Warning: strong T rating.
The loft was purple with twilight when Castle's fingertips started to stroke lazy patterns over Kate's hip. She felt the press of his lips on her shoulder as he drew her slowly out of sleep.
Going straight from the award ceremony to the murder scene had been tiring, and it had been sad to walk into death after the elation of their evening. The case hadn't been a tricky one, but it had bitten well into the afternoon. When they finished, they'd stumbled back to the loft and straight into bed for a nap. And judging by how quickly Castle had passed out, it was a real nap, not a nap nap. Shame. He had looked damn fine in that tux.
Kate shifted against the heat of her husband. The backs of her thighs were plastered to the fronts of his, their knees bent at twin angles. He shuffled forward, bringing his chest up against her, completing the hot solid wall behind her.
The lacy red dress hung in the corner of the room, and the spare work clothes she kept at the precinct were in a puddle on the floor. She'd been too tired to take off the matching red lingerie that had been hidden under the dress. As she wiggled back into him, the smooth silk of her underwear slid against his boxers.
"God, I have the hottest wife in the world," Castle said. He combed her hair away from her neck, replaced it with his lips.
She couldn't help the quickening of her breath or the arch of her spine, and when it got to be too much, she rolled out and over him in one agile twist.
His eyes widened in signature mock-surprise, and she grinned as she ground her hips down on his.
When she realized what position they were in, she had to smother the giggle that rose in her throat.
"What's so funny?"
Kate shook her head. "Nothing."
She'd told him every word of her 'performance review.' Except for one sentence.
It was hard enough to watch Castle's face as she repeated every slicing remark the commissioner had flogged into her. The whole thing had been a nightmare come true - her every fear rearing up to slash at her. She wanted to protect him from the one comment that had attacked him specifically.
"Don't worry about it," she said as she tried to distract him by capturing his bottom lip. He groaned, but not in the way she was aiming for.
"Now you've got me imagining horrible things," he said. "Just tell me. Did I have sauce on my collar? Was my fly unzipped?"
"Nothing like that. You looked perfect up there, Rick. Delicious, actually."
She leaned down to take a bite. Usually that earned her a growl, but he didn't respond.
She tilted back. "Seriously? You're gonna concentrate on that when you have this," she glanced down and waved her arms over her body, "above you?"
"Um, have you met me?"
Kate slumped. "Fine, I'll tell you, and I'm giving you one minute to sulk about it before I get you naked."
She took a deep breath.
"The commissioner said Nikki Heat spent more time on her back than she did solving murders."
Castle was still for a long moment.
Kate took his face in her hands and stared him down.
"Which is bullshit, because if I recall correctly, Nikki closed every case she worked. She got answers for families and put killers behind bars."
He turned his head, avoiding her gaze. "I'm so sorry," he said.
"What? Oh, Rick, don't be. It's fiction. Nikki is incredible, and I adore her, but she's not me."
"But I didn't listen - every time you said it was hard for you at work because of what I wrote." He sucked in a breath. "Is it? Harder for you? Have you not been telling me? Because I could have toned it down, or not publicized my connection with the NYPD so much."
"It's…different. But I never was going to be a normal cop, was I? And you know what? The few times I've been teased over it is inconsequential next to the fact that your writing is what led to us finding each other. To me finding my husband. My soulmate."
"But that performance review - that could have been serious. If that had been real, and not just some sort of twisted test, you could have been fired, Kate."
"Been fired before. Nothing I can't handle." She sighed when he didn't brighten. "He shouldn't have taken a cheap shot like that, though," she said. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to tell you about it."
"Don't worry about me," he said as he ran his thumb over her cheek. "I'm upset that he used it to try to upset you, but it is actually kind of a cool compliment."
Kate frowned. "A compliment?" She thought the comment would drive him into his broody shell, have him licking his wounds for days.
"Well, I did say I wanted Nikki to be a little slutty, so goal achieved, right? And to be fair, she doesn't dress entirely appropriately for the job. And she and Rook do have a lot of sex," he grinned.
"Why do I get the feeling that, in some roundabout way, you're calling me slutty?"
"Kate. I would never call you slutty. Besides," he smirked, "you don't spend very much time on your back."
To prove his point, he squeezed her hips and bounced her up and down. She laughed and leaned over him.
"Hmm. You're right. You spend more time on your back than I do solving murders."
Then she dove in.
A/N: Did you notice that this was in past tense? Everything else I've written has been in present. Did it still flow okay or was it clumsy? It's way outside of my comfort zone so hopefully with practice I'll improve. :/