Castle scoots closer to her on the couch, his gaze dropping from her eyes to her lips.
"I would hate to disappoint," he whispers, inching even closer.
"Then don't," Kate breathes, closing the rest of the gap between them and pressing her lips against his.
He hadn't been expecting her to make the first move, so the action catches him off guard. But as she slides her tongue along his upper lip insistently, he finally manages to get it together and opens his mouth to her. She moans as she melds her body into his side, her tongue dipping into his mouth and her hands gripping the sides of his head. Her fingers bite into his scalp and her teeth nip at his bottom lip. He can taste the wine on her tongue and he wants more of it, more of her.
His mouth captures hers fully, a soft moan catching in his throat. He's practically aching with the way her body is sliding against his. Perhaps this is all happening too fast, but with the way she's moving on him, against him, he really doesn't care. Kate Beckett wants him, and he'll be damned if he doesn't admit he wants her just as bad.
Castle slides his hand up her back, beneath the hem of her shirt. His palm flattens against her spine, skimming up the hot expanse of her skin and dragging her shirt up a few inches higher. Her chest presses in tighter and closer to his and he thinks for sure that he's going to lose it.
Kate Beckett kisses like she has no control.
Of course at this point, he can't really blame her. He's lost all control as well. Castle reaches up with one hand, and yanks out the hair tie holding her short hair back. He tangles his fingers through the now loose strands, pulling her head closer to him so he can change the power of the kiss. She makes that little whimpering noise again when he takes control and he swears that noise alone will do him in.
Kate shifts her weight on the couch, draping one leg over his and rotating her hips until she's practically straddling his thigh. He isn't going to survive this. She's going to kill him right here on this couch.
His mouth trails away from hers, marking a path down her neck. He tugs at the neckline of her shirt, thankful for the deep vee of it as he kisses along her clavicle. He wants this off of her. He wants all of it off of her. He wants -
"Castle."
The breathy way she says his name has him groaning. Please let her say it like that for the rest of his life. Let her say it like that as he -
"Castle."
Reluctantly, he takes his mouth off of her and meets her gaze. He's almost worried about what he'll see swimming in her eyes, but he's met with only her arousal.
"Are you...staying?" Kate asks hesitantly.
He grins at that, nodding. "I'm here to protect you, after all."
She smirks at that, lacing her hands behind his neck. "What, with your vast arsenal of rapier wit?"
"There is a madman gunning for you because of me. I am not going to leave you alone."
"And that's the only reason that you're staying?" she hums, her fingers curling around the tuft of hair at the nape of his neck.
"Well no," he starts, realizing his hand is still halfway up her shirt, and trying to decide if now would be a good time to reach for her bra clasp. "I definitely think there might be some ulterior motives involved."
Her smirk blossoms into a smile, and he swears that smile alone could melt him.
"Well then, Mr. NYwriter, I think we should take this into the bedroom."
"Hmm so is Coffeelover19 what you want me to call you when we're in bed?" he asks as she climbs off of him.
"Yeah I'm going to go with no on that one."
He laughs, following her back into her bedroom. Castle pauses in her doorway, watching her move her pile of laundry off her bed.
"Do you think they set us up?" he asks.
"Who? The FBI?"
He shakes his head, walking toward her. "Lanie and my set of redheads."
Kate laughs at that, meeting him at the foot of her bed, and placing her hands against his chest. "Either way, we should probably thank them. Intentionally or not, they gave us the push we needed to get here."
"And where exactly is here?" Castle asks, teasingly.
"Well how about you take off your pants and I'll show you?"
So much for her killing him on the couch. Her in this bed is what's going to kill him. And what a way to go.
When she wakes up the next morning, she's alone in bed. Panic grips at her chest, and the worry that they took things too fast last night comes crawling back. But then she catches the aroma of coffee and something else she can't quite place wafting into her room. He's still here. And he's cooking?
Kate spies his T-shirt on the floor and slips it on over her head, enjoying far too much the way it surrounds her with the scent of him. As she pads out into the kitchen, she can't help but wonder what he's wearing if she has his shirt. She finds him standing over her stove, clad only in his boxers.
"You're making pancakes?" she asks, reaching for the cup of coffee he hands her.
"I was hoping for bacon and eggs, but your eggs are expired and your bacon has something furry on it."
"Yeah, well, I mostly order in," she says, taking a sip of her coffee. "I'd also like to add that you're doing all this cooking half naked."
"I figured that from the Styrofoam temple you've got going on in that refrigerator," Castle starts, flipping the pancakes over. "And why yes, yes I am."
"And whose benefit is that for?" she smirks.
"All you, Beckett. All of this is just for you."
"How ever did I get so lucky?"
Castle huffs and chucks the dishrag at her, which she easily catches before it hits her coffee mug.
"Did you sleep okay?" she asks.
He hums, a smile spreading across his face. "I did. But I never pegged you for a cuddler."
She chucks the dishrag back at him at that and he starts laughing.
"Relax, Beckett. I think it's pretty adorable."
"I wasn't aiming for adorable," she mutters.
Castle slides the pancakes onto a plate with his spatula, flipping off the heat on the stove. He walks around to where she's seated at the table and drapes his arms over her shoulders.
"You are also incredibly sexy," he whispers into her ear.
She turns her head toward his, stealing a kiss and tasting the coffee on his tongue.
"I could get used to this service," Kate smirks. "Looks like you thought of everything."
Castle snaps his fingers. "Except the paper."
"Castle, we don't have time for the paper," she tells him as he heads for the front door. "We barely have time for these pancakes as it is. There's a body out there that I gotta find."
He opens the door and a dead body drops to the floor at his feet. "Ah! Looks like it found you."
She gives Castle back his shirt after they call the body into the precinct, and changes into clothes of her own. The last thing she needs right now is to see Shaw have her assumption proven right or have the boys give them shit for this. Although the latter is probably inevitable at this point.
By now the team has arrived and Shaw is examining the body while Ryan and Esposito take their statements.
"So you had just gotten up, right?" Ryan asks.
"Yeah. Castle just finished making breakfast and he went to the door –"
"What kind of breakfast?" Ryan asks, cutting her off.
Kate shoots him a look of confusion. "Uh, I'm sorry?"
"What kind of breakfast was he making?" he rephrases.
"Pancakes."
"Well, isn't that domestic?"
Shit, he couldn't really be on to them already, could he? It had literally just happened.
Kate rolls her eyes. "Anyway, the paper usually arrives at 4:00, and we were up at 7:00. So that means the killer had a three-hour window where he could have left the body there unnoticed."
"And exactly what time did you and Mr. Castle go to bed last night?"
Well they got in bed around midnight. But there wasn't much sleeping going on until around 3:00...
"I think we're done here," she tells him.
"I don't know," Esposito starts, heading their way with Castle right behind him. "You two had a sleepover, there are wine glasses on the table -"
"You made her pancakes," Ryan adds in.
"It's just breakfast," Castle tries to protest.
"Pancakes is not just breakfast. It's an edible way of saying, 'Thank you so much for last night,'" Esposito teases.
Kate makes the mistake of catching Castle's gaze at that moment, because she's blushing now and she knows it. What's worse is that she knows the boys know it too.
"Wait, hold up, did something actually happen last night?" Ryan asks.
Castle shakes his head. "There's no more going on between me and Beckett than there was yesterday."
Real subtle, Castle.
"So then if nothing's going on," Esposito starts. "What's with the hickey on Beckett's neck?"
"Curling iron," Kate answers a little too fast. "I burnt it with the curling iron."
"Interesting because I don't remember seeing it until now and your hair doesn't look all that curly to me right now either," Ryan says.
"Do you make a habit out of staring at my neck?" Kate asks.
"I hate to break up this meaningful interrogation here," Shaw starts. "But perhaps we could get back to our serial killer?"
Kate shoots them all dirty looks before heading over to the body with Shaw. The last thing she needed right now was to be embarrassed in front of this woman. Too little, too late.
Lanie's knowing grin when they get to the morgue tells Kate that Esposito has already talked to her. And because she's been well aware of their situation from the beginning, she knows her friend won't be buying their 'nothing happened' act.
"Hey. Heard you two were making pancakes when the body dropped," Lanie teases. "I take it you finally talked."
"Have you been conspiring with my mother and daughter?" Castle asks before Kate can get a word out.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lanie tells him.
"I knew it," he mutters under his breath.
"We're good, Lanie," Kate says. "Whatever little plan you had worked. So thank you and congratulations or whatever. You were right. Now tell us, were there more letters on the slugs?"
Lanie grins even wider. "I'm sorry, what was that? I was right?"
"Lanie, please."
She smiles at them again before turning back to the bullets. "B-U-R-"
"Burn," Kate surmises before the M.E. can even finish reading the letters. "Nikki will burn."
"Well that's chilling," Castle mutters, his hand instinctively reaching for the small of her back. "You're staying at my place tonight."
"Castle -"
"Kate, he knows where you live. And Nikki will burn? He's trying to set you on fire."
"Not if we catch him first," she says, returning his half embrace and not caring what all Lanie sees. She knows too much already.
"And you really think we can do that before your life goes up in flames?"
"We'll catch him, Castle. You're not going to get rid of me just yet."