AN: This chapter was really up in the air up until I decided to write it just a little bit ago. (Not that I wasn't going to write it, I just wasn't sure what to write yet lol) I hope you guys like it. Leave me reviews! :)

P.S. These characters do not belong to me, I own nothing but the words I've just written about them!

"Did I interrupt your dinner?" Castle asked, pointing at the take-out on the counter.

"Oh, I was just picking at our leftovers. You hungry?" Kate walked to the kitchen as she spoke, finding another fork in the silverware drawer and handing it to Castle over the marble counter.

"Starved," he said with a smile. He adjusted himself at the stool on the opposite side of the counter while Kate just leaned over where she was standing, her elbows resting beside the food, her fork in the air as she spoke.

"You know this is sort of becoming a thing. You, coming over here unannounced, making yourself at home, eating my food," she paused to take a bite of the chicken from her fork, a smile playing at her lips.

"Oh, no this was planned." He took a piece of chicken from under her fork just before she speared it with her own, and popped it in his mouth. "I believe last time I was here I said, and I quote, 'Maybe we can finish it together some time soon'. So your little plan to make me feel like a mooch- ain't workin' toots."

"I don't think I responded to that, though, did I, Castle?" She cocked her head at him, a gleam in her eye.

"Ahhh, yes, but, like any normal person, I interpreted your silence as passive compliance." She laughed at that, shaking her head, her hair falling around her face and she covered her mouth as she chewed.

"You're crazy,"

"You love it," he said it with a grin which she returned and then her eyes fell to the spot just behind his head as she remembered Josh and their conversation they'd had just the day before. She was thinking about how she'd had to tell him that she'd kissed Castle back, and then all she could think about was that kiss, was longing for it, for his lips on hers yet again when she glanced back up at him with clouded eyes.

His grin faltered and he looked down at their food and suddenly set the fork down, clearing his throat.

"Do you have anything..to drink?" He asked, his hands folding together over the counter before him.

She was straightening immediately, reaching for the glasses in the cabinet. "Sure! Water, wine, orange juice, what do you want?"

"Surprise me," he said with a hint of a smile.

She grabbed two wine glasses on impulse and the same wine they'd shared before, feeling his eyes on her but too nervous to meet them. "I feel like wine," she said in a voice once cleverly described as her "bedroom voice", as she popped the cork and began to pour.

She sat the glass in front of him and took a sip from hers, meeting his eyes over the rim. Things were so different now. Him being here, in her home, drinking wine with her when they hadn't even discussed a case once.

He took a gulp and then spoke. "So...did you tell Josh?" She knew the question would be coming, she just didn't expect him to be so forward with it. Then again, this was Castle. He was so predictable but at the same time not at all. Kate walked around the counter and pulled out the stool next to him, sliding onto it and swirling the wine in her glass.

"Yeah. Uhm. We broke up," she said it slowly, gauging his reaction. She tried to make it sound casual, but she hadn't meant to say it so quickly; she knew he'd think it was his fault.

"Oh my God, Kate, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no, Castle, it's fine, really. It wasn't because of y-.. I mean, this has been a long time coming. Things haven't been working out with us for a while now. It was a mutual thing. Really. It's fine." She smiled at him, her lips drawn together, and felt heat rising in her cheeks. Whether it was the effects of the wine, sharing information about her love life, having Castle so close when she wanted him so bad or a combination of the three she wasn't sure, but she averted her gaze to her knee which had just pressed into his thigh.

"Kate," she felt his eyes on her and when she met them she watched as he took in every inch of her face, his eyes roaming before coming to a stop on her mouth. When he lifted them she felt her heart rate gaining speed. They stared at each other for a while, the silence in the room suffocating and the temperature constantly rising.

Suddenly it was happening all over again, he was leaning towards her and she could feel herself bending to meet him half way, her body spinning on the stool so that her legs fit in between each of his. Their lips pressed together slowly at first, just like the first night in her kitchen, only this time they were both ready to make it more, ready to come together just like they knew they always would. The kiss became more eager, each of them breaking apart for breaths but coming hungrily together again. His hands slid up to cup her jaw before sliding down to her waist and her fingers stayed in his hair, keeping his mouth on hers.

When their lips parted, they kept their foreheads together, and their breath mingled between what little space lied between them. Her hands slid down to cup his collar and then together they stood, the bar stools sliding out behind them, their bodies pressing impossibly close as they brought their lips together once again. She felt his hands on her lower back, pressing her into him, and she moaned into his mouth, a sound he'd brought from her throat again and again within the last few days.

He spun her around so that her back pressed into the counter top, before his hands circled her waist and then hoisted her up beside their forgotten dinner. He pulled her legs around his waist and brought his lips to her neck, the warm thump of her beating heart more than enough proof to show him how much she wanted him. His hand found her breast and he nibbled on her throat, his free hand sliding up the outside of her thigh. She moaned and bit her lip, her head thrown back in pleasure, her hair spilling down her back.

"Castle," she whispered his name, brought her face down to meet his, their clouded eyes locking. Their lips met briefly before she spoke again. "What are we doing," again, she whispered it, her breath on his lips as he watched her.

He cleared his throat, the hand on her breast sliding, slowly, slowly, down before wrapping around her lower back and linking with the other waiting hand at her waist. "Well, Kate, this is what the kids call 'making out'. I have to say, I'd assumed you'd been past this before-" He was cut off with a quick blow to his shoulder, the hand quickly smoothing over to his neck, a smile playing on her lips. The smirk he'd been wearing was gone and he was suddenly serious, reaching to pluck one of her hands in his, bringing it up to his mouth and warming it with kisses over each knuckle.

She watched him, his lips roaming over the soft skin of her hand and waited for him to speak.

"I don't know," he paused, his eyes drifting down to her lips and then back up. Their fingers were laced together and resting on her thighs when he spoke again. "I do know I've been waiting for this..for a really long time. And I don't want to do anything to screw this up..."

"I know," if they hadn't been so close, wrapped around each other so completely, she didn't think he'd have heard it but she could tell by the gleam in his eyes that he had. "I want this so much," she said against his lips, their foreheads together again, the warm skin of her fingers reaching up to slide down his cheeks. "I want you, Castle,".

He pressed his lips to hers, an agreement of sorts, that they were on the same page, and right where they wanted to be, finally in each others arms for good. She could taste the wine on his tongue, could feel the rapid beat of his heart as she reached to undo the buttons on his dark blue dress shirt. When she slid her hands up over his chest she smiled and nipped at his bottom lip, bringing her hands up to his shoulders to push the shirt off of his body. He pulled her off of the counter then, and her legs remained fastened around his waist as he carried her to her bed, setting her down onto the thick comforter as she sighed.

Their eyes locked and he pulled her shirt up over her head, tossing it on the ground behind him and then climbing over her and capturing her mouth once again. They made love in the silence of her loft, to the rhythm of their beating hearts, their sweaty bodies aching and arching and reaching for each other until, together, they'd released, their mouths hungry for the other and their bodies molded as one.

I hope you guys liked it. :) Thinking I may be done with this story so perhaps I'll be starting a new one soon? What do you think?