Bab 31: 31. Chapter 31
He wakes up when the shower cuts on, rolls over to check the time. Respectable. Not really vacation sleeping in, but it'll work.
Castle throws off the sheets and rubs the heel of his hand into his eye, yawns. He stretches his back and hears it pop, tilts his head on his neck, wincing at the twinge. If Kate's getting old, it means he's older. He likes growing old with her. Pretty awesome actually.
He grins and follows her, uses the bathroom, washes his hands, brushes his teeth. Monday morning of their beach vacation. Shopping. Ug. Shopping with Kate is like a science; get in and get out. He prefers taking his time, browsing, looking at all the cool stuff, playing with it. She shops like she's on a mission, even when it's for shoes.
But this will be for Halloween costume pieces, so maybe he'll get a chance to mess around. Plus, Dashiell goes at a store like he does, and is terribly indecisive. So this could take all morning.
The shower door cracks open and Kate calls out to him.
"Yeah?" Castle spits and drops his toothbrush into the holder, walks backward to hear her over the pounding water.
She snakes a soapy arm out to him and grabs him by the collar of his tshirt, draws him in. Her eyes are laughing at him. "Went for a run. You missed sweaty Kate."
"Damn," he murmurs and leans in closer to lick the corner of her mouth, drag his teeth over her jaw. She shivers and the billowing steam from the shower envelopes him. "But soapy Kate is equally good. Less dirty, but a lot more. . .slippery."
"Get in here, Castle."
If it weren't for the rough and ragged need in her eyes, he'd think she was simply issuing another command. Instead, he can see it for what it is. A plea.
He'll do anything in his power to answer that need.
"Ella's asleep and so is Dash," her husband says, coming back into the bathroom.
Kate glances over at Castle in the mirror; he's got his eyes on her. She twists her wet hair up off her neck and wraps it with a rubber band. "He was awake and watching tv when I left for my run. Asleep when I got back. You want to let them sleep some more?"
"Yeah. You don't mind?"
"We can hang out on the balcony," she grins, her body still humming from the shower, or maybe from just being a little less burdened this morning, a little more free. Happy again. She's got to remember this for next time. Because there's always a next time, another battle to fight.
"Yeah," he says slowly and drops his hand to her shoulder blade, caressing the ridge of her bone, leaning in to press a kiss to the trapezius muscle. "Sounds good. You want breakfast?"
"I had a power bar before I left. I'm good. You need something?"
She sees his eyes darken, stormy oceans and remembered passion; his head dips again and brands the skin over her spine with an open-mouthed bite, tongue coming out to play. She arches, unable to stop herself, captures the back of his head with her hand on a gasp.
"Castle."
"Mm. Not that hungry."
"Like hell you're not," she retorts, the breathlessness taking all the heat out of her words. He tugs her hips back into him and starts a slow seduction of her neck, pushing her gently into the edge of the sink so she can stay standing.
Her breathing is ragged in seconds, but she lets him be the aggressive one, leaning back against his chest and waiting for the moment it becomes too much. He keeps it slow, builds her need in the firepit of her body, one cord of wood at a time, layering the logs to create the best flame. Just when it feels like he's built it too high, too thick and wonderful, he slides his hand down and sets alight her whole being.
The lounge chair on the balcony is decidedly cramped, but there's no way she's letting him get away from her now. He keeps grumbling about how he thought he'd married the one woman in all of New York that *didn't* want to snuggle, but she can't even move to get him for that. She has one earbud in while he shares the other one, as stupid and ridiculous as it is to be sharing an ipod, and the music washes over her, keeps her body calm.
Castle shifts. "My arm's falling asleep, Beckett."
"Stop whining. This is what you've always wanted," she murmurs, her mouth against his shoulder. His cheek comes to rest against the top of her head, belying his complaints, and his other hand drifts slowly up and down her bare thigh.
Air conditioning swirls through the open sliding doors and drifts across her toes; she curls her knees up a little and hums low in her chest to the song, something about summer sun and dancing in high heels and the best ones. Catchy but not amazing. Castle's music.
"I can't feel my fingers."
"You're getting crotchety in your old age," she mutters, lifting her head slightly to press her lips to his jaw. Entirely without heat because she can't even move, let alone generate enough heat to do anything about shutting him up.
"I am. I know. You've rubbed off on me. And it's hot out here."
"The breeze-"
"Not enough when you've got a hundred pound woman lying all over you. A smoking hot-"
"Only a hundred pounds? You're way off Castle."
"Not way off. There's no way you're in the 90s. That would just be-"
She laughs and dazzles him with her best smile, lifts up to press her lips to his. "That's cute. Disturbing but cute."
"How much *do* you weigh?"
"Don't know for sure. Somewhere around 130. I think. I dropped too much after Dash, but gained some after Ella."
"Oh. Well. Yeah. Okay, not *way* off, but obviously I think your body is perfect and I love how it fits up against me, but Kate. Jeez. You're crushing my arm."
She sighs and slides off of him, letting him have his right side back, but then she nudges her knee into his left thigh and settles in on the other side. Because she can. Because she's spent five years listening to him mope about how she never snuggles, never cuddles, isn't very girly at all, and she's going to get in as much as of it as she can now that she wants it.
He groans but shifts over, his previously crushed hand coming up in front of them and flexing in exaggeration. His arm struggles under her for a moment, then wraps around her, fingers curling at her hip. His lips press suddenly into the crown of her head. "I love you. You know I love you."
Kate grins into his shoulder. "I could tell. You're not very good at keeping secrets."
"Sometimes I think we just go through this side by side and don't ever really look at each other. How could I not have seen what happened-"
"Castle," she chides and lifts her chin to gaze at him. "We're good. Even when we're not good, we're still good. You know?"
He nods, but his eyes are that concerned and careful blue, the blue of waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"I'm good," she says finally. "I deal with things differently, but it comes back to you." She doesn't have his words, but she doesn't need them. He gets it; he gets her. He always has. From the beginning. "It's fate, right?"
He rolls his eyes in his best imitation of her; she pulls the earbud out of her ear and lifts up again to kiss him, a little slower, a little richer. Trying to prove something she knows she doesn't need to prove. Can't hurt though.
His hand cradles her face as they pause, his forehead tilts forward to rest against hers. "I thought of a plan."
She huffs a laugh. "Infamous last words."
"Hush. My plan is this. Today we observe, gather date, do some digging. Then tonight, you and I sit down and tackle the Ellery problem."
"Problem?"
"The not talking. We'll figure out how to fix it. What's going on in her head. Why yesterday? Why not other times? It'll be our first mystery to solve together since-"
Kate bites her lower lip and silences him with a quick kiss. "You're a very sweet man."
He looks at her, speechless, and blinks.
But. The things he'll do for her, to help her, even if it goes against his nature. To analyze their daughter's behavior and profile her like they would a case.
"Actually. Yeah. That. . .sounds really good," she says finally. Because having any kind of game plan at all. . .it helps. It does. And that Castle knows that? That also helps.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone