DAY 13: Wet

"We should really shower now" she said after a while, her fingers drawing idle patterns on his chest.

"But I love it when you're sweaty and dirty and smelling like sex" he complained, not really sure whether his legs would carry him all the way to the shower.

"You know very well that I can shower and still be dirty, Mister Castle" she teased and his arms tightened around her midriff.

"I do know indeed, Miss Beckett."

Kate let her finger brush against the hollow of his throat. "Detective Beckett to you, Mister Castle" she admonished and he growled, playfully nipping at her shoulder. She laughed and he felt as if he loved her more every time she did. If loving her more than he did right now was even possible, he added as an afterthought.

"Come on, let's go" she said and slipped out of his lap. Taking one look around the mess they had made in the kitchen, she decided that the clean-up could wait and left chocolate stains, cooking utensils and scattered underwear behind her as she made her way into the bathroom.

He sat and watched her hips sway from side to side, smiling dreamily because she was so comfortably naked in his living room. In moments like these, Richard Castle didn't have a care in the world.

"You coming or what?" she called from around the corner and he jumped up to scramble after her.

Their team work in the shower was as practiced and effective as their work in the precinct when they were building theory together. He simultaneously kissed her and soaped up her hair and while he rinsed it out she washed his chest. They switched from side to side in a delicate dance under the spray, perfected during early mornings when it would save time to shower together. If they didn't get distracted, that was.

Today they took their time. For 13 days now they had showered separately and even though they had just made love, the water added another layer to the sensual experience of skin on skin and heightened their awareness of each other.

His fingers ghosted up her sides, worshipping her body. He traced the butterfly on her lower hip. "Why did you choose this motive?" he'd asked her as she'd once told him about the spur-of-the-moment decision she'd secretly made when she was 17. "I don't know, I've always had a thing for butterflies" she had answered and smiled.

Smiling at the memory, Rick caressed the delicate figure, the shape of the little wings.

He let his hands travel over every inch of her stomach, her strong back, her slender arms, sliding against skin that had long been rinsed of any remnants of soap, just for the sake of touching her.

And although his hands steered clear of anything overtly arousing, Kate knew that the wetness between her legs had nothing to do with the water.

She returned his touch with equal tenderness, occasionally dropping a kiss to any body parts that were close enough. Kate smiled when she licked drops of water off his shoulder and he sighed.

If the obvious physical response she could sense against her abdomen was any indication, her caresses were affecting him as much as his affected her.

He took her by surprise though, asking if they should leave the shower and hop into the Jacuzzi instead. "My legs would thank you" he added and she mirrored his smirk.
"You really are getting old, aren't you?" she teased and he responded by snatching her hand and guiding it down to wrap around his swelling erection.
"Not too old though" he grinned and wriggled his eyebrows. She bit her lower lip and gave him a good stroke before turning the water off and pushing him out of the shower, where he made wet footprints until he reached the stack of fresh towels.

Rick threw one over to Kate and she caught it one-handedly.

"How long will it take to fill the tub?" she asked, wrapping the towel around her wet hair, finishing just in time to catch the next one he threw.
"About 20 minutes" he answered as he dried off his feet and legs.

"Good. That's plenty of time" she murmured as she walked past him, into his bedroom.

"Time for…wha…what did you have in mind?" he stuttered and followed her out, dragging his towel along, but not bothering to tie it around his waist.

She turned and gave him a mysterious, challenging smile. "Why don't you run up and start the water and when you come back I'll show you what I have in mind?"

Rick bolted away as if Hannibal, Voldemort and Satan himself were chasing him. He lost the wet towel at the bottom of the stairs.

He returned without it in under a minute, panting and bracing himself on the door frame to catch his breath. Kate was standing by the wall mirror, brushing her hair, a towel wrapped securely around her body.
"What…what have you…you…" he wheezed and she laughed and shook her head in amusement.

"Sit down over there" she instructed and motioned to the edge of the bed. She put down her brush and climbed onto the bed behind him. He strained his neck to see what she was doing, but she firmly put her hands to both sides of his head and forced him to turn around again so he was facing away from her. When her hands came to rest on his shoulders and her thumbs ghosted up and down his neck, she could feel him suck in a breath.

When she gently started to knead his muscles, he released the air on a deep humming sigh.

Her warm palms worked out the knots expertly and his breathing slowly returned to a normal level. Her fingers softly swept up and down his spine and she could feel him relax into her touch. "You're insanely good at this" he confessed and slightly arched his back when her hands stroked down to the curve of his ass. Inch by inch the tension and soreness left his body, minutes flying by as she massaged his back and he occasionally murmured his approval. She knew his body very well and it wasn't the first time she did this for him either. He chuckled softly when he realized that, except for one time when her massage had lulled him into sleep after a case-related nightmare, all her treatments had ended in them having sex.

It wasn't surprising at all, considering the softness of her hands and the wicked things she could do with them.

The unexpected touch of her lips against the nape of his neck sent tingles of electricity across his skin. Her hands caressed his upper arms as her mouth dropped short, light kisses all along his shoulders. When she had warmed the strong muscles of his arms, her hands swept down and intertwined with his just as her tongue slipped out to taste the skin of his neck.

"Kate" he whispered and she opened her eyes that had fallen shut some time ago. She sucked his skin into her mouth and he moaned. She untangled their hands, reached around his body and let her nails scrape along his thighs.

"Kate" he gasped again and she bit into the tender flesh of his neck, her hands brushing higher and higher on his thighs.

When she felt his head turn she suddenly pulled away, receding a couple of inches on the bed to put a physical distance between them. The half-smile tugging at the corners of her slightly open mouth, she could hide, but the gleam in her eyes spoke volumes.

"We're even now" she said and when his brows furrowed and he looked at her in confusion, she pointed to the pink spot on his neck. "You have a hickey" she revealed and the smile she had barely repressed broke free.

She jumped up from the bed and bolted for the door faster than he had time to raise his hand to his neck.

"I think the time is up" she laughed and disappeared.

"God, woman, the things you do to me!" he muttered and clumsily stood up to follow her.

A/N: This is one of those chapters again. I have no idea what to think of it. Basically, my own mind turned on me and none of the things I wanted to happen in this chapter actually happened. Instead, you get lots of stuff that I hadn't even planned on.

The ball's in your court now: Tell me whether it was good or not, pretty please. I'll even be nice and respond (if you have PMs turned on...)