What if Kate had gone into Castle's room after she saw him shutting the door?
Kate stood at the door, debating whether or not opening it would be a good idea. The conversation they had been having played on a continuous loop in her head. Her brain kept reminding her of Josh but it was getting quieter and smaller with each passing second.
Eventually the part of her brain telling her to open the door won and Kate grasped the handle. She gave it a turn and the door opened, just in time for Kate to see Castle's door shutting as he went to bed.
She froze, completely unsure about what to do. The part of her brain that had wanted her to open the door was now split in two, part of her wanted to just turn around and shut her door again, forget all about it, but the other part was urging her forwards, towards the door to the other bedroom and towards Castle.
That part won and without really registering what was happening Kate felt herself start towards the door slowly. The wine glasses were still on the table as she passed and she almost stopped for some liquid courage but instead carried on.
Once at the door she raised her hand to knock but then changed her mind and opened the door instead. As soon as the door swung open however she regretted her decision because there in front of her stood Castle wearing nothing but boxers. His back was to her and Kate tried to shut the door before he noticed her but she was out of luck, Castle had obviously heard the door open because he turned and caught Kate's eye.
"Everything ok Beckett?" he asked, watching her closely. Royce had meant a lot to her and she was obviously shaken by his death and if he was being honest with himself he was worried about her.
Kate nodded. "Yes." Then however she changed her mind and said, "Actually no, no I'm not ok."
Castle furrowed his brow and took a step towards her, not realising what it was doing to Kate. She hadn't realised before just how muscular Castle was, his shirts did well at disguising how big his biceps actually were.
She wasn't aware that she was staring until Castle cleared his throat. She snapped her eyes away from his body, trying not to notice just how good he looked in boxers, and looked at the wall behind his head. She took a few deep breaths to try and calm her suddenly racing heart.
"Kate," Castle breathed, taking another step closer, "What can I do to help?"
Kate looked back at him and saw just how close he had actually gotten, one more step and he would be close enough for Kate to feel his breath on her skin.
Not really thinking Kate gave into her racing heart and the low heat that had intensified with every step Castle had taken. She took a step towards him, closing the gap, and reached up on tip toes to put her arms around his neck and gave him a powerful, bruising kiss.
Castle stood still as stone as he lips pressed against his. He wanted to kiss her back, of course he did, how could he not, but he didn't want to take advantage of her in her current emotional state. Castle knew that Royce had meant a lot to her, and that she had loved him, and he was sure that it was his murder that had brought on Kate's current actions and because of that he raised his hands to Kate's shoulders and gently pushing her away, pulling his own head back at the same time.
Once they were separated, although there was only a few inches of space between their faces, Rick looked at Kate closely. Since she was bare foot there was an obvious height difference between them and Rick was looking down at her.
Kate realised what she had done and, stung by Castle's rejection, turned to leave, to face her embarrassment on her own, in the safety of her own room. Castle however had other ideas. As he felt her begin to turn he stiffened his arms on her shoulders, making it more difficult for her to break free.
"Castle," she whispered, "Let me go. I should have not have come in here in the first place." Castle shook his head and tightened his grip further. "Castle, let me go," Kate begged, "You don't want me in here so I'll just go." Tears began to trickle down her cheeks as she spoke.
"Kate," Castle said in a soft, calming voice, "It's not that I don't want you here, you have to believe that."
"So why did you pull away?" Kate questioned, her head going towards Rick's, trying to get her lips to touch his again.
"Because someone who meant a lot to you has been murdered Kate and I don't want to take advantage of you in this emotional state," Castle answered honestly, "And because you're with Josh and the Kate Beckett I know would never forgive herself for cheating."
Kate's shoulder slumped in defeat but Castle didn't remove his hands. While he had meant everything he had said he wished that he could just kiss her and then invite her to join him in his large, and very empty, comfortable bed.
He saw as Kate's eyes drifted down and became aware of just how little he was wearing. Kate looked back up and Castle saw as her eyes began to darken.
"Josh and I broke up Castle," Kate whispered, "I haven't told anyone yet but I ended it a few days ago."
Castle swallowed hard, trying to keep his thoughts clean as Kate's eyes once again studied his body, spending an extended length of time looking at his boxers.
"And as for Royce," Kate continued to whisper, inching her head ever closer to his, "I don't want to wonder if only."
Castle opened his mouth to ask what she meant by that but before he could get out a sound something else was in his mouth. Kate had used his momentary distraction to completely close the distance between them. Her tongue was now running along his teeth even as her hands moved up and down his body.
Castle pulled away again, but this time only leaving a few millimetres between them. "Are you sure you want to do this Kate?" he asked. "This can't be one night. Once I have you I'm not going to be able to let you go."
"Yes Castle," Kate answered, "I'm sure. Now just kiss me already."
He didn't need telling twice. Castle lunged forward and captured Kate's lips in a blistering kiss that made her feel weak at the knees. She didn't fall though because Castle had moved his hands so that they spanned across her shoulder blades and back, his arms tight against her body, keeping her on her feet.
Kate returned the kiss, putting everything she had tried for so long to ignore into the kiss.
Somehow, she had been to invested in the kiss to notice, she ended up on her back on the bed, Castle on all fours above her. When he pulled away for a brief moment she gave him a seductive smile before she began to shimmy out of her pyjama bottoms, watching as Castle's eyes darkened with desire.
The next morning Castle woke to an empty bed and if he hadn't been surrounded by rumpled sheets and the small of Kate he would have thought that the night before had been a dream. He smiled and stretched before getting out of bed and, after finding his boxers on the floor where Kate had carelessly flung them the night before; he opened the door and went into the main room to see Kate writing away on a white board.
