Don't Shoot me

by gizzymoon

Kate fears Rick might be her one and done.

2. What Works

Castle POV

God, she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I had waited so long for this. Imagined it so many times. Kate Beckett was in my arms. Her hands were twisted in my sweater and her mouth was doing something so wonderful to mine I couldn't think straight.

Well, to tell the truth, I hadn't been thinking straight for a while now. Not since seeing the way the firelight lit her face as she cleaned the bits of chocolate from her fingers after the s'mores. She had to have known what she was doing to me with that. She had to. She was far too intelligent, too perceptive not to know. This was a woman who never missed anything.

But when it came to her personal life, I swear you had to hit this woman over the head with a brick to get a message through to her brain. The look on her face right before I kissed her was so shocked, like she had no idea that was my intention. How could she not have known ?

Something, some unseen force of nature, had been working on us all night.

One of her hands was now moving over my chest. Then her mouth sort of fell. I could feel it under my lips. Like she had been smiling while kissing me before and now she wasn't anymore. A frustrated little noise from the back of her throat told me I was right and I pulled back to see what the trouble was.

It was too late for her to be indignant about me kissing her. She didn't have any right to be angry at me for this now. She had kissed me the second time. We were on even ground, all blame claim's destroyed.

Her hand was still moving along my chest, but the other one had joined it and both were now moving down towards the waistband of my jeans.

There was a furrow knitted between her brows as she watched her hands. Like she was asking herself, ' Am I really going to do this ?' It was like in her mind she was about to cross a line she wasn't sure she wanted to cross.

I sat there with my hands firmly wrapped around her waist, not moving, making sure that whether she crossed that line or not was her choice. I wasn't going to interfere. Where this went and how we got there was going to be completely up to her tonight. I had gotten my victory when I managed to kiss her without her shooting me. The rest was on her.

When her hands stopped moving, they were at the bottom of my sweater. I was dumbfounded when she grabbed it and began to pull it over my head. I hadn't been expecting that. Score one for Beckett. I loved how she surprised me. Few people did.

Once she helped the heavy white cable-knit find a home on the floor somewhere behind us, her hands were moving again. A soft smiled played at her lips as she watched them move over my skin. Her thumb brushed over a nipple and I nearly toppled over with the feeling. Her eyes glanced to my face and the smile fell again. There was a war raging inside her. I could see it in her face. Two formidable opponents fighting a battle to the death. I wasn't sure who was winning. But I really wished I could hear the dialog. I wanted to be a part of the inner conversation she was having. Obviously it was about me. I should get a voice at least.

" Kate," I whispered finally no longer able to keep silent. Being quiet wasn't a part of my skill set. "What is it ?"

" We shouldn't do this." She mumbled like her lips were numb.

I knew that was what she was going to say, Damn it. Why couldn't I learn to shut up ? This was now about to get heavy, filled up with drama and hurt and turbulent emotions. In other word's, this was about to get ugly. And I had been really enjoying myself.

I swallowed hard, preparing myself for the talk we'd both been avoiding for far too long. The elephant in the room would no longer be ignored.

" Why not ?" I asked her, truly not sure of the reasons anymore.

She sat back on her heels and her face became that of the woman I knew best. For the moment the war had been won. Thanks to me, apparently. " You know why not. We both know why not." She answered, tossing the ball right back to me without getting a scratch.

" I guess maybe those reasons are getting a little foggy." I replied. " They've been getting murkier for a while now."

Her eyes grabbed mine and held them. " What is that supposed to mean ?" She asked.

" You know what it means. I'm thinking maybe I'm not so all alone in this after all." He told her.

Her eyes dropped to the floor between us. " I guess maybe you aren't." She conceded.

I moved a little closer to her. I wanted to touch her again but I wasn't sure she was ready for that.

" Remind me why this is a bad idea. I can't seem to think of one logical reason why we shouldn't do this." I told her.

If there were reasons I wanted them out in the open so I could deal with them head on. I didn't want her to have doubts about what she was doing. I intended to shoot down every motive she had.

" We work together." She answered, lamely. Even she knew that wasn't going to be good enough.

" So, a lot of people are involved with people they work with." I said quickly. I'd been ready for that one.

" It never works. I don't get involved with people I work with."

" Sorenson." I answered without missing a beat. It was playing a little dirty, but I really wanted to win this one.

She looked up at me, then back down. " We're friends. I don't want to risk that." She began again, seeing her first attempt wasn't working.

" But it's worth the risk." I replied. This was a big one. I knew it was coming. The problem was there was a small part of me that agreed with her on this one. I wasn't sure I could keep going if something happened to make her disappear from my life.

" Is it ? We know this works for us. You're my best friend. We don't know what would happen if we took another step." She closed her eyes for a brief moment then found my gaze. " Castle, I don't do causal. You know that. I'm not a friends with benefits kind of girl."

I grabbed her hands in mine. " Do you really think that's what this is ?" I asked her, shocked that she still didn't know how much she meant to me.

" I don't know." She confirmed.

" How do you still not know how I feel about you ? I thought it was so obvious. I thought I was making a complete jackass out of myself." I said.

" Harmless flirting isn't what I'm talking about here."

" You thought that was all that was ? It hasn't been harmless in over a year. Not since the time I watched your apartment explode with you inside it." I admitted.

She pulled her hands from mine and let them fall to her thighs. " What are we saying here, Rick ?"

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then I swallowed hard. She wasn't playing around. She wanted the big guns. Time to put all our cards on the table as see who's got the better hand.

" I'm saying I love you. I've been in love with you a while now. It isn't going away like I hoped it would."

Her eyes shot to my face. " You wanted it to go away?"

" At first. But only because I knew you'd want it to go away." I explained. I didn't want her to think I regretted being in love with her at all. " Now you're turn." I pushed. " What are you saying here ?"

She shifted around a little like she wished a hole would swallow up and allow her to escape this conversation. Her eyes darted around the room as she searched for an excuse to be anywhere else.

" Kate." I pressed, moving a little closer still. " I don't want to be one of those people."

She blinked at me in question. " What people ?"
" You know those people that should obviously be together but aren't for some ridiculous reason that in the long run really doesn't matter. Yet still they suffer and torture each other because they just can't stand to walk away." I was rambling now. I had no idea what I was saying. I knew what I wanted to say but I couldn't seem to make the words come out right.

Kate leaned forward, closing the distance between us and bringing her lips against mine. " Castle, you watch way too much television." She mumbled before covering my lips with hers.

Her hands were around my shoulders, one of them buried in my hair. Her chest was flush with mine yet she struggled to get closer still. I helped by wrapping my arms around her and pulling her in as well.

Her tongue dashed against my lips and again I was a little surprised. Usually I'm the one that initiates that move. I opened my mouth to allow her inside and almost screamed in delight as I got my first real taste of her. It was hands down the most delicious thing I'd ever sampled. She tasted like honey and I had no idea why. We hadn't eaten any thing honey flavor. Yet there it was. There the linger taste of chocolate, but under that was honey. Perhaps that was simply how she tasted.

I dipped my head to her throat, eager to find out if her skin tasted as sweet. It did. It was simply ambrosia, gliding my tongue down the column of her neck.

One of her hands came around and began to move across my chest again. There was something going on with that and I fully intended to find out what it was about...later. Right then, I was just going with it.

I made a move to shift and my knees began to protest quite loudly and I realized I was not quite as young as I used to be. Or maybe I had just put this body through its share of wear and tear.

Ignoring the pain for the moment, I moved another inch forward, draw her into me and laid her down against the blanket.

She pulled me along with her and I went obligingly until I was stretched out beside her. My knees were extremely grateful.

I felt a shiver run up my spine when she moved her head and her breath began to blow across my neck. She felt it too and looked up at me as she paused for a moment. " Are you cold ?" She asked. It had gotten rather chilly in the room. The fire helped but only so much.

I hadn't really noticed the cold. " No." I shook my head.

" You're shivering." She answered like she was trying to prove I was lying.

I kissed her collarbone through her sweater. " It didn't have anything to do with the cold." I smiled.

When I looked back at her, I swear, she was blushing. Detective Beckett was playing coy with me. I wondered if she really thought I would buy that act for even a second.

I reached to the bottom of her sweater and began to lift it.

" Now, I'll be cold." She protested, lamely.

I finished with it and tossed it somewhere. Then I made a move right for the center of her chest. "I'll make sure you stay warm." I assured her before finishing my descent. My lips found the hallow between her breast and I lingered there. Her bra was one those lacy things with little more than a bow holding the center together. It hardly got in my way as I brushed my tongue over her skin.

I leaned over her going first for the breast that was furthest away from me. Covering her entire nipple with my lips, I gently began to suck her into my mouth through the flimsy material of her bra.

She groaned out something incoherent and dug her hand into my hair, holding me there until she deemed I could move on. The moment she let me go I found her other breast and we went through the same routine.

My hand been idle where it rested at the middle of her back. When I managed to loosen the last of the hooks from her bra. Her eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't been expecting it since only one of my hands were behind her. Score one for Castle. Now we were even.

I raised my eyes to hers and gave her my smuggest smile as I eased the straps from her shoulders.

" You are dealing with a master here." I advised her.

I knew it was a mistake the second the words were out of my mouth. Her whole face changed all at once. I knew it was one of the things about us that gave her pause. I had managed to convince her finally that I wasn't really a player anymore. But it hadn't always been like that and we both knew it. In her mind she was secretly wondering how long it would take me to get bored and go back to my player ways. And I was reminding her of the fact by flaunting my vast experience.

Again, way to go, Rickey.

She started to sit up. I put my hand on her shoulder to stop her and looked up at her face. " I didn't mean anything by it. It isn't important." I assured her as well as I could.

" But it is important." she answered. " I'm not Meredith or Gina. You get one chance with me and that's it. I don't do ' do-overs'. Are you sure you're ready to deal with that ?"

I almost said Sorenson again, but thought better of it. Even though she had given the F.B.I. Man a second chance just like I'd done with my ex-wives, I understood what she was saying. I was about to become locked into something I would not escape from unscathed. I needed to decided if what I felt for her was strong enough to make that bet. The bet that I wouldn't ever feel the need to escape.

I stilled and considered that for a moment, wanting her to see that I really was thinking about it. I didn't need to think. I'd already done all my thinking and I was pretty confident in saying that I would never feel as much for another woman as I did for her, save maybe Alexis.

I was going to tell her all that, but something stopped me. I didn't think she was ready to hear that. She wanted me to understand the implications of my actions. But she wasn't ready to discuss what it all meant out loud.

I could live with that.

I leaned in and kissed her again, letting her know that I knew full well what I was doing and accepted all the responsibility for my actions. That done, I went back to her breasts.

It was the first time I'd really seen them. They were larger than I'd expected. I guess she did a good job of hiding them under her clothing. Because as I looked at them now, heaving slightly as she drew in ragged breaths, they were magnificent. Rising and falling, drawing me closer and closer. Again her hand tangled in my hair as I slowly went about swirling my tongue around her nipple before pulling the rosy pink, hardened bud into my mouth and sucking gently.

She squirmed under me and clutched at my upper arm almost frantically as soft sounds began to escape from her lips. Now that was Heaven.

I shifted, moving to the other side with only a pause at the valley between her breasts, and repeated the same performance. It got much the same reaction.

When I returned to her lips, she was smiling again. That soft, sweet smile that barely tugged at the corners of her mouth. I knew everyone of her smile and this one was my favorite.

I kissed her, trying to see what that familiar smile that I saw so often felt like.

Her hands were on me again, this time gliding down my side so slowly I almost didn't notice them moving. But her fingertip found the place right under my rib and I couldn't help the yelp of laughter as my body jerked in response.

It had always been my weakness. I was incurably ticklish.

She was giving me a wicked smile when I came back to her. I pointed my finger at her in warning. "I swear if you use this information in devilish ways, I will scour every inch of you until I find your spot and then I will make sure that you never forget that I knew where it is."

The smile almost fell as she blinked at me in confusion. " Was that supposed to be a threat ?"

I shrugged and dropped my hand in defeat. " It was meant in the spirit of one, yes." I answered.

Her arm moved behind me and suddenly I was howling out again and jerking uncontrollably. When she finally released me, she gave me a guilty look and blinked up at me. " I guess you'll just have to go searching for that spot." She told me like it was a real pity that I had to go through the trouble.

I started by slowly dragging my fingertips up her sides, then across her waist, playing special attention to her hipbones as I skirted them. One of my ex-wives had been ticklish on her hipbones. I couldn't remember which one it was now. Maybe one day I'd ask them and find out.

When I received nothing more than a few well hidden groans from Beckett, I decided I must be off target. I moved lower, letting my fingers rest at the snap of her jeans.

Her eyes opened and she raised her head to look up at me for a split second. Then she threw her head back and raised her hips slightly to aid me as I tugged the denim from her legs.

I was kneel at her knees now and I took one of her legs in my hand and let my fingers dance across the soles of her feet. Not even a chuckle. But by the noises she was making I deduced that she had a thing about her feet.

I pulled my hand across her ankle, then over her calf. I thought I felt her tense a little as I kept moving upward, slowly so I wouldn't miss anything. My fingertip barely graced over the back of her knee, when I knew I felt I tense up. She went rigid up my hands. I thought I might have hurt her for a minute.

Then she pulled her leg from my hand and dropped it to the blanket.

" What's wrong ?" I asked, suspecting I knew.

" Nothing." She smiled back at me as she reached for me. That's what really cinched it for me. The smile she gave me was her fake one.

I let her pull me down into her arms and kiss me. Now she was suddenly changing the subject.

While she was busy kissing me, I used the advantage I had of being bigger than she was and reached down to her knee.

She nearly bit my tongue when I brushed my finger over the back of her knee again.

" Castle." She said in her Mommy voice. She used it on me often. It wasn't going to work this time.

As I moved back in for the kill, her hand came up and touched my chest. " Rick, Please I hate to be tickled." She said so quietly it stopped me instantly.

Alright. She won. Just hearing her use my name made my heartbeat jump again.

I continued to move down her body, making her think I was ignoring her plea. But I stopped at her stomach and stayed there to pepper her skin with kisses. I wasn't really that interested in tickling her anymore. I shifted again as my hands found the waistband of her lacy black panties. Wow, they matched her bra, I thought, inanely. I wouldn't have pegged her for the type that worried about such things. Again, she surprised me.

I sat back for a minute, taking in her body, lit by the firelight and wondering what it was I had done to deserve to be where I was. I wasn't really that special when it came right down to it. I certainly wasn't special enough to be worthy of the sight before me.

She started to squirm self consciously and I reached my hand out to still her. " You are just so beautiful."

" Rick," She whispered as I lowered my head back down to her stomach. I could feel her warmth where my hand was resting on her thigh. My fingers inched closer to the heat of their own accord until soon I felt her curls brushing against my fingertip.

I heard her breath catch in her throat as I traced across her mound slowly. By the time I found the tight bundle of nerves I was seeking, she was almost panting. Her hand clutched in my hair as I continued to taste every inch of her I could get to.

She gasped loudly when I replaced my finger with my tongue. I just needed to taste her. It was something I had been dreaming about for so long. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, it was so far beyond what I'd imagined it didn't even come close.

Her hands balled into fist in the sheet at her sides. Her back arched off the floor as her body tensed under me. I could feel her inner walls clutching at my tongue and I almost groaned out loud with her. Just the thought of what her body could do to mine was enough to make me throb.

When she finally relaxed and her back sagged back to the blanket, I let her go, kissing my way back up her body. Her chest was heaving as she tried to bring her breathing back under control and her cheeks were rosy when I made it back to her face. Her eyes were still closed.

I gave her a little space and took the opportunity to stoke the fire and divest myself of the rest of my clothing.

She was wearing my favorite smile when I stretched back out beside her. Her hand came lazily up to my shoulder and she pulled me down to her for a kiss. A gentle, tender kiss that quickly grew into something much more. Soon our tongues were battling again and our hands were exploring every inch of each other. She gasped when my bare leg brushed against hers. I guess she hadn't heard me removing my jeans.

But before I could say anything one of her hands was cupping my ass and the other was making a trail straight down the center of my chest. She paused only long enough to tangle her fingertip in the trail of hair that covered my navel before continuing on.

My lips were fused with hers as she made her exploration of my body. They didn't leave them until her hand circled around me and I had to throw my head back at the feeling. Nothing could have prepared me for the feel of her hand on me like that. In all my years nothing had felt as good as when she began to squeeze me into her palm. Then she began to move along my length. She moved languidly, guardedly, like she was testing out how I felt in her hand and gauging my reaction to her ministrations. My reaction couldn't have been more obvious when my hips subconsciously bucked into her touch.

Her eyes found mine and we stared at each other while she continued her action. It wasn't long until I was the one squirming as she picked up the pace. She moved from the base of my body to the head of my length and paused there for a moment to swirl her finger around the ridge she found there, then she went right back to the base. I was so lost in what she was doing to me with her touch, I barely registered that she was moving until I found myself laying flat on my back where she had just been and she was hovering over me. She hadn't missed a beat while shifting us into our new positions. Her hand still engulfed me, driving me crazy.

Then her hand stopped at the base and my heart did as well when her warm breath brushed over my head. My hips twitched again and I fought the urge to plunge them upwards, knowing patience would serve me better. I was right. A moment later, I felt her tongue sliding along me leaving a hot trail of moisture as she went. Then her warm mouth was surrounding me, drawing me into her throat and holding me there for a handful of moments. When she pulled back, she used her tongue just like she had her finger, swirling it around the head and causing my entire body to shake with the sensation.

I was helpless to fight against the sounds I was making and I was very glad that we had to place to ourselves. The noises I was making made it sound like she was killing me. And she was. She was slowly torturing me to death.

My hand was tangled in her hair, just resting there feeling her head bobbing over me. I made a concentrated effort not to egg her on or push her in any way. Somehow I knew it was important to let her be in charge at the moment. So I let her do whatever she wanted to me. Especially when what she was doing felt so amazing.

I could feel myself heading towards that wonderful abyss that beckoned me and I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to tell her that she had to stop.

She understood and pulled herself away from me, returning to my lips before I had a chance to register the movement.

She was hardly back at my side before I shifted both us, drawing her under me and positioning myself at her entrance. Her legs came around my waist. I could feel her heels digging into the back of my thighs. Her arms were around my shoulders, holding me flush against her as we continued our now feverish kiss.

I shifted again, just slightly to make sure our bodies were perfectly aligned before starting forward, bracing myself for the feel of being inside her.

She stopped me at the very last instant. I could feel her moisture and wet against the head of my length and I whimpered as I stilled instead of moving forward.

" What is it ?" I asked when she pulled away again.

" Condom." The word fell from her lips like it was an afterthought. But what an important afterthought it was. I hadn't been thinking about anything but how great her body was about to feel around me. I was glad one of us still had enough sense to be reasonable.

She let me go and I snatched my jeans from where I'd dropped them, yanking my wallet from the back pocket and retrieving the small, silver foil disk.

" Of course you carry one in your wallet." She rolled her eyes at me.

I held it up as I tore it opened. " Yes, aren't you glad I do ?" I replied.

She snatched it from me once I had it opened and my eyes nearly rolled back in my head as she rolled it over me. By the time I was back where I wanted to be, I was shivering in anticipation.

" Are you sure you aren't cold ?" She asked when she noticed.

I covered her lips and slid into her, sinking down until I had nowhere else to go, then I pulled back and my eyes locked with hers as we shared the experience together. I repeated the movement, slower this time, letting myself indulge in the feeling of her walls caressing me as I moved.

" I am far from cold." I managed to assure her.

She threw her head back, clutched at my shoulders and let out a long, slow moan as I did it again, nearly removing myself from her body, before plunging all the way back in.

" Rick," Her back arched as my name fell from her lips and I took the opportunity to engulf of breast again. She had the most beautiful breasts I'd ever seen. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed them before. I mean really noticed them. I knew they were there of course. I had fantasized about them many times. But now that I knew how truly magnificent they were I wondered how I'd ever be able to think about anything else.

She was urging me now, using her body to insist that I pick up the pace. I obliged because I was helpless to do anything else. Soon we were slamming into each other with a force that jarred my clenched teeth. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her nails dug into my flesh as she meet me move for move.

It was exactly how I imagined it. Her body reading mine, mine reading hers. I always knew we'd be great at this and I wasn't disappointed. What was happening between us was truly spectacular.

When she finally had enough, her whole body tensed under me, muscles clenched all at once and she shouted something incoherent to the darkness surrounding us.

I followed a moment later, the feel of her body squeezing me so tightly it was almost painful was my undoing.

I shouted, " I love you." as my body spasmed and emptied itself into her.

I collapsed to the blanket beside her, drawing her along and cradling her into my side as I fought to regain some perspective and pull air into my oxygen starved lungs.

She was panting as well. I heard her gasp softly as she tried to regain control of her body.

When we were a little more calm, I shifted so I could see her face. I didn't want the silence to turn into something awkward. I was a little nervous that after the heat of the moment she might have second thoughts. I wanted to see to it that that did not happen.

I was not about to miss my chance of ever experiencing that again. In my mind, I knew what we could be like together. I had imagined it over and over again. But now that my suspicions were confirmed, now that I knew for a fact how amazing it was, there was no way I was going to let her walk away from me, from us. Not now, not a chance.

I brushed the hair from her face and gave her a smile that I hoped was reassuring and conveyed exactly what I was feeling. Her smile, when she found my eyes was exactly the one I'd been hoping for, my favorite. The soft one that tugged at the corners of her lips.

I opened my mouth to speak, but her finger came up to stop me. " Don't ruin it." She warned me.

I closed my mouth swallowed and opened it again. " I wasn't going to ruin it. I was just going to say that I love you."

She shifted and something crossed her face that I wasn't sure of, but my smile disappeared. Maybe I had ruined it after all. I hadn't meant to. That certainly wasn't my intentions. But it really looked like I might have.

" Kate ?" I prompted, wanting her to tell me what was going on in her head. I hated when I couldn't read her. I normally read her so well, when she through up her walls like she was trying to do now, it was like suddenly being blinded. Like I was missing one of my senses.

" I'm not sure what to say to that." She said after another moment of silence.

" What ?" I asked, not at all sure I liked where this was heading. ' I love you, too' had always worked for me in the past and to hear her say it would be beyond bliss.

She shifted again and made a move to grab at the sweater she'd been wearing like she wasn't comfortable being naked any longer. I helped her into it, then sat there beside her, waiting for her to give me some kind of explanation.

She took a deep breath and swallowed hard. " I've never been here before." She said at long last.

" What do you mean ' here' ?" I wanted to know. She had pulled back into herself so far, I couldn't make any sense of things anymore.

She turned her body to face me and I nearly choked over the look on her face. She looked mournful, almost tearful like she had just done something she wasn't sure she could forgive herself for. " I don't think I've ever been this invested in someone other than myself in my life. I'm not sure how to deal with that." She admitted.

" Neither have I." I replied. " This...whatever it is between us is bigger than anything I've ever been involved with before." I tried to explain. " Kate, you are all I think about. Every second of my day is wrapped up in you in some way. Everything I am is somehow connected to you now."

She blinked at me and her brow furrowed. " How can you be so casual about that ? How does that not scare the hell out of you ?"

" It does." I answered. " It terrifies me. But," I slid a little closer to her and pulled her into me before kissing her. " This is worth the risk. We are worth the risk. I never imagined it could be this good between us."

The smile was almost back when I pulled away. " Spent a lot of time imagining us together, have you?" She asked me.

" You have no idea." I told her.

" So have I." She replied without the least bit of humor in her voice now. " Maybe that's the problem. Things don't happen like this. Nothing ever lives up to your imagination. It isn't supposed to work like that."

Now I was the one smiling. " So you're telling me the problem is, it was too good."

She punched my shoulder playfully and I relaxed a little. If she was willing to joke about this I had a chance of making it all alright. It was when she got serious that it became a problem.

I decided to try again to make her see where I stood with this, with her. I needed her to understand. "For the first time in my long and complicated life, I feel like I'm right where I should be. Tell me you don't feel that way, too."

I didn't think she was going to answer me she took so long to respond. " I do. You make me feel like nothing else exists beyond you. I don't know how to deal with that."

I nuzzled her neck elated at her admission. " Just go with it." I told her. " There are few times in our lives that we really get to enjoy ourselves. This is one of those times. Don't over think it and mess it up. Just enjoy it. Tomorrow will work itself out."

She leaned away from me at hearing that. " What if it doesn't work itself out the way we want it to ?"

I shrugged. " It probably won't. Life has a way of doing that to us. But one thing I can promise you," I caught her eyes with mine. " Whatever life throws at us, it won't be strong enough to take you away from me."

Something softened in her, like she physically relaxed all of a sudden. It was like watching all the air leave a balloon and soon she was sagging against me, nuzzling my shoulder. " I think I love you, too." I heard her say, though it was a bit muffled by my skin against her lips.

I pulled back. I had waited to long to hear that. I wanted to make sure I heard it right. " What was that? I think I missed it."

A blush rose up over her cheeks and she smiled and looked away from for a moment. Then she found my eyes again and I watched her tongue snake out to wet her lips. " I said, I love you, too." She repeated.

"See, that's all we really need to know. As long as we remember that, all the rest of the stuff will work itself out." I told her.

She listened to what I had to say, then nodded in response. " We can do this. We can make this work."

I chuckled as I drew her into me. " This already works." I replied as I pulled her back down beside me and kissed her again.