Chapter 2:

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The next day, Beckett didn't realize until she was passing her hall mirror on the way out the door that she had dressed for Castle. Instead of the flowing button downs she had been wearing lately, she picked one that fit a little closer. In fact, it used to be too small but she still hadn't regained the weight she lost with her shooting, so now it fit like a glove. And she slipped on a pair of jeans, not as tight fitting as they used to be, but still snug enough to show off her figure. She hadn't meant to dress for him, it was entirely unconscious.

Staring at herself in the mirror, she ran a hand self-consciously over the prominent ladder of her ribs, and the point of her hip. She shrugged to herself. Castle certainly hadn't seemed to mind last night, and his hands had been all over her. She grinned a little to herself as she smeared on a slightly darker lip gloss than usual. Then she frowned. She still didn't know why he had stopped. She never expected that he might stop once they started, and she couldn't really put her finger on his expression when he left. The best she could come up with is that he hadn't wanted to push her too hard. She grimaced at her own reflection, rolled her shoulders back, and headed out the door.

At the precinct Beckett was nervous, like some kind of virginal teenager. Her fingers were curled into the hem of her shirt and there were actual butterflies frolicking in her belly and she was grinning like an idiot on the elevator, garnering more than a few amused looks. She was giddy with the thought of seeing Castle, and more than a little anxious to show him that he didn't have to handle her with care. She would do whatever she needed to do to show him that she was ready for this. For them.

She saw her coffee before she saw him, and bit her lip hard to keep from beaming down at the cardboard cup. Fingers trailing around the perimeter of the lid, she looked around for Castle. When she saw him, her breath stuttered, and the feeling in her belly became less about nerves and more about want. He was standing near the break room, in jeans and a leather jacket, casually leaning against the wall and watching her with dark eyes and a smirk on his lips. He looked good. Really good. She smiled at him breathlessly, and half raised her hand in greeting.

"Hey, Castle." The usual words, but her voice was too welcoming and too eager for the precinct. Beckett was pretty sure she didn't care.

"Detective," Castle greeted her, still smirking.

When he pushed off the wall to saunter over toward her, it took everything Beckett had to stay still and not drop weak kneed into her chair. He was practically prowling, and he only had eyes for her. She swallowed noisily, eyebrows raised in wonder when he stepped close, trailing a hand over her hip and using the closeness of his body to hide the motion from the rest of the precinct. In the same moment he leaned a little closer, his breath puffing across her ear when he whispered, "You look nice."

She barely had time to shiver and he was stepping back and handing her the coffee she had already forgotten about. "Thanks," she said dumbly, watching his fingers drag a path up her wrist before he stepped completely away. He dropped into his chair and grinned knowingly up at her.

"So what's on for today?" he asked, the perfect picture of innocence.

The whole day was like that. One minute he was just Castle, fist bumping the boys and spouting completely ridiculous theory and then Beckett would blink and he was giving her the kind of look that made her blush and lick her lips. Or his fingers were pressing briefly into the skin at her wrist when he handed her a file, or the warm weight of his hand was pressed intimately against her lower back, or he was whispering something into her ear that was just completely inappropriate for the workplace.

By the end of the day she was on fire, twisting uncomfortably in her seat, and thinking about how now she knew what it felt like to be pursued by Richard Castle. How now she knew that the time she'd spent choosing her outfit this morning hadn't gone to waste. How he liked the way her shirt fit and how the jeans showed off the curve of her ass. She even knew how his fingers felt when they were sneaking surreptitiously beneath the barrier of her shirt to tease against her waist while she was trying to focus on whatever it was that Ryan was saying about the evidence.

Screw the evidence, she thought, flipping the file on her desk closed. She couldn't focus on it, anyway. She stretched and popped knuckles of both hands. Where's Castle?

She didn't see him in the nearly empty bullpen. She hadn't seen him since she'd gone into the restroom to splash some cold water on her face, again, and now she felt a sinking disappointment that he might have left without saying goodbye. Today of all days, she'd wanted to tell him goodbye. Preferably with her mouth. She sighed at the thought, and drifted aimlessly toward the break room and the ever present call of the coffee. The building felt empty without Castle, and she knew the coffee wouldn't taste nearly as good.

She was grudgingly filling the machine with water when she heard the voice she'd been missing.

"There you are."

Kate turned to grin at him over her shoulder. "Hey."

She turned back to her task so he wouldn't see the relief bubbling out of her at his presence. It was almost overwhelming. She wasn't surprised when she heard the break room door close, and the sound of his feet bringing him close behind her, but the thrill of his hands settling warmly at her hips still had her closing her eyes in blissful contentment. She bit her lip when he pressed a chaste but lingering kiss to the place behind her ear, nuzzling into her.

"You know I could make you some of the good stuff," he murmured.

"I thought you'd left. Figured this was better than nothing."

Castle laughed and nipped at the cartilage of her ear. "You really thought I'd leave, today, without saying goodbye?"

"Well," she smiled, "I hoped not."

"You hoped correctly." He rested his chin on her shoulder and slid his palms around from her hips to her lower abdomen, playing with the buckle of her belt and causing Beckett to arch her back and sink further into his hold.

"Castle, we can't keep doing this here." Despite her words, she covered his hands with her own to keep him there against her, to keep his arms wrapped around her for a little while longer.

"Precinct's basically empty, Kate," he whispered between soft kisses to her neck.

"Mmm," she agreed. "But not completely."

"You're right," he agreed, and touched his tongue to the shell of her ear.

She laughed and spun around in his arms, leaning back so he couldn't keep convincing her with his mouth. She grinned even as she struggled to give him a disapproving glare, and then smiled some more when she realized she couldn't fight it.

"You're beautiful when you smile like that," Castle said, then he laughed. "I mean you're always beautiful. But the smile is nice. It adds something. Oh God, that's so cliché."

He was rolling his eyes at himself, but she shook her head against his self deprecation and tapped her fingers against his chest. "You make me smile, Castle."

He leaned in and kissed her then, prying eyes be damned. It was sweet, and soft, and grateful. When he pulled away, he shrugged and gestured to an officer passing on the other side of the glass. "Sorry." But the brightness of his eyes betrayed his lack of regret.

"I'm not." She kissed him again, briefly, and linked her hands behind his neck, stroking at the short hairs there. "Castle?"

"Hmm?"

"Come back to my place tonight?"

His weight shifted subtly into her, his fingers curling at her back. "I can't tonight," he sighed.

"Oh," she said, averting her eyes to hide the depth of her disappointment.

"Oh, I know!" he said with a sudden and renewed energy. "Beckett?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go out with me on Friday?"

Beckett jerked back and raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Friday? You want to wait until Friday?"

"It's date night, Beckett!"

"But it's only Monday," she protested softly.

But Castle was already swept up in his own plans, moving around the break room and gesturing as he plotted aloud. "Oh I know a great place, and I'm pretty sure I still know the chef, and I'll get us the best table, Beckett, a night time view of the city. Oh! And after that we can..."

He continued to speak, pulling out his phone to begin making arrangements, and Beckett forced a wry smile around her disappointment. She tuned out a little, sinking into one of the hard chairs and watching him with her head resting on one hand, only catching words like romantic, vista, and carriage ride, so she almost missed it when he was saying his goodbye.

"Kate, it's going to be great, the best date night ever! But I've got to go now, so I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" He leaned down and pressed a hot, open mouthed kiss to her lips that promised to leave her aching for the rest of the night, and left.

She was stunned, and alone, and hot and bothered for the second time in as many days. He had spent the whole day working her up just to leave? She sighed. She'd never thought Castle would be the type to want to take things slow. Actually, she thought, he definitely isn't that type. She'd watched him pursue more than a few women in their days together, and he was pretty much the jump right in type. So why was he doing this now?

He'd spent the whole day working on her, teasing her, and then he pulled away right when she was practically begging...

She gasped. Oh! That son of a b...

He was playing hard to get. Rick Castle thought he had her wrapped completely around his finger and now he was playing with her. She stood up abruptly, and laughed to herself as she poured a cup of coffee.

Oh, silly man.

Two can play at that game.

And she was going to win.

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A/N: I had the chronology of season 4 wrong in my head when I wrote this, so for the rest of this piece let's pretend that Cops and Robbers comes after Kill Shot and Cuffed. Thanks for reading! Every review/ fav/ follow makes my day! :)

This is 90 percent written, just cleaning it up. Should have a new chapter on Friday.