She leaned forward and their lips met, gently at first, then more solidly as Castle wrapped his arms around Beckett. She gladly went with him, twisting until he cradled her across his lap, one hand at her neck and the other around her upper back. The kiss deepened with their eagerness to be close to each other after Beckett had held him at bay until he opened up to her about his past. Their tongues touched and she moaned in pleasure, a little reward not only for his expertness in giving her what she sought, but for allowing her a look through the window of his early life. When they pulled apart to refill their lungs, his hand snuck under her shirt and caressed the soft skin it found there. Their eyes met and the warm current of emotion she felt for this man washed through her as it had done so many times, but still remained fresh.
"So," he began as she played with the hair at the nape of his neck, "I'm curious, how much more did that story make you like me?" He kissed her forehead as the perfect response came to her.
"Take me to bed and I'll show you," she purred.
"With pleasure." He shifted his hand under her knees and the other at the base of her neck and stood up, lifting her to carry her to his bed. As they made the short walk, she played with the buttons on his shirt, slowly popping each one that she could reach open or just running her hand seductively over his broad chest. He laid her on the bed reverently and pulled the pins and clips out of her hair so it fell in a halo around her head. She finished unbuttoning his shirt and slid it off his shoulders. She let him press her down into the soft comforter and sheets, but he did not climb on top of her as she'd expected. He merely stroked her face, worshipping its beauty and strength.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you about Jordan," he said when he found his voice. "It's, it's never been easy for me to open up to people besides Alexis and Mother. Chalk it up to the insecurity of not knowing how people will react or whether or not they'll even listen or care. I guess that's another reason I enjoy writing: it gives me an escape from the real world where I have to face either the applause or the criticism. But it doesn't excuse the fact that you've opened up to me and there's a lot that I haven't opened up to you about."
Her heart burst open for this man who now looked like a lost, scared little boy despite the confident, devil-may-care persona he'd cultivated for the public. She knew what it was like to want to guard your past, to hide it behind those walls she'd spent so many years constructing and that he'd spent so few years pulling down, so she felt privileged that he finally felt safe enough to confide in her. She also wanted nothing more than to protect him, to hug and kiss away his long-held pain and anxieties.
"Castle, you don't have to prove anything to me or to my team or to anyone else for that matter," she said and sat up to look him in the face more directly. "What matters is that all of us who care about you know who you really are and know that the real you is a warm, caring, unselfish, smart, and funny man who'd give away half of his fortune if it'd bring comfort to one of his friends. People are gonna think what they want to think, but at the end of the day, if you can look at yourself in the mirror and know you've been a good person and done the right thing for those you care about, then you shouldn't be worried. And as for opening up to me, I know it's hard. And like someone wise told me earlier this year, we'll take it a day at time. All I ask is that you not assume that I won't want to hear what you have to tell me."
"Mother once told me that I should never underestimate you. And after being with you for the last ten months, you're still remarkable and challenging and maddening, but much more so, you're still beautiful and strong and extraordinary."
She smiled brightly then took his face in her hands and pulled him to her to kiss him soundly, silently returning the compliment. Now he did climb on the bed to straddle her, stroke her, feel her, lose himself in her. She ran her hands down his shoulders and back, eventually slipping them under the waistband of his jeans to hold and squeeze his rear end, signaling that she wanted all of him and wanted him to have all of her.
"I think it's time we got you out of all these clothes," he said.
"It's about time you noticed," she answered and in a flash, her sweater, shirt and brassiere joined his shirt on the floor. He climbed on top of her and her legs immediately parted so he could grind the growing bulge in his pants against her.
"Talk about opening up," he whispered in her ear, making her giggle.
"Now let me show you exactly how much more I like you," she purred and pounced on him.