about their plan to let Kate talk in the show, they had figured it would be for the better if no one knew. He hadn't even told them she would be joining them in the studio, had tried to sneak her in without telling too many she was with him. That's why the reporter had gotten so shocked to see her enter the camera area when she had.
"You wanna grab some lunch?" he asked as they finally exited the studio and didn't have to keep quiet anymore.
"Depends in what you have in mind," she smiled, feeling as great as ever having done the one last thing she needed to do in order to find peace again.
"Well, I was thinking the first restaurant we went to," he suggested and she bit her lip in order to try and stop the growing smile.
"You mean the one you invited me to but I said no and then you tricked me into meeting you there?" she recalled the memory.
"Don't pretend like you didn't enjoy it," he teased, his grin reaching his eyes.
"It wasn't professional," she bit back, though it was through her growing smile.
"Nothing was ever professional between you and me, I'm pretty sure I started falling in love with you the moment I opened the door," Rick confessed and she felt her cheeks blush.
If anyone could make her believe in soulmates it would be him, because there was really no logical explanation as to how quick he got into her heart after they first met.
"No, I guess it wasn't," she agreed, remembering the way he had made her feel that first time before they even did anything. "Let's go," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards where she remembered the restaurant was placed.
They had been to the restaurant quite a few times since they got together, and every time the waitress had been more than friendly to them. The first time she had asked them if they were a couple, which Kate immediately had denied, and she had seemed pretty disappointed by the fact. The second time they were there she had looked at them with narrowed eyes and said something in line with 'But now you have to be together!' which had made Kate blush and Rick smirk in response. Now, she looked extremely happy seeing the both of them walk in there hand in hand.
"Kate, Rick!" she called out, coming to greet them immediately.
Another waiter had been on his way taking the two of them to their table but the waitress told 'Tony' that she would take them.
"Hey Maddie," Rick greeted and Kate unsuspectedly received a hug from the waitress.
"I saw you guys on the talk show and oh my god I had no clue! Thank goodness you got it all sorted out!" Maddie babbled as she let go of Kate.
"Yeah, it's all better now," Kate answered while Maddie started leading them to the table they had shared all the times they'd been there.
Once they had taken a seat and gotten their menus, it was like Maddie couldn't keep her mouth anymore.
"I know I'm being way too nosy but is this why you two weren't together yet when you first ate here? I mean, where you working back then?"
Kate only looked at Rick, trying to determine whether the waitress would go tell on them if she said yes, because she really didn't want his fans to know Rick had been her client in the beginning.
"Maddie? What should I do with this?" another man came asking the waitress and she immediately turned her attention to him and the paper he was holding.
"That's not acceptable, I'll call them right away, could you grab Tony so Rick and Kate can order and then meet me in the kitchen," Maddie more ordered than asked.
The man nodded and walked away while Maddie turned back to the two, "I'm sorry, I need to do this, but Tony will get here any minute to take your order."
"I thought you were just a waitress?" Rick said and Kate kicked his leg under the table, "ouch!"
He could blurt out some stupid statements sometimes, 'just a waitress', that can be pretty offensive depending on who you talk to. But to Kate's relief Maddie simply laughed at his dumbstruck expression.
"No, I own the place, I just prefer being with the customers and make sure they're good," she explained and Kate knew her opened jaw showed just how shocked she was. "Anyway, I'll catch up with you two later," and with that she was gone.
The waiter Tony arrived just seconds later and both Kate and Rick had to shake their heads in order to collect themselves enough to order.
Maddie had come back later, and after some discussing both Kate and Rick had agreed they could tell her about them indeed not being together the first time due to her job but that she had to promise not to gossip about it. Maddie had of course sworn to secrecy, having seen the interview earlier she knew what was at stake. Plus, she'd pointed out, she had kind of a secret of her own which they now knew. Sure, she had never hid being the owner of the restaurant but she told them how she didn't exactly want people to know unless they asked, said she wanted to be able to hear what her customers really thought without them knowing they were talking to the person behind it all.
Once they got back to his loft Kate seemed to be in her own thoughts, thinking back on the day and all the days before. Thinking about how they met and how she slowly fell in love with the man who was still right beside her. A man who had given her more hope than she ever thought would be possible after what she had been through. Rick was observing her and wondered what she was thinking about, knowing he wanted nothing more than for her to be okay with them telling the world about her backstory. Hoping she wouldn't run, hoping no one would ever bother her about it again now that she had finally gotten rid of the monsters behind it all. Before he knew it they were standing by his large window, looking out at the city below.
"You know, if those buddies of yours hadn't gotten you into the bet we never would've met," she suddenly said and he wrinkled his nose in disgust by the mentioning of them.
"Urgh, don't remind me of those two asses, last time I spoke to them was to tell them I went through with the bet and never wanted to be drawn into their hooligans ever again," he grunted and she bit her lip.
"Still, if it hadn't been for that bet, you never would've called me," she repeated and he thought about it.
No, he most probably wouldn't have.
"Doesn't make up for the twisted things they always drew me into," he said instead.
She laughed small, because, yeah, she'd heard one or two things they had done together.
"Anyway, maybe you shouldn't be so hard on them, after all you saved me thanks to that bet," she suggested and he wondered where this sudden interest for his old pals had come from. "I-uh, might've been looking through your photo albums when I couldn't sleep last night," she answered, "I saw all these photos and even though you've told me a lot about them and how they consistently got you into trouble, I get a feeling you had a great time with them. I don't want you to loose that friendship because of me."
The last part was mostly in a whisper but he could hear her loud and clear, as if she'd screamed the words out loud and he turned towards her, carefully taking her hands in his.
"Kate, I never lost them because of you, those friendships were lost years before I took that bet. I just never had a the courage to let it go. Sure," he agreed, "I had plenty of fun times with them but, all those times were in high school and college, I grew up after that while they stayed in that immature state of mind. I got new friends who are much more mature, even though we can be plenty of immature as well it's on another level. Do you remember Javi and Kevin? Lanie and Jenny's boyfriends?" she nodded, "I met them after doing a stupid prank Dustin and Tim got me into, it didn't take long for me to realize how real friends were supposed to be after that first beer. So, I'm really not suffering from not seeing them anymore, plus I got you now, and I would rather be with you than those two jackasses."
Kate looked at him, felt his fingers fiddling with hers as he explained, and she understood what he meant. She understood his point of view, actually admired how he shared it with her without any struggles. They really had gotten far in their relationship, trusting each other with stories of their past.
"Okay," she said and when he smiled at her she smiled back with a feeling of her stomach flipping.
She stood on her toes and kissed him, kissed that smile she had fallen in love with, and they let go of each other's fingers in order to wrap their arms around each other's bodies instead. She had her arms around his neck while his had landed on her hip, when they pulled away they left their foreheads still in touch.
"It's been a long day, why don't we go to bed?" Rick asked, and Kate smirked.
"Sounds like a good plan," she agreed moving her arms down his in order to grasp his hands and pull him with her to his bedroom.
They'd both had a big day and she just wanted to get lost in him, wanted to feel nothing but him. Apparently he had the same thought as he didn't wait long before he put his lips back on hers and backed her towards the bed. The second the back of her knees reached it she slowly fell backwards onto the sheets, his body following to land on top of hers. Feeling his body pressing into hers made her whole being tingle with relief. They took it slow, both being gentle and both of them taking time appreciating the sense of their skin against each other's. When he took off her shirt he made sure his fingers sent fire on her skin, when she roamed her hands on his naked back she could feel the shiver in his spine. His mouth left hers only to kiss down her jaw, her neck, onto her chest and pulled down her pants as she eased it for him by bending her knees. The second her pants were off they were thrown to the floor beside the bed, her bra and panties joining soon along with his pants and boxers. His mouth traveled back to hers and she moaned when he pushed inside her, started gasping in pleasure as he started moving in and out. She had never been loud in bed, unless she faked it in order for the client, but he made her feel things none had done. He was truly her soulmate, if there was such a thing. She was starting to believe so though, he made her believe start to believe so. She met his thrusts and she rolled them over in order to roll her hips down into him, their tongues finding a rhythm to their dance as they slowly rocked their bodies with an intensity that only could be described as love. As they was about to reach their highs together Rick quickly flipped them over again, pulling up her leg around his hip to nudge that spot he'd found when their relationship had only just started. Kate screamed out with bliss as she came, taking Rick with her. They continued to move until they both were too exhausted. When he had pulled out of her they cuddled together, she continuously kissed his bare chest while he kissed her hair.
"I will never get tired of this," Kate whispered, hugging his torso closer to hers.
He chuckled asking, "The sex?".
"No!" she giggled, hitting his chest. "The cuddling," she stated before she added, "You."
"Ah," he chuckled, hugging her closer. "Me neither."
She looked up at him and met his eyes, she leaned closer up and smudged her lips onto hers. She was most definitely getting used to this, and there was no way she would ever give it up, give him up. No, she was in love and by the looks of it he felt the same.
"I love you," she said against his lips.
"I love you too," he told her as they snuggled closer before drifting off to sleep.
A/N:
Hey loves! As I said before the next chapter is the last! Hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I have writing it!