Chapter 3
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Tuesday
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Beckett was ready. She had stopped at a little stationary store on the way in to the precinct, picking up a stack of multi-colored post-its so that she could carry out her plan without everything she wrote today having the 12th Precinct header on it. That wasn't exactly the kind of sexy she was going for. Today, everything she did was going to be sexy, and every time she caught him staring she was going to have to work not to laugh in his face.
As an added bonus, she bought herself a cup of coffee. So when Castle arrived a few minutes after her, happily providing her daily offering, she merely held up her half empty cup, and shrugged.
"Sorry, couldn't wait."
Castle wilted so visibly that Beckett felt a quick, ridiculous tug of regret for her impromptu purchase. Castle might be an often silly man, and she needed to put him in his place a little, but he took his self proclaimed job as the keeper of her caffeine very seriously. He sat awkwardly, juggling both of their cups of coffee, until Beckett took some pity on him.
"This is almost gone, though," she said, hastily gulping down most of what remained in her cup. Castle brightened immediately, and set her replacement cup next to the one she was finishing off.
As she felt the caffeine begin to buzz in her fingertips and twitch in the muscle of her eyebrows, Beckett pretended to look over some paperwork while she gathered her courage. The coffee play seemed to have knocked the wind out of Castle's sails. Serves him right, she thought, but it meant that she would have to make the first move today. She already had, actually, scribbling a quick note onto a post-it right as he was stepping off the elevator. She just had to give it to him. She took in a deep breath, and...
"Yo, Beckett!" It was Esposito, calling from across the bullpen. "Suspect's in interrogation one!"
"Good work, Espo," she called, and glanced at Castle with her lip between her teeth. Now or never, Beckett. They stood together, but she caught his wrist and stepped close before he could head toward Esposito.
"Castle, wait," she murmured, and brushed her hands over the lapels of his jacket, standing close enough to practically feel the temperature rise between them. "You have some crumbs, here, let me." She smoothed her hands over his chest once more, meeting his soft gaze this time, before tapping pointedly at his chest.
"Crumbs?" he asked incredulously, glancing down as she stepped away. "But I haven't even had- oh."
Beckett hid her grin and pulled on her detective face as she walked toward her suspect, but she heard him when he peeled the note off of his jacket, and then heard his muttered response when he read it.
"Jesus."
I can't stop thinking about your hands.
She glanced over her shoulder in time to see him tuck the note into her desk drawer, smiling. "You coming, Castle?"
He nodded vigorously. She let him catch up to her right as they headed into the box, and she pressed the second note into his palm as they sat down across the table from their suspect.
And your tongue.
Castle spent the entire forty-five minute interrogation staring at her, lips slightly parted, eyes dark. As officers were leading out their suspect, the kid, some punk from Jersey who thought he could play the law, asked, "What is he, slow, or something?"
She ignored the comment, but caught the first movement from her partner in a long while. He scribbled something onto a scrap of paper, but it wasn't until later, sitting back at her desk, that he slid it over to her.
I can do slow and gentle if that's what you want.
She grinned. He smiled, and covered her hand with his own, his fingers warm and inviting. She hesitated, and then leaned in and murmured throatily, softly, just for his ears. "What if I don't want gentle?" His eyebrows climbed toward his forehead and the smile on his face broadened. They stared dopily at each other for far too long, until the sound of Ryan awkwardly clearing his throat brought them out of their haze.
"Uh, Beckett, sorry to interrupt..." He glanced nervously from one to the other, like a kid anxiously interrupting adults in conversation. Beckett leaned back and smiled easily at him.
"That's alright, Ryan. What's up?"
The rest of the day was a flurry of intimate glances, soft, secretive touches, and notes pressed into palms, slid into case files, and stuck to coffee cups. At closing time Kate walked him to his car, bumping shoulders and elbows, smiling behind the curtain of her hair the whole way. Castle kept up an easy flow of conversation about their day, speaking softly into her hair, and finally touching his palm to the small of her back as they slowed.
She felt suddenly shy, and that was a new thing for her. She smiled at him, but found her eyes focusing somewhere over his shoulder even as he backed her gently against the side of his car.
"Kate?" His voice was a rumble, his nose brushing hers, his hair falling forward to tickle her forehead. He waited until she met his eyes before he kissed her, long and slow. His arms wrapped around her back and held her tightly against him while he took his time exploring her mouth.
When he pulled away, he whispered conspiratorially, "Today was really hot."
A relief she hadn't known she was missing flooded through her. "So, uh, you liked it?"
His eyes widened in surprise. "Yeah, of course! You are super hot with your super hot notes and it was amazing!"
She laughed and let him kiss her again, then he was pulling away and talking about Alexis and Martha and how he had to get home to some family event. He was already gone before Beckett realized that he'd done it again; kissed her silly and left her wanting, and maybe playing hard to get is harder than she realized.
"Damn it," she muttered to the vacant garage. But she strolled toward her cruiser with a silly smile on her face.
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Wednesday
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On Wednesday their notes quickly escalated from silly and intimate to dirty and hot and oh God, Castle, don't let Gates see that! The unspoken competition between them exploded into some kind of obscene challenge, until Beckett was flush from head to toe and chewing on her lip and crossing her legs and trying to get some kind of control of herself, and trying not to imagine the thing he had just described doing with his fingers. Until she thought of more things she could write to him, and she stopped trying to keep it together.
When he found the note she'd slipped into his pocket about exactly what she could do if her hand was there instead of a little slip of paper, Castle pulled her roughly into the closest stairwell and gave up a little, a lot, of his hard earned control. While his hands were digging into her ass and his teeth were biting at the sensitive spot where her shoulder met her neck, Beckett was working hard to keep from grinning victoriously. Finally, she was pushing him beyond his limit, and it felt really good. Really, really good. Almost as good as the way he was sucking her earlobe into his mouth. The grin fell away when he rolled his hips hard into hers and they both gasped, the sound reverberating harshly through the empty stairwell.
I guess he likes the lace, she thought hazily when he rolled his tongue over the edge of her bra exposed by the indecently low-cut top she was wearing today. It's a good thing it paid off, too, because the way Ryan had been staring at her chest that morning was beginning to creep her out. Esposito had looked like he knew exactly what she was up to, pursing his lips and looking sideways at Castle. The idea made her squirm uncomfortably, and her head cleared enough that she remembered what the point of all this was.
"Castle," she groaned, unable to stop from pressing against him even as she grabbed a hold of his ears to pull his face away from her. "Castle, slow down."
"What?" He spoke the word into her collarbone, breathing harshly.
"I, we," Beckett closed her eyes and wrapped her mind around what she was trying to say. It was so difficult when his lips were still pressed against her neck. "We need to slow down. Not do this here."
"Right."
He moved to kiss her again, but she slipped out from where he'd been holding her against the wall, and gestured for him to follow as she headed back to work. He looked dazed and surprised and deliciously rumpled and frustrated.
Score one for Beckett.
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Thursday
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Castle arrived late to the precinct on Thursday, not showing up until after lunch. And seriously, Castle, a heads up would have been nice, because she had been waiting for him all day and she hadn't had any coffee at all. And she had written a few things for him that were now just stacked in a sad little unrequited pile near her elephants. And her very-nearly-see-through top hadn't really been doing her any favors without Castle there to see it. She had, in fact, had to throw on a jacket when she caught Gates sending her a disapproving frown. When he did finally saunter in, she glared at him. This was all his fault.
Castle stopped halfway to her desk and looked slowly over his shoulder, hoping someone else might be the cause of her unrest. Seeing no one, he looked back to her in confusion. He approached her cautiously, and frowned at the way her pen was stabbing into the form she was filling out.
"Everything ok, Beckett?"
"You're late," she growled.
"I told you I had a meeting this morning." When she dug her pen more viciously into her paperwork, he backpedaled. "Or... didn't I?"
"No."
"Sorry." He paused. "Are you feeling ok?"
She jerked back in her chair to direct her glowering more fully at him. Frustrated. She was feeling frustrated, and it was all his fault. "Castle, if you're going to say that I'm acting hormonal or bitchy I swear to God I-"
"No!" he interjected hastily, hands held up in a gesture of surrender. "No. You're just...uh... not yourself. And you're wearing a jacket when it's kind of warm in here, and I thought you might-"
She interrupted him with a sound of disgust, stood, and dragged him into the empty conference room. Once inside, she spun him around and kissed him, hard, rolling her body against him in a futile effort to relieve some of the incredible tension she was feeling. Then she pushed away from him in aggravation, stomping away while he stood stunned by the door. When she pulled off her jacket she could practically hear his heart accelerate. "It's your fault."
"What is?"
"This is why I'm wearing a jacket, Castle," she said finally, huffing out a harsh and unhappy breath.
"Well," he gulped, eyes darting, not sure if he was allowed to be staring at her chest right now, "I don't... how is that my fault?"
As soon as he said the words, Beckett could feel the air thicken, and the unreasonable anger she'd been directing toward him melted away. In it's wake was only the sweet, dense need and the ache of frustration. Oh, he was winning this game. It wasn't even close anymore.
She deflated, and looked at him more softly. "I'm sorry, Castle. I'm- maybe I'm just tired."
"I'm sorry I didn't mention I wasn't coming in this morning."
She laughed a little then, shooting him an embarrassed look. "Imagine telling me three years ago that I'd be mad you didn't show up at the precinct?"
He grinned. "We've come a long way." Still moving cautiously, he closed the gap between them, hesitantly reaching out to stroke the knuckles of one hand down her arm. "We've come a lot of that way in just the last few days."
Beckett nodded, and allowed him to pull her into a hug without offering any resistance. It felt so nice to be held by him after spending so much time denying herself the pleasure. Absently, she used the proximity to slip a note she had written earlier into the inside pocket of his jacket, wondering how long it might be until he found it. Wondering if it might me weeks or even months. The thought made her smile.
"Kate, if this is all too much all at once, we can take a step back-"
"No." She spoke softly but firmly. "I was just being a little unreasonable today. Not enough coffee."
"Sure?"
"Yes."
"I can totally fix the coffee problem."
And he did. They sat together in the break room while they sipped their drinks, Beckett's leg pressed sweetly against his under the table, the fingers of their free hands interlaced on the tabletop. Before long, Beckett couldn't even feel the lingering traces of her bad mood. She smiled sweetly at him, grateful for his presence.
"What was your meeting about?" Beckett asked.
"Actually," Castle said, "I really need to write tomorrow. I haven't had much time lately, and Black Pawn is getting antsy for more Heat."
As am I, Beckett thought wryly. How ironic. Nikki Heat's alter ego can't get any...
"So..."
For the length of the time it took him to stand and rinse out their mugs, Beckett thought he might be preparing to cancel date night, that would be taking this hard-to-get thing way to far, and it was a bitter tasting thing. Then he glanced around to see if anyone was watching, gave her a look that seemed to have more to do with sincere anticipation than aggressive flirting, and slid his fingers gently into her hair.
"I'll pick you up at seven."
Beckett nodded her assent and leaned subtly into his fingers, sighing when his thumb brushed across her temple. She pressed her lips to his palm in a quick kiss. Castle's capacity for sweetness still had a way of surprising her. Castle leaned a little closer, and her eyes flicked to his lips before looking back up to meet his gaze.
"And Kate?"
Was he going to kiss her out here in the relatively open space of the break room? Did she care if he did?
"Wear something like you put on the purple and pink post-it, and I'll see what I can do."
She managed to sit still and wait until his leering face disappeared behind the closing elevator doors before flying to her desk to yank open the drawer and scramble through three days worth of dirty, sexy, (love?) notes.
When she found the one she was looking for, she sucked in a breath and leaned back in her chair, one hand pressing absently against the hot flush in her cheeks. Oh, that's a good one.
Can you undo my garter with your teeth?
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A/N: Thanks for reading. :) Mistakes are my own. I'm out of town starting tomorrow, so next update probably won't be until Wednesday.