"After that experience, if I ever have to be hitched to someone, it would be you." He says as they approach her desk, and they start getting ready to leave.

"Hitched?" She asks him as she raises an eyebrow and looks at him with a grin on her face.

"Hitched?" he acts like she heard him wrong. "No, I didn't say hitched, I said cuffed. Handcuffed. Not hitched, the colloquial or any other connotation or meaning." Kate smiles, watching him flounder as he helps her with her coat. She pulls her hair out from the collar of her coat.

"It's okay, Castle. I understood what you meant. And for what it's worth, if I ever have to spend another night handcuffed to someone again, I wouldn't mind if it was you, either." She looks at him and gives him a sly little smile, catching him off guard.

"Really?" He was totally surprised by what she had just admitted to.

"But next time, let's do it without the tiger." She looks at him and gives him a smoldering knowing smile. Her look letting him know that there will definitely be a next time.

"Next time?" He questions, though she is to far too really listen. He watches her walk confidently to the elevator and get in. Damn that woman he thinks to himself.

Her heart beats so fast she feels like it might burst right out of her chest. She saw the realization of what she had said cross his features, and the smile that graced his face seconds before the elevator doors closed. The stress of today has every nerve ending in her body on alert. Waking up next to him, being handcuffed to him and saying nothing about the adrenaline rush from the tiger has her emotions on edge.

She takes the elevator to the basement where she parked her bike, and puts on her helmet as she approaches it. Her mind on her words to Castle and she thinks about what he would do watching her mount and ride her Harley. She smiles and makes a quick decision. She pulls out her phone and sends a text. She replaces her coat with the leather coat that she stores in the seat of the Harley.

Have you left yet?

Nope, still here can't seem to make my feet work yet. He responds honestly.

Meet me out front for a minute? She smiles as she wonders what his reaction will be.

You want to get started on "Next time?" She rolls her eyes at his response, though it puts a smile on her face. If only he knew just how close she was to just that.

Forget it, I'll see you tomorrow. She doesn't mean it, but she knows he will rush downstairs now afraid that she will leave.

Be right there.

She pulls up just as he is exiting the station and starts looking around for him. She straddles the Harley and waits for a few seconds to see if he recognizes her. After a few seconds and as he is pulling his phone out to text her, she removes her helmet and shakes out her hair.

"You looking for me, Castle?" she says as he immediately stops what he is doing as his eyes rake over her body hungrily. She gives him a sexy look and waits for him to find his voice.

"You….the bike….handcuffs…could this day get any better?" he fumbles his words but his face is beaming like at kid with free reign at the toy store. He takes a step towards her.

"Well Castle, I was thinking. I keep a spare helmet in my locker and if you needed a ride home…." He was already running into the building before she had even finished the sentence. She laughs expecting either a text or call any second, considering she locked her locker.

I can't get in, it's locked! He texts her.

She types out the combination and sends it to him, knowing she has to change it again on Monday. Letting Castle know her combination would be a serious slip in judgment.

Minutes later he is back on the sidewalk holding a black helmet. He puts it on his head and she adjusts it for him, causing her hands to brush against his face numerous times. Her eyes can't help meeting his stare as she helped him tighten the strap.

"Come on Castle, get on."

For the second time today his hips are aligned perfectly against her tight backside. He instantly places his large hands on her thighs as he waits for her to balance the bike and kick the stand out. His hands burn their imprint through her already sensitive skin, making the coil deep in her belly twist unbearably and delicious warmth spread through her body. She feels the moistness seeping between her legs, dampening the scrappy lace thong she is wearing.

"Castle, " her voice sounding too high pitched and desperate, to her ears. "You might want to hold me around my waist, for better leverage."

She breathes out a huge sigh of relief as he slowly removes his hands from her tense legs. The sound doesn't go unnoticed. His warm hands find her waist and snake forward around her middle finally resting, splayed open across her stomach. Beckett stops her mind from thinking about his hands slipping gently down her body from where they are, as she starts the bike. The vibration of the bike under her, his hands on her body and his chest pressed tightly against her back, do nothing to quench the heat coursing violently through her veins. She pulls down her visor and steers the bike into traffic carefully.

Fifteen minutes later, she slows down as they approach Castle's loft. His hands slide down past her hips, to the top of her thighs again. Castle feels the muscles tense under her jeans, and instinctively squeezes her thigh. His fingers feel the shiver that suddenly wracks her body, and the barely audible moan that escapes her lips.

He runs his fingers low across her back as he dismounts the bike. She is still sitting on the bike looking forward, her hands white-knuckling the grips of the handlebar. Removing his helmet, Castle waits for her to say something. He removes the helmet and looks at her with a smile that melts her heart.

"You like the ride, Castle?" she asks him, already knowing the answer by the look on his face. He stares at her making her face flush.

"You can give me a ride anytime, Beckett." Her grip on the handlebars gets tighter and she stifles the moan trying to escape as the picture of her riding him flashes before her eyes. She feels his touch on her hand and looks up at him.

"Hey, you look a little tense why don't you come on up for a drink? Mother and Alexis are away until tomorrow night and I wouldn't mind the company." He says innocently enough.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Castle." She feels her control slipping. The heat between her legs has grown and she feels the wetness continue to seep between her legs as she bites her bottom lips.

His hand glides down her arm and then to his side in disappointment. "Come on, I'll even cook for you."

She loosens the death grip on her handlebars and removes her helmet. Shaking her hair out, Castle stares at her in with a child-like wonderment. He is taken back at her flushed face and the cascade of auburn hair falling over her face and shoulders. He is struck by how beautiful she is.

"Castle?" she says breaking the trance he is in.

He suddenly feels her eyes on him, and he has to stop himself from kissing her right there on the street. She has been right all along. The sight of her straddling a bike was much more than he could handle. He wants her and there was no question about it with the look he is shooting her way. She knows she shouldn't go upstairs, that they both wanted the same thing; and are playing with fire.

She goes to open her mouth, when Castle steps towards her and half whispers, half growls in her ear.

"Let me try and satisfy that appetite of yours, Kate." She feels his breath skirts her ear and her neck, causing her to shiver noticeably again and sigh.

She chooses her words carefully, to let him know that they are on the same page, because there is no denying that she wants him anymore.

"Take me upstairs, Castle." She says breathy and warm against him. She locks up the bike and they take the helmets with them into the building.

His free hand falls low on her back as they walk through the lobby to the elevator. The doors open almost immediately and they walk in. Castle wastes no time crowding her against the back wall. Pressing her body against the elevator wall with his. His hands burn a trail of a path molten fire through her body. Her body melts into his and she reaches up around his neck and brings his lips crashing down on hers.

She feels him hard against her center and her hips betray her and grind against him. The need to have him closer has her lifting a leg around his hip; his hands palm her breasts aggressively. They are lost in the moment, until the ding of the elevator announces their arrival at his floor. A blush rises into Kate's cheeks as they pull apart reluctantly.

"You're beautiful." He says as his fingers intertwine with hers, and he pulls her towards his loft.

"You're not so bad yourself, Castle." She whispers as they approach his doorway.

"Not the first time you've used those words." He says remembering their visit to California and the feelings that rose to the surface during that trip.

"No, its not. Only this time instead of dreaming of kissing you, I can actually do it. If you only knew how close we came in L.A, Castle." She doubts he ever had a clue about the many times she was about to reach out and fate intervened. They walk in and he takes their coats as she settles into his warm sofa. A few seconds later he joins her, sitting as close as he possibly could.

"I was scared that night, Castle. I wanted you so badly; my body betrayed me in every way. My mind insisted that I would only be a notch in your bedpost. That you would leave after you had finally gotten what you wanted. Even with that I came back out and was willing to give it a shot, but you were just closing your door as I opened mine. I went back to bed and sought relief from you in other ways. "

"Beckett, I didn't know. I knew you would never be a notch in my bedpost after the first year. It broke my heart to see you with other men." He hates admitting that he was so smitten with her for so long, but he truly knew he loved her. "I wanted you for my own, but I wasn't ever good enough. I was the friend, the sidekick, your partner, but nothing else. Everyone knew and still knows that it isn't about the books and it hasn't been for a while, it's about you."

She looks into his eyes and she feels like she is drowning in a sea of love that she sees there. Her hand reaches up and pushes the hair out of his eyes. She runs her fingers through it, and marvels at it's softness.

"It's Kate here, Castle. I am not a detective here, I am just me." She runs her fingers across his forehead and down to trace the angles of his jaw. She remembers when they first met and how she wanted to run her fingers over the four o'clock shadow he sometimes sported, so many times. He had such a bad boy image back then.

"That summer, was uh…so painful for me. I broke up with Demming that morning, and I was going to tell you that I would love to spend the time with you. I couldn't bear that you were going to leave, and I wasn't sure you were going to come back. I was trying to tell you when Gina showed up all smitten and happy, ready to collect you. "

"You looked happy and I had lost my chances because I waited to long. I consoled myself by throwing myself into the job even more, and telling myself that you would have just thought of it as a fling. Putting it mildly, Ryan and Esposito had an equally bad summer, having to put up with me. I met Josh at the end of the summer. He was a doctor, cute, smart and filled a need or a void. Truthfully, he didn't fill the void he made it more blatantly apparent. I missed you so much."

"Kate, I didn't know. I am so sorry. " He can't believe how incredibly stupid he had been. He had hurt the woman he loved because he needed to show her that he could still attract a good-looking woman. The biggest mistake he made was letting Gina back in his life. " I thought you would do anything to avoid me. I asked you to the Hamptons and the next thing I knew you were accepting Demmings invitation to go away. You didn't want me, you made it clear, and I couldn't stay and watch you fall in love with him. In the spur of the moment I made that trip from a weekend to the summer to not see you with him."

"I am sorry I hurt you too. It took Esposito telling me that you followed me around for more than the books, that you had enough research to write many Nikki Heat novels. He said that your plans probably never included seeing me with another man. He was right wasn't he?"

"Yes." Castle looks down and responds quietly. "I hurt you too. I jumped into something that was wrong, and I ran when I should have stayed. I didn't know you were planning on coming, and I should have."

Kate scoots closer to him and wraps her arms around his neck. She brings his face to her and their foreheads touch. She closes her eyes and takes in the feel of him so close to her.

"I always wondered what you would feel like up close. If your lips were as soft and delicious as I had imagined. If that spark we feel all the time would turn to something so much more powerful. You don't disappoint Castle. You are so much better than I imagined."

Their lips met in a searing kiss, as their bodies fell together like missing pieces of a puzzle.