A/N: Based on a spoiler quote for 6.03 and somewhat prompted by Indie. ;)
He barrels through the door and stumbles into the room, out of breath and every eye on him as Agent McCord and the Detectives of the twelfth fall silent en masse.
Castle lets out an over dramatic sigh, waving a hand for them to carry on, but he's already interrupted them now and everyone seems to be waiting for an explanation.
Inextricably tied to him, aware of his presence and attuned to the man himself Kate's eyes fly up and rake over his face, take in the pinkness of his cheeks and the way his eyes flit to hers, burn for a second before he's apologizing to the room.
She dips her head, bites her lip and tries to ignore the flush that heats her skin. She should be better at this, but she's not.
"Nice of you to join us Mr. Castle." Captain Gates bites out, though not with as much of the harshness that Kate has come to expect. There have been a lot of changes since she left for D.C clearly, not just in the general acceptance of Castle's presence without her, but in the team itself.
The new detective sits off to the side, next to Ryan, his tie slightly wonky and his shirt looking roughed up and Kate really tries not to focus on the memory of the state of chaos that once was her desk. There is food on it, and even though it technically doesn't belong to her anymore the mere sight of it grates at her skin.
She never realized she was quite so territorial before, but her eyes lift to Castle as he slides around the table and makes his way to the free seat at her side and she feels a lurch in her stomach - heated desire and burning memory and the need to have him again and yeah, okay, maybe she's a little more territorial than she lets on.
"Sorry," He nods to the Captain, turns and does the same to McCord who was in the process of briefing the room, "Sorry, late night." His eyes drop to hers, and Kate bits back the urge to laugh, "Something came up and I was unavoidably detained."
He sits down next to her, angles his chair just a bit and his eyes are burning into her so intently that it steals her breath, and she has to clear her throat before looking at him.
He nudges her knee with his and she's thankful they are at the back of the room, the furthest corner from prying eyes and she turns, tries not to laugh at the expression of faux innocence on his face.
"You left early." He whispers, and Kate feels the press of his shin again, the hot drift of his hand when it lands on her thigh and he squeezes. "Without me."
"Mmm." She smiles, "You were snoring."
"I was exhausted."
She smirks, "Oh? Any reason why?"
"I spent the night tangled up in a web of government conspiracy."
"Tangled?" She grins, remembering the delicious way he wriggled about.
"Mmmhmm, almost as if I was bound to obey."
She hums under her breath, bound but not gagged, because she loves his voice. "Bureaucracy can be a bitch."
"It wasn't bureaucracy that had me cuffed to the bed." He pauses as McCord turns, checks everyone's paying attention - especially him - and Castle smiles, nods like he's been listening to every word.
"Oh, no." Kate leers at the memory, raising her eyebrows and winking at him, "That was me."
She smooths her fingers over the faint pink line at the edge of his wrist, silently soothing the skin. At least she left the key where he could reach it easily, though maybe not as easily as she assumed given that he was late.
"Next time you wanna play federal agent gone bad - " He waits, reaching for her hand and pulling it into his lap, slipping the tiny shiny object into her palm "- might wanna take the key with you when you go." Castle drags her hand across his thighs, shifts his hips to show her what he's hiding in his pants, his eyebrows darting high, all smug.
He brought the cuffs with him.
She snorts, coughs to cover it and squeezes his thigh once more before pulling her hand back. Kate takes the key, pockets it silently and tries not laugh at how pleased he looks with himself, "You know they weren't my actual handcuffs, right?" Kate presses the pads of his fingers into her hip so he can feel the bite of the metal next to her skin, "Kinda need these for work."
"You've got more than one set?" He hisses, glaring when Espo eyes them suspiciously.
"Of course." She shrugs, "Never mix business- " She taps her hip again - "- with pleasure." - and strokes over his wrist.
His eyes light up with accusation and delight both, "You didn't tell me!"
"Need to know, Castle." Her eyes drops low, scan his body heatedly, "Classified information." Her hand roams and he jerks in the chair, "For my eyes only."