This isn't in the Cornucopia because I really didn't want to up that to an M rating.

Blowing Off Steam

Kate finally walked into her darkened apartment, it was late, and she had been at her desk after drinking far to many cups of coffee that never seemed to taste right when Castle brought them to her. She kicked out of her high heeled boots and headed for her bathroom, shedding her clothed as she went. She turned on the water for the shower, her only thought a hot shower to wash away how empty she felt having spent the better part of the evening alone on the precinct.

As she slipped out of her bra and panties and stepped into the shower, her last interaction with Castle played in her head.

"Oh, I so wish I could kiss you right now." Castle whispered

"Yeah, I know." she'd whispered back, there had always been an attraction, a spark between them when they went back and forth finishing each other's sentences as they did their shared brain mind-meld thing. It had only become more intense since they had begun dating and sleeping together.

But this time they would not be leaving the precinct together, Castle had to drop Alexis off at college the next morning, and she had to break their suspect's alibi. She couldn't leave without doing her due diligence.

Kate watched him look down, and she hated to see the hurt look on his face, then she remembered feeling perplexed when he'd held out his hand. She'd looked from his hand back to his face before she realized what he was up to and took his hand in hers.

"This is me, softly touching your face, pulling you in for a long, slow kiss."

She smiled widely at that, catching on to where he was going.

"And this is me, kissing you back, running my hands through your hair." She whispered as she he rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand.

"Best handshake ever."

They had both wanted so much more than a handshake. She knew he'd wanted her to come home with him as the hot water sprayed against her naked body. She lathered her body up, noting that she had much fewer sharp edges than she had before Castle had begun sharing her life, and her bed.

She gripped the hand held shower wand he had bought for her and had installed shortly into her suspension, and was about to rinse the soap off her breasts when his hands come around her in the shower. She'd stiffened for only a moment, then relaxed when she realized it was Castle.

"No fair starting without me." Castle whispered, as his strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her into his broader frame. She gripped the shower want tightly as he turned her around, her free hand swiping against the wet glass of the shower stall.

Castle slid the wand from her grasp and rinsed the soap from her body, paying close attention to her breasts and the patch of hair between her legs, eliciting a low moan from deep within her as his fingers probed everywhere the soapy water had once been, dancing along her collarbone then caressing her breasts, then lower until they found just the right spot, making her gasp, then moan.

Her back arched as his fingers probed, they had mapped all of her in the weeks since her suspension had been handed down, he knew exactly how to wind her down after a long day.

"Yes, Castle... right there... just like that," she moaned as his fingers worked their magic and her back arched against him as she shattered around his fingers. Her hands up behind her head, gripping his neck behind her, letting him hold her weight as she came down from ecstasy.

She turned in his arms and found herself hoisted from the shower floor her back pressed against the wall as she felt his manhood slide firmly inside her, filling her as she wrapped her legs around his hips.

Their bodies fully intertwined with each other as he thrust into her deeply again and again, her hands wrapped around his head, her soft moans right next to his ear as they both felt the tightening of their bodies, the building pressure bringing their lovemaking to a furious crescendo as they both surrendered to their mutual pleasure and she cried out his name as their shared orgasms washed other them both.

After three more rounds of ecstasy in the shower they soon found themselves snuggled together in bed, clean and sated from the day's tension at the precinct. She had once told Castle he would have no idea what sex with her would be like, but she found that she too had no idea what it had felt like to be with a man as attentive as he was, who so completely saw to it her needs were met, in and out of the bedroom.

They laid there in bed, eyes locked upon one another warm and happy, safe in their bubble..

"So much better than a handshake." They both whispered in unison, before curling up in each other's arms and falling asleep.

**Author's Note** No, I don't usually write smut, it generally isn't my thing. For those who like smut, I'll say "don't get used to it" for those who don't I will say, "Don't worry, it doesn't happen often."