In honor of tonight's season premiere, I'm posting another new story. I'm also hoping to finish the second (and as far as I know at the moment, last) chapter of Queen of Denial and have it posted before the finale starts. I have the rest of The Beckett Clones planned out, so I'm hoping to have chapters of that one up much faster than I have lately. My muse just insisted that I get this story out (there will be 3 chapters and I have the first two written and the third completely planned out; I may even post the 2nd chapter tonight, too) and finish Queen of Denial before getting back to the adventures of Princess Iya and Becket.

Less than an hour away before I can start reading spoilers on the Facebook fanpage. I'm so excited! And less than four hours before I can watch it. (Yep, I'm one of those strange ones that likes to know what happens BEFORE I watch)

Stretched out on a large red beach towel the same color as the bikini she wore, Kate Beckett couldn't remember the last time she'd been so relaxed. She listened to the gentle sound of the ocean waves as they rolled towards the sandy shore, the rhythm matching her soft breathing. A faint concern about her back getting sunburned if she stayed out in the sun too long rose to mind, but she didn't want to move.

The light touch of familiar male hands made Kate tense with surprise.

"Castle, what do you think you're doing?"

The unrepentant laugh that was the writer's only response sent a shiver down her spine. Was it her imagination, or was the sound more intimate than usual?

"You don't want to mar this beautiful skin with a sunburn, do you?" Castle asked. Although she couldn't see him, lying on her stomach with her eyes closed as she was, Kate knew there was a smirk on his lips as he said the words.

Kate tried to answer, but her voice just wouldn't cooperate as Castle slowly and lightly ran his fingers over Kate's shoulders. Now that he had mentioned it, she could feel the oily liquid of the sunscreen as it was transferred from his fingers to her skin.

She shouldn't be letting him do this, though. It might give him the wrong idea. She didn't want him to think she was encouraging him to-

Kate's breath hitched as Castle ran a finger down her spine, stopping right at the small of her back. His chuckle told Kate that the observant man hadn't missed Kate's unintended reaction.

"Castle," Kate ground out the name in warning.

"I told you I would be happy to rub lotion on you," Castle reminded her, his voice a tad husky. "And right now, I am very, very happy."

As Castle continued to apply the sunscreen to the rest of her back, Kate wracked her brain, trying to figure out why she wasn't putting up more of a fight. She shouldn't be letting him do this. What if he didn't stop with just using his hands? What if-?

The thought didn't even fully form in Kate's mind before Castle pressed a soft kiss to the base of her spine.

How was he doing that? It was like he knew what she was thinking even before she did!

Castle continued to brush his lips up her spine in soft kisses, leaving light tingles in their wake.

"C-C-Castle," Kate tried to make her tone stern, but she couldn't keep her voice from shaking.

"What Kate?" Castle murmured against the back of her neck. "What is it you want?"

Why did he have to phrase it like that? What she wanted and what she should have were two completely different things.

Kate knew she needed to move. Now.

She quickly changed positions so that she was laying on her back, looking up into Castle's blue eyes. His mesmerizing blue eyes that grabbed hold of hers and wouldn't let go.

Well, crap.

That certainly hadn't been one of her brightest ideas.

Especially considering that his lips were now not even an inch away from her own.

"So, what do you want, Kate?"

"I want you-"

Castle's lips on hers cut off anything else she was going to say. She had been all set to tell him that she wanted him to stop, but any thought of that vanished as his lips moved gently over hers.

For a brief moment, that was enough. But soon she wanted more. Somehow Castle seemed to know. Bracing his weight on his arms that were on either side of her head, he leaned into her and moved his lips more firmly against hers. Slowly the kiss grew deeper and deeper until Kate couldn't take any more. With a groan she let herself go, let herself kiss Castle the way she'd always wanted to...

Kate jolted upright in bed, gasping for breath. A dream, just another dream. Every night she'd been plagued with them, ever since she'd ended things with Josh. Almost three weeks ago now. For twenty nights she'd been dreaming about Castle. And not just chummy hanging out with a best friend type dreams, either. Nope, in each of those dreams they had kissed at least once. What was odd, though, was that she always woke up before things went beyond kissing.

That always disappointed her when she woke up, but whenever she saw Castle after one of those dreams, she was grateful. It was bad enough having memories of the man kissing her senseless haunting her when she was in his presence. It would have been a whole lot worse if more intimate images were in her head.

The beeping of her alarm clock made Kate groan and throw her blankets over her head. It had been twenty days since she'd gotten a good night's sleep. Not that her sleep wasn't often sporadic while she was working, but she always had her days off to get a few extra hours in. Even in the darkest days after her mother was murdered there were times that Kate finally ran out of steam and would fall into bed exhausted. She wasn't sure if she'd ever had so little sleep for this long of a stretch before. And that certainly wasn't helping her keep up her resistance to Castle.

How much longer was this going to go on?

So what do you guys think of this one? Please R&R. If anyone asks me to, I'll go ahead and post the 2nd chapter tonight, too. :)

Oh brother, now I'm resorting to bribery! LOL I think this Castle Monday has gotten me in a very strange mood!