Beckett felt the warmth of the sun, which was streaming through the bedroom curtains, on her face and she knew that everything was going to be alright just like Castle had said: they had made it to morning. She felt a huge sense of contentment and relief. It was a new day, a wonderful day, and she'd never before been so glad to see sunshine.

Her gaze moved from the curtains above, to Castle's face so close to hers. Its features were somehow softer as he slept. Nevertheless, she thought it funny that even in his sleep he wore that characteristic expression of amusement: something in between playfulness and self satisfaction, as if he was enjoying the thought of something. Perhaps he was having an enjoyable dream. What on earth did Castle dream about she wondered? It had to have something to do with women!

For a few rare moments she was able to watch his face as he slept until her neck began to ache and she returned her head to its original resting place on Castle's chest. Castle's chest! What was she doing? She should have got out of the bed the moment she woke up for goodness sake, they were work colleagues! Never mind about that, this was Castle! She never slept in the same bed as him, she never rested her head on his chest, she never lay with him wearing little more than a shirt (his shirt for that matter!) and she sure as hell never wrapped her limbs around him so clearly and eagerly accepting his physical contact!

Still, there had been mitigating circumstances last night, and this morning, well, he was still asleep and she was so comfortable there, so exhausted after the trauma of the night before. If she moved now she would wake him and then there would be awkwardness forcing her to get out of the bed. Okay, so in her sleep she had clearly manoeuvred herself into rather a compromising position, she thought, glancing down at her leg wrapped over him and all too aware of the way that his shirt had ridden up her body, but she would move as soon as he woke and rest until then.

Just the slight movement of her head must have disturbed his sleep and for a minute, when he began to move, she thought that she wasn't going to get her few minutes of rest after all. However, Castle must have been in quite a deep sleep still because he simply moaned softly, turned his head on the pillow and moved one hand to her shoulder. She lay tensely for a moment, wondering if he was going to wake up fully but it soon became clear that he wasn't and so she relaxed against him again. Shortly afterwards she suddenly became aware of a faint ticking sound in her ear and her eyes flicked sideways to where he had moved his hand to see that the noise was coming from his wristwatch. It caught the sun and glinted at her: a chunky, silver, Cartier watch, probably worth a fortune. It was a stark reminder of the kind of man she was in bed with, a rich playboy novelist! That thought should have put her off. It should have yes… but not that morning because after the night before she couldn't help but feel closer to Castle and her instincts told her that he wasn't scheming, he had no ulterior motives to the things he did. He had been really kind to her last night and he didn't have to, he could have taken advantage of her weaknesses. She had been truly terrified and distraught but he had come through for her in every way. In fact, as she thought more about that something else occurred to her which, she was surprised to find, brought tears to her eyes: he'd always been there for her, even before they had ever met. His books had been a source of comfort to her when she'd needed comforting most. His words had reached out to her, his imagination, thoughts and visions had transmitted from him to her, carrying her away into another world which had taken the focus off her own troubled one. If someone had told her at that time in her life that at some point in her future she would have met, worked with and found herself in bed with the author himself, she'd have told them they were crazy! But there she was, in his luxury beach house, in his arms.

She slid her arm from his chest, placed it around his middle and nestled closer to him. He murmured in his sleep and moved his hand from her shoulder to slip it down slightly onto the top of her arm underneath the material of the shirt. She lay there feeling quite risqué with one shoulder exposed as he began to trace circles on the bare skin of her arm with his fingertips. Was he awake? She glanced up at him but he didn't seem to be; he was wearing the same amused expression that he'd been wearing since she'd woken up. His fingers continued to run patterns softly, teasingly over her arm and she began to tingle. Suddenly she was painfully aware of the fact that she had dispensed with her bra the night before when she had pulled on his shirt and now that her body was reacting to the movement of his fingers on her skin she felt even more risqué. It was a good job he was asleep because her chest was touching his with only the thin material of the shirt between them. Would that hide her arousal if he were to wake up suddenly? She wondered how she would feel if it didn't and he knew, he would surely try to seduce her further. She hoped so…no wait a minute, she didn't! What was she thinking? Well, okay so if he didn't then it would mean that she was not very desirable, that's not good! Okay so she did wish he would try to seduce her further. Oh boy, this thought process was confusing her!

Good Lord, none of this was going to happen anyway because she was going to move just as soon as he woke up! She contented herself with that thought and relaxed against him again. Then another thought popped into her head. What if he did try to seduce her and she didn't move? What if she didn't do anything at all to stop him? It was ridiculous of course because that would never happen, she would never allow it to, but what if… He'd start by unbuttoning the shirt very slowly, waiting to see if she would react or tell him to stop but she wouldn't. He'd have that look on his face of pure wickedness as he peeled away the shirt to expose her upper body to his greedy eyes. God, she really shouldn't be thinking of this! Then his hands would run all the way down her body, between her legs and…damn it, she wanted him to wake up and run his hands all over her naked body! No, no, of course she didn't…oh yes she damn well did! She groaned and wriggled against him in frustration, trying to find a position in which her treacherously aroused body would calm down!

"Hmmm," he moaned, opening one eye, "Keep doing that, it's very …stimulating," he grinned.

She froze guiltily and went cold with shock. It was silly really, he couldn't have read her mind for goodness sake. Still, she daren't look up at him for she was sure he'd be able to read something from the guilty look on her face.

"I was just becoming restless and thinking of getting up actually," she said as casually as she could manage.

"Hmm, restless," he echoed, "I noticed."

She could hear the amusement in his voice.

"The thing is," he went on, "I'm pretty 'restless' in the morning too and since I woke up to find you in bed with me I'm… well…exceptionally 'restless' this morning!"

Hmm, he seems to have misunderstood the meaning of the word 'restless.' She looked up at him, feigning confusion.

He whispered his explanation to her. "I've got a problem here that I'm guessing Mr Floppy over there never gets," he grinned.

Her eyes widened and she coughed awkwardly. "Yes, well, I think we should get up now."

She went to move away from him but he stopped her by scooping an arm around her middle and pulling her back to him.

"C'mon, we're both adults here and I'm certain you've experienced this before. Let's relax a few minutes more before we get up eh," he coaxed. She looked uncertain. "Just don't wriggle so much," he teased. "And I'll try not to turn you on too much either," he added cheekily.

"Don't worry," she answered primly, "there's no chance of that happening."

He cocked an eyebrow and studied her closely for a moment, making her feel slightly nervous. "Really? Well you're looking terribly flushed and flustered this morning Kate. I wonder why that is?"

She frowned. "It's hot," she replied.

"Hmm," he didn't seem at all convinced. "And I just know," he emphasised, "that when you do that, you're having the naughtiest of thoughts," he said, touching her bottom lip where she had been biting it.

Ooops, she was on shaky ground; she had to at least even things out. She put a hand on his chest and pushed him back.

"Sorry, I seem to have forgotten the part in the story when the big brown bear got into bed with, and tried to seduce, the princess. When did that part happen?" she challenged.

"Ah, that's a slightly different story: the X rated version!" he grinned, letting out a big bear growl as he slipped both of his hands up her naked back to hold her whilst sliding down the bed and kissing his way down the front of the shirt as he did so. She laughed loudly at his sudden onslaught, the way his lips were teasing her and the silly bear noises he was making. "Oooooh, I like this bit," he said, as his head disappeared further down the front of the shirt, past the first couple of buttons which he'd somehow managed to undo with his teeth. It was a little hard to see much down there but his lips had found a really nice soft fleshy part of her. Then with realisation of this, everything abruptly changed. She was so soft and he began to burn for her. He wanted more, needed more. God, his mind and body were suddenly on overdrive! He began to run his tongue frantically over her skin, desperate to find a spot so sensitive that he'd evoke a reaction in her to meet his own. He wanted her to cry out. He knew that she must be enjoying this or else she would have stopped him way before now.

Kate felt his tongue on the underside of her breast and suddenly her whole body flooded with heat. Oh this was dangerous, very dangerous!

"Castle," she said breathlessly but with a warning in her voice. He was far to engrossed to register that. "Castle," she said louder.

"Mmm?" he murmured, feathering his hands up and down her back as he pressed tiny kisses to her skin.

She inhaled deeply and bit down on her lip unable to stop her back from arching as he found yet another sensitive part of her.

"Oooh, you like that!" he observed, paying special attention to his fingers which were tracing her spine. She could feel him smiling against the skin that his lips had refused to move from.

He was having a field day, breaking down her resolve way too quickly. She had to call a halt to this.

"Castle!" she shouted sharply and loudly. He sat up suddenly in shock.

"What's up? What did I do?"

She might have shouted a bit too loudly. She sighed and struggled to a sitting position too, readjusting the collar of the shirt.

"Nothing…well, you were getting a bit…" She ran a hand through her hair; this was awkward! "… we work together remember," she finished as if that were explanation enough.

He took in a deep breath and slumped back against the bed. "Yeah, sorry." He looked sideways at her. "it's just that… well, I thought…that is, you were…" Damn it, why had he suddenly lost the power of speech? "Oh, never mind," he finished.

She suddenly regretted stopping him, or at least stopping him so harshly. But she'd tried to before and he wasn't listening and if she hadn't stopped him when she had…who knows how far things would have gone. She was confused about how she felt and certainly not ready for things to progress that quickly. Still, she wanted the playful, light hearted atmosphere between them back again.

"The X rated version is a bit too X rated…for the time being," she added bravely. Wow! What had she just inadvertently admitted to him and herself? But she had said it in a joking way; maybe he hadn't realised the implication or taken it seriously. The comment had however done the trick because he was suddenly smiling again and looking extremely pleased about something. "Anyway," she went on, "I really think we should get out of bed now," she said, pulling the quilt back to climb out but changing her mind when she felt him watching her and she remembered how his shirt didn't exactly cover all that it needed to! "On second thoughts," she said, covering herself with the quilt again and pushing him sideways out of the bed, "you get out first."

His feet hit the floor and he stumbled slightly before lunging for the bed and grabbing Mr Floppy in panic. He stood then in front of her, holding Mr Floppy in front of himself to retain his dignity.

"Would you give me some warning before you do something like that?" he laughed.

She slid down the bed and giggled. He looked so funny.

"Right, I'm gonna go get a shower. Then we can figure out what we're gonna do with today," he smiled.

"Okay," she responded, still feeling the laughter bubbling up inside her. It must have been infectious because he began to chuckle too. Then a mischievous mood hit her and, as he turned to go, she called out,

"Wait! You can't do that!"

He swung back around. That was the second time that morning she'd frightened the life out of him!

"What?" he asked.

She reached out towards him and to his surprise, whipped Mr Floppy out of his hands!

"Do that to Mr Floppy," she said, stroking the bunny's head. "Poor Mr Floppy, you'll scar him emotionally for life!"

For a second Castle simply stared at her open mouthed before suddenly realising that he was exposed and quickly covering himself with his hands.

His mouth twitched with a smile. "You're kiddin' right?"

She shook her head seriously, well trying her hardest not to laugh anyway. "No Castle. Mr Floppy is very sensitive about these things."

Castle began to laugh. "But Kate sweetheart, he's not real!"

Kate found her next comment very hard to get out without laughing. "How do you know?"

Castle threw his head back and laughed in earnest at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Because…" why was he attempting to answer that question? "Because…" he bent forward and laughed so much he had to hold his aching stomach. Then he laughed more because to hold his stomach he had to move his hands which were upholding his modesty! Kate was laughing too now, so much so that her eyes were filling with tears. "Because he's just filled with fluff!" he managed to get out.

Kate tried to look shocked but burst into hysterics to match his. "Cover your ears Mr Floppy." She laughed as she put her hands over the bunny's ears. "Do you realise…" she began, fighting for breath in between laughs, "do you realize that Mr Floppy has big issues with self esteem and you come along and do that," she pointed to where Castle had held Mr Floppy against himself. Both of them were now in fits of giggles.

"C'mon Kate," Castle managed to say, still in hysterics. He moved to hide the bottom part of his body behind the end of the bunk beds. "Hand over the bunny so I can get outta here!"

She shook her head. "Are you kiding? Don't worry Mr Floppy, you're safe with me," she said to the bunny, beginning to get the giggles yet again at the sight of him hiding at the end of the beds.

He grinned as he shook his head at her with disbelief. Then he turned and scanned the room for a solution to his dilema. He spotted a shelving unit behind him with a row of stuffed toy animals on it.

"Don't even think about it Mr!" Kate cut into his thoughts.

He laughed and threw up his hands in surrender. "Okay, you win," he said, making a run for the door and disappearing with a burst of laughter.

"Cover your eyes Mr Floppy," she shouted out as he passed.

She cuddled Mr Floppy and giggled to herself. Seconds later though the bedroom door opened again and he popped his head around the door.

"Oh and by the way, I've been awake for hours and your naughty thoughts were as obvious as my Mr Not So Floppy!"

She gasped with shock and picked up a pillow to throw at him. It hit the door as he disappeared once more behind it. She reached out for the second pillow as she slid down the bed, groaning and giggling with embarrassement whilst pulling the pillow over her face to hid it.