A/N-This is the complete T chapter. If you want the adult version go here. .net/s/7929096/1/ (Erosion Director's Cut)

It was my intention to challenge myself to write a totally T rated fic (love scenes and all) but having finished this scene it just didn't feel complete and i put off posting it, and ummed and ahhed and eventually, with 90min before i intended to just post it anyway, i asked for a second opinion (god bless Twitter!)

The end result is two versions. One to satisfy my personal challenge (and i hope it still feels intimate and if anyone at all bothers to read the T version i'd love to hear if you think it feels complete as it stands) and the other is the extended director's cut! dedicated to Madsthenerdygirl and Trish and everyone else that pretty much clamoured for the sexy-times ;)

The T version is age-appropriate-ish for older teenagers IMO (but i really have no clue).
The M version is for an adult audience but is (i believe) character and relationship-appropriate so if you're just avoiding M cos you don't want a smut-fest then i think it's still okay. ? maybe ?

Huge thanks to Deb whose input, in my opinion, made this even more delicious. Seriously. Good times! *snort* If i was you i'd be signing up for author alerts from Deb838 cos if she ever posts anything here it's gonna be good!

Apologies for this huge author's note ramble, but there will be no note from me at the end of this! LOL! ;)

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Erosion
Chapter 28- Together


Kate could feel the weight of his thoughts even as she lay against him, face buried in the warmth of his neck, surrounded by the scent of him. His hands ran slow soothing lines along the length of her back from her neck to the curve of her hip. Even as his sure strokes calmed her anxiety they created a knot of tension in her belly. She ran her hand along his side and up over his chest, and timed the press of her lips to his ear with the tangle of her fingers at the top button of his shirt. His breath caught and the hand on her back stilled.

Kate undid first one button, and then another, enough to slip her hand inside his shirt and sucked the lobe of his ear into her mouth, running her teeth over him until only her lips were left to soothe the sensitive skin.

He groaned at the sensation, chest muscles flexing under her palm, and she rolled into him, her leg falling between his as she pressed herself against his thigh.

"Come home with me," she growled into his ear.

"Kate, you're not making this easy," he said, his voice rough. His hands gripped her hips and he fought the instinct to rock their pelvises together. "I can't think when we're like this."

"Then stop thinking."

"It's been twenty-four hours since we first kissed, maybe forty if you count your accidental half-asleep kiss, that's not what I call giving ourselves a chance to catch up."

"Not exactly our first kiss," she reminded him, knowing full well he hadn't forgotten. "Besides, it's been too long since I first wanted to kiss you, and I'm all caught up."

"Kate." He ran the pad of his thumb over her brow in a soft caress, silently questioning her conviction.

"No, unless you're not ready, Castle? Because this is what I need from you. This is what I need to give to you. I want you, Castle – all of you – please don't make me have to keep asking."

The last of his resolve crumbled with the weight of emotion in her voice. He knew he had a choice; to either assuage his own guilt and tell her now about everything he'd hidden from her whilst she was at her most vulnerable, and risk their future, or he could wait and hope that the bonds they were now forging together would be enough to get them through should he continue to keep the truth from her for just a little while longer.

He closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Let me get my toothbrush and my jacket," he whispered.

###

She wished they could have taken a cab instead of her having to drive the squad car. Once Castle lifted the brakes he didn't stop moving, and his hand on her leg made concentrating impossible. It had started at her knee, deliciously soft figure eights that looped from her patella to the inside of her leg, before he inched higher up her thigh and it took all of her self control to stop herself from increasing the gap between her thighs to let him in.

Instead she bit down on her lip and let the tickle and tingle of his caress flood her. The drive to her apartment seemed to take forever.

He crowded into her back as they stood in the elevator; one hand around her stomach, the other clutching his overnight bag. Kate wanted to lift her arms to loop backwards around his neck, to press her backside into him and have him kiss her neck. But she doubted her own ability to stop it at that. She knew she would end up grinding into him, demanding his hand at her breast. So she reached behind herself to steady his hips against her, delighting in the sensation of him brushing faintly against her and the proof of his arousal.

Kate pressed a hand to his chest when they got to her door, holding him an arm's length away, as she dug in her bag for her keys. She had them inside in a moment, and she dropped her bag and keys to the floor. Rick placed his bag down, and they stood together, not touching – eyes never straying – as they removed their shoes and jackets. Rick held out his hand for her coat, and then he hung them together in her hall closet. With his bag in hand once more, he waited while Kate removed her badge and gun and stored them in the kitchen drawer at the bottom of the stairs. Neither spoke as they climbed the steps to her bedroom together, hand in hand.

The curtains were open onto the cityscape and the room was lit with the red and golden lights of the surrounding skyscrapers. It painted the bed and the bookshelves and the huge wall canvas in a tableau of light and shadow and, as much as Rick would have liked to look around – his first glimpse of Kate's private domain – his eyes barely left the woman in front of him.

Kate stood facing him, her back to the bed, as she undid the buttons of her shirt. Her eyes were dark and wide as she watched him watch her. Rick stood enthralled as each button came undone revealing pale skin and dark lace. He wanted to watch her face, see the play of emotions – desire and delight; her own hunger for him and the enjoyment he knew she got from seeing him so lost in her – but the movement of her fingers, the twist and splay of each inch of her shirt, drew him in like nothing he'd ever experienced.

A small part of his brain wondered at the way she affected him – it was hardly the first time a woman had undressed for him – but this was Kate, and she was standing in front of him, smiling the most wonderful of secret smiles, hair tousled, eyes dark; he couldn't ever remember being more aroused by anyone in his life.

He wanted to step into her, kiss her, run his hands along the skin that she was revealing to him, but that would mean sacrificing the previously only imagined vision of her slowly undressing for him. So he stood anchored, chest heaving, lips parted, as she undid the final button, dropped her arms, and let her shirt fall to pool at her ankles.

It wasn't until she reached behind her back to undo her bra that he stepped forward, a tiny growl of 'no', and he raised his hand to skim along the smooth skin of her shoulder, taking the strap of her bra with him to fall over the curve of her arm.

He kissed her then, hot and hard, tongues delving deep as they finally gave in to their desire. He explored the expanse of skin at her back, cupped his hands to glide up the length of her side, stopping at the line of her bra before stroking her through the thin fabric. Kate arched into him, desperate to have his hands on her; the catch of breath and answering moan could have belonged to either of them.

Rick reached behind her with one hand and undid the clasp of her bra, his other hand never leaving the curve of her breast. He wanted his own shirt gone, wanted skin on skin, but couldn't contemplate abandoning the satin smooth curves to complete the task.

"Off," Kate complained, tugging at his clothes. "I need this off." Her hands worked at the buttons of his shirt briefly, before she changed her mind and, instead, undid the buckle of his belt, tugging hard at the leather to pull it fully from the loops of his pants, before popping the button of his jeans and pulling the zipper wide.

Kate had the buttons and zip of her own pants undone in an instant and, as she shimmied them down the long length of her legs, Rick did the same, pulling his socks off as he went.

Standing in only her underwear Kate grabbed the sides of Rick's open shirt and tugged him back towards the bed. She placed one knee behind herself, and then fell backwards pulling him with her. He landed on top of her and she laughed at his grunt, brought her legs around him and rolled him over until she was bent over him, straddling his hips, her hair falling around his face.

Rick brought his hands up to tangle in her hair, scraping it back over her ears to hold it away from her face before he pulled her down to him to capture her lips in another kiss.

Kate bent her arms to keep her hands splayed across him, enjoying the solid feel of his shoulders and the flex of muscle across his chest. When she came to the barrier of his clothing she broke away from his kiss, took the ends of his shirt and lifted it up his back, forcing him to lift off the bed and pulled it from his arms. Kate resisted his attempt to pull her back down, instead she sat back on him and trailed her fingertips over the line of his clavicle, and then down the centre of his chest.

His hands settled at her hips, thumbs stroking the crease of her thigh, fingers curled to hint at touching the curve of her bottom. She watched his face as she explored him, teased goosebumps from his skin and left a trail of fire in her wake.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He lifted his eyes to meet hers, and the sincerity and gratitude in her expression made him shake his head, "You can not seriously be thanking me for this?"

Her lips curved in the hint of a smile, and she shrugged. "I told you I'd follow where you led, but I didn't. I made this about what I wanted."

Rick loosened his hold of her hips and brushed both hands along the tops of her thighs to the curve of her bended knee, and then stroked back up again. "You told me what you needed, and what I need is for you to keep doing that."

"Even if it's not what you want?" she asked.

"You think I don't want this as badly as you?" He chuckled at the too-serious expression she wore. "I will never get enough of this – of you – I want everything you'll give me." His hands left her thighs to glide up over her stomach.

Kate lifted onto her knees and leaned over him again. "And I want to give you everything," she exhaled against the skin of his cheek, her sigh sounding in his ear, before she turned to glide her lips sideways across his mouth, the mere suggestion of a kiss.

His voice was just as breathless, but he was smiling when he replied, "We're not even completely naked and already we're perfect in bed."

"Mmmm, we'll see." She laughed deep in her throat. "Why don't you stop talking and put your money where your mouth is."

"Forget the money, I'd rather use my mouth," he said, and his hands gripped the curve of her ribs, lifting her along his body as he bent his head; his mouth went immediately to her breast.

Her spine arched as her head tipped back and she growled out her agreement. "I'd much rather you use your mouth like that too," she panted. With one hand holding his head to her chest Kate rolled onto her side, the hook of her leg drawing his body to follow. "I've always liked your mouth."

With a slow swipe of his tongue Rick left her breast and brought his head up beside hers, a pleased grin shaping his lips, "Really? You like my mouth?"

"I'd like it a whole lot more at the moment if it were doing something other than talking," Kate pretended to protest.

"Ah, that's not true, Detective," he teased her. "I know you like the sound of my voice."

Kate wrapped her arm around his waist in a hug and bent her leg to slide her foot to the back of his knee, nudging his leg between hers. "Then let me hear you; talk to me, Castle."

Rick pressed his elbow into the mattress and lifted his torso off the bed just enough to tilt over her, his cheek skimming hers, the slight scratch of stubble over the silk of her skin. "Do you want to hear how incredibly badly I want you right now?"

"Mmmm," she encouraged him with a moan.

"How the feel of you against me, my hands on your skin, the way you move; how much it makes me ache. Is that what you want me to tell you?"

Kate's fingers twitched against his back and a shiver ran through her. She turned her head, her eyes closed, and let her open mouth rest against his lips; feeling his words.

"Or that your kisses, the feel of your mouth, the glide of your tongue; it makes me want to taste you so badly. Even now, the way we are –" He pressed his hand over the curve of her breast. "You're exquisite, but I can think of nothing but having my tongue against you."

"Oh, god, Castle." Kate arched into him, his words painting a picture that set her on fire.

Her hand moved to glide over the satin of his boxer shorts and she rolled her hips. She swallowed the sound of his moan, effectively silencing him as she captured his mouth and refused to let go.

Together they shed the last of the barriers between them and, as skin met skin, they lost themselves in exploration and discovery; both finding something they'd always hoped was there but never been brave enough to reach for.

###

Rick woke as the first of the sun's early morning light lit the room. Kate lay pressed against him, gloriously naked, and the dawn bathed her skin in shades of grey; a portrait in black and white. The sheets lay tangled around their hips and knees where they'd been abandoned when finally they'd slept.

Lying with her felt surreal, as if any moment he would wake from a dream and find himself alone. Despite promises to wait, and the light that had ever so gradually crept into her eyes over past months, he'd never rid himself of the doubts; never managed to escape the fear that maybe, maybe, his love for her wasn't enough.

His eyes travelled the length of her, drawn to the mesh of their limbs, the contour of them wrapped together. He refused to even consider the possibility that this was all they would ever have, and he made a silent vow that he would fight not only to defend her, but to defend what they could be together.

Overheated skin had cooled overnight and Rick's hand was drawn to the pebbled expanse of skin beneath him. He trailed his palm lightly over her shoulder, and then down her arm, skimming over the peak of her breast, past the faint pink scar almost invisible in the pale glow of morning. Her body responded to his touch, and by the time he reached the flat plane of her stomach she was rolling into him.

Kate's arms came around his waist and she kissed at the skin of his upper chest; open mouthed, teeth nibbling.

He felt, more than heard, the murmur of her morning greeting against his skin.

Rick resisted the urge to close his eyes and instead he trailed his fingertips from the curve of her hip along the length of her spine and watched as a trail of goosebumps rose along her skin. She shivered when he reached her neck and let out a hum of approval.

"Cold?" he asked.

"Yes, but you're warm," she replied, turning her head to rest her cheek upon his chest and laying her leg over him. "And I want to see you." She slid her hand across the solid expanse of his chest and over the swell of his bicep. "I don't get to see this very often."

"Ah, I've been reduced to eye-candy," he teased, as his own hands helped to raise her body temperature.

"Shut up, Castle, I'm trying to concentrate," Kate huffed, and she mapped the curvature of his chest muscles and the taper from shoulder to waist with her hands and her eyes.

"You're concentrating?" he asked, amused.

"Hmmm, when we're at work later today and you're in a button down shirt with your jacket tight across your chest I'm going to look at you and remember this." She stroked and massaged her way across his deltoids and over the smooth curve of his shoulder. "And you're going to know exactly what I'm thinking about."

"Then we better make sure to give you plenty to think about."

He rolled her onto her back, bringing his weight down over her, and she wrapped her legs around him.

"This new 'waking up together' arrangement just gets better and better," she replied.

And then they were both too busy to talk.

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A/N- Thud! Leave a review.