AN: Thank you soooooooo much Nic (ColieMackenzie) for convincing me not to give up on this and for beta'ing! You are the absolute best!
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.
Calefacient
Noun: A drug or other agent causing a sensation of warmth.
Adjective: Causing warmth.
It was dangerous. This game they were playing. His eyes sparkled, inviting, entrancing. Burning with a dark, fervent heat. She licked her lips, unconsciously leaning closer, hypnotized by the magnetism of his body to hers. By the way the light blue shirt clung to his broad shoulders. The material stretched across the muscles in his chest and biceps. She couldn't deny her desire to touch, to taste him. It was smoldering. This heat between them, around them, inside them. The small distance remaining from her to him was rapidly disappearing along with every last shred of resistance. One touch was all it took to ignite the flames into a fiery blaze, consuming her as she gave in to the slow burn of electricity in her veins…
"It's so hot, Beckett! Can't we just go home?" Castle whined.
She rolled her eyes at him as he gave her his best puppy dog face. "You don't have to be here, Castle, you know that," she replied evenly. "In fact, the last 3 times you've asked me that question, I've told you to go home."
She was on her last ounce of patience now. It had been one of the longest days at the precinct since she'd gotten off suspension. It also just so happened to be the day that the Twelfth's air conditioning unit had chosen to bite the dust. Appropriately failing during New York City's worst summer heat wave in five years.
Now wasn't that just oddly coincidental. How her life was now imitating Castle's art. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? Heat waves and no air conditioning. Castle had been bugging her for the last hour about leaving. Not that she could blame him. It really was disgustingly hot. The next thing she knew he was going to start propositioning her with tequila shots. Not that she'd necessarily be opposed to that. The things that man could do with his tongue…
If only they weren't at work.
"It's like 107 degrees in here," Castle continuing his whine, snapping her out of her daydream.
She shook her head slightly, trying to regroup.
Focus, Kate.
Technically she still had some paperwork to finish up and the last thing she wanted to do was cut out early and piss off Gates so soon after getting her badge back. But Castle was relentless. She kinda wanted to kill him. Or jump him. Both thoughts were equally appealing most of the time.
She rolled her shoulders back, releasing a heavy sigh. The heat really was terrible today. The humidity filled the precinct, stifling and sticky. She could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. She grabbed the ponytail holder from her wrist and pulled her hair back, immediately feeling some relief, as the tiny fan on her desk cast a warm breeze against her now exposed neck.
"Then, go home Castle!" she responded, closing her eyes for a moment, reveling in the small breeze.
She was met silence in response. Castle…silent? Since when did that happen…
She reluctantly opened her eyes and flicked her gaze over to his chair, only to discover him practically leering at her.
"Castle," she hissed, "What the hell? You can't look at me like that here!"
"Look at you like what?" he asked, leaning back in his chair and clasping his hands across his chest. The picture of innocence, aside from the sparkle in his eyes.
"You know what," she said evenly, glaring at him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Detective. But I'd love for you to enlighten me as to how you think I'm looking at you," he replied, smug and teasing.
She groaned, leaning across her desk until her mouth was almost at his ear. "Like you want to rip all the clothes off my body," she murmured, sensing him tense immediately at her hot breath on his ear. She grinned and resumed her prior position across the desk.
He leveled a smoldering gaze at her and lowered his voice. "That's why I want to take you home, Beckett," he said, purposely placing extra emphasis on her last name.
Ugh, she knew she should have never let it slip how much it turned her on when he said her name like that. She mustered every last bit of restraint and resumed glaring at him, hoping he'd snap out of it.
"I have paperwork to do Castle. If you want to go, then go. But, you know now isn't the time to get on Gates' bad side."
He shook his head, finally backing off slightly, in an apparent attempt to restore the careful façade they'd been trying to maintain these last few weeks.
Trying to maintain rather unsuccessfully.
"Sorry," he said, voice an octave lower than usual. "It's just hard to focus when you do things like that," he finished, shrugging his shoulders, eyes still dark.
"Like what?" she replied, completely oblivious.
He groaned. "That thing you do…with your hair…do you even realize how so very sexy it is?"
"I think the heat has gone to your head," she joked, trying her best to ignore the flush spreading across her cheeks. Damnit if her pulse didn't race at his words and the way they swept over her, way too enticing for their current location.
"Maybe it has," he hummed. "Which means you really should take me home, right? Make sure I'm okay. Wouldn't want me to faint or anything, Detective…" he teased, glancing around to make sure no one was watching before he brushed his hand across hers lightly.
"Stop it!" she said, shaking off his hand, while she turned back toward her computer, cheeks now completely flaming.
"Although…" he added, completely ignoring her annoyance, "I'd be happy to let you play nurse. I wouldn't even object if you wanted to dress the part," he finished, grinning mischievously at her and moving his hand back to hers, drawing light circles with his thumb.
She fought to suppress a shiver at his touch. Whether it truly was the heat of the air around them or her body's traitorous reaction to her partner, it suddenly felt like her skin was on fire.
Kate trailed her eyes over his body, unable to resist in the moment. He looked so good this summer, skin tanned and golden. He'd insisted upon taking advantage of their "vacation," as he'd labeled their time away from the precinct.
And now…well, it was certainly working for her. As he sat, grinning, still smug over his innuendo-laden comments, wearing the light blue button up that brought out the sparkle in his eyes, she couldn't mask her appreciation. He'd rolled the sleeves halfway up his forearms in that oh-so-sexy casual way. And on top of that, unbuttoned the top of the shirt a couple buttons, in his attempt to counteract the temperature. A completely innocent act that presently had her wishing she could either shove him somewhere out of her sight or shove him somewhere where they'd both be out of sight and free to act on the electricity sparking between them.
She swallowed back the arousal beginning to swirl in her stomach.
She was a professional, damnit. And she'd survived years of sexually charged comments from him. He was not going to undo her this easily.
That was when she made a dangerous decision.
It was time to turn the tables on him – wipe that smirk off his face.
She carefully schooled her features and turned back to the all but forgotten paperwork, once again. Casually stretching her arms over her head, she leaned back in her chair, allowing a small sigh to escape her lips, as she surreptitiously checked their surroundings for nosy onlookers. It was a carefully calculated move that she knew would direct his eyes immediately to the slightly exposed skin across her stomach, where her shirt had ridden up.
She was not disappointed when she glanced back over at him. The smirk was gone, replaced by with a look that could only be labeled as predatory.
Game on, Castle.
He was so close to convincing her to get out of there. It was like hell sitting in the precinct today. Literally hell. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt such oppressive heat.
He'd really tried his best to be patient. But she'd been doing paperwork forever. Almost everyone else was long gone, cutting out early due to the heat. And then, she'd pulled that move with her hair.
Ok, so maybe it wasn't a calculated move. The woman really had no clue how sexy she was even when she wasn't trying at all. But seriously, watching the slightly glistening exposed skin of her neck, as she sighed in contentment…
It was absolute torture when he couldn't do a damn thing about it. When he wanted nothing more than to trail his mouth across her throat, along her jawline, and pull her body flush against his own.
So he'd resorted to whining, begging, whatever it took to get them the hell out of there.
He'd thought it'd been working. He saw the undisguised lust in her eyes. She wanted him too. But then she'd turned back to her paperwork.
He tried not to pout. He knew she just wanted to make sure she did a good job since she hadn't been back from suspension for that long. And it was really pretty pathetic that he couldn't survive a day without touching her when they spent practically every night together now.
But it seemed like there was no going back. Everything that they'd been able to suppress in the past was so much harder now. Both figuratively and literally. He chuckled inwardly at his bad pun.
It was true though. Every touch was magnified. Every secret glance charged with a passion they spent all day trying to hide. It seemed to be a constant battle to keep their hands off each other. As she'd pointed out, they worked with a room full of detectives, their job to "detect" things. The last thing they could afford right now was Gates finding out about their relationship.
So he was trying to be good.
And now apparently she was intent on killing him.
As she stretched in her chair, her shirt had ridden up slightly, exposing the tan skin where her dress pants met her stomach. It taunted him, one of his favorite parts of her body. Oh how he loved to tease her there, running his fingers along the soft line of skin, slipping them just below the waist of her jeans. He reveled in the feel of her body, tense and taut with desire. Almost begging him to trail his fingers further down, down…
"Like what you see, Castle?" she asked, hazel eyes glinting, completely self-satisfied, as he was snapped abruptly from his thoughts.
Shit. He could not think about things like that when they were here. Maybe the heat really was affecting his head.
"It's not nice to tease when you can't follow through, Kate," he said, pouting.
She continued to smile, evil woman, and got up from her chair, coming to stand in front of him.
He watched curiously as she looked around, checking to see if they were alone, and then reached for his hand, pulling him up out of his chair and dangerously close to her body.
"And what if I fully intend on following through, Rick," she whispered, lips against his ear.
He fought to suppress a moan at the feel of her mouth, as the meaning of her words sunk in.
Looking at her half stunned and wholly aroused, he tried to determine just how serious she could possibly be.
Before he knew it she was running a hand across the button on his shirt, dipping slightly underneath the fabric and across his chest. Her other hand occupied itself by tracing the line of his jaw, as she leaned in ever so close.
His heart hammered in his chest as his hands instinctively gripped her waist, pulling her up against him.
It was dizzying, this need, the heat that sizzled between their bodies, inching closer and closer.
A dangerous game of resistance they were bound to lose, the magnet of electricity between them perpetually pulling them towards one another.
If he was fire, she was the molten lava within his veins, erupting every nerve, until he could no longer fight the overwhelming desire.
"You know what I really, really want, Castle?" she practically purred, fully predatory in her movements.
He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. Everything was in this moment as she closed the last inch of space between them. The room swayed as her lips finally…finally met his own in a caress that pulled them both under as his body reacted to the sensation.
"Castle?!"
He blinked, opening his eyes as she called his name.
"Dude, what happened to him?"
"Is he alright, Beckett?"
He felt the boys pulling him up from the floor. Wait…why was he on the floor in the first place?
He shook his head trying to figure out what was going on. He suddenly realized that three pairs of concerned eyes were staring at him.
"Castle, are you okay?" Beckett asked, reaching to steady him as he got to his feet.
"I think so," he replied, still dazed. "What happened?"
She momentarily looked ashamed. "You were umm, standing there next to me at the board when you suddenly passed out," she said, trying her best to sound convincing.
"Probably the heat," Ryan said, handing him a cup of water.
"Something like that," he muttered, casting a long look towards Kate before taking a sip of the water.
"Yeah, it's like 107 degrees in here," Esposito chimed in. "Maybe you should let Beckett give you a ride home."
"That sounds like good idea," he agreed, not willing to let the suggestion pass.
He looked over and met her gaze. "If that's ok with you?"
"Of course, Castle," she nodded, quickly pulling him after her toward the elevator. "Thanks guys, have a good night," she called over her shoulder.
After the doors shut she kissed him lightly on the mouth, a silent apology written on her features.
"Never had a man faint when I kissed him before," she said softly, her eyes regaining some of their earlier sparkle.
"So about that nurse costume…" he began, teasing.
"Well, I did volunteer at the Standard hospital for a few summers during undergrad," she replied with a wink.
The elevator lurched slightly and his knees wobbled again. Beckett laughed, reaching out to steady him, as he looked at her embarrassed.
"I told you it was too hot in there," he grumbled.
"Let's just get you home. I think we've both had enough heat for one day," she said, still a hint of laughter in her voice.
"Well, there's always ice cubes…" he replied, grinning back at her.
The end.
Thoughts?