章 48: 48. Chapter 48
Kate leads him by the hand down the hall, through the kitchen and living room, to their bedroom. Castle's mouth comes to rest against the back of her neck as she opens the door; she has to stand there a moment, eyes closed, as his lips trail down her spine, wet and warm.
His hand untangles from hers, slides around her waist to rest along her hipbone. His fingers slip between her jeans and and her skin, gently pull her back against him.
Kate sighs, the tension curling in her stomach. So it'll be slow and sweet then. She's in for some delicious torture, she can already tell.
"How about a bath?" he murmurs then, his teeth nipping her trapezius, making her shiver.
"A bath?"
"I never showered after the beach with Ella. You can wash my back-"
She chuckles and slides her hand down his arm, tugs his fingers out of her pants (even that makes her skin tremble). She turns and meets his eyes, the amusement and arousal dueling in those depths. "All right. Bath time."
Castle grins and squeezes her hip, moving her aside so he can get past her. Kate laughs and watches him head eagerly for the bathroom; she turns and shuts their door, locks it. She hears the water running but she's pulling off her jeans when Castle comes back for her.
"Almost ready?" she asks, lifting her shirt off.
"Stop, stop. Let me do that."
She pushes him away. "I let you do this and it'll be ages before we get to that bathtub. I know exactly what you want, Rick Castle. At least in the tub I can get to you too."
He laughs, eyes almost disappearing with the lines of mirth across his face. "That's what you think."
Kate steps closer and hooks her leg around the back of his knee, tugs. Castle dips, but stays standing, a hand coming to her shoulder, sliding under the strap of her bra. She knocks his hand away.
"Clothes off, Castle. In the tub. Then we do it your way."
Mmm. He loves this. The long length of her legs framed by his, his back against the sloping side of the jacuzzi tub and her back against his chest. Castle trails his fingers from the top of her thigh, over her hip, the soft line of her side, the curve of her breast, her shoulder. Her chest rises and falls, disturbing the steaming water, ripples moving outward from their bodies.
Her hands squeeze his thighs again, hips lifting when his mouth sucks on the downward slope of her neck. A little sigh from her lips that drives him crazy, pushes him forward when all he wants to really do is torture her, slow and long and tender. Make it good.
She's long stopped protesting, long stopped asking him to hurry, to move. She's even given up on taking matters into her own hands (so to speak). She just shivers and twitches and cries out softly. There is something so incredibly sensual about Kate Beckett's helpless and wordless moans - even while he sees that something dark and dangerous in her eyes, promising her own revenge.
He can't wait. For now though-
Castle slides a hand through her damp hair at the back of her skull, revealing that tender spot behind her ear. He licks the skin and she mewls, thready and needful, her breath catching. Castle lowers his mouth to that spot, works at making her fall apart.
Her hands move then, sliding along the tops of his thighs, her hips pushing back. But he won't be distracted, can't be diverted. He wants this more than his own needs, wants to will her body to pleasure.
"Castle," she whispers.
He doesn't answer, trails his lips to hers though and meets her tongue, her breathless and greedy mouth.
The water keeps her too light, too buoyant for her to do any real damage to his concentration; he uses it to inflame her skin, to draw delight every place it touches. She raises her hand and clutches at his neck, fingers tight in his hair, her hips lifting as if she can't stop them.
"Don't tease," she groans, her eyes meeting his with such a blazing and intense neediness that he gives in, gives her what she longs for.
"I love you, I love you," she gasps.
She just-
She can't move. Can't think.
He carries her to bed in the huge bath towel and pulls the sheets up, lays carefully at her side, stroking his fingers over her cheek. Kate opens her eyes and slides her arm up to let her fingers curl around his neck. Castle takes it as permission to move in closer, press a light kiss to her mouth.
Even that is almost too much. She doesn't even know if he - if he even -
"You good?" she murmurs, trying to struggle through the raw weariness that blankets her.
He laughs and kisses her again, harder but with less sensuality. Better. She can handle that.
"I'm more than good. You got a little. . .caught up there, didn't you?"
"Shut up," she murmurs, but her eyelids are too heavy to hold up. She's not sure how he manages to completely unmake her, but it's so good. So very good. Intense. She's having trouble finding words. Or sense.
"You okay if I hold you?"
She opens her eyes, blinks. "Yeah. Just."
"I know."
Castle wraps his hand around her bicep and tugs her against him; she slides along the sheets easily, but curls on her side without prompting. At least she can do that. Castle lies at her back and wraps both arms around her, crushing her into a hard embrace that allows her to find herself again.
Kate sighs, ducks her head to press her mouth against his bicep. He flexes, which makes her laugh, but she can feel the hard press of muscle against her lips, and that helps as well. The humor pulls her together.
He utterly devastates her. Just completely.
"You've ruined me," she says, then sinks her teeth into his bicep.
"I think maybe Dash gets his sensory issues from you. Ouch. Let up, Beckett."
She licks the teeth marks she's left and wriggles into him; he squeezes tighter and she settles down. "It's your fault. You did this to me."
"You weren't complaining."
She turns in his arms, on her back now, gives him an eyebrow. "That's *all* I was doing. Complaining."
"Sounded more like breathy little moans and whimpers to me," he says, his voice that rough, ragged thing that seriously does damage to her insides.
"Don't start that," she sighs, closing her eyes. She feels him drop kisses on her eyelids and the side of her nose, his body settling on top of hers. "I really can't. I can't, Castle. Seriously, I won't survive-"
"You'll survive. I got you," he murmurs, soft, his hands firm against her skin.
She feels her body respond, entirely without her permission, can't help clutching his shoulders as he kisses her skin. He rubs his cheek against her stomach and bites at her belly button. The rough edge of his jaw, the hard press of his mouth gives her something to hold on to, something to orient herself around.
He's got her; he really does. He knows exactly how to string out her body, how to do this. Like those Russian nesting dolls, one inside another, the beauty of it revealed one need at a time.
Castle laughs when she says it again, sighing it into the pillow. "Love you too, Kate."
Her eyes remain closed; he traces the line of her cheekbone with his finger, his hand at her jaw as they lay facing each other in bed. This is the only place he touches her, just here, letting her recover on her own.
He's pretty worn out himself; his back popped strangely that last time and he probably should avoid doing it like that again.
"Oh, damn," she mutters, dragging her eyes open. "Door's locked. Gotta unlock it."
"I got it." He stays her by pressing his fingers into her jaw; she slumps back to the pillow, eyes closing again.
Castle slides out of bed reluctantly, tugs on his boxers, heads to the door to unlock it. Something makes him open the door, some strange instinct, and when he does, he sees both kids sitting in the floor at his feet, looking up at him in surprise.
"Clothes, Kate," he throws over his shoulder, then squats down to brush a hand over Ellery's hair. "What are you two doing up?"
"Ella wants to go to the haunted maze," Dashiell says, tilting his head into his hand. "And we want to wear our costumes."
"Well, okay, but it's rest time right now." Castle glances over his shoulder and sees Kate struggling under the covers, apparently trying to put on her pajamas. He laughs to himself and turns back around to the kids. "Can you wait here a second?"
Dashiell gives him a strange look, turns to Ellery. Ella shrugs.
Castle stands and pushes the door shut a little, heads back to the bed. Kate is scraping her hand through her hair, head back on the pillow, eyes closed. "Kate? You decent?"
"No." But she nods, opening her eyes, and flips the sheets back. Tshirt and shorts, the red flush still on her skin, her eyes drowsy and sated but coming back to awareness. "Kids out there?"
"Yeah. I think they're kinda excited about the haunted maze."
"Bring 'em in here then," she sighs and sits up a little. "You're so getting this back, you know that? As soon as I can think straight, you're in for it."
He laughs, entirely looking forward to it. "Uh-huh. Promises, promises, Kate."
Castle leans over and kisses her forehead; she pushes him away with a little laugh and he heads back to the door, grabbing his tshirt from the floor and pulling it on before letting the kids inside.
"Hey, everyone in the big bed," Castle says, reaching down to lift up Ellery. She pats his chest and twists around to see Kate.
He drops Ella on the bed and she bounces, giggling, while Dashiell climbs up and scoots in close to his mother.
"Hey, get my ipad, Castle. We can watch a movie until Allie's on skype."
"We gonna talk to Allie?" Dash says, curling his arms around Kate's middle, leaning his head against her shoulder.
Castle goes back out to the kitchen and grabs the ipad from the counter. When he brings it back in the bedroom, Ella is lying partly in Dash's lap and partly in Kate's, her hands up and playing with her fingers. She catches sight of him and sits up, clapping for the ipad. Castle laughs, sees Kate rolling her eyes as she reaches for it.
"All right, cricket," Kate murmurs. "Let's watch 'The Incredibles' while we wait for Allie."
"Did you text her?"
"She said she's nearly home." She glances up from the ipad, tilts her head at him with a little grin. "Why're you way over there? Get in the big bed, Rick."
He grins back, crawls into bed with his wife and kids, giving her a smacking kiss on the cheek. Her hand lifts from the ipad and scratches the hair at his temple in greeting. The grey hair. Point taken. Still, he did just completely scramble her, didn't he? Counts for something. Even with grey.
Castle lifts Dashiell bodily so that he can sit beside Kate. Ellery is down by their feet for some reason, crawling back up as Kate loads the movie. Castle wraps an arm around Dash and the kid leans his head back against his father's chest.
"Okay, who wants to go first?" Kate says, the movie beginning to play.
"ME!" Dashiell jerks upright, reaching for the ipad. "Me first. I'm oldest. It's almost my birthday."
Ellery stops at their knees, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. Castle laughs, can't help it, and Ellery's lip sticks out.
Kate hands the ipad to Dash and reaches down for Ella, pulling her up with them. "You can be next, cricket."
She huffs out a breath and turns to Castle, arms out for him instead. He gives her a look; she knows good and well that Dashiell is in his lap. She's trying to kick him out.
"Daddy's got Dash," Kate murmurs. "So I need my little girl to sit with me."
Ellery's face lifts into pleasure, turning back to look at her mother. "Me?"
"Who else?" Kate kisses her cheek and wraps her arms around Ella, her lips moving against the girl's ear with some secret and causing Ellery's face to break out in a huge smile.
Castle shifts Dash just a little bit so he can pull Kate in, bringing Ellery with her. Dashiell holds the ipad carefully, the movie drawing both kids' attentions. Dash gets to hold the ipad first, and in ten minutes or so, Ella will get to hold it.
After a moment, Castle feels Kate's fingers at his waist, brushing his skin. He glances over at her, sees the smirk on her face, and narrows his eyes at her. Does she thinks she's gonna do this now?
She grins, then leans in and presses her open mouth against his neck; her teeth scrape his jaw.
Castle gets his arm out from between them and curls it around her neck, keeping her there for a second so he can kiss her. Her mouth is warm and sweet, her hand slides up his back. Her nails lightly trail on his skin. Not her best effort, he has to say. Maybe because of the kids. Maybe because she's still trying to get it together.
When she pulls away, he loosens his arm, watches her a moment, then grins at her. "Still ruined?"
She laughs a little. "For anyone else maybe."
"That was my evil plan."
"I love your evil plans." Her fingers lift to brush across his lips, her smile widens when he kisses them.
"I love you," he says finally, taking a long, deep breath and palming her cheek. Sexy as hell Kate Beckett, so responsive to every little touch, falling apart at the slightest play of his fingers, fierce and loyal and in love with him. And somehow here they are.
She leans in, her mouth to his ear, and he has a flash of all those times she whispers to their kids, settles them down, calms with with whatever magic comes from her mouth.
"Castle?" She pauses to kiss his earlobe. "You're my-"
Her phone chimes and she pulls back, glances at the display. "It's Allie. You guys ready to skype with your sister?"
Damn. He almost got to hear it. He was that close.
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