Authors Note: Castle has really frustrated me on this one... He would NOT let me in on his little secret...his little game. I'm sure he told my muse, but she giggled and refused to share. I still think they are holding out on me...
Castle stared at the empty space where she had been.
His heart hammered against his chest…his still exposed chest.
Swallowing again he closed his eyes and let his head fall against the door frame. Tremors continued to move through him as he struggled to regain control; both of his body and his emotions. By the time he pulled back and closed the door a tiny kernel of burning frustration had begun to build in the pit of his stomach.
It took a long and cold shower to regain some sanity… However, it had done nothing to mitigate the inclination to shake Katherine Beckett until her teeth rattled. Not that he believed he could really accomplish such a task without serious repercussions, but the sentiment was there.
One way or another she was going to have to answer for this. Biting his lip he sat down at his computer and…
He stared at it.
He had nothing.
His mind was still sparking from bursts of memory translated into currents streaking across nerve endings.
Great. How was he to actually plan and plot revenge or at least a coherent conversation with the woman, when his traitorous body continued to plague him?
….slowly, however, he started to smile.
Wickedly.
She was sitting at her desk typing case notes for the DA when the steaming coffee was set in front of her. Somehow she managed to freeze for only a moment before continuing to type. Unconsciously, however, she had started worrying her lower lip. If at all possible she wanted to pretend that she didn't remember anything of last night; anything of her outrageous behavior; anything of the way her body had tightened and clenched when she touched him. She wanted to pretend that there had been nothing more than an incredible headache; that she hadn't wakened twisted in the sheets and panting with need… ; that she hadn't taken far longer than it should have to forget his taste and let sleep claim her…
He didn't say anything…for once. Oddly, that irritated her more than if he had launched into a long winded string of innuendo, or even if he would have simply confronted her. She chewed harder on her lip, sucking it into her mouth…
Castle spotted her typing furiously at her desk as he entered the office and almost turned tail and ran back into the elevator. Ryan walked by and gave a cherry hello, which halted further contemplations of escape. Instead, he swallowed and made himself walk nonchalantly into the office where he set her morning coffee beside her.
He felt a flare of frustrated anger at her non-response; or rather…he felt a flare of frustrated anger before he watched her start to nibble at her lower lip and watched the small frown line appear between her brows.
AHA! She was flustered!
He was working on how to start…when he found himself watching her teeth and tongue work at her lip more and more. As she sucked it into her mouth he blinked, and was again transported to imagery from the night before; both the reality and his fantasy.
She finally could not take it any longer and tilted her head to glare at him. He was still standing and he had a glazed look on his face; he looked positively transfixed.
The air whooshed out of her and she just stared back at him.
It was only when a smirking Esposito walked by waggling his eyebrows at her that she shook herself out of her fugue state.
"Will you sit down! People are starting to stare", she hissed.
He blinked back at her for a moment, but he sat down.
He was watching her with speculative eyes now… So much for pretending intoxicated amnesia.
"There hasn't been a murder this morning Castle…why are you here?" She flinched slightly at the caustic tone she heard coming out of her mouth. Especially when she saw his eyes narrow at her. He had every legitimate reason to be angry with her and she had no standing in this argument whatsoever. It wasn't a position she was used to being in.
He leaned in close…very close. She could feel his warm breath against her ear and almost closed her eyes at the sensation it caused in her abdomen.
"We should talk" he said softly.
Husky rumble …it danced down her spine. She swallowed.
"About?"
She wanted to sound casual. Instead she heard a tremor in her voice. She gritted her teeth. He pushed further into her and if anyone was looking God only knew what they must be thinking.
Images of money exchanging hands and knowing smirks and grins flitted across her imagination.
"About a little piece of the next book. I'm stuck in this one spot and I think you could help me through the block."
Book?
She reared back and turned to face him. He was watching her closely…so closely that she wanted to squirm like a guilty suspect. "You want my help?"
He nodded and his face remained calm, but his eyes were boring into hers with way more intensity than she was ready to handle.
The sounds of the squad room had receded and she felt the place closing in around her.
Casually he leaned back in his chair and picked up his coffee again.
"Yeah, it's just this one part that seems to be frustrating me…"
"And you think I can help?" Her tone was half question, half exasperation. She knew he was playing at something. It could not be anything else. He owed her for last night.
…God help her, but she wanted to know what his price was going to be…
Eyes twinkling he faced her again. "Oh Katherine, you can help in so many ways".
[][][]
He thought he heard something in the bathroom, but wasn't certain… Given past events, he could be forgiven for being paranoid. He grabbed a frying pan from under the kitchen counter. He should really invest in a gun at some point.
Heart beating loudly in his ears he crept up to the door; it was pushed against the frame but not closed. Leaning in he tried to see through the small crack. He couldn't see anything, but steam curled against the door smelling of….
Cherry blossoms.
He froze.
Gingerly, he reached out and slowly pushed at the door…
Nikki propped her head against her arms at the tub's edge and smirked at him from across the room. Long hair pinned casually and messily up out of the water, which steamed and frothed with bubbles.
He couldn't bring himself to move. His body had tightened and his mouth had gone dry.
"You gonna stand there and hold that frying pan all night Rook, or are you going to come here."
Huh?
OH…frying pan, right! He stared at it for a moment then set it down on the counter top. When he looked back she hadn't moved. Her eyes were still smoldering at him.
Finding his legs he walked over to the tub, making a show of far more confidence than he felt. The bubbles covered everything except the silken skin of her back. He swallowed when she tipped her head back to look at him licking her lips.
Without warning she surged up and out of the tub, pressing herself against him. Her water clad skin soaking through his button down shirt.
His hands came up and around her. To steady her, his mind lied. To touch her heated skin… his body whispered. Hot and wet skin sluicing water down him…..
[][][]
Abruptly, Beckett surged up and out of her seat heading for the elevator then changing direction and heading to the bathroom instead. She'd left everything at her desk, so she couldn't flee the office. She'd left those pages on her desk….
It didn't occur to her that they could be read by the boys until she met her own dark and startled eyes in the mirror over the sink. She shook herself. No, Castle would not let that happen… she thought… Hoped?
Reaching out, Beckett ran the cold water and gratefully splashed it against her face. Just how in the hell was she going to get out of this? Was it wrong to pray for murder?
When she straightened again and looked in the mirror it was to meet his. She swallowed and suppressed the urge to groan. In annoyance or need?, her traitorous mind asked. Frustration by any name….
His eyes held amusement. "You didn't finish."
"I didn't fin…" she was sputtering. "You have got to be kidding me! You don't honestly think to publish that…that…well…" She waved her arm at him and let herself hide behind her anger. "It would ruin me!"
He stepped closer and she stopped speaking. "Ruin you? I doubt it. Nothing could ruin you. You are too good."
"Compliment all you want Castle. You want my opinion, my help? Don't…even…think…about putting that in your next book!"
He stepped closer yet again; enough that she backed up and hit the edge of the sink.
He put his hands on either side of her… "We never did finish our little game did we Kate?"
Her anger drained away and she found herself thinking; paybacks really are a bitch.