Knowing You

a "The Time Of Our Lives" story

4. Dating You

She discovered it by accident.

His manuscript.

Castle had wanted to get further along in writing it before showing it to her. The thought being that the more material she had to critique, the fairer her judgment would be. Boy, had he guessed wrong on that account. They had their first fight… or rather, really, their first argument. He wouldn't call their row a fight. It just did not fit with how it went. And it had really been an accident. She hadn't gone snooping around his desk in the office downstairs with the purpose of catching a glimpse at his novel in progress. In fact, when she learned he was writing again, she'd made it quite clear she did not want any spoilers. Kate had later claimed she was just using his laptop to check her work email. She hadn't meant to see Heat Wave, but he'd left word document open, so it really was partially his fault.

"Nikki Heat! Really, Castle!? What the hell kind of name is that?" she shrieked, storming into his bedroom, quite literally catching him with his pants down.

He glanced up, startled by her sudden appearance. "Oh... um... er… Kate?" he stammered in surprise, furrowing his brow in confusion, before quickly hiking his pants up and pulling the zipper shut. He'd been in the process of changing for their night out. Since it had now been a month since he was released from the hospital, both his mother and daughter had urged him to ask Captain Beckett out on an actual date. Living under the same roof, it hadn't been too difficult for Martha and Alexis to realize there had been a shift in Castle's relationship with the precinct captain.

Kate's mouth dropped and her eyes went wide. The formidable commander of the NYPD's 12th Precinct just stood there, looking for all the world like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming automobile. She blinked thrice, and ducked her head bashfully, averting her eyes. "I… I'm sorry," she stammered, her cheeks turning a rosy pink. "I should have knocked."

Castle knitted his eyebrows together, and simply shrugged. "Nothing you haven't seen before," he said. "Especially considering you've seen me in a hospital gown." He chuckled, and turned back to reach his dinner jacket. "I'm the one who's sorry. If I'd known you were waiting I would have hurried up."

"No, Rick…," she shook her head, finally pulling her eyes up off the carpet. "No, no reason to hurry on my account. Take your time. I'm more than happy to wait."

He nodded, and smiled, letting his eyes milk in the sight of her out of work attire, hair stylized, and a touch more make up than was normal for her. She was wearing a faux-fur coat, and the dress she was wearing must have a short skirt, because she almost looked like she was wearing nothing under that soft faux-fur. He was graced with a magnificent view of her breathtakingly gorgeous mile long legs. Damn. She was stunning. How lucky was he?

Castle lifted the dinner jacket off the bed and hesitated. He wasn't sure if he could yet twist his torso and rotate his shoulders without being rewarded with the pain of his scars pulling. Glancing sheepishly over at Kate, he asked, "Could I trouble you with some help?"

"Oh," she seemed surprised that he would even ask. "Um… yeah. Sure."

She stepped forward, narrowing her focus on him, on the task of helping him into his jacket. He grimaced as the surgical scar across the center of his chest pulled, but it was minor, and having Kate close helped distract him. He closed his eyes, and inhaled the enticing scent of her perfume: Cherries, with a hint of vanilla. Jacket on, he turned in place, as Kate moved her hands up his shoulders, smoothing out invisible wrinkles in the fabric.

"Physical therapy go okay?" she asked.

"Hmm," he hummed an affirmative.

"And the doctor's appointment this afternoon?" Kate flashed him a small contrite smile. She was originally going to go with him, but a case kept her at the precinct, and Alexis had to drive him over to meet with his doctor.

"Fine," Castle said with a nod of his head. "Everything's working and progression as it should. Actually Dr. Thompson was surprised at the speed of my recovery. I told him I had awesome homecare." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her. "Still waiting on that sponge bath you promised to give me when I was still shackled to that hospital bed."

"That was a joke, and you know it," Kate pursed her lips and rolled her eyes, slightly listing into him, bumping her forehead against his. "Besides… I'm still holding out for the main event," she purred seductively, stealing a kiss from him.

"Soon," he husked.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"I'll hold you to that," she curled his fingers around his neck and pressed her lips back against his eager mouth.

Castle hummed in contentment, canting into her, his arms dropping to her slender waist, clutching her close as he lazily kissed her back, relishing every second of their embrace. Sighing happily, he leaned back and gazed into her hazel eyes, seeing nothing but adoration and love reflected back. It felt good. It had been a long time since he'd seen such genuine and honest feelings staring back at him from the eyes of a beautiful woman that wasn't related to him.

He frowned; a thought suddenly occurred him.

"How'd you get in?" he asked, silently chiding himself on not yet providing his girlfriend with a key to the loft. She came over enough times during the week, when there wasn't some high-profile case or some internal NYPD political function she had to attend. She hated the politics at One Police Plaza. It was a necessary evil, she'd told him once. Staying on top of the comings and goings of 1PP allowed her to ensure her squad and precinct weren't left without resources or funding they needed to maintain law and order.

"Your mother," Kate answered, her fingers fiddling with his lapels. She pursed her lips in an attempt to stifle some bit of amusement. "She… she tried offering me a loan of her pearl necklace for the evening. But I declined." Her dancing fingers moved up to caress his jawline. "I'm a simple girl, with simple tastes."

"Oh, is that so?" he inquired, quirking up an eyebrow.

"Yep," she quipped back, seductively pulling her lower lip under her teeth, before pulling back from him, letting her fingers linger along his biceps as she slipped away. She sauntered toward the door, hiding in an extra sway of her hip just to torture him.

Clearing his throat, he rushed to join her. He extended his arm, and she flicked coy eyes up at him, before smiling happily and slinking her arm around his. "It's a cop name, by the way," he murmured.

"Hmm?"

"Nikki Heat," he reminded her. "It's a cop name."

"No, it's not," she leveled him with a glare, but he didn't mind. She was ridiculously hot. "It's a stripper name. And I want you to change it."

"Sorry, can't do that," Castle held up his free hand to dismiss the notion. "Artistic integrity and all that." He smirked, and stopped them at the top of the stairs, placing a hand on her arm. "Just think of the titles: Summer Heat, Deadly Heat… In Heat." He added a leer with that last one.

Kate threw back her head and laughed, full throat and body. Her eyes sparkled as she glanced back at him. Shaking her head, she reached up and covered his mouth with her palm, ceasing his continuous list of titles, which only got more naughty the longer he went on.

"As much as I'm enjoying this conversation, we should get going," she said. "I got us dinner reservations at Q3."

"Wow!" he exclaimed, eyes going wide in astonishment. "How'd you manage that? When the place first opened, I tried getting reservations, but the wait list was too long. And my fame had sizzled out by then." He paused, leaning close, and inquired dramatically, sotto voce, "Did you have to arrest someone?"

"Oh, nothing like that. Though, I did once work a case involving the head chef," she flashed him an enigmatic grin. "But no… truth is, I know the owner."