Kate Beckett did not induldge in public displays of affection. Especially not with Castle. Especially not at the precinct.
Yet somehow, this had slipped her mind for a few seconds, and she had somehow managed to throw herself at Rick the minute he rounded the corner.
Her brain sort of skipped out the seconds between seeing him and colliding with him, so the next thing she knew, her arms were around his neck and his were crushing her closer to him, holding her against him, encircling her.
She took a deep breath; breathed him in, the scent that was spicy and clean and all his. Her pillows still smelled vaguely like him.
They pulled away from each other for a few seconds only to dive back in, swaying on the spot. She thought that it was quite possibly one of the best hugs she'd ever had. Castle was a good hugger; big enough to envelope her, to keep her warm and hold her together.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ryan and Esposito, standing awkwardly in the doorway, not sure whether to approach them or run for the hills. Beckett reluctantly untangled herself from Castle, whispering a soft, "I missed you." in his ear, and turned to the boys.
(Castle shoved both his hands into his pockets to resist the strong temptation to touch her again.)
Ryan smirked, raised an eyebrow.
"Finished snuggling yet?"
Beckett fixed him with a 'look'; Ryan moved behind Esposito as if to shield himself. Too happy to keep a straight face, she let a smile swim over her face and rolled her eyes.
"There'll be time for more of that later." she murmured, directing the statement more at her boyfriend - she still had her trepidations about using that word, but 'partner' didn't really cut it anymore - than at Ryan.
Esposito crinkled his nose.
"Ew. 'S good to have you back though, bro. We missed you. Uh, some more than others. Do you know how grumpy she gets when she has to get her own coffee?"
Castle attempted to stifle a grin, nudging his girlfriend - he thought she was warming to the use of 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' just a liiiiittle bit - with his elbow. She snaked her hand into his coat pocket to link her fingers with his. He circled his thumb across the base of her ring finger; let himself wonder.
"Any interesting cases?" he deflected, watching them watching him watching her.
"Guy who was quite literally stabbed in the back?"
"Oooh. With what?"
"A sword." Ryan supplied.
"How does one get a sword in New York?"
"Our vic collected them, apparently."
"Intriguing."
Ryan shuffled his feet, still seeming unsure as to whether they should leave or not.
Esposito rolled his eyes in a very Beckettish fashion. Castle turned to see Beckett watching them with a look in her eyes that made him want nothing more than to pin her to the desk and- oh. Oh, never mind. She crowded closer to him, pushing up on her heels to lean her head towards his.
"Uh, we have a few leads that maybe you should-"
Castle met her mouth with his, softly, lightly, his hand stroking gently over the small of her back.
"Follow up, and there's a guy who-"
She groaned softly, one of her hands cupping his cheek, fingers resting on the slight stubbble he hadn't had time to remove.
"You know what, I think we can manage it ourselves, you two go and... do what you do, y'know, we'll be-"
"Uh, doing things-"
"Not those things. Other things."
"So now we're gonna..."
"Go."
"Yes. Go."
Castle tilted his head for a better angle at the soft sweetness of her mouth before pulling back slowly. Savouring. One of her thumbs traced the lobe of his ear, and he decided that out of all the expressions he'd seen on her face, this one was his favorite. He couldn't even name it, it was just warmth, sunlight shining from every atom of her body.
"Wanna go do what we do now?"
"Why Richard, I thought you'd never ask." she mimicked his words from that oh-so-memorable night, looking up at him from under her eyelashes.
They came back to her apartment because it had felt so all-consumingly empty without him that she wanted him there, wanted him to fill it with more memories that she could dwell on the next time he left.
He stopped her at the doorway, scooped her into his arms, and carried her clumsily to her bedroom. She protested - he wasn't the most co-ordinated of men, and she really, really did not want to be dropped on her floor - but she let him, because she loved him.
(Once she was lying on her bed with him on top of her, she decided it was absolutely worth it.)
It's like worship. Not like they're both worshipping each other, but like they're worshipping the concept of them. Of love.
He unbuttoned her shirt with his teeth.
She sucked on the lobe of his ear the way she'd wanted to in the precinct.
He licked a wet trail from her collarbone to her jaw.
She slipped his coat and shirt off while he was still distracted by the taste of her skin.
Beckett wanted to find all the individual things she'd missed about him and try them again one by one; she reached for the buckle of his trousers.
"Slow this time." he murmured against her neck, teeth scraping the tender skin with every word.
"Not tryin' to go fast. Just want our clothes off."
He obliged, like she'd known he would, sliding his pants down his legs at the same time she kicked her legs free of hers. Castle nuzzled the little hollow behind her ear, his breath coming in warm puffs.
Kate fisted her hand in his hair and pulled his face down to hers, slipping her tongue in the minute his mouth opened for her. He gave as good as he got - didn't he always? - stroking the length of his tongue against hers. She found herself trying to commit how he tasted to memory.
"God, I missed you." she whispered into his mouth, the words sloppy and quiet against his lips.
"Missed you more." Beckett felt him smile; she swallowed it, counting the pearls of his teeth with her tongue.
She wasn't exactly sure how he managed to rid them both of their underwear, how he managed to unhook her bra without her noticing at all. She only realised he had when all of a sudden his hand had skated down her stomach and through the pooling wetness between her legs.
It had been too long. Her hips rocked up, core aching as she bucked into his touch.
"Next time I go to LA, I'm taking you with me."