Kiss Me Cate Pt. 07

"I'm sorry."

Cate reached up and laid her palm on my cheek and with a smile said. "I'm not." The hand slipped to the back of my head and she pulled me down for a kiss. "You shouldn't be either."

"I'd better get out of here or you may not go unmolested for even a minute." I kissed her again and looked down into that beautiful smile before hoisting myself off the floor and closing the bathroom door behind me. "Would you like some more coffee?" I asked through the door.

"No thank you." She called back. I went into the kitchen and gave the dishes a quick wash while Cate soaked. I poured myself the remainder of the coffee and gave the pot a rinse. I was staring out the slider at the grey morning when I heard a soft outcry. I went to the bedroom quickly opening up the door. Cate had her jeans up around her hips, her face screwed up in a grimace.

"I think it's going to have to be a skirt today." She said, trying not to laugh and failing. I smiled and said I was sorry again. "Stop it. Trust me a good part of it was self-inflicted." She shimmied out of the jeans and began poking through her clothes again.

We had a great time with her family. Her sisters were very inquisitive about me, poking and prodding to find out as much as they could in a short time. Cate had been honest, Sinead was a tired mother of a toddler, her husband was bland but amiable. Shannon did seem to test around the edges with the occasional flirtation. We finally made our way back to the apartment by early evening. We found that we were on the same train as Shannon to Cork on Monday. Cate said we would get hold of her when we got to the station to meet up for the trip.

"See, that wasn't so bad now was it?" Cate said smiling when we got back. Her arms wrapped around my neck. She gave me a quick peck.

"No not at all. It all felt very familiar actually." I said with a laugh.

"Shannon was alright. I had a little chat with her when we got there."

I laughed at that. "Staking out your territory right away?"

"Absolutely!" Her eyes flashed as bright as her smile. We both professed our exhaustion with sly smiles. We climbed into bed and fell asleep quickly.

"Wha?" I snapped awake with an elbow to the ribs.

"Let go, I'm just trying to go to the bathroom." Cate said, chuckling. I laid back and released her.

"Sorry." I responded muzzily and rolled over. There was the barest faint of grey showing any signs of morning having arrived. A few moments later she crawled in behind me and snuggled up again.

"Were you dreaming?" She asked softly.

"Mmm, that I was wrestling a bear." I said with a laugh. I expected a poke in the ribs or a sharp retort and got neither. Instead she snuggled closer, her arm over my chest. She kissed my neck and settled back in to sleep.

We had just placed our orders at the little cafe counter and I turned to Cate. "Why did you ask if I was dreaming earlier?" She looked into my eyes without responding, wrapped her arm around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder. "Did I say something in my sleep?"

She looked up at me. "Don't worry I'm not going anywhere."

I was puzzled as the order was built in front of us. We took it to a table as private as I could find.

"You've been quiet since we got out of bed. What did I say?" I asked softly.

She blew gently across the cup of coffee, then sighed. "At first I thought you were joking."

"What did I say Cate?" I asked, more intrigued and slightly worried.

She looked around us to see if our conversation would have any assumption of privacy. "You called out asking me not to leave you." She looked down at her coffee before continuing. "Your voice was almost child like. I only realized you must be dreaming when I elbowed you and you woke up."

"Oh." I looked out the window.

"Is there something I should know?" She asked rubbing my arm.

I looked at her confused. "No, not that I'm aware of." I said honestly. "I was just trying to think of a situation where that might have happened to me."

"Nothing you remember from your childhood?"

I shrugged and shook my head. Cate rolled her eyes and sighed deeply, relief flooding her as she relaxed. "Good. I was imagining all sorts of horrible things happening to you as a child. Then I remembered your family and it didn't make sense."

"You're degree is in computer science, not psychology Doctor Murray." I said with a chuckle.

We puttered around the city, spending time in little shops, the ones that were open on a Sunday anyway. We found a decent sized bookstore and dallied there for quite a while.

I looked over at Cate and saw her close her eyes and inhale. The sight of which made me smile. "You're such a nerd."

She smiled. "What can I say, I was the quiet bookish one." She pursed her lips, adjusted non-existent glasses and began browsing. "Still am." I laughed and she turned the most dazzling smile on me.

I wrapped my arms around her from behind, resting my chin on her shoulder. "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." I said in the worst imitation of a Humphrey Bogart I'd ever heard.

"Hardly the beginning." She said turning her head to kiss my temple. "You Americans," she started in a haughty voice, "always with the films. You need to read more."

"You need a film education, some of the best films are the products of fine literature."

"I'll trade you, a movie night in exchange for you reading something besides a textbook or popular fiction." She said cheekily.

"Done." I said grinning. She reached out and plucked a book from the shelf in front of her, collection of Irish authors.

"Hmm, Oscar Wilde, The Importance Of Being Earnest. Didn't they just make this into a movie a few years ago?" I said. She looked shrewdly at me and snatched the book back and she kept searching.

"Well that's going to be worse." She pointed to a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula. "Here," she handed me a book, "Ulysses, that one was made into a film but it's not exactly a popular one these days, and you're not allowed to see it instead of reading the book." She stuck her tongue out at me. I leaned in as if to bite it and she sucked it back in quickly, leaving me kissing her. She laughed. "That was smooth."

"I am that."

"What's my film?"

I thought on it for a bit, "Last of the Mohicans."

"You do know that Daniel Day-Lewis is English, right?" She said grinning. "Played in all the theaters here."

"The Big Sleep then, ever seen it?" I countered, Cate shook her head. "Some Bogie and Bacall for you." I gave Cate a wink and we kept browsing.