Just a little somethin'.

Her kiss tastes like love and sweet wine, soft and lazy. He hums into her mouth, his fingers curling at the waist of her flowy maxidress as his other hand slides to her warm, bare back, pressing her further into him.

Mmm. He can't get enough.

He feels her smile before she swipes her tongue out, licking the salty air from the corner of his lips. Her hands bracket his hips, her cool fingers slipping just underneath his shirt to brush gingerly across his sunburn.

"How you holdin' up, big guy?" She kisses his nose, also a little ripe from too much time in the sun.

"I'll live," he growls, attacking her neck with his mouth. She laughs, her hands moving to his head to card through his hair.

He gentles, chastely kissing her jaw before he pulls back, fingers sliding up to playing with the flyaways that curl around her head.

"I think you should call in for a sick day Monday," he muses.

She rolls her eyes. "We just took a week off for vacation, Castle."

"So? Don't tell me you're sick of celebrating our anniversary."

She nudges her nose against his cheek and the flutter of her eyelashes sends a little shiver down his spine to his toes that curl in the cool sand. "Never," she breathes. Her responses relaxes him, eases some of the tension in his shoulders he didn't know was there.

"Do you regret my first proposal?" he rasps at her ear. Her hands are soft at his cheeks as she gently tugs him back to look at her, her eyes a little startled and bright in the moonlight.

Her eyes flick to his mouth before she leans in, kissing him as she slides her hands up to his chest to feel the thump of his heart against her pulse.

"It surprised me," she admits, brushing her thumb over his mouth. "My intention was never to force your hand - "

"You didn't," he quiets her. "I didn't realize how important it was to you. And I thought - " he breaks off, ducks his head as he laughs lightly, a little uncomfortable. "I thought a future with you was a given."

"Castle," her voice breaks, her eyes shining as she clamps down on her lip. "After I fell in love with you, you were always the man I imagined waiting for me at the end of the altar," she professes, swallowing hard. "But even after all that time, I guess - "

She shakes her head and gulps down a shaky breath. "I guess I still wasn't sure what you wanted. You'd done the marriage and kids thing before."

"But I never did them with the person who matters the most, Kate," he reminds her softly.

She nods, quiet with it, and he knows she has a lot of regrets about that time, but they both do. And if it hadn't happened, he's not sure what would've happened. If they'd still be married, or if they'd remain in limbo, both unwilling to rock the boat for fear of how the other would react.

He knows they would've made it here, eventually, but -

He has no idea how long it might've taken.

"If things were easy for us, we would've fallen apart ages ago," he jokes.

She chokes out a laugh. "Touche, Mr. Castle."

He grins, sparking his mouth across hers, as he tamps down the tone of their conversation, switching gears with the slide of his rough, warm palms.

"So what exactly," his fingers skim across the back of her neck, teasing with the string that holds her dress together, "is it going to take to convince you to go for a midnight swim with me," she shivers as he nips at her ear, "in nothing but that ring I put on your finger?"

He hears her breath catch before she's shoving him away gently, her hands plucking at the fabric knot at her neck before the dress pools at her feet.

She steps out of it and presses the length of her body against his, a goddess in the silver night.

"Lead the way, stud."

My other story should be updated within the next couple of days. The collab I'm writing with Emma is sort of on hold for right now, but I don't expect you'll have to wait long for that, either.

As always, love to hear from you.

Liv