Chapter 3 - Boots

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Kate untangled her swing from his, "Next."

Eyes twinkling and wearing a broad grin on his face, "This is a twofer."

"Twofer? What is that?"

"I share two stories of near miss proposals and you owe me those two long luscious boots."

Teasing him, "Are you sure I am wearing boots?" Kate murmured with a sly smile, "They could just be heels."

Arching a brow at her, Rick asserted, "I have spent hundreds of hours studying the way your pants swish to know when you are hiding knee high leather boots rather than CFMs. Totally boots."

Pushing off the ground to propel her swing into the air, "Really, studying the swoosh of my pants? And who taught you CFMs? Wait - don't tell me."

Chuckling loudly while kicking his swing into high gear to allow him to swing in unison with Kate, Rick asked with a leer, "Would you like to know what else I studied?"

Laughter bubble out of Kate's throat as she shook her head, "You win I have boots on, now for my stories."

"Do you recall the disastrous night we had that first dinner with our parents?"

"Hard to forget, my dad totally thought there was going to be an announcement."

Castle's jaw went slack, "He did?"

Blushing, Kate admitted, "I hadn't formally introduced my dad to a anyone since high school prom. Much less had dinner…"

Rushing to cut her off, Rick gleefully asked, "You're telling me none of the formers who shall be nameless ever met Jim?"

Slowing her swing to a stop, Kate waited until Rick swing stilled beside her, "Josh..."

Cutting her off once again, "Hmpf, if you must reference that one...it is Dr. Motorcycle Boy."

Rolling her eyes with dramatic flair, Kate continued, "DMB..."

Rick crowed with glee, "DMB! I love it!"

Ignoring Castle's joy, "As I was saying, DMB met my dad in passing. Nothing formal."

"Wow, you're telling me I am in the first in decades?"

Scrunching up her face at him, Kate demanded, "Did you need to say decades? It makes me sound like a spinster."

Fumbling over his words, Rick anxiously attempted to repair the damage of the word 'decades'. "No, no it was intended to come off to show that I am um, uh, well honored to be that one."

Kate bit the inside of her checks to stop herself from laughing at him. Castle was so adorable when he verbally stepped in it. "Relax; my dad has forgiven you for not having an announcement."

Swiping the back of his hand across his head, "Phew." Rick mocked removing sweat from his brow. "I did think about it. During dinner I conjured up an image of proposing, 'Jim would you have any objections to me marrying your daughter?' Then I thought what if he did? What would I do next? Or what if I asked him and you said, 'He might not, but I do.'

A small smile began to creep across Kate's face as she listened to Castle ramble on.

"Again later that night when you were questioning how we made sense. I wanted to give you my ring and say – I don't care if we make sense on paper, but we make sense in my heart."

Kate's face blossomed into a full grin, "I would have thought about saying 'yes'."

"Way back then?"

"Do you think I let you follow me around for four years and 'scratch and claw' your way into my life, just for great sex? We could have done that the first day we met. I've known for some time that you could be the one."

"How long?"

Flashing Rick a saucy smile, Kate crooned, "Long enough."