She doesn't even know who moves first. It's more just...gravity.
He's a good kisser. A really, really good kisser.
Kate sinks into him, limp, unresisting. His hand slides over her back, tugging her into his body, and she just gives in.
He's teasing, nipping lightly at her bottom lip, tracing the seam of her mouth with his tongue.
It's not what she ever expected, the hundred times she's secretly imagined kissing him. It's playful, light, tantalizing. She's sixteen all over again and they're sneaking into the school library between classes, her and the cute boy with the bright blue eyes and the smile that always told her he'd be a good kisser. Delicate little nips and caresses, his lips pulling at hers, tasting her mouth, gentle and seeking all at once.
It takes her a long moment to realize he's pulled back, his breath painting her neck. She takes in a shaky lungful of air. "What are we doing?"
"We're making out." Her cheeks burn as he steals another light kiss from her mouth, smiling against her lips. "It's fun."
"We - um - " she's having trouble forming words; his lips are feathering soft, distracting kisses down the column of her throat and it's just so distracting - "- Castle. Castle." She swallows. "Alexis. Your mother. We - should - "
"Oh. Uh. Right."
He sits back, and she immediately regrets her words. Not that she wants his family walking in on them - but - she doesn't just want it to end like th-
"We could - go to my room."
Her face must read panic, because Castle hastens to explain himself. "Not. I mean. Just - for privacy. To - we can - talk. Or keep doing th- I mean, if you want -"
He blinks nervously for a second before she can feel a little smirk breaking through her face. His eyes narrow. "Oh. Cute. You think it's funny when I get scared?"
"Yeah. I do."
She bites her lip and suddenly he's on her again, sucking her lower lip into his mouth gently.
"You have no idea how sexy it is when you do that," he husks, his eyes dark.
Her heart is pounding in her chest, an erratic tattoo that leaves her unsettled, shaking, and she's in a thousand places right now and it would be so easy. Too easy.
She needs to breathe.
So she sits back, meets his piercing gaze. "Just give me a minute." At his questioning look, she explains. "I'm just - going to go change."
Castle spends several anxious minutes telling himself she's not going to freeze. She's not going to just stay upstairs and pretend none of this happened.
He tugs on a t-shirt and pajama pants, brushes his teeth, runs a hand through his hair, and settles uneasily on the corner of the bed, because this might be stupid, maybe he pushed too far, and he might just end up sitting here waiting all night because she's not -
Oh.
She's right there.
She's leaning into his bedroom, biting her lip, all wrapped up in those too-big pajamas he secretly loves, because they make her look so soft and cuddly. So unlike the stubborn, brilliant, fearless cop he saw within seconds of meeting her. It's Kate Beckett at home, unwound, comfortable.
"Hey."
"Hey," he breathes. "Uh. You - look nice."
Her mouth quirks up in a little smile, the playful one he loves seeing on her. She smiles more now. Everything that's happened in the last week, and she can still smile. It's one of the reasons he l-
- likes her. A lot.