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Gone
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Chapter Six
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How far can you travel to find what is gone? AU after Boom (2x18).
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"I am so very sorry, very sorry to you both." Their host apologies for the tenth time as he leads them down the corridor, his hands waving madly about, and Kate nods, drawing her lips back in what she hopes is a pleasant enough smile. Their close-call with the metal detector continues to spark tremors along her spine - she's purposely not picturing what would have happened if he hadn't interrupted proceedings once he'd seen his favorite author being 'insulted' with the device - and the shivers pull at the lock picking tools taped to her back.
"I'm sure that precautions are necessary given your…" Letting the sentence die off, she arches an eyebrow. They know nothing about this man, or why they are being forced to break into his office, and some subtle interrogating appears to be their best option.
"What exactly are you worried about?" Castle throws his question over his shoulder as he comes to a halt in front of a rather good imitation of a Rembrandt. "Paintings like this one would be noticeable on their way out."
She curls her fingers into a fist, yet doesn't react besides this, lest she reach over to her sidekick and give his ear a decent tug. What happened to the subtle line she was trying to toe?
"Ahh, there are many things a man in Mexico City has to be careful of. Especially men like us, men with… moola? Money makes an easy target. As do other things." Holding his hands out wide for a moment, the small yet robust man bows before clapping his hands together. "And that is the tour of my humble casa. Enjoy the fiesta and please, if there is anything I can help you with, I am your man."
Hooking her elbow through Castle's, she grins, pushing gently into him. They need to escape and become lost in the crowd so they can begin plotting their next move.
A move that could cost them everything, in more ways than one.
Ignoring her shove to his body, Castle draws her in closer, his mouth brushing against her forehead as he beams toward their host.
"Thank you for showing us around. We're always looking for new ideas and décor to add to our home. Aren't we, Kate?"
His eyebrows wiggle as he tells his fabricated story, and she tightens her lips. She won't give them away, even if playing the role of arm candy is hardly her style.
"Yes. Thank you. Although, Rick, you did promise the next room would be the office."
"I did, didn't I, honey." Turning toward their host, Castle's blue eyes sparkle, his body vibrating beside her as they continue the charade, and she pretends to smother her face lovingly into his shoulder. This exchange better not be recorded or she will never hear the end of this. "We didn't see an office… What a shame."
Their host flickers his gaze to his right where a darkened corridor leads away from the main passageway in the opposite direction of the festivities and the loud music pulsating through the walls.
But Castle's plan worked; at least they know where to start their search.
"No, one cannot spend time in such sad four walls while on vacation. As your leader of celebration, I must keep your minds free of such burdens and fill your hearts with love, dance, and margaritas. Shall we?"
Right. Party first. Breaking and entering later.
Now they just need a plan, one that won't leave them in a Mexican jail and Alexis abandoned to their kidnappers.
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"This isn't exactly subtle, Castle. What if someone sees us away from the main party?"
Grinning as he grips Beckett's elbow, he scans the junction where the three passageways branch off into different directions.
"We'll just tell them that we were searching for a bit of privacy." He dances his eyebrows like caterpillars, dropping his eyes to travel the length of her body slowly, and her fist thumps into his chest.
"No one's going to believe that. You've been watching too many spy movies. Bad spy movies."
He shuffles them across the gap and into the shadows that darken the corridor they require, his fingers curling around her arm until he can slide his thumb along the smooth line of her inner wrist.
"Beckett, trust me when I say that one look at you and they'll believe I needed a quickie."
Loose strands fall across her face as she ducks her head, but the shade of pink shines through before the semi-black swallows them, and he can't stop the smirk.
Can't stop it any more than he can stop the way his own blood rushes south. The image of what it would be like if this were real, if they were truly sneaking off for a romantic interlude, causes his heart to squeeze at a much faster rate.
If only.
Pulling her arm free, Beckett approaches the first door on their left, the handle moving easily as she tugs down, and he flattens himself against the wall, waiting behind her.
"Storeroom."
Her whisper is a little anticlimactic and strolling past her, he explores further along, stopping when he spots another door handle in the dim light. The beginning of the passage is several yards from them now, and their only source of illumination is dwindling with every foot they walk.
"Beckett."
He angles his head toward her, but she's disappeared and panic roars through his veins. What the fu-
"Castle."
Running back to the storeroom, he stops himself just short of slamming into her as she exits, a small lighter in her hand, and the breath that leaves his lungs is audible. Damn.
"Could you not just vanish, Beckett?"
"Miss me?" The curl of her lips distorts as she ignites the flame, her features appearing to flicker, and he narrows his eyes. "Sorry, but look. Light."
"Good. And I found another door." He raises his thumb in the direction of his discovery.
"Is it open?"
Shrugging his shoulders even as she walks past him, he waits patiently - or tries to - for her to push the handle.
"I was letting you go first. You like that."
God knows he's stopped counting the number of times he's been shoved to the back of the line when they enter a building while at work.
"Why thank you, Cas-"
"¿Hola?"
Slamming his body into Beckett's, he forces them both against the wall, his arms wrapping low around her hips before he becomes motionless. If they're caught, he'll never hear the end of it from her; his plan really did have some rather large holes in it.
That, and the fact they're going to be in a shit load of trouble.
Out of the corner of his vision, there's a beam of white light, reminiscent to the one his phone projects with the right app, and sucking in a chest full of air, he shifts closer to Beckett, inserts his thigh between hers, his fingers curling into the glorious flesh that is her ass. He lifts her off the ground, ignoring the startled gasp that brushes his cheek as he uses his strength to hold her flush against him, nose to nose.
Mouth to mouth.
Understanding appears to dawn, her body falling into his hold, the elegant arch of her arms folding themselves around his shoulders, and he bends toward her lips, his gaze dropping as her tongue peeks out for a second.
Oh, wow.
He's about to kiss Beckett. About to kiss Kate. Their first kiss, and-
And no, this isn't how their first kiss should be.
Not at all.
The romantic in him cries out, thrashing from side to side while jumping on the spot, outraged that his last first kiss will be a fraud.
He's imagined this moment a thousand times, written the scene a hundred more before he was happy with how it read. How it felt. And while he will get a first kiss with the woman in his arms, it won't be like this.
It won't be a ruse. A fake.
When he kisses her for the first time it will be real. And he will absorb every sensation, love every second. Just as she will.
And he angles lower, placing his lips onto the smooth dip of her neck, his teeth finding the bone of her clavicle as he sucks at the tender skin.
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Oh!
Castle is about to kiss her, his mouth descending inch by inch, until, unexpectedly he veers away, down and toward her neck, his lips latching onto her skin.
Why didn't he kiss her?
But then his tongue and his teeth work in tandem, the heat from his mouth seeping through her pours, spilling into her veins, and her hips rock of their own accord, the material of her dress pulling taunt where it's trapped between her thighs and his pants.
Fuck.
She cuts her nails into his scalp, her fingers twirling themselves around the strands of his hair as she holds on, somehow her feet no longer in contact with the ground. His hands appear to take note of her actions and she can feel each of his fingertips against her rear, clinging as if his life depends on it.
And oh, it kind of does.
Their charade - why is this a charade? Why in the world has it taken them to be in this hell for her to have him hard against her body, his muscular thigh between her own? - needs to be convincing, and she tugs on his hair, attempts to angle his mouth closer to her own.
He doesn't obey completely though, avoiding her lips, he dots kisses along the arch of her cheek bone, his teeth nipping at her ear.
It's not where she wants him.
Why isn't he kissing her properly?
"Are we good?"
Castle's whisper floats through the dense fog that's gathering within, and she screws her eyes closed, pushes aside the haze as she attempts to decipher his question.
'Cause it feels pretty good from where she's standing.
"Yeah. I- We-"
"We're in the clear?"
He's taking a step back, the air reaching her skin so much cooler than the furnace that was his body, and a shiver breaks free, clearing the way for understanding to dawn.
Oh.
"I can't hear anyone now, Castle."
Angling an ear toward the entryway, she pretends to listen intently for any further sounds, yet, as she pushes the skirt of her dress back into place, her thighs tightening at the touch that is nothing like his, she tries to control her breathing.
Tries to remember why they are here in the first place.
Office. Listening devices. Alexis. Get home.
For better or for worse, fucking Castle against the wall is not on that list, and, pivoting on the spot, she turns her back toward him.
"Pull my dress up, and let's get this over with."
There's silence. No movement, and she peers over her shoulder, Castle's mouth wide open, his eyes like saucers fixed on her rear.
What's wrong now, damn it?
"That's not what I meant. Just grab the lock picking tools off my back, so we can finish what we have to do and get out of here."
Seriously!
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All the thank yous to the amazing people in my life who helped with this fic xoxo
And to you for reading xoxo