AN: I literally just wrote this! I checked, re-checked and checked again for typos and things that didn't make sense but if they're still there I'm sorry! This is only my second story (the first has so many typos I cringe) so go easy on me lol I'm thinking about writing more chapters to this, but I'm not sure if you guys want it. Please leave reviews so I know! :)) Thaaanks!

P.S. These characters do not belong to me, I own nothing but the words I've just written about them!

It had been exactly three days since Castle kissed Beckett in the street and she still couldn't stop thinking about it. She'd replayed it in her mind countless times and could still feel his hand on her face as he jerked her to a stop, could see the way he watched her mouth as if if he'd looked her in the eye he wouldn't have gone through with it, could feel his lips on hers, his hands in her hair, their bodies molded together for that one remarkable moment.

For the briefest of moments, she'd pulled away. Shocked and honestly, a bit sad, because here they were, after everything they'd been through, finally sharing a kiss, a smoldering, butterfly inducing, come-home-with-me kiss, and it was for a case. A cover-up. But she'd pulled away and saw the look in his eyes. She could tell that this wasn't just for the case. This wasn't just a cover-up, and in that moment she was 100% certain that he wasn't just here for research. He was here for her. And so she'd kissed him again, wanting it more than anything and knowing that it really was working as a cover-up. She let herself feel him, his lips on hers, his arms wrapped around her and she almost didn't stop. But she had a job to do and so she'd opened her eyes the moment the man had turned and she twisted away from Castle to knock the man out. Her heart beat so fast even now, just thinking about it.

She sat in her living room, on her couch, her bottom lip between her teeth, pretending to watch a midnight sit com when all she was really doing was thinking about Castle. That's all she ever did, lately. This brought a smile to her face, as the realization suddenly hit her. She was acting like a pre-teen with her first crush.

She jumped when she heard the knock at the door, and her brows furrowed slowly as she wondered who would be showing up at her apartment unannounced. She shut the TV off, walked to the other side of the room quickly and quietly, and checked through the peephole on the door. It was Castle. She unlocked the door and opened it with a small, reserved smile on her face.

"Hey, Castle, what are you doing here?"

"We need to talk about the case," he said, and walked right past her, welcoming himself in her home in a way that was becoming all too familiar.

She shut the door and listened to him speak, always so eager to hear his take on things, and enlightened that he spent as much time on her cases as she did. They had a new body, bright and early the day before, just in time for her to finish up paperwork for the previous case (emphasis on the word her).

The body had been found in an alley right next to The Old Haunt, a 26-year-old female Lanie'd identified as Marissa Copeck, two identical stab wounds side by side on her right lower abdomen, abrasions on her arms and legs, and a single bruised kick to the stomach. There'd been no sexual assault, and she'd had cash on her even after the stabbing which raised a big red flag that read, "NOT A BURGLARY".

No fingerprints on her, no enemies, and nothing out of the ordinary in her phone calls, (which was something that could change once they got deeper into the case) but what they did know was that her boyfriend left town the same day she was killed and was, to say the least, bad news. They had released his name and photo to all surrounding police and train stations and were desperately awaiting his arrest, if nothing but for a lead - whether it involved him or not.

"Alexis knows Marissa," he let it fall out of his mouth, happy to finally get the news out, and excited to see Kate's reaction.

"What do you mean, from where?" Kate was instantly hanging on every word, more than ready for a break in the case that she was already so involved in.

"Well, she doesn't know her know her, but apparently last weekend when she was at the mall with some girlfriends, just as they were leaving there was a fight in the parking lot. She said the man Marissa was with scared them a bit so Alexis and her friends quickly got into the car, but not before they heard some promising threats..." he trailed off, and could see the question on her face.

"Threats?"

"To quote Alexis.. the words 'I'll put a bullet in your skull' were muttered. Well, screamed, really... and in that sequence!" he added as an afterthought.

"Oh my God, Castle, do you realize what this could mean?" He could see the excitement in her eyes, but also the sadness that this new piece of information, no matter what the outcome, would ultimately lead back to another innocent life lost.

"Mmhm, and there's more. I showed her a picture of the boyfriend and she said that was him,"

Just as she was about to speak, her eyes squinted..

"How did you show her the picture already?" she watched the look on his face as he realized he'd been caught.

"Well-"

"Castle, what did I tell you about taking pictures of the case? You better not have that picture of Marissa on there," she threatened. He knew she meant the picture from the alley where she was found.

"No. I don't, I promise. I just didn't see the big deal, I mean we released the photo-"

"Yeah, to the police. What if he's innocent? Don't show anyone else."

"I'm sorry... but I mean, he doesn't sound innocent and if you look at it-"

"Yeah, I know I know. It's a good thing you did" she smiled then. "You want to stay for a drink? I have a new bottle of wine I was thinking of opening," she tried to sound nonchalant, but she really hoped he'd say yes. Even if all they talked about was the case, she just wanted to be around him for a bit longer.

He didn't mention the fact that he'd obviously also shown Alexis a picture of Marissa (pre-shooting). She hadn't realized and he wasn't about to bring it back up.

"Sure, that'd be great" he smiled and followed her to the kitchen, watched her as she grabbed the bottle from the fridge, two glasses from the cabinet. She poured them each a healthy glass and leaned against the fridge, taking a sip and licking her lips, pressing them together.

Castle took a sip and then set his glass down, his fingers lingering on it as it rested on the counter. He looked at her, her eyes already on his, and felt his heart skip a beat. He couldn't get the kiss out of his mind either. And neither one of them had breathed a word of it since it happened.

She knew he was thinking of it, could tell by the way his eyes darkened, could tell by the way his eyes drifted from her eyes to her wet lips and back up. They stared at each other for a while, unable to break away from the others gaze, each of their hearts beating like a drum.

"Kate..." his voice was hoarse and he took a step toward her, took the glass from her hand and set it on the counter beside him. She couldn't move, could only stare at him, at his eyes and then his lips; so inviting. She couldn't break her eyes from them as he came closer and then he was only a breath away and her heart beat so fast it almost hurt.

And just like that he closed the distance between them, so slow she thought time had stopped, and their lips touched, just the briefest of touches, sending butterflies free in her stomach again. Their lips pulled apart, just barely, and he stayed right where he was, breathing heavy, their breath mingling in the tiny space between them.

She didn't move to touch him, as if she thought that if she didn't, no matter how bad she wanted it and no matter how much it showed, she could still place the blame on him. Make it seem like he kissed her when he shouldn't have even though they'd both know that was a lie.

"Castle," it was barely a whisper and encouraged him to kiss her again before she tried to stop this from happening. And so he did, his lips on hers again, this time longer and more confident, before he kissed her lips quickly, again and again.

It was as if they were completely in sync. The moment his hand reached out to cup her jaw, her hands slid up his body, resting on his chest and clenching the material she found there. They reconnected with an open mouthed kiss, her pulling him closer, him leaning in and she knew this would change things. Her back pressed hard against the cold fridge and almost burned her searing skin through her thin t-shirt. She was on fire for Castle, couldn't get enough of him; he was in her veins.

He pressed into her, moving his hands through her hair to pull her mouth impossibly close and the sound of their kisses echoed in her quiet loft. He pulled his lips from hers, pressing kisses on her cheek, down her jawline and to her neck; her quiet moan letting him know that she was more than satisfied with the quick work of his mouth. Castle brought his lips back to hers and kissed her again, their tongues dancing, the taste of her intoxicating.

Just then her cell phone rang. They jumped, as if they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't have been doing, and their lips parted. Both of them kept their eyes closed for a moment, their chests heaving. Kate was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry, I have to..answer that" she unclenched her aching fingers from his shirt, and noticed the wrinkles before she looked up at him and then quickly stepped around him to grab her phone from the table by the sink. She would have smiled or even laughed under different circumstances, but she was so nervous about what would happen now, that she couldn't.

"Beckett" she breathed into the phone, a little too raspy. She listened to the phone call with a serious look on her face, mentally took down instructions to an address and then hung up. She was grabbing her coat from the living room immediately.

"What's going on?" he asked from his spot in the kitchen.

"There's another body and Lanie thinks it could be linked to Marissa's murder," she slipped her boots on as she explained this, and then stopped with her fingers on the door knob, a worried look in her eyes as she stared at him from across the room.

"Is it a serial?"

"I don't know. Could be... you comin'?"

The side of his mouth turned up into a smile and he walked towards her.

"Let's go find out."

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