A/N: Picks up from the end of chapter 15.

Kate disappeared sometime during the phone call with Alexis, migrating from the living room area to explore the rest of his cabin he'd assumed, but she's nowhere in sight now as Castle rises from the leather sofa, scans the kitchen and the dining area to no avail.

"Kate?"

He starts down the hallway just off the living room, poking his head into the empty office before continuing towards the cracked door of his bedroom at the end of the hall. Candlelight flickers through the slit in the door, dripping onto the wooden floor of the hall, and Castle eases his way into the bedroom, feels his breath catch harshly in his chest the moment his gaze lands on her.

"Kate."

She turns from his dresser, the lighter in her hand flicking off, but the few candles decorating his bedroom are enough to illuminate the space, to display the sight of her body in black silk.

"Your bathroom was stocked with candles," she nods to the assortment decorating the room by way of explanation, but he could care less about the lighting.

"That's - nice," he manages, gulping down a breath as she sets the lighter down, begins to stalk towards him, slow and unhurried, but the arousal is burning in her eyes like the flames that dance around the room, her body language sensual as she approaches. "But you're… wow."

"Interesting choice in adjectives," she muses, teasing him, like always, but she has an unfair advantage. He can't find the coherency to volley back a worthy quip when Kate Beckett is standing in front of him in nothing but a negligée and candlelight.

"You'll have to get used to one syllable answers whenever you're dressed like this," he manages, his jeans becoming uncomfortably tight as she finally reaches for him, gripping his hips in her slender fingers. Rick takes it as invitation to extend his own eager fingers, to coast his hands down the silk at her sides, down until he encounters the lace trim skirting her thighs. Her skin is smooth under his touch, complimentary to the silk clinging to her frame. "Did you pack this?"

Kate shakes her head, her bottom lip between her teeth as she sways into him, her body falling into a slow dance of seduction against his, and Castle's hands wandered upwards again, bracketing the expanding branches of her ribs beneath the thin fabric.

"When I went to the town center for groceries yesterday, I found a boutique," she explains, her voice a delicious contradiction of husky and soft as it caresses his ear, her eyes a clash of carnal lust and coy shyness. "I bought it on a whim."

"For - for this?" he gets out, grinding his teeth to suppress the groan trapped in his throat when her hands wander, one picking apart the buttons of his shirt, the other toying with the button of his jeans before slipping downwards, cupping.

"Hadn't really planned to wear it for anyone else, Castle," she hums, her eyes flicking to his mouth as her fingers squeeze, and he jerks, hips rising for her while his hands clutch at her waist.

"Better not," he growls, feeling her hands travel up his bared chest to twine at the back of his neck, drawing him down to meet the press of her lips. Kate's mouth opens for him the moment he touches her, wet, hot, and inviting, and he slicks his tongue inside, relishes in the feral moan he draws from her. "Mine, Kate. You're already mine."

Her lips part on a gasp when his hands drift down the length of her spine, curving over her backside and finding the hem of the lingerie once more, but her knee hooks at his thigh before he can draw the heated silk over her head, her breasts crushing hard against his chest as she elevates on her toes to lift into his kiss. He ends up against the doorframe with her writhing in his arms, her hips rocking and her heart beating rapid enough to feel against his own sternum, to match the frantic rhythm of his pulse.

But the press of her body is too much, too much for him to handle without having her. Castle closes his hands around the taut muscles of her thighs, hoists her up without warning and holds the familiar weight of her in his arms, kicks the still open door shut with his foot before walking her the few extra feet to his bed.

Kate retreats in her assault of the sensitive skin beneath his jaw to grin down at him, her hands trailing up from his neck to curl at his ears, still determined, still hungry with arousal, but tender. His first time with her, the night before in her bed, had been amazing, but he already has a feeling this time will be even better. This time he plans to chant his love in her ear, to make her come undone in every possible way, make sure she remembers exactly what she's been swimming for.

Castle dips a knee into the edge of the mattress, lowering Kate onto the unmade sheets and following when she drags him down on top of her, but not before he snags the hem of the negligee. Her spine arches for him, allowing him to peel the silk from her frame until he can slide it over her head, watch it pool on the floor beside the bed. He doesn't know when she managed to unbutton his pants, but her toes are already curling at the waistband while her fingers shove his shirt from his shoulders.

"Castle," she mumbles, impatient, and he kicks off his jeans, but doesn't give her what she wants. He doesn't crawl over her and descend into the welcoming cradle of her body, he travels lower, dusting his lips down the column of her throat and dipping his tongue into the cove created by a collarbone, tasting the sweat beginning to pool and glisten there. Her hand automatically glides into his hair while he lingers on her bullet scar, licking at the uneven skin and hearing her whimper in response, her fingers tightening against his skull, but not tugging him away, not trying to direct or guide him, just holding on.

She jolts when he nips the underside of her breast, releases a strangled breath when his tongue teases the circle of her navel, chokes his name when he suckles at the flat expanse of her stomach, the hollows of her hipbones, before finally he dips his head between her legs, dusts his lips over her trembling thigh muscles, and places his mouth on her.

"Fuck," she gasps, her nails momentarily piercing his scalp, her hips bucking into the slow stroke of his tongue.

Her legs clamp at his shoulders, taut muscles flexing against his arms, and Castle abandons her hips for a moment, glides his palms up her outer thighs until he encounters the backs of her knees. Kate whines, still writhing, and he quickly eases her legs over his shoulders, one at a time, briefly leaving the core of her to nip at her inner thighs, to feel her body jerk and watch her spine arc from the mattress, to experience the merciless dig of her heels into their well-established place at his shoulder blades.

"Castle," she moans, her abdominal muscles quivering when he coasts his mouth there. "Don't-" He grins, his lips barely touching her when she practically keens at the hot exhale of his breath between her legs. "Oh, don't tease."

He presses the flat of his tongue to her in response, arousal coursing fresh and hot through his veins at the sight of her – white knuckled hands tangling in the pillowcase at her head, her head tilted back and her mouth falling open in soundless ecstasy, the taut peaks of her breasts rising and falling with the heave of her chest.

It's a lovely view.

The legs hooked at his shoulder curl, the toned muscles of her calves flexing against his skin, trying to draw him in closer. He doesn't resist, grazing his teeth over the needy, swollen flesh, delving his tongue inside, deep and deliberate, and memorizing the taste of her filling his mouth. And he knows she's close, her entire frame beginning to tremble, fuck, more, and a symphony of please please please echoing through the room, and god, making Kate Beckett come will forever be his favorite sound.

Castle releases his grip on her hips to trail his hands up her sides, over the quivering branches of her heaving rib bones, up to the swells of her breasts. She chokes on a sob at the spread of his hands, the pinch and twist of his fingers, and arches violently from the bed when he sucks her clit into his mouth, swirling his tongue over the sensitive bundle of her nerves.

The response of her body, her release so raw and uninhibited, causes his blood to simmer and boil, yet leaves him breathless at the same time, his eyes hungry but riveted as he watches her fall limp against the mattress, straining to catch her breath and shuddering through the aftershocks.

His tongue slicks through her folds once more, just to earn one last jerk of her body, the strength of her legs around his neck, and then he shifts, easing her long limbs from his shoulders, peppering kisses to her rippling muscles, to the bones of her knees and her ankles, before crawling back up to rest beside her.

Her skin is flushed, pink and glistening with sweat, and Castle dusts his lips to her shoulder, revels in the lazy smile that spreads slow across her mouth.

"You're beautiful."

Kate huffs, lifting the arm thrown over her eyes to reach for him, fingers trailing up his jaw to cup his ear, her short nails tracing the cartilage. "You're not so bad yourself. Now take your boxers off."

His brow quirks at her in response. He's already painfully hard after watching her shatter beneath the work of his mouth, but the low, aroused tone of her voice only adds to the throbbing pulse between his legs, the fire of his skin as her hand descends down his abdomen, fingertips light and fluttering along the waistband of his boxers.

Castle reaches down to stay her hand, to do as she asked and remove the only barrier left between them, but her eyes are flashing with determination, so dark and in command, he doesn't dare try to stop her when she slips her hand beneath the elastic waistband, trailing and teasing the solid length of him before curving her palm around him, circling her thumb at the tip.

His eyes slam shut for a moment, the friction of her hand almost too much, almost unbearable, but before he can force his eyes open again, her fingers are at his hipbones, his boxers are sliding down his legs, and Kate is straddling his thighs. The warm skin of her inner thighs kisses his rigid quad muscles, his body straining for her, but her eyes are dancing when they meet his again, her pupils dilated with a halo of gold encircling them, her lips curling playfully as she bends forward, plants a wet, open mouthed kiss at his belly button.

He glides a hand into her hair, tangles a loose fist in the waves, and groans her name, but she only hums in response, sucks at his contracting abdominal muscles and tortures him with hot exhales along his skin.

"Kate, fuck-" His hips jerk at the grind of her into his lap, the spill of her arousal between them, but she catches his hands before they can grip her, pins him to the bed with the press of her palms.

"When we do this at my place," she husks, pausing to stroke at his sternum with her tongue, smirking at the groan he can't hold back, and shifting forward to dust her lips at his ear. "We'll have to try it with my handcuffs."

Kate Beckett is the only woman he's ever met who could make him come from words alone.

"I'll hold you to that," he pants, hardly able to think past the hot touch of her stomach to his, the heat that radiates from her bare flesh, penetrating his skin like flames that spread like wildfire out of control.

"Other way around," she hums, rolling her hips, coating his erection with her own arousal, tickling the skin of his neck with the tips of her hair, damn near sensory overload. "Don't pass out on me, Castle."

His hips buck in retaliation at that, a smug grin curling at his mouth when she gasps, her body stuttering in its rhythm. But oh – fuck – his grin quickly falls away as her hand reclaims him, touching him with light caresses, surprising him with firm squeezes that steal his breath.

"I need you," he gets out, clenching his fingers around the slender digits trapping his. "Need you, Kate, need-"

He isn't sure whose moan fills his ears as she lifts on her knees, lowers to sink down onto him, taking him deep inside the hot, wet channel of her body, gripping him so tightly, so good, oh so good.

And then she moves, bracing her hands on his chest, the forward shift sending him settling deeper inside her before she rises, sinks back down with a wicked little twist of her hips that has him thrusting sharp and fast. Kate hisses, her hands returning to clench around his, nails piercing his knuckles and grinding the bones together while she attempts to regain the control, rocking forward, grinding down, and no way is he going to last if she rides him like this for much longer.

He searches for traction in the sheets and digs his heels into the mattress, meets the sink and clutch of her inner walls around him with a hard thrust that has her collapsing forward on a moan, the support of their hands the only leverage keeping her upright. She doesn't try to sit back up, though, bowing over him instead, rolling her lower body tight and hard against his.

"You're so good." He allows the breath of praise to slip out on a groan as her walls narrow and clamp around him. "Perfect, you're - you-"

"Stop talking," she gasps, finally releasing his hands to steady herself with a hand at his head and placing the other at his neck, her palm soft and so warm against the thunder of his pulse beneath his jaw. "I don't want to talk."

He hums his agreement when her mouth fuses with his, bands an arm at her back and splays a hand between the wings of her shoulder blades as she moves above him. The cadence of his thrusts picks up and her knees bruise at his hips, her lips breaking free of his for air.

"Yes, yes, just like that," she encourages, voice so raw and fragile, ready to fly apart with her, and Rick uses his free hand to seize the jut of her hipbone, dragging her body down to meet his harder, to dance closer to the edge with him.

Her body grips him tighter, her moans broken and breathless against his parted lips, moving to smear wet and hot against his jaw, staining his skin with whimpers. He almost wishes they never had to stop, wishes he could stay like this forever with the sounds of her in his ear and the crush of her body against his, his entire world narrowed down to her.

"Don't stop," she husks, begs, her body beginning to tremble, clenching around him so hard frissons of pleasure spill out from where they're joined, sparking through every inch of his body.

One last plunge of him so deep inside her and the tempo of her hips loses rhythm, her entire body seizing atop him, her orgasm blossoming with a slow burn that spreads, his own release unfurling like liquid fire through his veins that bathes him in nothing but the pleasant searing for a few long moments.

Aftershocks ripple through his body as he floats back down, the arrhythmia of Kate's breath quick and cool on the damp skin of his neck, tethering him to consciousness. Her legs flex at his sides, shifting to tangle with his and skim his calves with her cold toes. The rest of her body is loose, sated and melting against him, and after a few minutes, he thinks she's fallen asleep atop him.

"Mm, love you, Castle," she sighs when he coasts a hand down her spine, her voice so full of sleep and sex, and he eases them to their sides, cradles her liquefied form to his chest as she nuzzles in close.

He brushes a kiss to the top of her head, combs his fingers through her hair as her breathing steadies, her body falling limp. "Love you too, Kate."