Chapter 1
"I am going to take you on a date."
Kate looked at Rick's reflection in the mirror as he leaned against the bathroom door jamb. "What? Why?" She asked around her toothbrush.
He walked up behind her and she tried not to smile as he played with her hair.
"Because that's what boyfriends and girlfriends do." He ignored her snort and wrapped his arms around her as she finished brushing. "And yes, I know there are a plethora of terms that one might use instead of boyfriend and girlfriend." He kissed the top of her head. "There's 'affair'." He nuzzled her neck. "'Consenting adults'." He slid a hand through the slit in her robe until he cupped her breast, smiling when she sucked in a breath. "'Lovers'."
She turned around in his arms and slid her arms around his waist as she looked up at him. Without her stilettos it was a much farther view. "I'm okay with all of those."
He leaned down and kissed the side of her mouth, aiming for the bit of toothpaste she'd left behind. "Which is why I'm the romantic one." He ignored her eye roll and took a hold of her chin. "C'mon. Say it." He moved her chin like a marionette and said in a high, squeaky voice. "Richard Castle is my boyfriend." She giggled and smiled at him, even as he kept moving her chin. "He's soooo dreamy! And handsome! And he has a huuuge...".
Kate could feel his grin under the hand she'd slapped over his mouth. "Very cute, Castle." She sobered a bit and laid her head against his chest, wrapping her arms around him once more. "We could have a date here," she suggested. "You always claim you can things delivered from places that don't deliver. Then we can be all those things you mentioned." She lifted her head then went up her toes to kiss him softly, "including the boyfriend and girlfriend thing."
He lingered over her kiss a moment more, enjoying the feel of her against him and loving her a little more each time she admitted out loud that they were indeed a couple.
"We've been doing that." He jumped a bit as her hands moved down to mold his seat. "Um, and that," he pointed out.
He understood why she was nervous. Nobody, not even his family, knew about them yet. And if the wrong people knew, they wouldn't be able to work together. "I want", he whispered in her ear as he began to rock them back in forth in a slow dance, "to wine and dine you." He chastely kissed her cheek then pulled back to rub his nose gently against hers. "To show the world...or restaurant rather, that this beautiful woman has graced me with her presence. I," he watched her eyes drift shut as he leaned in, his lips poised above hers, "want to woo you, Kate Beckett."
She wanted to laugh, to protest that stupid word and the idea that he had to 'woo' her when he already had her, but he'd closed the small distance and was kissing her with that mixture of passion and tenderness that turned her bones to water.
He had the robe off of her and was all ready to take her up against the sink counter when they both heard her phone go off. They held on to each other a minute more as they found their breath. Kate laughed as Rick using his extensive vocabulary to share how he really felt about technology in general and the precinct in particular.
She kissed him one more time and walked into the bedroom to get her phone. He watched her go, enjoying how she left (or had forgotten) the robe, and called out just before she picked up the phone. "So, Tuesday then." She frowned at him and made a shush motion as she picked up the phone. He just smiled and mouthed the day again and held up his fingers to show 7 o'clock before shutting the bathroom door.
