A/N: Okay, so I was confused myself, so I had to go back and figure this out. In the timeline of this story, this new chapter happens on the Wednesday morning after they left for their vacation. They left Friday night, spent Saturday at the beach, Sunday wandering the town, Monday "sleeping" together, then drove home that afternoon. I know I said they drove back Sunday originally, but that doesn't work in the time line, so I'm gonna go back and fix that chapter. Therefore, they spent Monday night together at Kate's apartment, then Tuesday night when Castle surprised her by coming back for her. They talked, and went for a motorcycle ride and the following scene is Wednesday morning. Right? I think... :-D
They were both in the bathroom, getting ready for their day. Kate stood there in nothing but a bra and panties, doing her makeup while Rick brushed his teeth, only a towel wrapped around his waist.
When the makeup was done, Kate grabbed her leave-in conditioner and began rubbing it into her hair, trying to decide what to do with her hair that day.
So, out of curiosity, she looked at Rick and asked, "Do you like my hair better up or down?" As she asked, she realized that he'd never mentioned it before and Rick wasn't one to keep his preferences quiet. So she was curious now that she didn't know the answer to this particular question.
With a hand towel, Rick wiped the last of the toothpaste off his mouth as he looked at her in the mirror, and he said, "I like both."
"But which one do you like better?" she insisted.
Rick turned to face her, leaning his hip against the counter as he smiled at her and insisted, "I like both."
"Oh, come on, Castle," she complained. "You have to have a preference." She quickly gathered up her hair and held if off her shoulders before she asked, "Do you like my hair better up?" She struck a short pose then let go of her wet hair, letting the messy tresses fall about her shoulders. "Or do you prefer it down?" She posed for him again, but he was still smiling.
"Honestly, sweetheart, I like both." When she frowned- dangerously on the verge of actually pouting- Rick reached out for her, his hands on her bare hips, and pulled her close to him. To prevent the pout- though it would have been adorable to see, especially on the cold, hard Detective Kate Beckett- Rick decided he'd better explain. "For me, it's all about the fantasy. It's all about what I can imagine doing to you while your hair is up or down." He reached behind her head and gently gathered her hair together. When he had a messy bun pulled up, he took one of her hands and placed it where his were, indicating that he wanted her to hold it for him so his own hands could return to her hips, holding her loosely. "When your hair is up, I can imagine leaning close and skating my lips over the soft skin of your neck and shoulder." Rick leaned in as he spoke and did exactly as he described. Kate shivered under the touch of his mouth on her body and Rick smiled against her skin. She was so responsive; he loved the unguarded way she always reacted to his touch. But he was supposed to be explaining, not trying to start something, so he continued. "I can imagine touching your bare skin." Again, he put his words into practical application, skating his fingertips down her neck, over her shoulder and then down her arm. "And when you're shivering- yep, just like that- I can see myself pushing my hands into your pretty hair and thoroughly mussing it up as I pull you close for a kiss." Rick buried his hands in her damp hair and Kate let it fall, choosing instead to wrap her arms around Castle's waist as he pulled her in by her head for a kiss.
The kiss didn't last very long, but Kate was breathless when she concluded, her voice husky, "So you like my hair up."
"Definitely." He began arranging her hair around her shoulders, the curled ends just brushing the tops of her lace-clad breasts. "But when it's down, the fantasies are just as good."
"Tell me," she insisted.
"Well, your hair does frame your face beautifully, only enhancing what you have naturally." He began with the most mundane, trying to calm himself a little yet increase the tension through a slow lead up. "And again, I can picture burying my fingers in your hair to pull you close for another kiss." He did so, but only a soft kiss that ended after a few seconds. "Or, I could gather up a handful of it and use it to tip your head back, so I can kiss your neck. Your collarbone... Your chest." His sweet, soft kisses travelled down from just below her jaw across her collarbone and down her chest. He placed a last long kiss over her sternum before moving away and standing up straight again, watching her face as she gazed back at him with half-open eyes. "And when your hair is down- all wavy and wild- I can picture it, fanned out across my pillow as I hold myself up over you. And we both know what that leads me to thinking about."
Kate smiled at his sexy joke and concluded, "So you like my hair down."
"She finally gets it!" Rick teased.
She laughed in a low, husky way and put her hands behind his neck to pull him into a kiss, deeper and longer than any Rick had allowed while they were still talking. But now, the talk was done and Kate's insistent tongue was invading his mouth, and then Castle was turning them and pressing Kate back against the bathroom counter.
Though Rick kissed her for a long moment, he knew Kate was supposed to be getting ready for work, so his hands behaved themselves, remaining- nearly- motionless, one on her hip and the other in her hair. Rick was just pulling away when Kate plucked at his towel and grinned at him when it fell to the floor.
"Oops," she said facetiously.
Frowning, he warned her, "Don't start something you don't have time to finish."
Kate's grin only grew and she stepped away from him, quickly shimmied out of her black lace panties and then hopped up onto the counter. Her knees moved apart and she pulled his body to stand between them, her arms wrapping around his shoulders when she argued, "We'll have just enough time if we do it fast."
It felt good to him, knowing she wanted him just as much as he'd always wanted her. But she'd never given any hint; he'd never known her true desires because she'd hidden them so completely, so now, well... He had to hassle her a little bit, didn't he? So he deepened the frown he was wearing and he complained, "You know how much I hate to rush it."
Kate was surprised enough that she just stared at him in shock for a moment. But when she studied his eyes, she saw the laughter there and knew he was teasing her. You can't tease a tease, she thought and just barely prevented herself from shaking her head at him. Kate gave him the saddest eyes she could manage- which she'd been told in the past could break a man's heart in two seconds flat- and said, "I guess we'll just have to wait all day. Until I get off work. Unless I have to work too late and then we'd have to wait all day tomorrow too..." She trailed off, looking supremely disappointed.
Rick laughed then, knowing exactly what she was dong. He wrapped his hands around her thighs to guide her long legs up around his waist as he moved his body closer to hers. He'd been ready for her since he started talking about his fantasies, so he eagerly began pressing into her now as soon as she made room for him. He found it slightly amusing that for once in his life, the sex was about speed and not about making it last, especially considering that with Kate, he preferred that every time lasted hours. His movements were fast and frenzied and he idly wondered how quickly he could make Kate come. It was like a very naughty race- one that they'd both win in the end.
Kate leaned her hands back on the counter and rocked her hips faster and faster against his. Rick watched her body moving with his for only a moment before he reached out to put his hands on her lace-covered breasts. He saw Kate bite her lower lip, and when his thumbs began sweeping over the tip of her breasts, he watched as she gasped, her mouth falling open again. Only a moment later, Kate was gasping and moaning her release and the convulsions of her body were more than Castle could take. His climax quickly followed hers and he fell against her, for the first time since they began, kissing her lips and invading her mouth with his tongue.
Kate sat up straight again, holding him close as he plundered her mouth. When it seemed like he never intended to stop, Kate playfully slapped at his naked rear end. Rick finally pulled away in surprise and she told him, "Time for work!"
"Call in sick," he pleaded, moving to kiss her neck.
She put her hands on his hips and shoved, disconnecting their bodies and causing Rick to groan.
"I'm not calling in sick," she told him firmly. Then she hopped down from the counter, sighed happily and decided, "That's one hell of a way to start the day, though." Kate quickly pulled her panties back on and then returned to business. She blow dried her bangs, glanced out the doorway to the clock in her room, decided she didn't have the time to do anything more with it and quickly twisted her hair up into a messy bun.
As he watched her whirlwind of frenzied activity, Rick dressed in the clothes he'd left just outside the bathroom. "What are you doing today?"
"Working the latest case," she said dismissively. "What about you? What are you going to be doing without me?"
"Writing about you," he answered honestly.
Kate laughed; at the moment, it felt good to be the center of someone's life. She'd never had that before and she thought it could be nice knowing that Rick was so focused on her. She just hoped the novelty didn't wear off soon and he became suffocating...
Deciding to worry about it later, she kissed his cheek, touching his still bare chest as she walked past him, out of the bathroom. Minutes later, she emerged from her closet fully dressed, a dark button down top, dress slacks and of course her killer heels. She was pulling on a gun holster when she said, "I'll text you when I'm heading home for the night, 'kay?"
"Sure." Rick turned to look at her, now fully dressed as well. "Is that your way of telling me not to text you while you're working?"
Kate smiled and teased, "You are smarter than you look." She headed to her dresser to put on the last of her cop accessories; the gun, the badge, the watch and the necklace. Some people might not include those last two in their list of accessories every officer needs in order to survive, but for Kate, they reminded her of why she was a police detective, and they gave her the strength to never give up.
Surprising her, Rick took the necklace from her hands before she could slip it over her head. He held it up and studied it for a moment, watching the light glint in the modest diamond, noting all the scratches and polished spots on the gold, indicating that it had been well worn and well loved. On impulse, Rick kissed the ring just before he slipped its necklace over her head. "Be safe," he murmured. Then he turned away to gather up his own things.
The sweet things he did always surprised her, though she figured she should know better by now. How many times would he have to prove to her that he loved her before she stopped being surprised by it, she wondered? Or before she just accepted it as fact and moved on from there. Well, it might be fun to continue being surprised for a little while longer.
Smiling as she watched Castle get ready to leave with her, she said, "Tell you what; if we have a slow moment at all, I'll text you while I'm working."
"Sounds good to me. I guess I'll just get some actual work done while I'm waiting around for you," he joked. Then he laughed out loud. "Stop worrying about me, sweetheart. I'll be fine for the day without you. In fact, even if I don't see you until tomorrow night, I will survive the separation. I may not like it, but..." he shrugged.
Well, that assessment surprised her; she hadn't realized she'd been worrying about Rick but knew that it was true when he pointed it out. How absurd, she thought. She was the one with the dangerous job; Rick's most dangerous work hazard was carpal tunnel. But she worried about him getting bored and doing something stupid or... Hell, she didn't know, she just didn't like going to work without him.
Kate sidled close to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Maybe I don't want to be without you for that long," she confessed.
Though he held his overnight bag in one hand, his free one went to her backside, caressing as he pulled her body closer. "You like me," he accused her and then kissed her, slow and sweet. When he pulled away, he smiled and said, "Kick a creep's ass for me. Oh, and have Ryan record it on his phone; I love watching you in action."
Kate laughed and led the way out of her apartment, towing Castle along by his hand.
At the precinct, Kate was sure that the guys would notice that she'd worn her hair up two days in a row. She rarely wore it up at all, so it would probably attract notice that she'd done it for a second time in the same week. And now, both men were watching her, probably trying to figure out what was "wrong." So she put on an act, pretending to be more tired than she actually felt.
"Hey," Kate called to the two detectives as she approached her desk. She sat down, sighing, attempting to look tired and droopy when she began complaining. "The new puppy kept me up all night, whining and whining to be petted." Kate had to control the grin that threatened when she wondered how Castle would feel to know he was now a "New Puppy" as opposed to the "New Boyfriend?" The rest of the story was actually based mostly in truth, which was why the puppy thing was even funnier to her. "I finally took him on a drive- you know, like some people do for their infants, to put them to sleep- and he finally stopped whining, but it was like, three AM before I was able to get to sleep."
"I am never getting a dog," Esposito mumbled.
"I always pegged you for a cat person," Ryan pondered aloud.
"Allergic," Kate explained, shrugging one shoulder. "Can't get near the little critters without swelling up, turning red, and then turning blue when I can't breathe anymore."
"You're allergic to cats, but you're not allergic to dogs?" Esposito asked incredulously.
"Weird, right?" Kate shrugged again and when she offered no other explanation, the guys began telling her about their case.
It was always fun messing with them, but she was still dying to come up with a better way to do it. Lying about having a dog just seemed lame, though she could now go home and tell Castle that he was her new puppy as far as the guys were concerned. That should make for a couple laughs in the meantime.
A/N: One of my favorite words: Facetious. It's just fun to say, and I'm so happy I was able to use it here. Yeah, I'm a nerd. Haha.