Kate's standing in the doorway, her eyes bright, her hair tousled. And she's wearing this little black number, something short and clingy and lacy and holy shit.
"I - you - Kate?"
"Hey." There's a little, tentative smile on her lips. She pauses for a moment, bites her lip. He gets sort of - stuck on that.
"You, ah." His brain has shut down. "You look amazing."
"I'm glad you like it."
Rick tries to summon all the charming suavité he's ever written in a character but it's a lost cause. She's standing there wearing lingerie in the flickering candlelight of his bedroom and he's going to die. He's never actually going to sleep with her, because he's going to be dead.
And then she's closing the distance between them and reaching for him and her mouth is on his.
Castle wakes up in the early morning, his face mashed in his pillow. He blinks, bleary.
Her negligée is on the floor beside the bed.
He grins. Rolls over. She's curled up, her cheek pillowed on one hand, her face soft and slack in slumber.
He traces one hand very gently over her cheek, brushing the soft strands of hair out of her eyes. Kate takes a long breath, her nose wrinkling.
"Mmmph."
She rolls over and goes back to sleep.
Rick's still tired, but he stays awake for a while, just watching her sleep. There was one time, early on in their partnership, when they caught a tough case and she didn't go home. He'd stopped back at the loft, then felt guilty leaving her, so he went back to the precinct. She was in the break room, collapsed on the couch, her short hair tousled. She'd looked exhausted, shadows under her eyes, her face soft and sleep-calmed.
He'd stood there for a minute, just staring, something tightening in his chest. She looked young. So very young. And as badly as he wanted to date her, right then, he just wanted to take care of her, to be the one person in the world who would bring her food and call her at the end of a long day and remind her that she needed at least ten hours of sleep a month to function.
But then she'd woken up, all dazed and groggy and adorable, and when she'd scowled at him for watching her sleep (a new level of creepy, Castle), he couldn't stop smiling.
Because she was so cute.
So now he watches her again, watches the slow, even rise and fall of her breath, and it's just so much more than he'd ever thought it could be, ever since that first night she walked into his life and didn't want him to sign her chest.