It all starts one Saturday afternoon when Castle casually suggests that Beckett has a little trouble controlling her volume during certain private moments. They're on their way to Lanie's for a Memorial Day barbecue, and she nearly swerves off the road at his implication.

"Are you being serious right now?" she asks, eyes incredulous.

"Are you telling me you think you're not loud?"

"Me? That's rich coming from you, Castle."

"I didn't say it was a bad thing!"

She scoffs as if it could be anything else.

He knows he's usually the boisterous one in their relationship, but Kate Beckett in the bedroom is a very different woman from the buttoned up Kate Beckett that collars criminals every day of the week at work. She's looking at him all put out, like it's a personal insult to even suggest that she is not completely in control of herself at all times, and it is in that moment that he decides he has to prove her wrong.

He breaks eye contact with her as she sharply turns left off the main road, mumbling under his breath as he already starts to plan out how exactly he's going to prove this to her. "Okay, well, we'll see."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she snaps as she pulls into a parking spot in the garage under Lanie's building, but before she can push, Ryan and Jenny are waving at them from three spaces down and she lets it drop. He winces behind a grin as she slams the door, the wheels in his head already spinning out of control. If he's good at anything, it's concocting diabolical plans. Ryan gives them a sideways glance as Beckett breezes past him, looking annoyed, and Castle follows behind her with a devious smile.

Oh this is going to be fun, he thinks as he crowds into the elevator behind her, being sure to bump her as he does. She's glaring murderously at the wall as she stabs the number seven button and crosses her arms, ignoring him.

He's always liked a challenge.

.

Castle's moment finally presents itself when the six of them are all seated comfortably in Lanie's large but cozy living room, munching on their barbeque staples of hamburgers and salads and chips and half watching a baseball game. He and Beckett are sitting together on one side of the coffee table, knee to knee on the floor, their laps conveniently out of eyesight. His mouth quirks into a half smile as he takes a bite of his burger, stealthily letting his right hand drop and his fingers trail lightly up her left thigh. He hears her nearly choke around the bite of food in her mouth, but he resists looking over at her, instead paying rapt attention to the game on the tv screen. He can feel her staring at him though, boring a hole in the side of his head, but instead of moving his hand away, he wraps it fully around her thigh, squeezing lightly and tracing small circles with his middle finger. Her own hand drops from the table the second he starts inching up her inseam, but he's too quick for her, pressing three fingers to her zipper and rubbing before she has a chance to swat him away. He hears her sharp intake of breath at the contact but doesn't still his hands, instead taking quick stock of the faces around them to make sure no one has noticed her quiet outburst.

No one has.

So he continues, finally letting his eyes slide over to her face as he chews lazily, his own face giving away nothing. Her eyes are wide and staring right at him, and if they weren't in a room full of people, he would be genuinely fearful for his life.

"Is something wrong?" he asks softly, middle finger sliding all the way down her zipper and then farther to press against the warmth he can already feel there. He imagines the denim is damp as well, but he can't be sure.

"Stop," she whispers sharply, hands returning to the top of the table as she pops a chip into her mouth and chews violently. He sees Lanie glance over at her loud crunch, but her focus is quickly diverted back to the tv when one of the teams scores a home run.

"If you're not vocally challenged, then why is this a problem?"

She stops chewing as her jaw clenches in irritation. She knows that if she makes him stop she'll be admitting defeat as if she conceded to the point of being loud outright, and Kate Beckett does not admit defeat. Also his hand feels infuriatingly good in between her legs, and they haven't been alone together in days and she hates that she doesn't even actually want him to stop.

"Fine," she grits out, shoveling a forkful of pasta salad into her mouth. She's going to let him do this to her in the middle of Lanie's living room but she's not about to make him feel good about it.

She squirms a little bit under the table as his touch gets firmer, clearly gunning for some kind of vocal reaction, making her face flush pink with arousal. It somehow makes her hotter to know he can get her this worked up in a matter of sixty seconds and through two layers of clothing. She's sure it's probably something about the illicit nature of him stroking her off under a table surrounded by all of her friends, but whatever it is, it's royally pissing her off. She bites her lip to ensure that not even soft sounds tumble out of her mouth as his sure fingers find just the right spot, but then Ryan abruptly stands up from the couch, stepping his way over to their side of the table for more food and Beckett is left fairly panting and aching as Castle jerks his fingers away.

She knows she has a choice to make in this moment. She could move, get up and stop this game before he has a chance to prove anything either way, but just the friction of her jeans against her skin when she shifts is enough to make her bite her lip, and there is no way she's going to be able to relax for the rest of the evening if she doesn't get some relief. She catches his eyes in a sidelong glace, and then she huffs loudly enough for him to hear, annoyed at her own neediness. She'd almost rather go take care of herself in the bathroom without giving him the satisfaction if that wasn't a hundred times worse in her head than just letting him finish her off before anyone has realized what they've done.

When Ryan comes back from the kitchen, her choice has already been made, so she grabs Castle's wrist and jerks him into a standing position. "Come get some more food with me?" she asks him loudly enough for everyone else to hear, and then he is nodding knowingly and bumping into her from behind as she drags him into the kitchen.

"I didn't realize you were so hung—" he starts to say, but then she's shoving him into Lanie's spacious pantry and shutting the door behind them. He pushes her against the door with a startling show of coordination, almost taking her by surprise, but then she's pushing his hand back between her legs and he's grinding his palm against her before she even has to ask. The button to her jeans is popped a second later and she tries not to gasp as his bare fingers slide their way inside of her underwear, curving perfectly against the slickness she knows he's already feeling smug about.

He goes for her mouth then, lips quirked in a cocky grin. She won't let him kiss her though, which is probably a mistake since he takes the opportunity to park his mouth next to her ear. If there's one thing more infuriatingly arousing than Castle's hands, it's Castle's mouth.

"Do you want me to grab a roll or something from the kitchen for you to bite on so no one hears you?" he asks in that low, mocking voice that makes her want to punch him in the face. But he punctuates his words with a lazy slide of his fingers across her clit and instead of physical violence, her legs contract around his hand, trapping it there needily. She hears a whine escape her lips as he picks up his pace, being rough with her on purpose. She can feel the huff of air he lets out against her neck at the noise.

"Just…shut up."

He laughs against her ear at the order, quickly sliding two fingers into her without warning. She yelps at the intrusion, hips flying toward him, begging for all the friction he can give.

"Did you want something Kate? I couldn't hear you over that squeal…"

Her fingers fist into the back of his hair and yank sharply until he's looking into her eyes again. "I swear to god Castle," she starts to say until he curls his fingers forward, catching that spot inside her that makes her crazy. She can't finish her sentence because she immediately clamps her mouth shut in a herculean effort not to groan aloud.

The noises stuck in her throat are suffocating her as he hits that spot again and again and again and she can't believe how well he knows her body after such a short amount of time. He knows exactly where to touch and exactly how hard or fast to touch it to make her feel like she's on fire. She closes her eyes and concentrates on keeping her lips pressed together as he works at her, so very close to release.

Of course that's when he decides to just stop.

"Tell me I'm right," he whispers in her ear as he uses his body to pin her to the door. Her hips try to grind against his hand without his permission but he's too solid and she can't get any leverage.

"I hate you so much right now," she croaks out, voice sounding tight and underused.

"It doesn't feel like you hate me." His mouth sucks the lobe of her ear between his lips and nibbles gently, making her sigh in frustration. She squeezes at the fingers still trapped hotly between her legs. "Tell me, Kate."

She is acutely aware that they are doing this in Lanie's pantry, and the amount of time they can be gone without anyone noticing has probably already come and gone, so she swallows her fury and finally spits out, "Okay fine. I am not quiet, are you happy now Castle?"

"You knowI am," he practically purrs at her before his fingers start moving again and she buries her face into his neck for a sound buffer. He's working her so hard that she's having trouble remaining upright, so she lets her fingers fist into the back of his shirt, delighting in his flinch when her nails connect with the skin of his back. They're both sharing her moment of frenzied pleasure when he pulls on the back of her hair, making her look at him. "Are you going to scream for me Kate?" he asks her lowly, making her whimper. His tongue sweeps out at her lower lip to catch the sound, causing another in its wake.

"Castle, I can't," she pants, hips flying against his fingers. She is so, so close. Her head lolls back against the door as his thumb suddenly presses hard on the side of her clit, rubbing out a relentless rhythm that has her gasping for control. His hand is at her mouth the second she starts to come apart around his fingers, holding the noises that come bubbling up out of her chest at bay, only loud enough for him to hear, and that's the way he likes it. She's loud, and she's bossy, and she's his and that's the way he wants it to stay.

She's practically sobbing against his hand as she comes down, slumping against his arm and the door to keep from sliding down to the floor. He gives her a minute to recover as he re-buttons her jeans for her, finally stepping back enough to straighten his own shirt out. His smile is so self satisfied she wants to smack it off his face.

"Oh come on!" he says with a laugh, wiping his right hand on a paper towel from the shelf and running his left through his mussed hair. "Don't I at least get some points for that?"

She tugs her shirt back into place sharply, face returning to the annoyed visage he knows so well. He knows he just completely wrecked her, and she's furious.

"If you're so good, I guess you can take care of yourself then," she huffs, trying to save face as she abruptly turns and yanks the pantry door open, escaping into the kitchen before he even has a chance to reach for her.

As he emerges a minute later, Beckett is just breezing past Lanie, who looks slightly confused until she sees the look on his face. She levels him with a deadpan glare. "Oh I know you two did not just have sex in my kitchen," she says, one hand on her hip.

His look is guilty as he shuffles from foot to foot. "No…we didn't," his voice sticks on the next part. "We didn't have sex in your kitchen." She looks beyond skeptical as he hurriedly slips past her, trying to escape before she can trap him and grill him for real.

"Kate!" he hears Lanie yell from behind him, flinching as Beckett turns and gives him the squintiest glare he's ever seen.

"You better be glad I don't have my gun," she hisses at him as she stalks back into the kitchen, leaving him alone with the three confused people in the living room.

"Everything alright bro?" Esposito asks curiously.

"Oh you know, girl stuff." He waves his hand dismissively, straightening his collar absently.

Not a single one of them looks like they believe him.