A/N: Happy 6th anniversary of Castle, Monday. Time sure does fly when you're having fun watching an AWESOME show ;)
They drop back to the bed in a sated, sweaty heap.
Trickles of make-up line her face and neck, remnants of their exuberance slipping from her forehead to trail her jawline. It makes him think about kissing her in the rain, the shower. Watching the water cascade over her skin.
It's intense. The beat of his heart in his ears. Her scent on his skin.
It makes no sense. She makes no sense.
He cocks his head, watches her blissful come down, still basking in the warmth of his own.
She's pink from head to toe. A bright flush lingering in her cheeks, down her throat, blooming across her chest. He spots the purpling bruise where he sucked her skin, stares at it, lost in memory.
"Are you ... always like this?" Her voice is a barely audible purr that makes him jump.
His eyes startle up from her breasts to find her grinning at him, eyes half lidded. Somehow still finding him amusing. He plays into it.
"Good in bed?"
Her laugh is more exhausted huff than anything else, the back of her hand colliding with his chest.
He catches her fingers when she doesn't move them, keeps them when she doesn't pull back.
He's right there with her. Body zinging with the aftermath of fantastic sex. Exhausted. Wide awake.
"Better than good." Kate bites her lip. Probably didn't mean for that to slip out but she's not wrong. Her cheeks darken and he's back to thinking about all the places he put his mouth.
"Yeah," he replies dreamily, thoughts tangled with her naked body. "That thing you did with your legs -"
"You liked that."
Question or statement, the answer's the same.
He nods, a little manic, "Yeah."
His eyes drift down and she laughs, asks again, "Are you always like this?"
"An empty, exhausted husk of a man cos an insatiable zombie woman used me for my body?"
She snorts. Their faces angled toward each other on the pillows, so quiet he can hear the rise of her chest rustle the sheets. Feel her breath on his face.
She has the most gorgeous eyes.
Rick shakes his head, suddenly serious, "No. This is a first for me."
In so many ways.
Her fingers flare out, barely touch his cheek, "Me too."
He doesn't understand what's happening between them. But he's glad she's right there with him. Weirdly, it helps.
Rick turns his face into her touch, lips to the pads of her fingers.
Her breath catches and he follows the sound, eyes wandering freely over her beautiful naked -
"Staring's still creepy," She elaborates with a smile, tugging a sheet up to hide the skin he's fascinated with.
He pouts, "I'm not creepy."
"Mmhmm, lil' bit," she yawns, stretches, smiles, "still wearing the makeup."
"So are you."
"Never taken a zombie to bed before?" She gnashes her teeth, Growls. The tease in her tone is electrifying.
He catches it, throws it back, "Explains all the moaning."
He get's lost in her eyes, she laughs, squeezes his fingers with memory and intent, "Not all of it." Their shared gaze holds for a long, drawn out moment, as if she's trying to figure him out, searching for clues.
Answers neither of them have yet.
He hopes it's yet. There's something between them. He'd like a chance to dive into it. Get to know her, properly.
Kate touches the plastic scar that still just about adheres to his cheek. Contemplative. "Works for you, Rick." She says eventually, smiling, her eyes falling closed only to flutter open again, lazily. "The look."
"Is that a subtle way of saying you'd like to see me dead?"
"You'd never be lifeless in my bed," she growls, a threat, a promise. Her eyes drift low to settle on a part of him that is very much alive.
He wriggles - doesn't help.
Kate grins up at him smugly, as if his reaction proves her point.
He shrugs.
She excites him. In more ways than one. Just talking with her is flaming his blood. She's inspiring and his mind is alive with questions. Things he wants to know, ask, whisper into her ear just to learn her reaction.
But right now she's still grinning, thinks she's winning, and he needs to do something about it.
Rick rolls at the same moment she does, both of them reaching for the other. He laughs, loving how in sync they are. It's kinda sweet. He can't help kissing her, chuckling at her drowsy response.
She hums, strokes his face, deepens the kiss until they're forced to break apart.
She's insatiable, extraordinary.
Kate takes a breath and holds him in place so she can come back in for another kiss, smiling all the while.
It's never been like this with anyone else.
He doesn't know what that means. Loses track when her hands drag through his hair, roughing at the gel plastered strands. She distracts him, fakes him out with a yawn only to hook her foot behind his knee and roll him.
Who is this woman? He needs to learn more about -
His book's on her nightstand...
"Kate?"
She laughs, wide awake, knowing exactly what he saw as she tumbled him over in her bed.
Kate knots their fingers by his head, dropping carefully into his lap with a groan that he catches and shares with her.
They're definitely doing it again.
Yes, the sex, but not just that. Not even the whole day. These last few hours with her. They need to do it again.
And his book's on her nightstand.
Their fingers graze, palms travel. His hands skim the narrow curve of her waist, spread and slide to her ribs, tugging her to him.
"Kateee." He draws out her name, enticing her down.
She comes easy. Their foreheads brushing.
"Are you -?"
He wants to ask, but doesn't. Somehow he thinks she already has the answer, knows the question.
She licks at his lower lip to shut him up, nips it, "You know what I am, Rick?" She rolls her hips, "A fan -" he gapes as her fingers slip between them, "- of the genre."