This is a little bit a story line for LA. Nancy, you put a hum in my chest for days. Honoured I had you write a comment after so long a time. Thank you.

Chapter 24

They arrived in LA early, met the car Gina had ordered, and had for breakfast at the hotel they were staying at while they waiting for their room to be available. As soon as they had checked into the hotel, they had shredded themselves of travel clothing, showered and changed into business clothing. The car had picked them up at 10.30 am and delivered them directly to the doorstep of the bookstore.

The first bookstore appointment that day would become one of the fondest memories Kate had of their trip to Los Angeles.

As the prominent and famous bookstore was one of Rick's favorites, he was going to provide a private reading of a portion of his latest novel for a group who had paid to attend, similar to what he'd done in New York City the previous evening. The money raised was to be donated to a local charity that encourages children to read books. Based on a brief discussion with the store manager it was planned he would then answer audience questions and time would be left to sign books. They would be there for about an hour and a half for that session, then the doors would be opened to the public for book signing.

Waiting on the side lines, Kate guessed with a general head count that there were approximately fifty women and ten men present for the private reading. Everyone sat in a circular arrangement with a podium positioned so it enabled the keen guests to be close enough for everyone to have a clear view of the writer.

Beckett stood right beside Castle waiting for it all to commence, never really allowing too much space to creep between them.

Regularly, she quietly and secretly gazed at him assessing how handsome he was in a blue shirt and black jeans. With the weather being warmer than on the east coast, Rick didn't wear a t-shirt under his dress shirt. The cotton material of the shirt fell softly over his body showing his large masculine pectoral muscles. He was also unshaven. Ruggedly handsome, she thought smiling smugly to herself that he was also hers.

As the day was so warm she wore a white top, blue denim jacket and black jeans with heels.

Rick brought her close, and said "The crowd is gathering."

"Everyone is buzzing with excitement." She gave him a smile, "You are buzzing with excitement."

"I enjoy doing the private sessions, especially when it is for a charity." He saw Kate amused by something he couldn't see, "What's so funny, Kate?" He asked and stroked her back.

"All these women and a few men have come to see you," she commented. "Are they crazy or what?"

"I know," he agreed, "Weird huh?"

"Yep!" She replied smacking her lips together. "Too weird for me," she added and looked to the book he was holding, "What will you read?" She inquired reaching for the novel. Pages were marked with bright tags of what it seemed he was going to be reading.

"Give you one guess," he hinted, "Action scene with Storm." He saw she flipped through the pages.

"Oh!" She stood before him, peering up to his bright blue eyes. Seductively, and quietly she said. "Will you have Nikki Heat getting it on with someone?" She closed the hardcover novel and passed it back to him.

Castle smirked, "A ruggedly handsome writer, for sure I will," he replied and instantly Kate laughed. He thrived on her vivacious laugh.

"What you going to do Ricky?" She challenged.

"Just wait and you will see." He said. He drew her closer with his palm to her upper back, smiling cheekily. He saw the private group were making themselves ready to start in about three minutes. "Got your camera?"

"Of course. I better find my seat." Kate stated and with a finger touched his chin to gain his attention. When he looked at her eyes she whispered, "As the wind gathered up her hair…" She gave pause, bit her lip, "Just how does the wind gather up hair?" She inquired sarcastically and walked off knowing she had just successfully rattled his cage reminding him of last night.

Kate sat on a chair reserved for her in the front row. She relaxed and crossed her legs, her foot hanging but tapping to an internal rhythm she had going. She fished about in her large leather hand bag to find the digital camera. She turned it on. There was a sense that Rick was staring at her and when she lifted her eyes in his direction she saw a soft smile spread over his face. She smiled back, lifted the camera up and took the first photo for the session.

Right on the passing of the hour, the store manager stepped to the podium. His presence caused the audience to quieten.

"Thank you everyone and please take your seats. We have the pleasure of the company of a writer who keeps lights burning into the wee hours of the night. We all love a good mystery novel and it is my honour to welcome to our bookstore, ladies and gentlemen, our guest writer Richard Castle.?" With a gesture to Rick, the writer stepped up to the podium.

"Good morning all." He began. "I'm Richard Castle," he paused waiting for the applause to subside.

Kate watched on, no longer so surprised by how confident Castle was in front of an audience, no matter what the size. She got out her iPhone to record a little bit of video of him doing his public thing. She noted that quite a few ladies in the audience were already recording or taking photographs and Rick played right into it.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Well, I'm not a good looking as this fella here," he pointed at the life size cardboard cutout of himself which caused a laugh from the crowd, "but I'm far more animated. I'm here to read, and please feel free to raise your hand to ask questions as we go," he paused when his eyes fell upon his girlfriend recording the session like another crazed out fan. She smirked.

When Kate was done with the video, she stashed her belongings beneath the chair and stood with her camera in hand. She quietly faded into the background, capturing photographs of Castle, the audience, the bookstore, absorbed in what she was doing, all the time listening to him read. He answered questions, was the funny man, the joker. She also saw it was his public side, like she had her cop persona.

She was at his workplace, being a witness to his life, recording it with the photographs, just as he did with her life. He too now had a witness for his life and she wanted to be the person.

For a while she strolled along the aisles of books, taking the time to put things into perspective. She was a cop currently dating a writer. She needed to grow accustomed and accepting to that.

She strolled around the end of a corner to see a cordoned off area. There was a sea of people waiting to have their copy of Rick's books signed. Seeing the number of people gave Kate pause. She lowered the camera, her eyes wide. She had been expecting maybe a couple of dozen fans. What she quickly summed up was easily a hundred people standing in wait. She looked back to the podium where Rick was wrapping up his reading. He too would have noticed the crowd waiting to have books signed. He would be complaining of cramped fingers tonight.

He sent a signal to her he wanted her back, a small gesture with his eyes she instantly understood. She calmly made her way back to him through the rows of chairs, and returned to her chair she sat upon. Inside of two minutes he closed up the question/answer session, and stepped down from the podium. He made beeline to Kate, who stood up to greet him. He smiled and held out his phone.

"From Gina," he said. "Book is number one on Kindle, New York, LA lists."

Kate grinned, reading the text. "Oh Castle." She went to kiss him but stopped remembering they were in public. Rick however took over and put his hands to her hips. He kissed her.

He glanced around the bookstore at the bustling crowd, "Wait till they read, Nikki Heat." He said.

…..

"This is how I begin a novel," he said scrolling down the pages on his Word document.

"You work in Word," she commented. With his MacBook placed on her lap, she was leaning into his chest, sitting on the bed between his legs. She felt small in his fold and his chest was warm and snug.

"I keep it simple," he replied. Once he'd reached the main page of his workings, he rested his palm to her right thigh. She glanced to his hand on her bare skin. Soft, warm and smooth. He had nice hands. She tucked herself in a little closer. He pressed his lips to her shoulder. "You tired?"

"Mm. I'm still on New York time."

"Yeah, me too and its only nine pm here."

"I'm struggling to remain awake," she said reading the screen. Rick had finally succumbed to her passive pressure to show her how he wrote so she had then pressed him to see it that very evening.

"This is the page that outlines how the story will be built."

There was three quarters of a page of typing, and as Kate read it she learned it was a snippet of story, a short scene.

"It's fodder," he murmured, "and then I work from that. I might jump ahead and write what comes to mind and then there comes a time the story begins to fall together."

"You don't plan it?"

"Not really. It's kind of in my head."

Kate scrolled to the end of the document, hit enter a few times and then typed while he had a drink of his beer.

He looked at the monitor, and read, "I like the simplicity of being with you." He smiled, stroked her thigh.

"Mm."

"Me too." He replied, "It's so easy to be with you." He added as he lifted away the laptop and hit save. He closed the laptop and left it on the side of the bed. He then drew her body closer and hugged her, "It's time for us to make love for the very first time in another State."

Kate laughed. "Another city."

He pressed his lips to the side of her neck. "You smell divine, Miss Beckett," he whispered close to her ear, feeling her physical response. "Wanna devour you."

"Castle," she purred, "Your whiskers."

"My whiskers and jaw have the ability to …"

"Your lips." She replied, and turned about, twisting a little, so she was able to kiss him.

"God, you smell good," he mumbled between kisses. "Those bath salts…."

She smirked, "You chose them." She smiled as his fingers touched the side of her mouth, thinking about their visit to a store that afternoon. He'd bought her a bottle of perfume, the bath salts, and hellishly sexy lingerie.

"No. Did I do that?" He joked.

She laughed, "Yes."

"Oh, before we lose ourselves in each other, Babe, have you got your camera charging?"

"Yes. You mean for the course tomorrow?"

"Yes. He will pick you up at ten thirty."

"I cannot wait. Thank you for organizing it, Rick."

"Enjoy it while I'm getting cramps from signing books."

She sat up, and turned about, going to her knees. She caught his eyes, a cheeky expression over her face, because she was about to surprise him. "Castle, you ready?"

"Ready?"

"For your gift."

"Oh yes. Yes." He sat up and clapped his hands. "Bring it on baby. I'm dying to see this."

Kate released a more than girlish giggle then began to undo the four buttons of his blue shirt she had commandeered earlier. She went about it slowly, from the top button to the bottom.

"One," she said. "Two." she continued, with a seductive expression. "Three, and four." She dropped the shirt from her shoulders revealing the black lingerie.

"Oh my …." He grinned then chuckled, and threw out his arms, "Come here woman."