A/N: Please be aware that this chapter is rated M.

Love Shack
Chapter Four

The next room is brighter, but not by much. There are candles mounted on the walls, live flames that throw shadows over the golden glow of the room. Kate instinctively checks for a fire extinguisher, because the place is just an accident waiting to happen. There are dozens of chiffon strips hanging from the ceiling, in all different colors, and the fabric sways gently as the room's occupants move. It looks like Cleopatra's palace, opulent and sensual.

But the biggest difference between this room and the last is that there's furniture here, and the couples are definitely making good use of the couches. And chairs. And tables. Kate blushes, not out of embarrassment, exactly, and looks away from the couple nearest them. Then she remembers that if they didn't want her to look they wouldn't be here. The man's back is to them, and bare. She can't help but think that he looks thin and pale compared to the man beside her. Her man. There's one last piece of furniture available, a black chaise lounge with ornate clear legs.

"You, um, wanna go save us a place, and I'll get us something to eat?" Kate asks, toying with the top button of Castle's shirt.

"Uh, sure. But don't leave me alone out there, okay?" He looks genuinely frightened, but the attendants are never far; she'll only have to leave his side for a few seconds. She watches as he goes, admiring the way his dark blue shirt stretches over his broad shoulders.

She turns to find some food and a tray passes by right under her nose. She grabs what looks like two shot glasses made from hard chocolate, filled with some tantalizingly dark liquid. She heads over to her partner. Castle's sitting on the middle of the chaise lounge, hands clasped over his lap, one leg bouncing up and down nervously, but the fidgeting stops as she walks up.

"Got you a treat."

He eyes the tiny chocolate glasses. "Good thing we ate before we came, huh?"

But instead of taking one, he plucks them both from her hands and sets them on a small marble table next to their chaise. Then he tugs on the hem of her dress so she comes to stand between his knees. She lets him dig his chin into her stomach for a second, twining her fingers through the silk-soft hair at the nape of his neck. Then she twists in his arms and perches playfully on one firm thigh. His fingers feather over her knee, then creep up to the straps holding her stockings up. She grins at the way he's so totally mesmerized by the garters. She makes a mental note to move them to her top drawer back at the loft so they can get a little more action.

"Now, where were we?" Castle asks, brushing his nose against hers. His touch is soft, light, and he keeps sliding away just when she's about to kiss him, moving to caress her jaw, the soft skin beneath her eye, her earlobe. The build-up is dizzying, but he finally tilts his face up and captures her bottom lip between his. She's instantly prying at him, forcing his lips apart, sliding into him, and he's meeting her stroke for stroke, drowning her in a hot wet tangle of bliss. She can feel him pressing insistently against her thigh. Then the hand on her knee is moving up, slipping under her dress, wrapping tightly around her thigh and squeezing. She's so lost in the kiss that her knees part for him. It's habit, or muscle memory, or both. He takes it as an invitation. Clever man.

When his fingers reach the exposed warmth of her hot hollow, he groans.

"You didn't tell me you weren't wearing anything under your garter belt," he breathes against her lips.

"Where's the fun in telling you?" she manages to pant before quickly re-attaching her mouth to the side of his neck. Besides, she wouldn't want to lose any more of her favorite lingerie to one of their escapades. Easier just not to bring anything she'd have to take off.

She gasps as he runs his finger over her, along her. Maybe it's the atmosphere, or the champagne, or just him, but her nerve endings are already buzzing, everything heightened, more visceral, more real than it's been in a long time. He doesn't linger long before pressing one finger into her - or is it two? She can't tell; it's been a while. He swirls inside her and an filthy little oh tumbles from her lips right into his ear.

"What's it like, Kate?"

She looks at him questioningly, but he moves within her again and she moans, unable to ask him what he means.

"What's it like being in a room full of people, knowing that I'm touching you? That I'm inside you?"

Fuck.

She's losing control, and fast. She clamps her knees down on his arm and takes a deep breath to slow herself down. Her unfocused gaze lands on the chocolate on the table, and she leans forward just a bit to reach for one of the glasses. She uses her thumb to open Castle's mouth, then she brings the chocolate up and lets him taste it. He hums.

"Nice?" she asks.

"Try it." He takes the other glass from the table tips it to her lips, one hand still buried between her legs. It's chocolate too, thick and dark and spicy, and laced with something alcoholic.

"That might be the best thing I've ever tasted," she purrs.

"Mmm. I know something that tastes better."

Before she can reply, he's tilting her backwards, laying her down on the chaise lounge and she's not sure where the rest of the chocolate has gone but she really doesn't care. Castle's body is heavy and warm over her. His mouth closes on hers for a hard, quick kiss, and then he leaves her, the air suddenly chilly against her face as his heat moves down her body.

He presses the hem of her dress up to the top of her thighs. The material is stretchy and forgiving, and he can get at her without exposing her to the room very much. Still, she crooks one arm over her face, hiding in her elbow as he starts to slowly lap at her, explore her, devour her, and she wonders what she tastes like mixed in with the chocolate in his mouth.

Castle licks away her ability to think. He's always excelled at this, almost obnoxiously so, but she's overjoyed to have him back between her legs. The sexiest thing about it is how much he likes to do this to her. She can tell by the humming vibrations of his chest on her leg, and by the way he presses deeper into her, like he can't get close enough.

And then he decides he needs to get even closer, so he grabs her knee and jerks it up so that her leg rests on the top of the chaise lounge. He pulls her roughly down towards him at the same time and her hair, a curled mess of waves that took an hour to do, fans out around her head. She feels wanton, and wild, and so, so very good, and people must be watching them by now. Her dress is up around her waist, but she doesn't care because her partner is back, Castle is back, and he's about to make her come for the first time in two and a half months.

She grabs her own hair with one hand and the velvet upholstery of the chaise lounge with the other when she comes. He doesn't stop, knows that even though she's thrashing and saying enough, enough, she loves that he doesn't let up, and isn't that just the way of them? He knows his cues though, and when the aftershocks are too intense to hold inside her body, she smacks his shoulder and he surfaces, grinning like a lunatic, his chin gleaming and pupils blown.

He covers her right away, and she suddenly notices the people around them. One of them has the balls to lift their champagne glass up in a silent toast, and she blushes and nods back, then closes her eyes against the room.

Castle gathers her up, letting her hide in him until legs stop shaking and her heartbeats slow. He kisses her forehead, and she almost cries with relief. They haven't gone all the way yet, but she knows now that they'll make it.

She hears Castle murmur a thank you, and at first she thinks it's to her, but then he's nuzzling his way under the cocoon of her hair.

"Kate?"

"Mmm?"

"Um, one of the freaky attendants just gave me a key. I can only assume it's for the fantasy suite. Seems like Dionysus has been watching too much Bachelor," he jokes. "What do you say? You wanna go to a private room?"

She straightens and looks at the ornate golden key in Castle's palm.

"I'd love that."