Ok I'm back. I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this one as much as I am. It's seriously fun to write. Anyhow, here's the next installment. Keep the reviews coming so that I have incentive to write more, because seriously, they push me to.

I still don't own Castle.

After his proud declaration of his apparent sexual prowess, Castle had subsequently collapsed next to her on the bed, still panting heavily, leaving Kate staring up at the ceiling in shocked horror in light of her recent revelation.

Ok, deep breaths…in…out…in…out…nope not working. This can't be happening. This seriously can't be happening…ok, let's forget about the ridiculously good sex I just had with him for a moment and concentrate on how the hell we ended up together in bed this morning in the first place. Right, ok, we finished up the Davidson case and then Castle asked everyone if they wanted to go get a drink at the Old Haunt. Ryan had to go see Jenny and Esposito had a date, I tried to weasel my way out of it but couldn't think of an appropriately suitable lie at the last minute and Castle used the puppy dog eyes so I gave in. We went to the Old Haunt, had a few beers, got slightly buzzed, and then…oh…right…he challenged me to a drinking contest, which has apparently resulted in me losing all memory after that.

Right… we ask then.

"Castle, just what the hell happened last night?"

And there it was; the question that pulled him back into the cold, cruel world that he had gone on vacation from to his fantasy land where Kate called him Rick and was actually willing to make physical contact with him. Ah well, all good things must come to an end, and on the bright side she hadn't bolted out of the bed yet, which meant that she was still in the bed, which meant that she was still naked…oh goody!

He turned his head to look at her. She was still breathing heavily, and she hadn't pulled the sheet up over her yet, which meant she was currently lying on his bed, naked and panting after a bout of sex with him…he honestly didn't think he had ever seen anything nearly as sexy as she was right now. And to top it all off she was doing the Beckett glare, the one that he went out of his way to annoy her to see because it was just so damn hot!

He had two options for his course of action in this situation. He could be apologetic and cowering in the name of self preservation, or he could throw caution to the wind and take full advantage of the current situation.

Oh it wasn't even a choice.

"Well, my dear Detective Beckett," he said, turning on his side to face her and propping himself up on one arm, "I'm not exactly sure what happened last night, but if it was anything like what happened this morning I would really," he wrapped one arm around her midriff and tugged her across the bed and into his arms, "and I mean really, like it to happen again." He accompanied this with his trademark grin, adding a wink for good measure.

She was speechless. Whatever she had expected him to say, that had definitely not been it. Yes she had entertained the very likely possibility that he didn't remember the why and how of the current location together but she certainly hadn't expected that. What the hell was going on here? As far as he was concerned they were both in relationships because she had yet to tell him that she and Josh had broken it off a couple weeks ago after yet another fight about him. He was currently acting completely out of her comfort zone and she had been thrown completely off balance.

And why the hell was her heart suddenly pounding all of a sudden? It couldn't possibly have to do with their close proximity at the moment because she simply wouldn't allow that. No. She was not permitted to like Richard Castle, it was against her rules; the rules that she had laid out for herself when they first started working with each other; the rules that she had adhered to throughout all the cases and tense moments, throughout all of the times that he had slipped in under her radar and gotten to her like no one else had ever been able to before.

Through it all she had stuck to her rules, because they were all she had against him, and if she gave them up then she became defenseless. And that was terrifying. She couldn't be defenseless, because when you're defenseless, you get hurt…and if she was hurt anymore she was going to break. She knew that, and that was her biggest secret of all. That was the one that she kept in a padlock safe protected by iron, steel, and diamond walls with a laser cut key that couldn't be copied.

He was staring down at her, looking at her like he wanted to devour her entire being, and at the moment she was inclined to let him. But she couldn't do that, so she used the only weapon still in her arsenal, a direct line to his conscience.

"What about Gina?" At that he stilled, but rather than pull away from her all he did was tug her closer, dipping his head to lap at her neck as he ground himself against her.

"If that's all you're worried about," he paused for a moment to nip his way up to her ear, "stop, because we broke up a month ago."

She gasped, at both the information and his current actions that her body seemed to be unwillingly to oppose. Ok, so, no Gina, well she still had Josh to work with.

"Then what about Josh?" He didn't even pause this time, just continued to make his way down her jaw and back down her neck to begin work on her collarbone.

"You guys broke up 17 days ago. I'm surprised I have to tell you that, I didn't figure you for the needy type."

Oh great, he was even being cheeky now.

"How the hell did you know that?" She hadn't told anyone other than Lanie, who had sworn under pain of death not to tell anyone else, and she knew that she had kept that promise. So how did he know?

"You," he paused for a moment to run the flat of his tongue across her breast, "started smelling like cherries again 17 days ago. You didn't while you were dating Josh."

She looked down at that, straight into his eyes as he stared back at her and she realized something.

He had the key.