Disclaimer: If I owned it my name would be the first to appear in the credits.
She's trying to convince herself that it's not the man who's making her nervous but the animal with the man. She sees Castle everyday so why would she be nervous? It's the dog because she's never dog sat before and this is a great test run. It's not the man who making her smile like an idiot, it's not.
He's late. It's been over an hour and she's getting impatient. Ugh! She just wants to see him- er...the dog.
She really is tired of waiting. She changed into clothing a bit more sensible. Her skinny jeans complementing her long legs and a grey shirt that hangs loose on her chest. She's still in her heels so that she's just about eye level with him.
She's ready he just needs to get here. There's a knock on the door and suddenly she gets butterflies. She hasn't felt this way since she dated that rocker back in high school.
She bits her lip and opens the door. She expects him to come in first bearing apologies but he isn't. He lets Royal come in first off of his leash then he walks in laughing like he's done nothing wrong.
"Castle, you were supposed to be here over an hour ago. It's called "shared custody" not "show up when you want custody."
She wants to be mad, she really does but the way he's smiling and the way he loves Royal is way too cute. She regrets turning down the offer to come over for dinner. She could only imagine how adorable he looked playing around with Royal.
"Yeah I thought I had everything together, but at the last minute I could not find Mr. Squeaky." He squeezed the toy to demonstrate why he named him that.
His voice is filled with so much excitement and joy that she can't help but smile. She's trying so hard to hide it but over the years she's come to realize that hiding her smile never worked around him.
"So don't worry about feeding him. I had a rib eye I couldn't finish." She listening but her eyes are on Mr. Squeaky. She finds it amazing that he bought such an expensive toy for a dog. It's crazy but somehow it's nice and it makes her like him just a little bit more.
"You fed him a steak?" She turned and looked at Royal.
"Yeah don't worry we worked it off. He played fetch in the hall," she quickly turned and faced him. "And then we watched some Beverly Hills Chihuahua. And boy, this guy, this guy is a smuggler."
She wasn't even trying to hide her smile now. He was getting so worked up about how much fun he was having with Royal and that sparkle in his eyes was shining extra bright that she just couldn't help but stare.
"And I bet you let him sit on your couch, didn't you?"
"Umm."
"No it's okay. You can be the fun one, and I'll just be the bad guy," she turned and faced Royal again. "Because there is no way way that you are shedding all over my couch."
"Oh no he's perfectly happy right there." She faces Castle again smiling brighter now because he's coming to the defense of a dog. It must be his parental skills. She can't help it he's absolutely adorable right now. Yeah this time she's talking about Castle.
"Oh! And he loves it when you rub him right between the eyes, just little circles with your thumb," he explained pulling up her long sleeve to massage the back if her hand to demonstrate what he means. "Just like this, not too hard, just..."
When he takes her hand in his it immediately sends heat waves flying through her body, warming in all the right places. Or in this case all the wrong places because they are not together nor is she ready to be with him yet.
But this one little gesture is sending her spiraling with want, with need. She steals a look up at him and he's staring at her like he's unsure of what to do.
He wants to try something but he isn't sure how she'll take it. But she also isn't stopping him and she's staring right back and he just wants to pull her closer, so much closer.
She needs to stop this. She needs to stop staring at him like this because she knows it's encouraging him to keep going. And that's the exact opposite of what she needs him to do. He needs to stop touching her because the heat is becoming overwhelming and it's getting harder to breath steadily.
His hand starts to climb higher up her hand until he finds her sleeve. He pulls it down while staring at her, watching for any sort of protest. But she can't form one because when he pulled on her sleeve she was forced to take two steps closer to him.
Being in such a close proximity is making her heart start racing and she can't help that her eyes flicker down to his lips.
She wants this but she can't have it yet. But he's right there all she would have to do is lean in and take it. But she can't.
When he pulls her in closer she stumbles and accidentally squeezes Mr. Squeaky startling them both. But what neither of them expected was for Royal to come and jump up onto Beckett and snatch away the toy.
His force was so strong it sent Beckett falling into Castle, who wasn't expecting her to fall into him, causing both of them tumbling to the floor.
She had landed on top of him with her face in the crook of his neck. When they both came to Castle wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her tighter against him. When she could let herself, she looked into his eyes to see that they had changed. It was no more cuteness but instead it was affection? Hope?
One of the two.
As bad as she wants to just take him right there she knows this can't happen so she forces herself up and out of his arms. Once she's up she reaches her hand out to him to help him up.
He's not playing around anymore. He wants her. He needs to see how it feels to kiss her. Without it having to be undercover, without them having to pretend it didn't happen. He's been trying so hard to wait, but he just needs this now. He needs to be reminded of what it felt like to press his lips against hers, what it felt like to hold her close.
He can't pretend anymore. He's waited far too long.
So when she helps pull him up he comes closer than he needs to.
"Castle," she says as a means of warn but her voice faltered so it came out as a breathy whisper.
Before he loses his cool or she backs away he slams his mouth against hers and holds her close. She can try and fight but he's not letting go. He's in love with this woman and he just needs this. He needs this reassurance. Just this once he wants to break the rules and he'll gladly suffer the consequences later if that means he can keep kissing her right now.
He was expecting a fight, a protest, a threatening tone telling him to let her go, but he was met with only silence but the sound of their lips smacking because she's kissing him back.
She couldn't hold back anymore. His lips landed on hers and all she was thinking at the moment vanished because she suddenly felt fireworks. They were going off all through her body giving her chills.
She shivered against him and he absentmindedly held her tighter.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and twisted her head to the side to gain better excess to his mouth.
She never wanted this to end. All they were doing was kissing and it was sending her over the edge. The place his hands were on her lower back was on fire, the sensation spreading it throughout her entire body. She's never been kissed like this before. She's never allowed anyone to kiss her like this before. And it feels good, to finally, let go. No more hiding, no more excuses.
She wants this and it's obvious he wants it too.
He breaks away from her and opens his eyes to assess her reaction. Her reaction was leaning back in to recapture his mouth.
"Kate," he managed to say through her constant exploration if his mouth.
"I know."
"Just...we need to talk about this."
She pulls away from his mouth and opens her eyes. "I know. Stay for dinner."
"Are you sure? We don't have to do this now."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I can come back tomorrow same time."
She just nodded. Some time to herself to assess what it is she really wants wouldn't be so bad. In fact it's exactly what she needs.
He gives her a smile and a reaffirming nod before letting her go and walking over to the front door. She follows him.
When he was about to go she stepped up to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"Goodnight Castle."
"'Night."