I really should be actually working when I'm at work - but where is the fun in that, I ask?

So this came of listening to too much Taylor Swift and thinking about the summer of Caskett :) Hope you enjoy!

A/N: honestly at this point...you know it all...


This is a State of Grace

This is the worthwhile fight

Love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right

These are the hands of fate

You're my Achilles heel

This is the golden age of something good and right and real

- "State of Grace" by Taylor Swift


"What was that about?" Kate Beckett's voice rings out through the stillness in the loft as Richard Castle walks out of his study scrubbing a hand haphazardly down his face.

"I'm late on my deadline for the final edits of Frozen Heat. And Gina just wanted to call and remind me that I am paid to write and not to sit around all summer…" He drops to the couch next to her with a heavy sigh.

"Isn't the book set for release in September?"

"Yeah."

"Castle, it's June!"

"I noticed that on the calendar this morning, actually."

"Smart ass…" His lips turn up just slightly at the edges as he turns his head toward her. She is ensconced in the corner of the couch her knees pulled up toward her chest with a book resting on her legs in front of her; arm flung over the back of the couch as she regards him, wisps of her hair falling down from her messy ponytail in golden brown tendrils around her face. "How have you not gotten any of your edits done?" He raises his eyebrows at her as his fingers rub lazy, chaotic patterns over her bare legs. She fights the smile playing on her lips and her eyes narrow.

"I have absolutely no idea, Detective. Maybe you could help me figure that out?" She huffs an exasperated sigh as Castle leans toward her letting his lips lightly graze her right knee as he lets his head fall against the back of the couch. By reflex, Kate reaches out her hand and slides her fingers softly through his hair as his eyes trail up her body and meet hers.

"I should go so you can get some work done." Her hand falls from his hair as she moves to stand up from the couch. He reaches for her hand before she can move further and pulls her back down onto the couch. "Castle…"

"Stay."

"You need to work and apparently I am only a distraction to you."

"Of the best kind…" She rolls her eyes and the smile breaks out over his face – his eyes squinting and the lines appear around the edges, a row of pure white teeth peek out from behind his lips and he leans further into her. His hand slips around to the nape of her neck as their lips connect and any thought of leaving this place, this moment, dissipate as his mouth moves over hers; his lips soft, inviting and sure. The slide of his tongue across the seam of her lips makes her gasp as her lips part and the heat of his mouth mingles with hers setting her veins on fire.

"Ok, I'll stay…" She breathes once she pulls her mouth from his. "The rules are as follows." His smile falls from his face and his mouth transforms into a pout as he eyes her.

"Rules?"

"Rules."

"Beckett…"

"Castle!"

"What am I five?"

"Well if it quacks like a duck…"

"Hey now."

"Rules are as follows." She holds up her index finger to his lips to stop the torrent of protests she can see forming in his brain about to spill forth from his lips. "You can either stay here on the couch or in your study and you will only stop to eat."

"I guess that sounds reasonable,"

"Not done…"

"Oy."

"You don't get to touch me until you finish." The instant widening of his eyes is so comical she cannot contain the laugh that erupts from her chest.

"WHAT?"

"You heard me."

"Beckett…" He whines as his body lists into hers on the couch. "That's just cruel and unusual punishment." She lifts her leg and pushes on his chest slightly with her foot increasing the space between their bodies on the couch.

"That's what you get for putting off your edits. Now, go! Nikki and Rook require your attention." He lands one last glare at her as he stands from the couch and moves toward his study closing the door a little bit harder than he probably should behind him.

Two hours later, she barely registers the door of the study opening and Castle's stilted movements as he walks gingerly toward the couch and sits on the end facing towards her perch in the corner section. She does not look at him as he begins to speak.

"What are you reading, anyways?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Come on, Beckett. Tell me!"

"Not on your life."

"It's 50 Shades of Gray isn't it?" He says with a gasp in his tone.

"If you even mention that sorry excuse for literature again I will hit you. And no…I'm not a fan of bad literary porn."

"Good literary porn?"

"Is there really such a thing?"

"Touché." His hand rests lightly on her leg and begins his not so subtle ministrations across her kneecap. A shiver runs rampant down her spine and she takes in a shaky breath, sheering up her resolve.

"Castle…" She says, amazed at how steady and clear her voice is.

"Hm…?" He breathes as he leans into her.

"Did you finish your edits?"

"Mostly…" He mumbles as his lips reach her neck and begin to leave a soft trail of wet kisses up the path from her shoulder to the back of her ear.

"Hm…" She sighs and places both of her hands softly on his chest putting just enough pressure that he abandons his exploration of her neck with his mouth and meets her eyes. "Then you mostly need to get off me and go work." She pushes hard on his pecks and he shifts backwards, his ass barely hitting the edge of the couch.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Seriously?"

"Castle." She admonishes him and he grunts as he stands from the couch and moves back to his study mumbling something she believes is along the lines of "evil woman" as he disappears behind the bookshelves that serve as the walls of his study. He quickly returns to the living room, his heavy footfalls resounding on the walls causing her gaze to shift from her book to him as he plops down unceremoniously on the couch, places his feet securely on the coffee table, sets the laptop on his legs and opens it.

He turns to her and gives her an impish grin before turning back to the computer to set about typing. She looks back to her book not truly reading the page in front of her (not that she needs to, she knows page 105 well enough anyways) and lets her legs stretch out in front of her. There is just enough space on the couch that her feet hit his upper thigh as she extends her legs and she hears his telltale gasp. She cannot contain the sly smile that plays at the edges of her mouth as he tries desperately to keep his focus on the screen in front of him.

Kate moves the arch of her right foot to where it rests lightly on the outside of his left thigh, then shifts her foot, from the ball to the arch and back again, over the muscles of his leg. He swallows hard, his Adam's apple moving quickly while the speed of his fingers moving across the keys of the keyboard begin to slow.

"Kate…" His voice comes out in a harsh hiss and she rolls her eyes and removes her foot from him placing it in the safe zone of the couch between them. He resumes his furious typing, but she can still see his concentration wavering. His fingers stop typing and she notices him re reading over the edits he just finished. As he reads, his left hand drops casually to lie across her right ankle, his thumb painting light circles on her skin she can tell the action is second nature now because he does not look as if he knows he is doing it.

"Castle…" She says softly and he looks to her. She raises her eyebrows and kicks her foot lightly dislodging his hand from her ankle.

"Geez, no touching, sorry!"

"Work!"

"You know I'm remembering this when you're off suspension…"

"Administrative Leave…leave not suspension…"

"Suspension and want to get all sexy with me and not work…payback is a bitch, Beckett!"

"Cause that's actually going to happen."

"Oh you just wait. It'll happen."

"You are awfully sure of yourself, Mr. Castle."

"Well if the way I made you scream last night was any indication…"

"Shut up!" She lands her foot on his thigh and kicks forward making him list slightly to the right on his edge of the couch. "Write!"

"Yes, mistress." Castle says with a waggle of his eyebrows and goes back to the keyboard in front of him. Kate forces her attention back into the book resting on her knees and finds she cannot concentrate on the story. The cadence of his fingers over the keys lulls her mind and she rests her arm over the back of the couch, letting her head fall to rest on her hand as she regards him through half closed eyes. Something about seeing him like this makes her fall even more in love with him. Not that she has told him – not yet – the words have not been uttered by either of them since that night in her apartment. Watching as he writes, lays out the ins and outs and twists of the love story between Nikki and Rook, eases her in a way she cannot even truly explain to herself. There is such intimacy in the action as they sit in his loft, on his couch, in the middle of a summer day and he writes. She finally drops her gaze and returns to the book – might as well read about Nikki and Rook if she is not getting any right now…or tonight if he does not hurry up.

Kate does not register the darkness in the room until the large hand reaches over her legs and pulls the book from under her nose. She startles and her head pops up, her eyes landing on Castle sitting in front of her. The laptop is closed and sits on the coffee table and he is holding Heat Wave looking at the cover and giving her an appraising look.

"What?" She asks.

"You were reading Heat Wave this whole time?"

"Yeah…."

"It took you six hours to read," He flips the book over in his hands, "200 pages? Really?"

"Yes." She says staring right into his eyes.

"You sit on a throne of lies, Beckett!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. And why aren't you working?"

"Because I'm finished."

"You are not! Wait…six hours? What time is it?"

"Almost seven. And YES I am finished. Final edits done and emailed straight to Gina." He closes the book he is still holding and places it on the coffee table next to his computer. "And you know what that means…?"

"What, pray tell, Mr. Castle?" She is shifting on the couch as they speak and soon she is lying on the couch with him hovering over her, her right leg slung over his hips pulling him closer to her. Castle sinks down onto his elbows and lets his lips fall next to her ear sending a rush of heat down her spine falling to rest between her legs.

"Research for the next one…"