Eye of the Beholder

"Do you want to be done for now?" Kate asked after a minute. Her forehead still rested against his, lips a mere inch apart as they drew strength from each other, a shared coping mechanism that'd helped them through so much in the last two years.

Castle shrugged, seemed to be battling with himself over something. If Kate had to guess, she'd say it had something to do with his downcast mood. Obviously the last couple of letters hadn't had the most positive of impacts on his emotions.

She leaned back then, breaking their connection, because his eyes always held his deepest thoughts. As she suspected, his gaze was focused downward, and what she could see of it portrayed confusion and indecisiveness.

"We can keep going," she offered gently, one hand coming to rest on the curve of his neck and shoulder. Maybe a prompt in the other direction would help him make up his mind.

Kate knew her words had had the desired effect when he nodded, lifted his eyes to hers. "Yeah, yeah. We should."

She smiled tenderly, settled back against him, and turned her attention back to the journal, crossing her fingers that this entry was happier, would serve to cheer him up. Otherwise she'd have to resort to... other methods.

Dear Kate,

You're so hot when you're jealous. So sexy. And knowing that me being attracted to another woman riles you up like that is a tremendous turn on. It makes me want you. Badly. If it makes you jealous, that means you feel threatened by her. If you feel threatened by her, that means you have feelings for me.

(Which is a good thing. A very good thing.)

I know you'd deny it, but I saw it. It was unmistakable. I've seen you jealous before, but never like this. You despised Serena. You hated that she was there, talking to me and hitting on me. And you weren't at all subtle about it, which is how I know that her presence was affecting you far more than you wanted it to.

But I want you to know, Kate, there was really no need to be jealous. I may have flirted with her, felt an attraction to her, but it wasn't ever going to be serious. I found her interesting and knowledgeable, and I can always appreciate a beautiful and confident woman, but that was it. That's all it was. She made it quite clear she had a thing for me; even you noticed that. She told me on our 'date' that she'd been planning to ask me out. I admit, it's flattering to know that. But it didn't change anything.

I was only on that date with her because you set it up. I only kissed her because I heard you opening the door to her room and I knew I needed to distract her. Maybe I would have gone on a date with her anyway, had she asked me. Just to get to know her better, to have a nice meal. I probably even would have kissed her good night, because that's what I do after a pleasant evening. But it wouldn't have gone any farther than that, because she wasn't you.

Even kissing her felt wrong. It felt like a betrayal, because she wasn't you.

There hasn't been anyone else, you know. Not since I kissed you in that alley. Not since I realized I'm in love with you.

Even though I enjoyed her company and had fun flirting with her, it doesn't change how I feel about you. She may have had feelings for me, but my heart still firmly belongs to you, Kate.

Love,

Rick

"Do you have any idea how hot you were during that case?" Castle murmured seductively, one hand leaving its perch and finding the bare skin beneath the hem of her shirt.

"I kind of do now," Kate replied, hoping her voice sounded less breathy than it felt. She wanted to be embarrassed at how easily his words affected her but it was Castle and his words had always held extra meaning.

"You're so sexy when you're jealous."

"Oh really?"

"Uh huh," he breathed, and she shivered as the hot air feathered against her skin.

His tongue flicked out to trace the flesh of her ear and her head dropped back against his shoulder as she gave up trying to resist him.

"The way you glared at me made me want to rile you up even more, but in a different way."

"Yeah?" She raised an eyebrow teasingly, an attempt to regain the upper hand here.

"I wanted to make you want me."

"I already wanted you," she panted, the words slipping out without her permission, but Castle was on a mission and though his fingers tripped up a bit in their path across her skin, he opted to let her comment go for now.

"I wanted to drag you into an interrogation room and do X-rated things to you."

"Such... such as?" Kate asked, voice breaking as he kissed his way from the sensitive skin behind her ear down the alluring pathway of her neck and shoulder, conveniently exposed by her choice of shirt.

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I wanted to do to you," Castle uttered, voice deep with arousal, and it shot straight through her, lighting a fire in her veins. "In fact, I seem to recall having described in great detail my precinct fantasies."

"Still not happening," Kate panted as he nudged aside her bra strap, feathered his lips across her shoulder and down to the hollow above her collarbone.

"We'll see about that."

"Mmhmm," she replied distractedly.

"I wanted to press you up against the wall and kiss you. Or lay you back on the table and have my..."

Kate tugged his face up to hers, silencing him with the hot press of her lips to his. The journal clattered to the ground, completely forgotten, as she shifted in his lap so she was straddling him, pressing him into the chair while the hard lines of his body pushed back against her.

His lips left hers again, trailed down her skin, leaving a trail of wet heat in their wake. A disappointed sigh escaped her as his mouth left her skin and the hand that was behind his neck dug in, urged him back to her.

But then he was lifting her shirt over her head and tracing his tongue along the edge of her bra, and any train of thought that might have been running through her head was completely derailed by the feeling of his hands on her bare skin.

"Castle," she breathed, still undone so easily even after all this time.

Kate felt him smile against her as he nudged her back against the desk, forced his feet to take hold on the floor. She wrapped her legs around him as he stood, nipped at his ear as he stumbled over the leg of the desk chair, gracelessly carried her to the bedroom, and Kate wasn't sure which one of them was more envious anymore, but she did know one thing for sure.

Jealous sex was always some of their best sex.

Thoughts?