WOW to the new followers, thanks to my beta and for all the nice reviews. It`s nice to know you guys are out there!

ps: any XFiles fan reading this? Head to twitter, we want to get greenlight for #XF3!

Hour 60

Ok, so leaving her outside while coming here to take a shower's probably the hardest thing I've done, after allowing Alexis to go to her first sleep over. Trust me, when you become a parent you'll understand. Before that happens, never be too quick to judge.

I'll admit to it; I did have a reason behind leaving. I kind wanted to see if she'd follow. My best guess is no, for I've been in this shower for about 5 minutes and she still hasn't come in. So much for a nice good morning shower together.

By minute 7, thank you God, Beckett seems to understand my challenge and opens the bathroom door. Oddly enough though, she doesn't come in. Instead, I smell tooth paste, which tells me she's here to brush her teeth. And after the few kisses we shared at the balcony, morning breath is not her concern. Besides, Beckett-tasting-coffee is my new favourite label.

"Don't think I didn't want to join you or that your message didn't come through loud and clear. But I promised myself I was only going to have my wicked way with you tonight. And going in there, feeling a hell of a lot better than I did yesterday, would have made it impossible for me not to ravish you." She says.

"And that would have been wrong, why?"

"Because as much as I want you inside of me right now, I need you at your sharpest tonight, to make sure the guys don't kill each other. Though that could be a good motivation for you to behave…"

"And you clearly didn't think it through. How do you expect me to be at my very best, great host, trusting friend to Ryan and Esposito knowing that after they leave I'll get to have you in my bed."

"Easy. If you don't try, and by try I mean manage, your very best, then you'll be seeing me leave right after the guys, only to see me again while you pick me up to go to the Hamptons."

"And once again, you black mail me. So not fair Kate. So not fair."

"Life isn't fair."

"Fine, have it your way. But if I manage my best and the guys still try to kill each other, I'm handcuffing you to my bed until I'm done with you."

"Funny. Usually a threat makes the threatened fear the punishment. I don't see how being handcuffed to your bed has a downside for me…"

And with that, I leave the confinement of the shower stall and surprise her from behind. I place a searing open mouthed kiss to the back of her neck and I suck her tender skin until I hear her moan. I press her behind to my front and with the darkest voice I can muster I say: "And once again Ms Beckett, you're not playing fair. If you weren't planning on joining me in my morning ritual, you could have at least allowed me to enjoy a nice, long, warm shower instead of forcing me to a damn cold one."

She turns around, places both hands around my face for leverage and, bringing her lips dangerously close to my ear, she says: "And you better use a cold shower and nothing else Mr. Castle, because I expect you to be at your very best in the bedroom after being your very best in the dining room."

And with that, I'm left alone to resume my shower. Needless to say the second part of it wasn't as enjoyable as the first.

When I'm done, I go to the bedroom, find some jeans and a white button up and go searching for my temptress tease. I find her in the kitchen, cleaning up the mess of our separated breakfast. As I was yesterday morning, I'm once again drawn to her by her chosen wardrobe: I might be wrong, but I'm fairly certain the shirt she's wearing is one of my many dress ones. For the second time this morning, I decide playing with fire is in order and I place myself behind her. If you ask me, we fit from behind just as nicely as we do when hugging up front. "Shall we go shopping for more of these shirts? If we're going to be using two of them a day instead of one, we're going to run out pretty soon…"

"Is that a complaint Castle? And whatever happened to 'what's yours is mine'?"

"Trust me, that's so not a complaint! I'm just acknowledging an issue that might soon arise, meaning the lack of clean clothes. And although you'll still have plenty of things to wear, for you still have all of yours, I'm not sure the rest of the world would enjoy the sight of me shirtless."

"I beg to differ. The female population, and half of the male too, for that matter, would highly appreciate it, though I'm pretty sure I wouldn't. So why don't you make yourself useful, grab the ones that are ready to be cleaned and start the washing machine? That way we can have them ironed before we leave for the Hamptons and we don't have to worry about them when we return?"

"You mean to say you're going to iron my shirts? The drycleaners usually take care of that."

"I mean to say we can do it together. No need to pay for something when we have the time to do it ourselves. And cooking for tonight really shouldn't take that much time, right? You are, after all, a seasoned chef."

I turn her around and lean in to give her a peck on the lips. "Thank you. No one besides my mother and daughter have ever even suggested helping me do something as domestic as ironing. I love the dichotomy of sexy Beckett with tender Kate. You're going to be an amazing mother one day."

"One day. Lets go one step at a time. Dating, engaged, married, pregnant. Ok?"

"That doesn't mean we can't do a lot of practicing right?"

"Right. Hopefully, you'll behave well enough so we can start tonight…"

Wearing my most endearing it-wasn't-me face, I give her another innocent kiss and go to collect those t-shirts. Even threatened with sex-withholding, I'm not letting the chance to see Kate ironing my button downs wearing one of them herself pass.

Today is going to be a great day.