Iss Me Cate

I want to start off with thanking you for your patience. I hope it is well rewarded. No matter what we do, sometimes life gets in the way of our hobbies. The series is nearly complete and ends with chapter 12 so you've got a little more Cate and Dylan to enjoy.

As always I do hope you enjoy reading it as much as I had writing it.

I've had a long standing love of Irish lasses. Their eyes, complexion, smiles have always warmed my heart, and a few have broken it.

Constructive criticism as always is welcome in the comments, others will be dealt with in the usual manner.

* * * * *

It was done. In the can, as they used to say in the movies. Cate had submitted her dissertation, and after a mild panic attack, a lot of hand-wringing, and some ice cream, she had finally calmed down. I turned in my mid-term work and took the exams for my courses. The next half of the semester would bring new Shakespeare and new insights, I hoped, from my women's studies class.

"Don't pack too heavily, the weather back home is only a bit warmer than here these days, with a lot more rain." Cate said as she was folding a sweater into her suitcase.

I was putting clothes into my bag while going over a mental list of everything we needed to do next week. We were to meet with Aiofe our attorney in Dublin on Monday, and go to the civil service office in the afternoon. I had placed two appointments to see venues on Monday and Tuesday, by Wednesday we expected to be in the full swing of the celebration coming for Saint Patrick's Day.

"Dylan? Is anything wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, no nothing's wrong. I was just going over everything we have to do next week." I said smiling up at her. "I'm starting to wonder if I should have booked a car."

"We'll manage without, the traffic will be atrocious." She said smiling back at me over the lid of the suitcase. "Just be sure to bring comfortable shoes."

By this time tomorrow we would be back in Dublin. This trip would be a little different since it will be the start of the Saint Patrick's Day festival. We had already spoken with Cate's parents and her father said he would likely be working a good portion of our visit. We'd made a point to set aside time to see them as soon as we got there on Saturday.

* * *

The atmosphere at the Dublin airport was crazy. The arrivals area was packed cheek by jowl with tourists arriving from everywhere, a multitude of languages could be overheard as we squeezed our way through to the baggage claim. Cate had a huge grin on her face.

"The last time I saw crowds like this I was in New York City, last night." I said laughing.

"It's likely to be that way all week. I hope the place you booked has a decent kitchen, the pubs and restaurants are likely to be mad."

Due to the heavy influx of tourists we were stuck waiting a while for a taxi. When we were able to get one we packed up our bags and climbed in. I gave him the address and Cate turned instantly to look at me dumbfounded.

"I thought you'd gotten one of those rental apartments!"

"Well I tried but they were all booked up for this week. Unless of course you didn't mind rooming with others in a hostel."

"But, Donnelly Castle? Are ye daft?" She said, her accent getting instantly stronger.

I shrugged. "It's one of the places I thought we'd look at for the wedding, besides all of the budget priced hotels were booked solid too."

She closed her eyes and shook her head, a small grin formed at the corners of her mouth. "You know it won't last forever, especially at this rate."

I leaned over and whispered in her ear. "We're okay, don't worry."

"That's not my point." She said sharply but kept her voice down. Her eyes swept to the driver and back to me. "There's no need to be pound foolish is there?"

"We could ask if your mum and dad could put us up for a week. I'm sure that would work out really well. You in the spare room, me on the sofa." I grinned. Cate just closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. "I thought you might see it that way. We have a nice place to stay, I hope, with room service, and an appointment with the events coordinator, all under one roof."

The taxi pulled up to the entrance of the hotel, and a bellman opened the door.

"Welcome to Donnelly Castle. Checking in?" Cate was gaping at the facade of the building, a blend of old stonework with many new glass and metal frame additions.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry." She gave him a heart-warming smile. I noticed the bellman's eyes soften at the sound of her accent.

"Donal will be happy to get you settled after you've checked in." He said nodding to the trunk of the car, where a young man was unloading our luggage onto cart. "I hope you enjoy your stay with us." He added with a tip of his hat. The bellman had the bags lined up and closed the trunk and gave a couple quick raps of his knuckles signaling the driver.

"Right this way and we'll get you checked in." He led us to the front desk. We made our way up to the room where Donal opened the door and let us in ahead of him.

"Oh! This is beautiful." Cate turned to me grinning. "There's room service?" She asked Donal without breaking our gaze.

"There is miss, twenty-four hours in fact." He responded as he set the bags on the bench at the foot of the bed. "There's complimentary coffee and tea service here, with a mini under here." He opened a cabinet hiding a small refrigerator. He showed us the other amenities quickly and made his way to the door after handing me the keys.

I closed the door behind him and looked back at Cate who had a wicked look in her eye. "Don't look at me like that, we're having dinner with your parents in a little while." She didn't say a word but her smile broadened and she started disrobing. "Oh that's not fair."

"What?" She said innocently. "I was just going to change, maybe grab a quick shower."

The shower wasn't quick, but was very relaxing after our long trip. We likely put a strain on the hotels supply of hot water.

Cate called her mother to let her know we'd arrived and that we'd likely leave as early as we could to make sure of getting a taxi. We stopped in the lounge for a bite of lunch, despite my teasing her about ordering room service.

"If we do that, we'll never make it to my parents." She added with a quick kiss.

Hailing a taxi wasn't as hard as we thought it might be since they were making regular stops to deliver passengers. We were headed back towards the airport and a bit beyond so it was in the same direction that they were running.

We arrived at her parents by late afternoon. Once the greetings were completed and we were ensconced in their living room Cate's father made a little toast to our impending nuptials.

"I want to apologize again for the way I acted." He looked first at Cate then me. "I had no right, in more than one sense of the word, to have spoken like I did."

"Da." Cate had begun, but he held up his hand to stay her interruption.

"No, there's no excuse for it and I am very sorry. Had I had the chance to get to know you better at the outset, I may not have been so hasty." He said to me with a sigh. He turned back to Cate. "I'll have you know that we had Sinead round after you'd gone. We had a talk with her as well. I'm sure word has got round to Shannon though we've not had a chance to speak with her directly."

He had a hang dog look about him which I wasn't sure if it was guilt or relief. Cate set her glass down, walked around the little table and perched on the arm of the chair her father occupied and hugged him around the shoulders. His arm snaked around her waist and she leaned down and kissed the top of his head.

"Love doesn't care about the date on a slip of paper. I hope Sinead agreed."

Both of her parents let out a rueful chuckle. It was her mother that responded.

"Oh, that's the funny part. She already knew. She said she'd found out years ago when going through a box of certificates and papers and found our marriage registration."

Cate and I both laughed at that.

"She's a canny one she is. She never let on all these years." Her father replied.

"I'm sure she realized it wasn't important. At least not to us."

"Aye, well..." David said with a little nod.

Cate's smile widened and she kissed the top of his head again. "Well you always did tell us that confession was good for the soul. Though I always thought you were trying to be easy on us by getting us to admit our transgressions before you found them out on your own."

David smiled. "There was a bit of that, and I've already been to confession. Safe to say Father William was somewhat amused. He said I'd done right, it's not as if I'd left your mother high and dry. He baptized all three of you and Declan, you'll remember."

"Well I remember Declan's baptism well enough. He screamed like a banshee when they poured the holy water on him." Cate replied with a laugh.

We had a terrific dinner and talked throughout about Cate's upcoming graduation and the wedding plans.

"I'm not doing a bit of it. He's been going on about it all." Cate said tilting her head towards me.

I defended myself quickly. "I was only trying to make it easier for you to finish your studies and graduate. Now that you're dissertation has been delivered, once you've defended it, you may take over the planning and run with it."

"You did. I can't thank you enough for keeping my shoulder to the wheel and making sure the rest of the world didn't come crashing down around me while I did." She laid her hand on mine, giving it a gentle squeeze as she smiled sweetly.

"I always thought that's what you were supposed to do. Lighter is the burden shared." The truth of the matter was that she had thanked me very graciously in ways I would not discuss with her parents, and said that the thanks would continue until we were old and gray.

"I like your parents already and we haven't even met them yet." Maeve added. "They brought you up right."

* * *

We made it back to the hotel late. I stood and stretched, after so much time in airline seats and tight fitting taxis in the past day and it felt good. I looked out the window over a small courtyard, the top of a tree reached to just below our window. I heard Cate sidle up beside me, her hand slipped around my waist, and gently pulled us together as she laid her head on my shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?" Her voice was soft in the darkness.

It was a simple question without a simple answer. So many things were flowing through my mind, mild anxieties born upon tired thoughts down the lazy river that was left of my consciousness. Was I making the biggest mistake of my life? What if I was blind to every concern friends and family were bringing up that I actually was too young to be settling down, that I hadn't properly played the field. I considered myself pretty worldly for twenty-four. That thought alone made me let loose a derisive little snort with the realization of just how little I did know.

Cate let out a little warning sound deep in her throat as she slipped around to face me, the lights from the courtyard limned her dark hair with gold. Her eyes were wells of darkness with pinpoints of light reflected in them. "What's the matter Dylan?" Her voice was soft and caring as if trying to exorcise the demons from a child's dream, not that of a woman concerned that her fiance might be getting cold feet.

The moment I looked into her eyes, followed the curve of her cheeks, the length of her nose to her full, soft lips; I realized, absolutely nothing was wrong. Everything was just right, the anxieties disappeared beneath the slow moving waters of my thoughts.

"Nothing is wrong, nothing at all." I leaned forward and kissed her, taking my time about it. "I was just thinking how I'd like climb into bed with you and not wake until noon, at the very earliest."

"I love when you talk dirty." She nestled her head against my shoulder and let out a little snore followed with a giggle. We proceeded to disrobe one another and do nearly that.

Nature's call roused me in the early morning, I unfortunately roused Cate as well which I was about to find out was not a bad thing. She slid beneath the covers and didn't stop but rolled over and pushed my hip over until I lay flat with her on top of me.

"Good morning." She said between kisses. Her hand snaked between us. She was ardent and determined and soon was slipping me inside of her with a long sigh.

"Good morning to you." I said between kisses. "Someone is feeling a little full of herself this morning." I slid my hands down her back and grasped her backside assisting with each stroke.

"Well you did wake me from a rather erotic dream. I think it's only fair that you take up where you left off."

"It would be my pleasure, and hopefully yours. Where did I leave off?" She ran her tongue along my lower lip and sat up slowly.

"It was just here, I sat up and you looked at me just like you are now. You couldn't keep your hands off of me, just like this." She took my hands in hers and began running them up her waist as she rocked slowly on my lap like she were horse-back riding. I let her guide my hands, though I'd taken more control of the body massage. She leaned her head back and shook her head, her hair waved in a tangled mess behind her as I reached her breasts. I gently pinched her nipples and massaged them, her hands pushing mine harder into them as her hips ground down harder on each stroke.

"Then what?" I gasped.

She didn't say, she just took my right hand and brought it to her lips and took two of my fingers into her mouth and began licking and sucking them. The effect was instant. I didn't think I could get any harder than I was but it I was wrong. I began to meet her every down stroke with an equal measure lifting her back up. Her saliva ran down my wrist before she let my fingers go. She guided them down her torso leaving a shiny wet streak down to her navel before she turned my hand over and slid it between us. I took control knowing exactly what she wanted and got a heavy sigh and soft moan when I touched her. Her rocking got faster, trapping my fingers between us as she ran her hand over her breasts. I sped up the massage, my fingers barely able to move in the tight confines as she gasped driving her hips forward once, twice more before she cried out. She leaned forward, her palm on my chest to keep her balance as she pinned my wrist to my hip. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath. She lifted my hand and brought it to her lips and kissed the tips of my fingers before bringing them into her mouth, stroking them gently once more. She had to stop to breathe intermittently.

"Did it live up to the dream?" I said.

"Surpassed." She smiled as she took long measured breaths. "Hardly fair is it? I mean you haven't had yours." She laid down on my chest, her skin glowed with heat in the cool morning air.

"We're done?" I said.

She chuckled, and flexed her hips and gripped down on me. "I hardly think so."

The innuendo was not lost on me as I smiled and held her as I rolled her over onto her back. "You seem a little spent, let me." Her hands slipped up and grasped handfuls of my hair as she pulled my lips down to hers.

"Take me." She gasped between kisses. I didn't hesitate with incentive like that and completed what she'd started, driving my hips forward with abandon. Her back arched as she began chanting encouragement. "Yes, harder!" The sounds of our bodies meeting rang in my ears, her hands gripping my lower back pulling me to her, nails digging in as I drove forward one last time. I nearly collapsed on top of her. Her arms came up around my neck as she kissed her way up my neck. "That was so much better than the dream." She gasped into my ear before kissing it. All I could do was chuckle into her shoulder and kiss my way up her neck.

"Happy to oblige Miss." I said, gasping for air. Cate broke into a fit of giggles at that.

"I think I knocked your accent clear to Australia mate."

"Je ne sais pas ce que tu veux dire."

Cate laughed. "I thought we were sleeping in?"

"Well they say the best way to overcome jet lag is exercise and to acclimate yourself to the daylight as quickly as possible."

"Do you think that was enough exercise?"

"Hardly." I grinned before I kissed her again.

"Let me go wash up." She said pushing me to the side. She came back wrapped in a hotel robe and grabbed the phone, looked down at the guide next to it and dialed.

"Good morning, I'd like to place an order for room service please." She ordered breakfast for two, a pot of coffee and a newspaper if they had one available. She came back to the bed and slid in next to me and leaned down for a long kiss. I excused myself and went and cleaned up, coming back in the other robe.

"Don't need to scare the poor guy off by showing up at the door naked."

"Well you'd scare him off. I'd be giving him the wrong message. Then you'd be forced to defend my honor."

"Well it is a castle, I'm sure that there's a spot for that around here somewhere." I chuckled. "I think I even saw a sword on the wall downstairs."

A knock sounded at the door. I flipped her robe open, showing a long smooth leg, uncovered to her hip. I received a shocked look which soon turned to challenge in her eyes. She spread the top of the robe open slightly and reached up and mussed her hair and dragged a lock of it over one eye. The effect was instantaneous and I nearly forgot to answer the door as she took her lower lip between her teeth and held it gently.

I stepped aside as the cart was wheeled in, the young man stopped and looked up, his eyes widened momentarily before he recovered his composure and handed me the folder. I signed the slip, and I heard him swallow loudly before he thanked me and turned for the door. I watched him as he turned and glanced through the door as he pulled it shut. A moment after it closed Cate grabbed a pillow and burst out laughing into it.

"You wanton woman." I said laughing along with her.

"Me?!" She yelled in defense. "You're the one that nearly laid me bare for the boy! He was a boy, probably not twenty yet!"

"I'll challenge him after breakfast." I lifted the lids off the plates, the savory smells making my mouth water. I poured the coffee and juice and Cate walked over to the cart and pulled it closer to the table and turned the chairs so we could eat. We sat back on the bed with the papers and coffee, having left nothing behind on the cart but a bud vase and empty dishes.

"What do we do today?"

Cate looked out the window, the gray day dawned threatening of rain. "I don't know but whatever we do I'd recommend doing it indoors." She turned her head to me to find an incredibly silly grin on my face. She closed her eyes, her smile split her face. "You're incorrigible. Honestly, how in heavens name are you randy at all hours of the day?" I just kept grinning.

"I don't know about you but a long hot bath would be heaven right now." She swung her legs off the bed and stood.

"Do me a favor? While you're in their filling the tub, take a good long look in the mirror. You'll have the answer to your question."

I got up and folded up the papers into a pile and dropped them on the cart. I took a moment to pop the 'Do Not Disturb' card on the door to the room before I made my way to the bath. I stopped in the doorway at the site of Cate looking at herself in the mirror. She appeared to be taking stock of herself which surprised me as I was only making an off the cuff joke about why I'm so 'randy' at all hours of the day. I smiled and glanced over at the tub to make sure it wasn't over full. I looked back and she shook her head and sighed which caused me to laugh. She looked up, surprised that I was watching her study herself. Her cheeks went pink as she looked anywhere but into my eyes.