Just a Feeling That I Had

like international08, I had a Tumblr Anon send me the first two paragraphs in my ask. this is what came of it. so thanks Anon!

He finds her bent at a vending machine in a fraying ponytail and workout clothes that clutch her curves. He watches, mesmerized, as she twists up and around, her cheeks flushed, skin glistening, and a water bottle in one hand.

He grunts hello, offers her coffee, then remembers she already has water and doesn't need coffee anyway, because she's exuding so much heat in her stance and her body and her eyes, dark and fixed on his, that he thinks there's a chance they might both go up in flames.

No, on second thought, the way she's looking at him right now - like he might actually be crazy - he's the only one combusting here.

But what a way to go.

Kate pushes a strand of hair back off her forehead, tucking it into the smooth and regular lines of her pony tail, then snags the coffee from his hand anyway. "Need that too," she says.

Yeah. Yeah, okay. True.

Castle blinks and tries to stop staring - really he should be used to this by now, to being completely taken off guard by her in these sudden and startling moments.

Kate shoves the bottle of water into his chest and shakes her head; he catches it with a fumbling hand and watches as she heads back to her desk.

"What - what were you doing?"

Kate tosses him a look over her shoulder. "Sparring. You coming or you gonna watch me walk away?"

"Is that a trick question?"

He shut his mouth - too late, too late - but Kate only raises an eyebrow and presses her lips into that indulgent smile.

He does watch her walk away, but then he hurries after her, like a kite on a string, pulled right back to her side. Castle sits in his chair and tries not to pant after her like a dog, tries to get it together, man but he's stymied by the sheen of sweat at her neck, the curl of her hair from the humidity of her workout, her still quick breathing.

"I had a dream last night," she says. "Felt a lot like this."

He startles back from the edge of the seat, realizes he was just too close to her, but she only glances up from the keyboard and lifts an eyebrow at him. Felt like . . . this? Combustible?

"You - had a dream," he echoes.

"About you."

He curls his lips into a grin. "I have those dreams a lot."

"Oh?" she murmurs, that eyebrow practically living at her hairline.

"Starring role."

"You star in your own dreams, huh?"

Castle laughs at her smirk, gives it to her. "All right. I asked for that. So. Your dream about me?"

She hums, eyes back to her computer. "Went something like this."

"Just this? How boring."

Kate shoots him a look. "If I'm boring you, Castle, you can always leave."

"Oh no, no. You are never boring. But I mean, for a sexy hot dream about me? Boring start."

"It gets better."

"Oh?"

"Much." She levels him with a dark look, her voice dripping with seduction.

He swallows hard, tries not to combust, really and truly this time; he does not want to go up in flames right when this is getting good. "Much?" His voice did not just squeak.

"Oh, yes."

Shiiii-

"You and me. Together."

Yeah. Yes.

"Solving this case."

He opens his mouth, shuts it, stares at her.

"Did you hear me, Castle?"

"I - you - your sexy hot dream about me was us solving this case?"

She hums, everything in her body, her voice starting out like the best of his fantasies but-

But it's not. It's Kate looking hot and seductive and come hither but not.

"Uh, Kate . . . I think you - did you - you don't happen to remember who did it, do you?"

She sighs, drops her pen to the desktop. "No. Too bad."

Castle sinks back into his chair, rubbing his hand over his mouth. "Too bad," he echoes.

So close. If she-

Suddenly he's arrested by the feel of her fingers stroking the edge of his knee, a brief but heated touch that brings his eyes back to hers, staring.

She smiles. "But I'll admit, Dream Castle is a pretty hot kisser."