Like I promised, here is the second chapter in record time. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. If I did, I would have my hands on all of the scripts and know everything that was going to be in the next three episodes.

Castle's POV

"Kiss her!" Lanie's exuberant command caught Rick Castle by surprise. He knew the M.E. had wanted something to happen between himself and his muse, work partner and best friend, Detective Kate Beckett, for months, maybe longer. But the woman was never quite this blunt about it, at least not with him. He looked over at Kate (he may call her Beckett most of the time, but she'd been Kate in his thoughts for a long time now) and saw that she was every bit as surprised as he was.

"Dude, you guys are under the mistletoe," Ryan explained.

Both writer and detective looked up and saw that the other man spoke the truth. The green plant hung from the ceiling directly above their heads. Castle gulped, uncertain what he should do. He knew that the crowd that was gathered for the Christmas in July party he was throwing at The Old Haunt wouldn't let matters drop until he kissed Kate. But he also knew that would be the last thing she would want him to do, especially in front of a crowd of witnesses. They had kissed once before (well, twice if he wanted to get technical about it) but that had been a ruse to buy time to save Ryan and Esposito.

Castle looked over again at Kate and was startled to see a flash of vulnerability in her gaze before a look of teasing and challenge replaced it.

"Well, Castle, what are you waiting for?" she teased him in a slightly sultry tone.

He couldn't do it. The longing to taste her lips again was strong as it had been since he'd kissed her all those months ago. But the glimpse of vulnerability, which he was positive was what she truly felt, made such an action impossible. He would feel like he was taking advantage of the situation, taking advantage of her, and that was something he couldn't stomach doing.

So he kissed her on the cheek. The groans from the crowd barely registered in his ears. He had done the right thing by the woman he loved, and that was what really mattered.

The sound of the car door slamming jolted Castle from his reverie. He quickly got out of the detective's car and caught up to her in a few long strides.

Kate didn't turn her head and acknowledge him, as she usually would have. She'd been acting strangely all evening. She hadn't looked at him after the mistletoe incident, just merely walked away. And she'd stayed away from him for the rest of the party. He had been expecting some type of teasing remark about him being chicken, but she hadn't said anything.

He'd been surprised when she agreed to let him see her home, giving no other reaction than the usual roll of her eyes. He knew she could handle herself just fine-she was a cop, for crying out loud-but he wanted a chance to clear the air. It wasn't uncommon for her to be annoyed with him, but this went deeper than that. And this time he had no idea what was wrong.

It wasn't until they reached her apartment door and she opened it with twice as much force as necessary that he realized at least part of the problem.

"You're mad," he said.

Kate's denial was immediate. "I'm not mad."

Castle wasn't surprised that she would deny it, but the truth was so obvious that he wasn't going to let the matter drop. "Irate, angry, furious, livid-call it whatever you want, but you, Kate Beckett, are most definitely it."

"Castle..."

Her warning tone didn't stop him this time. He knew if he didn't deal with this now it would just make things a lot worse later. "Beckett, I know you," he said. The story was in the details, and in studying his muse Castle had picked up many details about Kate over the last couple years. Developing a friendship and work partnership had revealed even more to his ever inquisitive mind. "You are definitely bothered by something. And you know me." This was also true. Actually, she knew him better than he knew her, since Castle was more open and honest with what he was thinking than she was. Although he wasn't as forthcoming as he figured she thought he was. Otherwise he would have told her how he felt about her a long time ago. "You know I'm not going to let it go until I know what's bothering you."

The words that came out of her mouth were the last he'd expected. "You had the perfect opportunity, and you didn't take it," she told him.

Castle's mind worked at lightning speed to process what she'd said. She had been fine when she had arrived at the party. It wasn't until they were caught under the mistletoe...perfect opportunity...

"You're mad because I didn't kiss you?"

Why would she possibly be mad about such a thing? It didn't make sense. Not unless she'd wanted him to kiss her...

"You did kiss me," Kate reminded him. "On the cheek."

She seemed bothered by the fact. Castle would have thought she would have been relieved. Instead, she was mad about it? Maybe she really did want...

"It was mortifying," she said. "I mean you're Rick Castle, playboy extraordinaire. After years of flirting, you give me the type of kiss you would give Alexis! You know everyone was expecting..."

Castle had heard enough. She wanted the playboy persona? He could give her that. Well, sort of. There was no way he could ever treat Kate Beckett like a one-night stand, or like a mere fling.

But this time, he decided as he gathered her into his arms, he wasn't going to just kiss her on the cheek. He was going to kiss her the way he had wanted to for months, since that night that he had realized that his imagination hadn't gotten anywhere near the reality of kissing the extraordinary KB.

There was an instant jolt that shot through him the moment their lips met. It was gentle but passionate and his heart rejoiced when she consented to his deepening the kiss after a few brief moments. He could hardly believe he had the lovely detective in his arms. He'd been half expecting that after she realized what his intent was she would have yanked herself from his hold. He couldn't resist the temptation to lightly place little nibbles on her bottom lip. The way that she melted against him with a needy moan hit him equally in heart and body. He instinctively tightened his hold and gently pressed her back against the door, lightly running his fingers up and down her back, deepening the kiss even more. Then the kiss changed, like her regular self-restraint had fled, and she started kissing him back. It wasn't until Castle knew that if he didn't cool things down his tenuous control might snap that he slowly released her lips. Even though it had been a long and thorough kiss, it was still hard for him to break away, and he planted multiple little kisses on her luscious lips before finally forcing himself to pull back.

"That was..." Castle breathed.

"Amazing," Kate finished his thought.

"Yeah," he agreed.

Wait. She had said amazing. That was exactly what he had said after that second undercover kiss. He had covered his blunder, saying that he was referring to the way she had knocked the guard out. But he had seen her take down many other suspects in ways much more impressive than just hitting them over the head with her gun. What had been amazing had most definitely been the kiss.

Suddenly rapid-fire thoughts filled his mind.

She hadn't pulled away.

She had actually melted against him, clung to him, even.

She had actually let out a moan.

She had kissed him back.

She had said the kiss was amazing.

And there was no one in the room pressuring her to kiss him. There was no guard to fool. And yet she kissed him. Passionately.

"Castle?" Kate's tone was uncertain, a rarity for her when speaking to him.

"You want me," Castle realized aloud. He had wondered, after the undercover kiss, if maybe she was attracted to him. But the kisses could be explained away as necessary to get past the guard. So although he had wondered, he had never really known for sure.

"You have no idea," she said in the same teasing way she had after the first case, when he had told her things could be great between them.

That was when it clicked in Castle's head. His eyes widened in shock at the realization. She had done a great job hiding it. He may not have even figured it out if it hadn't been for that moment of vulnerability he had seen in her eyes back at the party.

Her teasing didn't even distract him, as it usually did. And he realized that's what she had been trying to do, distract him. It made him wonder how many other times when she had teased him she had been attempting to hide what she was really thinking and feeling.

This time he wasn't going to let her hide.

"That wasn't just an undercover kiss," he said, no doubt in his mind about the truth of the statement.

The confusion in Kate's eyes quickly gave way to the vulnerable one. Castle hated being the one that put it there, but now that he knew what they were dealing with, he couldn't give up on getting Kate to be open and honest with him. This time he wasn't going to back down.

The third and last chapter will be up in just a second. Aren't I nice? :)