This is unbetaed so all mistakes are mine :)

"Truth or dare?"

Kate spins around to face her partner, her hair fanning out like a dress as it whips around. "What?" she asks, leaning into him with her brow furrowed, confusion etched across the lines of her face.

Kate watches as his jaw works, a smirk forming ever so slowly on his lips. Flicking her eyes back up to meet his, he leans in too, a mischievous glint in his irises, but then he reaches out his hand, lets the skin of his knuckles graze her own. The muscles in her hand contract, sending a wave of sensuous spasms flowing up her arm and her entire body starts buzzing with it, pulsing with the strong desire to just touch him back, clutch his hand tight in hers. It's crazy how much she longs for the simple things in a relationship: hand-holding, lazy Sundays curled in bed, movie nights. And the thought of doing these things with Castle only makes her want them more.

Taking a subtle breath, Kate holds his eyes, flips her hand over so their palms can kiss, but instead of his digits intertwining with hers, he places something down.

"Gum?" Leaning back in her seat with a huff, she raises her brow, shakes her head at him.

"Pick one. Truth or dare?"

Looking back down to examine the pack, Kate realizes it's two sided. One red, the other blue and each side consecutively labeled truth or dare.

"I don't understand," she says, holding the pack out for him to take but he makes no move to collect it.

"The wrapper. Once you unwrap the gum on the inside it'll dare you to do something or make you confess a truth." Castle folds his palms together and lays them on the corner of her desk, leans in and speaks with that stupid sexy leer of his as he whispers, "what's it gonna be detective?"

Challenge accepted.

Kate slides a blue stick of gum from the pack, tosses it on her desk while holding eye contact with the man across from her. He watches as she purposefully pushes the stick between her lips, her jaw beginning to work over it gradually as if she's being careful with it, gentle in her ministrations. Castle's eyes go wide as he stares at her mouth, his throat bobbing when he swallows before he meets her eyes again.

The heat skyrockets, trapping both of them in each other's gravity until they both begin drifting towards one another, two stars in a galaxy ready to explode together. And Kate knows she should stop teasing, they've been dancing around each other, neither one daring to make a dangerous move, but she can't, realizes she wants this to mean something that'll get them moving forward, her signal for him to make a move.

And then he smirks, leans back in his chair.

"It's disgusting."

What? Oh! The gum.

"Yes, it is," Kate agrees, just noticing how the bitter and soap-like the mint gum tastes in her mouth. "Why did you buy it?"

He shrugs. "I wanted to play. Besides I have a different pack."

"Please," Kate holds her hand out, her mouth slightly ajar as to not chew the horrid gum in her mouth anymore. "Give me that one to overpower this one."

"What is your dare?" Castle asks as he hands over a fresh stick of gum and places it in her palm.

Kate eats the gum, sighs from relief. "I love cherry." She sticks the gross blue gum in a napkin.

"I know," he murmurs, grinning at her while she fiddles with the wrapper.

When she reads the dare written across the inside of the wrapper she panics, balls it up and tosses it at the other end of her desk.

Kiss your best friend

Castle scoffs, slams his hand down on his knee.

"You're not gonna do it? Pfft. You should've just taken one from the truth side!"

"Excuse me?" She folds her arms across her chest.

"You heard me. You're chicken."

Kate blushes, it travels from her ears to her cheeks, a bright pink flush that soon spreads down to her neck. "I am not chicken."

"Come on, Kate. Live a little."

"I'm gonna do it," she taunts, moving closer to him.

"Yeah, sure," he snorts, turning away from her so he can shake his head at nothing, as if he's on The Office, but meeting her eyes again when she exhales.

"You know what? I'll do it by the end of the day."

"How will I know you did?" he asks leaning into her space, a brow raised in challenge.

"Trust me. You'll know."

"Hmm."

Rolling her eyes, Kate settles back against her seat, folds her arms across her chest. "Aren't you going to do one?"

Castle sighs, content with himself for his teasing. "Since you took the high road, Beckett. I'm gonna go with Truth." He picks up the pack of gum, slides a red stick out and flips the wrapper open.

Kate doesn't say anything just scoffs and shakes her head at her partner's ridiculousness.

"What is your biggest," Castle's expression drops, replaced by one of grief, and the pain reflected in his eyes is so palpable she can feel it clawing at her chest. "…fear?"

His eyes flick to hers for a moment before settling on her chest and she gasps, tries not to meet his heavy gaze, but she's powerless. He wears his heart on his sleeve when he wants to and right now he bears it all.

"Wh-what it is?" she asks, mouth suddenly dry.

He looks up at her then, his eyes leaving her chest and crinkles the wrapper in between his fingers. "I'll tell you when you do your dare."

And then he smirks.

It's safe to say she's been avoiding Castle all day and he refused to go home when she told him to, claiming he couldn't leave in case she tried to back out of her dare.

And now it's late, the homicide floor almost vacant, several lights have been dimmed and she's hiding out in the bathroom like a teenage girl afraid of playing spin the bottle. She just knows Castle is going to be waiting for her when she leaves.

She's just worried about Castle's truth. The way his eyes lingered on her chest when he read the wrapper can only make her assume his worst fear has something to do with her and what scares her the most is the fact that she isn't scared.

Allowing herself to think about a future with Castle no longer makes her heart hurt, instead it beats fast with the anticipation, the knowledge that she's going to get there. They're going to get there. And she can't help but wonder if this means her wall…is gone?

The thought of kissing Castle has always gotten her hot and bothered, been that way since a certain undercover kiss last year, but now it has her desperate to show him how she feels, she wants him to feel how much she wants him. And she thinks she's ready.

Stepping out of the bathroom she finds Castle waiting right there for her. A smile tugging at his mouth. He's leaning against the wall, one leg in back of the other and his hands stuffed in the pockets of his black coat, hair drooping slightly in his eyes. It reminds her of their first year, of the playboy he was when they first met and damn it if that doesn't make her want to just-

"You didn't think you could leave without doing your dare, detective, did you?" he grins, eyes traveling down her body making her tremble with nerves.

"You first," Kate manages to say with a steady voice. Castle takes a step closer so they're only a breath apart, hands reaching out to skim her waist before settling back inside her pocket. "What's your biggest fear?" she whispers, swallowing thickly.

He licks his lips and really? Really? God, all she can think about chasing that tongue with her own, desperate for a reminder of what he tastes like.

"My biggest fear is," he pauses, eyes glancing at her chest before his eyes flutter back to meet hers. "Losing someone I love." Bringing his hand up to caress her cheek, he pushes some hair back behind her ear, his warm breath skirting across her mouth and she bites her lip, balls her hand into a fist to maintain some control. "You know you left your gum wrapper on your desk, right?" a small smile plays on his lips as he quickly looks down at his feet before turning the charm back on.

"You read my dare?"

"Hmm," he shrugs, grinning. "I may or may not have. But Kate, the day's almost over. Your window of opportunity is cl- Humph!"

Kate closes the distance between them, their mouths smacking together and Castle starts, doesn't know what to do with his hands for a second before they come up to cup her cheeks.

What started out as a simple kiss Castle turns into more. He groans into her, his hips brushing against hers and he pushes her back against the wall, crowding his body into hers, his hands begin to travel down to her waist, fingers skimming the underside of her shirt, grazing her skin. Goosebumps awake under his touch and Kate moans, cards her fingers through his soft hair.

Castle runs his tongue along the roof of her mouth and she whimpers, knees giving out, but he catches her by her upper thighs, thumbs pressing deep into the curve of her ass and she keens, arms wrapping around his neck, keeping him close to her.

Kate bites his lip as she pulls away, takes a deep breath before opening her eyes. Castle's staring at her, eyes wide and hair disheveled from her fingers.

"I can't believe we just did that in the precinct!" she says before she bursts out in laughter.

Castle just smiles and watches as she laughs, relieved and overwhelmed at this whole situation. It's not until she's calmed down, breathing more steady when he twines both hands with hers, and asks "what was your dare?"

She looks down at her feet, suddenly shy under his gaze. "To kiss my best friend."

He gasps, a smile breaking out, lighting up his eyes. Castle pulls her into his chest, kisses her again with a loud moan before he lets his lips travel down to her neck to kiss the tender flesh that lies there.

"Come home with me?" he whispers into her skin.

And when she answers she doesn't even hesitate. "Okay."

Happy Fanfic Monday everyone! Thanks so much for taking the time to read my little story :)