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Beautiful, she was so beautiful, Castle thought and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. From the dark curls framing her face, to the swell of her breasts, over her flat stomach and down her seemingly endless, toned legs she was pure perfection. Her pale skin flawless, and yes, he wanted to touch her, wanted to … he just wanted her.

It's not like he hadn't noticed it before, of course he had, he wasn't blind and even if he was he could not have denied Kate Beckett's hotness. Hell, he had fantasized, dreamed about her ever since their shared night, couldn't get her out of his head and not only for pure innocent reasons. But for the past two months he had strictly forbidden himself to see, to even think about her in that way and he had mainly succeeded because there had been so much more at stake. He had been too scared to ruin things with her and Jamie to give into his attraction towards her or to even allow himself to acknowledge it.

So he had just seen her as Jamie's mom, but they say the exception proves the rule, and of course there had been moments, mainly at night, when he hadn't been able to keep away the images and those more than friendly kinds of feelings towards her.

And it seemed as if now, as all those boundaries they had both set up were fading away, he could allow himself to acknowledge that she was not just Jamie's mom, just like she had never been just a one-night-stand.

He must have not been too subtle about his leering, because when he looked back up to meet her eyes, he noticed her flushed cheeks. He thought she looked uncomfortable under his peering eyes but maybe just a little bit pleased as well, he couldn't be sure. But before he could do anything about it, she dropped her bathrobe to the chair next to her and quickly moved over to the edge of the pool, goose bumps all over her body, as the chilly autumn air hit her skin. She turned around once more and now there was definitely something like a tease shining in her eyes when she said, "You coming, Castle?", and then she dove head first into the pool leaving him speechless, because he would be damned if Kate Beckett hadn't just flirted with him.

He stood, rooted to the spot like an idiot for what felt like an eternity, watching her resurface, her now wet hair even darker than usual as she crossed the pool in long, strong, elegant strokes to join Alexis and Jamie at the other end.

God she was sexy, he gulped down some air, there was definitely not enough of it in his lungs as his fingers ran feverishly over his face to gain some sort of composure, because judged by the intensifying twitching in certain parts of his body as his blood was steadily and rapidly moving south, this could get embarrassing real quick.

Thankfully Jamie's loud shrieks, followed by Alexis' laughter helped him to sober a bit and so he hurriedly got out of his bathrobe, deciding that a jump into the pool was the best way to cool him down or at least hide what was going on down there.

Kate was still grinning from ear to ear as she pulled Jamie and Alexis through the water around her, each girl hanging on one of her hands. The look on Castle's face right before she dove into the pool had been priceless. It was obvious that her ambiguous question had totally caught him by surprise, but he had started the innuendos, earlier in the kitchen, talking about sticky, sweet, hot things and it suited him just right to be the one on the receiving end for once.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him finally set into motion as he struggled out of his robe to join them in the heavenly warm water and she would give it to him, swimming in a heated pool, the chilly mid October air surrounding them, was pretty amazing.

The grin on her face vanished quickly though when he walked towards the edge, her eyes coming to linger on his broad chest, the small amount of hair that she couldn't see from where she stood, but remembered was there nevertheless, his taut stomach and strong arms and a wave of memories of his strong, yet soft body moving over and under her hit her hard and fast. She knew she was blushing, acting like a horny teenager.

Swallowing hard, she watched mesmerized as Castle entered the pool the same way she did, head first and only seconds later he was standing right in front of her and Kate just hoped it wasn't written all over her face just how turned on she was.

It seemed that ever since Alexis' birthday they had kicked down some kind of invisible frontier which suddenly allowed them to see each other as more than just Jamie's parents. Because she couldn't deny that she was attracted to him, at least not to herself, and to be honest she'd always been. Nights filled with hot dreams about him, them – had been proof enough of it. It was more than pure physical attraction though. She had gotten to know him over the past weeks and besides his undeniable good looks she had discovered the sweet, loyal man behind the playboy persona. Even more so, she was slowly understanding that this playboy persona that had had her worried for so long was nothing more than an act.

But while this new openness between them made her feel all kinds of things she hadn't felt in a very long time, it also scared the hell out of her. She wasn't foolish and she knew that whatever was going on between them could be very dangerous.

He grinned at her, his eyes sparkling, oblivious to her train of thoughts and then he reached for Alexis, lifting her up into the air and throwing back into the water.

"Dad!" She screamed, before going under.

"Castle," Kate looked shocked, staring from him to where Alexis had disappeared, but he just shook his head.

"She loves it," he smirked, "already planning her counter attack."

And then Alexis was jumping up behind him, her arms coming around his neck, her legs sneaking around his waist as she pulled him back. Kate knew he was playing along because there was no way that a featherweight like Alexis could bring a man like Castle down.

With a shriek both Castles went down and Jamie was giggling so hard that Kate had trouble holding on to her.

Castle and Alexis came back up for air, laughing and Jamie held out her arms for her dad, obviously wanting to be part of the fun.

Whispering something into Alexis' ear he moved over to take Jamie from Kate who narrowed her eyes at him, he clearly was up to something.

And then she felt it, the arms and legs flying around her neck and hips to pull her down and with a very un-Beckett-like shriek she went under.

Alexis was the first to come back up, looking around for Kate who was still under water, but before she could locate her, Alexis felt something tugging on her leg and shooting her dad one last anxious look she was gone.

And that's how it went on for the next couple of minutes, Kate and Castle alternatively entertaining Jamie while the other tried to outwit Alexis, which was not easy. Alexis was a good swimmer and she was quick, so she got the drop on the adults more than once.

But despite the heated pool, it was getting cold and late and so Castle was the first one to get out of the water to get their robes to help first Alexis and then Jamie. Wrapping them in their robes, towelling their hair and getting them snuggled in before the fireplace before he went back to hold out the robe for Kate.

She climbed up the ladder and Castle felt like he was witnessing a commercial for - he didn't really care for what, but the water drops running down her body, her wet curls and that damn red bikini framing her body … he held his breath.

She slipped into the robe, turning to face him and he had no idea what hit him, but he reached out, pulling her hair out from under the bathrobe, his fingers brushing the soft skin at her neck and she shivered.

She had no idea why she let him help her, but she didn't move as he pulled her wet curls out from under the fluffy collar and the shiver running down her spine had nothing to do with the chilly air surrounding them.

Their eyes met, neither of them able to look away, none of them able to ignore the sparks flying between them.

"Dad, we're hungry," Alexis called for him from the fireplace and Castle sighed, the moment gone.

"Thank God for children," he grumbled to himself making his way over with Kate following him.

She was worrying her bottom lip, sitting down next to the girls while Castle placed the meat and fish alongside the vegetables on the grill that was integrated in the fireplace, knowing they were playing with fire as well.

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