A/N: Thank you , WolfChild65, manuxinhace, Bambi and Lianna-snow for little bits and pieces of inspiration for this chapter! Keep your suggestions coming - they might end up in my story eventually ;)

Another huge thank you and a big apology as well go out to phnxgrl. I know this is probably not what you wanted to read and you still don't like it, but I tried my best.

Please, dear readers, tell me when you think something is OOC! I know I cannot always make everyone happy, but I want to write the best story I can, as much in-character as possible, and I need your feedback and input for that!

DAY 9: Struggle

Kate was the first to switch tactics.

On Monday she came out of the bathroom just as Rick was buttoning his shirt. She was damp and hot and smelled delicious. Her body was only wrapped in a small towel, which hung so low that he could see her cleavage and had a slit so high on her leg that the edges of the tattoo on her lower hipbone peeked out. As if those features weren't enough to get him instantly hard, she was also singing an old Frank Sinatra song. Her sultry voice, coming from those kissable lips, was almost always his undoing.

He brushed past her, ripping off the shirt he had just put on, muttering an oath.

She simply grinned.

He turned the shower to freezing cold.

That's when she realized that this bet would never end if they kept avoiding the burning tension between them. She had already cheated, and she acknowledged and accepted that fact with a slight pang of guilt. It was a raw display of what she was willing to do to win this bet. Maybe she had already gone too far. It wasn't like her to keep the truth from him; their relationship was based on trust and honesty.

But she would not give in, would not break, not when he had told her last night that he'd force her to sing Lady Marmalade in the precinct and make her do whatever he pleased for an entire week if she lost.

It wasn't solely about that, though.

She had started this thing. She refused to look at his grinning face and give him the courtesy of telling her 'I told you so'.

Kate decided that it was time that Rick lost the iron control he seemed to have over his body. If she just teased him the right way, he would lose the bet - and they could have sex again. It was really a win-win situation for her.

He was only a man, after all, and damn it if she wasn't going to use it against him.

When Rick stepped out of the cold shower, the first thing he noticed was the red lacy bra that hung delicately from the door knob. His chilled body reacted to the sight immediately, just when he thought he had it back under control.

Today was going to be a difficult day.

He quickly got dressed and followed the smell of fresh toast into the kitchen, buttoning his shirt for the second time that day. He found her at the counter, humming along to John Lennon's "Love" on the radio. She wore a simple starched white blouse and was standing with her back towards him. He took in the view, appreciating her tight-fitting dark jeans and the way they hugged her curves, letting his gaze travel down her endless legs to her black four inch heels. Her open hair fell down her back, ruffled and damp, just the way it looked after sex.

To him, everything about her said 'Fuck me'.

Rick cleared his throat. "You left your bra in the bathroom…Should I…put it in the hamper?"

Kate looked up from her plate and turned her head to smile at him. A little bit of Nutella stuck to the corner of her mouth and he desperately wanted to lick it away. She swallowed the last bite of her toast before she spoke.

"No, I'll put it back into the drawer. I wanted to wear it today but you could see it through the blouse."

He raised his eyebrows, his question unspoken. She wiped her hands and mouth on a napkin and turned to completely face him, her hips leaning against the counter.

"You can't see anything, can you?" she asked, the perfect face of innocence.

Rick's eyes darted down to her breasts.

"Uh…" he stammered, his hands clenched at his sides as he fought the urge to touch her. "Uh…no" he finally stuttered out.

He had to admit that he could indeed not see anything through the fabric, but simply knowing that she wore nothing underneath that…

Fuck.

Today was going to be a very difficult day.

Kate did not hesitate to pull out all the stops.

She wore lip-gloss that made her mouth extra-pouty, and kept biting her lower lip as she did her paperwork, to ensure that he focused on them.

He didn't know whether he was only imagining it, but it seemed to him as if she stayed closer to him than usual, smiled brighter, spoke softer.

By noon he was so aroused that every time she brought her hand up to brush her hair from her face, he wanted to grab that hand and drag her into the nearest empty hallway until he could throw her against the wall and make her scream his name.

He thought back to the time when they hadn't been together yet and all of his being had ached for her. It had been a different ache, situated deeply in his soul, not his groin.

There had been no one else after Gina. He probably hadn't had sex for over six months and it hadn't been a problem. He had missed it, yes, but it hadn't been something that had consumed his mind, his heart and his body like now.

He had always suspected that sex with Kate would be spectacular. Now that he actually knew what it was like, he didn't have words to describe it. Every time with Kate felt like the first time.

Merely thinking about her turned him on, more than any other woman ever had.

He hadn't expected to get so addicted to her. He loved her with all his being; that he could understand. He hadn't expected anything less. She'd had a place in his heart long before he had ever kissed her.

But to crave her body so much that his balls turned blue - after only 9 pathetic days without sex - that was new to him.

If anyone had told him so a week ago, he wouldn't have believed that she could hold such power over him.

When she moaned sinfully over her coffee, Rick finally figured out what she was doing. He wasn't imagining things. Everything about her was full of purpose today – she wanted him to break.

'Well, anything she can do, I can do better', Rick thought and hatched a plan.

When she stood to get a refill and passed close to him, she casually dragged her nails along his sensitive neck, as if on accident. He suppressed a moan and stood up to follow her into the break room.

"Kate, you have to stop this" he told her, carefully closing the door behind them.

"Stop what?" she asked innocently and pressed a button. The soft noises of the espresso machine and the delicious smell of coffee started to fill the air.

He slowly moved in behind her and caged her body, dipping his head to let his nose brush along the exposed skin of her neck. She didn't move, but he could sense her muscles flexing under her skin. Apparently, she wasn't as immune to him as she thought.

He nuzzled her hair and took a deep breath, inhaling the smell that consistently clouded his senses.

"Stop it, Rick" she tried to scold him, but her voice was throaty and weak and didn't at all convey what she wanted to. He hummed softly against her neck and blew hot air down her back. "Rick…you're breaking the rules…" she tried again, her eyes closed and her hands clenched into tight fists. She was torn between joyfully hoping that he was going to break any minute now, and realizing in horror that she was close to breaking herself.

"How so?" he asked quietly, seductively. "My hands are not on your body and neither are my lips" he whispered and she couldn't deny him. His hands were pressed to the countertop on either side of her, but they weren't touching her body.

Rick moved closer. His heat was seeping into her like warm fluids and Kate wanted nothing more than to lean into him and rub her body against his, grind her hips into his lap to find the evidence of their teasing.

Rick in turn was counting down the seconds in his head. If she didn't break soon, he would surely do something stupid.

The buzz of her mobile phone in the front pocket of her jeans simultaneously turned her on and made them jump apart.

"This isn't over yet" he threatened as she pulled out the phone. A small nod of her head told him that she shared his opinion. She squeezed her eyes shut for just a split second, then her professional detective face was back in place and she held the phone to her ear.

"Beckett."

A/N: Sorry for all the swear words in this chapter… And sorry for the evil ending. You are allowed to look forward to the next chapter, though. It is kinda smoking, if I do say so myself. Hopefully.