To Docnerd89 for being AWESOME!

Kate wasn't sure what woke her, her fingers drifting loosely through the strands of hair that had fallen across her face as she blinked one eye open.

It could've been the soft, cheerful humming coming from somewhere outside the bedroom. Or it could've been the delicious warm scent of freshly cooked ginger, baking, filling the room. She took a deep breath and rose with it, like in those ridiculous cartoon shows; the smell of Christmas drawing her to him.

She took the time to brush, searching the bathroom for something to wear as she scrubbed at her teeth. He had very thoroughly and enthusiastically stripped her of her clothes the night before and now, she stood blinking in confusion, he seemed to have gone one step further and hidden everything. Including her underwear.

Kate rinsed her mouth out with cold water, splashed her face and turned on the spot heading for his wardrobe and the ridiculously soft, and oh so memorable, white shirt that she had claimed as property of Kate Beckett.

Shrugging her arms through the sleeves she scrubbed at her eyes and headed into the kitchen. She buttoned the bare minimum of buttons to hold the material together across chest and yawned loudly.

"Castle?" she called inanely.

Who else would it be?

It was his loft.

His kitchen.

And the kind of thing he would do. At least she assumed it was. First Christmas together, first Christmas morning together, it had to be him up and baking at - Kate glanced at the clock - "Castle it's..."

"Not that early." He stopped humming, looked up from the counter and gave her a broad smile. His low, deep voice, pleasantly rough as he saw what she was wearing, his eyes dancing happily up the length of her long bare legs. "Good morning. Wanna help?"

"Help - what exactly?" she asked haltingly as she stepped closer and took in his appearance. Tried to take in his appearance, as there before her, stood a bare-chested Castle, standing at the kitchen counter in just his jeans - the cute, slightly tight ones, his ass jeans - and a cape.

A cape?

Kate scrunched her eyes and looked closer, realizing it was his apron, which he'd slung over one shoulder in a manic spree of dough making so it hung in a long rippling wave down his back. His hair was adorably mussed and white with a sprinkling of flour. How did that even get in his hair? But as she looked around a little, it was everywhere.

All over his kitchen.

Kate planted her hands on her hips, tilting her head to one side as she tried to puzzle out how one man could make so much mess in such a short space of time.

Then she shook her head, oh right, it was Castle !

"I'm baking." He grinned and sure enough amongst the piles of used bowls and spoons, spatulas and weighing scales, she noticed the tray of freshly baked gingerbread men. And the icing that accompanied them.

Five large bowls of differently colored icing, a rainbow array of melt in the mouth deliciousness that called to her, perhaps even more than the cookies themselves.

Icing which, like the flour, had also, somehow, magically, ended up on Castle. Streaks and spots of purple, red, yellow, blue and green on his hands and forearms, shoulder and neck, and basically all over his chest.

Biting down on her lip, Kate sucked in a breath, letting her eyes linger a little longer than necessary over the long streak of purple that wound its way from collarbone, across the contracting muscles of his rippling chest and down, down, stopping just over his...

Her eyes flicked up and she noticed his smirk, completely caught out and not caring one little bit as she finally finished scanning his delicious looking body. Kate let her lip fall from her teeth slowly, wetting it with her tongue before she gave him a smirk of her own.

"Hmm. Good," she said as she let her eyes stray over his torso once more before reaching his eyes, "Breakfast time, Castle. I woke up very," She leant forwards across the counter, her eyes locked on his lips, "Hungry."

"You did?" He gulped slowly, opened and closed his mouth ineffectually twice - like there was something stuck in there.

"Mmhmm." She hummed, toying with buttons of his shirt where they hung open halfway down her chest. "Ravenous in fact."

He dropped the wooden spoon, landing with a loud clank in his mixing bowl, and cleared his throat, unable to tear his eyes away from her meandering fingertips, "Umm. There's another...another batch in the oven."

"Another batch of...naked gingerbread men?" she asked with an adorably scrunched up face.

"Noooo. They're not naked. That's what the icing's for. They shall get premium icing boxers," he replied while raising his spatula. "The silkiest of iced boxers known to the world."

"Why can't you just settle for buttons?"

"Where's the fun in that? These are going to be the most ruggedly handsome gingerbread men ever! All the other gingerbread men will look up to them," he said while puffing out his chest with pride.

It didn't seem fair to her that Castle could be all sexy, homey, and adorable, all at once. Totally not fair. How was she supposed to resist that? And to top it off, he was covered in icing. Come to think of it, she could help with that.

"Well?" Castle asked.

"Well what?"

"Are you going to help or not?"

"I am helping." Kate grinned, reaching for the extra bowl. It was true. She was helping herself to a spectacular view, the muscles of his ass clenching and rolling against the tight denim with every over enthusiastic stir of the wood...

Wooden spoon.

She took a step back while allowing herself to be captivated by every roll of his wrist, as she stirred her bowl distractedly.

"You're doing it wrong."

"Huh?"

He set his batch down, their eyes locked across the counter and he moved slowly. Deep dark pupils burning into her, roaming her face, her body, the long lines of her slender fingers wrapped around the thick wooden handle.

Each heavy footfall towards her made her heart beat a little faster until finally he was stepping into her, behind her, the warm wall of his chest firm and strong against her back. Placing his hands on her shoulder, Castle cupped the rounded contours, dragging his open palms slowly down her arms till he gripped her hands in his.

He turned his face into hers as he breathed the words again, "You're doing it wrong." Hot exhales curling around her ear with the words as they left his mouth in a warm intoxicating rush. "Got to stir just right, Kate." His fingers slid lower, his thumb pushing down on hers. "Grasp the spoon firmly in your hand..."

Kate snorted and Castle gripped her wrists tighter, pressed his body into hers, trapping her against the counter, "This is serious Kate."

His voice held a tone that would brook no insolence, dark and deadly, as he spoke about cookies and Kate fought every instinct she had to laugh.

"A good firm grip is important."

"Oh I know." She hummed as he started to rotate her wrist slowly within the bowl, mesmerized by the cadence and soft shimmer of his voice against her neck, the moist exhales of his breath tickling through her hair.

"You need to know when to go fast, when to go slow, how hard to work the batter..." He added.

"It's icing."

"What?" He asked, his lips at her throat.

"It's icing, you said batter."

"That's because batter sounds..."

"Kinkier?"

Castle laughed loudly, his body completely swamping hers with the rumble of mirth that pressed him against her, making her breath catch. "I was going to say more professional . But let's go with what you said." His fingers fell away from her hands, squeezing her hips and after a beat, he nudged her gently to get her moving again. "Keep at it. Practice makes perfect."

"Is that right?" She teased, stirring slowly again.

Castle stepped to the side as she turned to face him, lips pursed and her eyebrows quirking mischievously.

He nodded, a slow smile spreading across his lips. "See? The texture is smooth as silk now. Here..." His eyes dropped to the bowl gripped tight in one of her hands, he licked his lips and dipped two fingers into the icing.

Kate's eyes opened widely and she sucked in a sudden rush of air and adrenalin, watching when he twirled his long digits around in the regal looking purple concoction. He kept them moving in slow steady circles, not unlike the motion of her spoon a few seconds before, making sure they were properly and thoroughly coated.

Castle lifted his fingers slowly, glistening wetly with the thick shiny layer spread over his skin. He lifted his eyes, holding her gaze once again, before raising them in offering to her lips. "Taste." He prodded, taking the bowl from her hands and setting it to one side.

The white shirt draped across her naked chest was rising and falling frantically as he invaded her space, stepping between her legs as her back hit the counter. His fingers curled at her waist, holding her to him as he waited for her to succumb to his request.

Her mouth opened, lips parting almost of their own accord. The wet, pink skin of her tongue darting out to tease the icing from the tip of his finger, watching him watch her before she hummed in appreciation, her eyes slamming shut and she sucked his fingers into her mouth with a groan of pleasure.

She swirled her tongue in slow rotation, steadily enjoying the thick tendons and hardened muscle, the rough pads of his fingertips grazing hotly against her tongue. Kate felt his fingers tighten, his hips shifting as he brought himself closer, his fingers withdrawing from her mouth with a long, wet pop as she shuddered around the spark of sugar and heat invading her system.

"Good?" he asked huskily, waiting for her eyes to open again, her lashes still fluttering against the creamy pink skin of her cheeks.

Kate shook her head, smiling, "Decadent," she breathed, devouring the word as each syllable left her mouth and she looked up at him hungrily when he tried to step back.

Her hand snaked out and Kate caught him by his belt loops and tugged him back. "I'm not done tasting yet."

He stumbled into her, heavy and warm against her chest when she caught him by surprise. Her sudden wave of raw desire and want making her greedy and she yanked him towards her hard and fast.

Off balance they fell, twisting and tilting with a laugh, Kate groaned under her breath and she had to brace herself on the counter behind her.

The surfaces coated in flour from his earlier rolling, cutting and personalizing of many a unique Castle esq gingerbread man and Kate glanced down and up with a devilish grin. Her white hands held in front of her as he cupped her waist again.

"Kate!" He tried to warn, but she was too fast for him, one hand landing on the arm reaching back for more icing, the other spreading wide across his chest to steady herself. Her fingertips unfurling as she touched as much of him as she could.

"No need, Castle." She hummed, her voice dripping with sugary sweetness, she tapped the skin just over his heart. "There's some - right here."

He tried to follow her line of sight, the way her eyes were magnetized, focused acutely on his chest. Just above the white, flour hand print that she'd left on him. He raised his eyes to hers and found her staring back, looking very much like he was prey and couldn't wait to take him down. "Would be a shame to waste perfectly good icing. Don't you think?"

"Ye- yeah. Not good to wa-", his voice suddenly shot up, "waste."

"Mhmm," she hummed as her lips closed around a purple blob of icing on his shoulder. She felt his breath hitch as she slipped her hand up, up and around his neck, anchoring herself as she kissed and nipped and tasted her way down the line of sugary delight that made for a divine recipe as it mixed with the savory taste of Castle, that she was oh, so familiar with now.

She took her time to clean him thoroughly off the rainbow of icing that had covered him. A swirl of her tongue here, a flick of her tongue there. A light little nibble, a quick little suck. She left a wet trail across his chest, a road, a map of Kate's conquests. All of him was hers for the taking. She dragged her nail lightly along the path that she'd kissed and looked up to find his eyes screwed tightly shut. Her arm on his neck slid down lower to join the other as it roamed his wide, strong pecs.

Her fingers gripped his forearms, holding tight, teeth grazing the rippling line of muscles that jumped under her touch.

"One question." She mumbled against his skin, moving up, over the thundering beat of his heart.

"Unngghhh." He moaned, shaking his head when she laughed and sucked harder, just shy of his nipple, a thin blue blur left on his skin and Kate was unsure if it was icing or an over zealous biting kiss.

"Why..." She asked kissing the pulse and purple of his throat, mouthing his neck, kissing a heated path towards his mouth.

"Why am I shirtless?" He anticipated, grabbing a handful of the white shirt she had stolen from him and fisting it between his fingers, making the cloth slip from her shoulder.

"No..." Kate grinned, her mouth opening against his lips, "Why aren't you shirtless more often?" Her fingers slid into his hair and she drew him forwards, knowing he would need no encouragement to invade her, softly and devotedly.

Pulling her into his chest with a sharp jerk, Castle swallowed down her moan of contentment, his own deep eager voice mixing with hers and the latent blast of sugar washing over her tongue, seeping into his mouth.

"I don't know. Who needs clothes anyway?" he asked between kisses that were heating up fast.

Heating up so much in fact, that she could see the ripples of molten energy, soft waves of smoke that emanated from...

Wait. That couldn't be right.

"Castle," she said, avoiding his mouth as he let out a little moan of protest. "What's that smell?"

"Oh. Umm. I think the gingerbread men are burning." He tried to pull her back again as she pushed him away, "Getting all hot and bothered, they must be jealous," he joked.

"Take them out before they set off the -"

She was cut off by the harsh beep of the smoke alarm.

A/N:
docnerd89: Kimmers and I have been friends for a while now. Met through fanfiction, Castle, twitter, yada yada. But this is the first time we've worked on a collab. (Though we've had a fair share of umm...yummy conversations..) And it has been FUN FUN FUN. Right from the get go. I can't even remember how the idea got started. It was some stupid comment about superman, which led to capes, which somehow led to a naked Castle baking cookies. We're weird like that. But hey, you get this.

kimmiesjoy: Somewhere in the deep dark recesses of her Doctors mind, there is a land of sugary sweet smut and I have to thank the lovely docnerd89 (oh so formal) for letting me in to play there! It's a fun magical...slightly scary place :D I hug and say thanks because it was seriously so much fun! She made my day with her weird and delicious innuendo filled comments...

docnerd89: If only they saw our conversation at the side while writing this. Lol. Thank you for writing so wonderfully. You're an awesome collab partner! Also, as I said earlier, couldn't handle Castle in boxers. On top of everything else. ;) Or, you know.. Under it.

kimmiesjoy: See this is what I've been dealing with all day *SNORTS* at suspiciously awesome innuendo!

docnerd89: Lol. Aye. You were a willing participant. :P

kimmiesjoy: ALWAYS :P