Covert Operations (part 1 of 2)

She is so happy to be back on the ground, as soon as she clears the passenger bridge, her eyes dart for the luggage signs. Excitement builds in her stomach making her jittery with anticipation. Big arrows direct her to the outside and she races towards the gateway in an attempt to beat the crowd. For the first time during her trip, she's thankful he had gotten her a first class ticket.

Black Pawn had comped it as per his contract for the Frozen Heat book tour. He had fought tooth and nail against the tour citing Alexis settling into college and not wanting to be away from New York for four weeks. After arduous negotiations and sincere assurances from Kate and Alexis that they would come visit - he had given in. He made sure that two weekends would be lightened and two plane tickets would be comped for their visit.

No matter how many times Kate flew first class, it always filled her with a tiny bit of guilt. She studiously avoided eye contact as her fellow passengers walked past her lounging in the spacious leather seat, legs comfortably stretched in front of her.

The guilt definitely didn't stop her from partaking in some champagne though. Two glasses to calm her nerves and excitement and giddiness.

It has only seemed to amp her up more though as she tries to make her way to where she knows Castle is waiting. A woman with a stroller cuts her off and she bites the curse on her tongue and swerves to the left, nearly avoiding a collision with the oblivious woman greeting her husband as he exits the bathroom. The hall seems endless and groups of people come from all directions, slowing her progress. She feels like a sheep being herded towards the exit at the mercy of the crowd in front of her. She so hates airports.

Finally at the escalators, the crowd starts dispersing and it doesn't take her long to spot him.

Wide smile and a big, stupid sign with the word "Heat" scrawled across it. Dressed in a black suit and chauffeur hat, he's fairly inconspicuous. Oh, but she spots him quickly. Standing there so damn proud of himself.

She shakes her head grinning, meeting his eyes and quickly making her way to him. Her momentum doesn't slow as she approaches him, dropping her bag at his feet and wrapping herself around him.

"Hi." It's whispered against his ear as she squeezes him tightly in relief.

She pulls back, accessing his face for changes that may have occurred in the last two weeks. He quickly leans in and captures her mouth. Sweet, small, public appropriate kiss and she's grateful.

"Did you have a nice flight?"

She nods, leaning against him once more. "Glad to be here."

"Thank you for coming. I'm not sure I could have taken another two weeks without seeing you."

She hums. Kisses him again. "Let's get out of here, yeah?"

He drapes his arm across her shoulder, pulling her snugly into his side. Tips his hat. "As you wish, Ma'am."

The actual chauffeur greets them at the car, taking her bag and opening the door for them. Castle hands him back his hat. "Thanks, Sal."

"Of course, Mr. Castle." He grins as Kate's hand reaches for Castle's, pulling him into the backseat with her.

Sal closes the door and makes his way to the back of the car.

Taking advantage of the thirty seconds of privacy, Kate's on him in a second. Leaning against him, her hands find his face. He easily leans into her as she takes his mouth in a much less public appropriate kiss. Immediately opening her mouth to his.

His hands trail up her arms, sliding down the insides of her shoulders grazing her breasts. She shutters against him, tongue teasing his in a warm, slippery embrace. His hands rest on her sides, thumbs brushing in time with their movement. He bites gently on her lip and she's debating on throwing her knee across him when the front door opens.

Sal thankfully takes his time reentering the car, giving them plenty of time to separate. She slides away from him regretfully, grabbing his hand as she moves fully into the seat next to him by the window. His hand squeezes hers in promise as he clears his throat for speech.

"To the hotel, Sal."

The chauffeur nods and cranks the car. Castle catches her eyes with a grin and a wink. She blames it on the champagne and their two weeks apart, but sitting side by side in a car without touching is just not going to work for her. She smiles as his eyes dance over her face in wonder. Yep, definitely going to need a little more.

She pulls his hand into her lap, directly into her lap, placing the back of his hand down against her. Presses against his palm with her own, the hands sliding down lower, her legs opening slightly to accommodate. It's supposed to be a promise but as soon as his hand makes contact, her nerve endings come to life, lust and champagne and him clouding her better judgement. She uses her own hand to rotate his against her, small pleasure to the anxious nerves there. The heat of her making its way through the thin pants and he covers his surprise with a cough.

Much to her surprise, he pulls his hand away and reaches for his coat. Leaves her with a slack jaw and disappointment. Without a glance towards her, he leans towards the front and with a steady voice asks, "Would you mind turning the A/C up a little bit?"

He removes his coat, feigning heat. Drapes it across their laps. Slack jaw turns into a close-lipped grin as she holds in her smile. He's a genius.

"Not a problem, Sir."

Sal cranks the A/C and as Castle leans back, his hand slyly slides beneath the coat and cups her firmly letting her know he's game.

She bites the lip of her grin.

"You still tired, Sweetheart?" he asks leadingly.

Her glare at the pet name waivers when he trails his thumb up and down the middle of her. Her legs falling wider as he applies pressure. Fingers coaxing an answer out of her.

She finds herself nodding. "Yeah. Long flight."

"How long to the hotel, Sal?"

"I'd say not more than ten minutes in this traffic. Seems pretty light today."

"You could definitely get a little cat nap in if you'd like." He grins at her, applying pressure that makes her sit a little straighter and press into the head rest behind her.

"Definitely. I'm exhausted." She subtly pushes her body against his hand but her voice plays the appropriate part for Sal's behalf.

The base of his palm rests on her lower stomach and his fingers sweep up and down, applying pressure and then releasing. At this rate she's pretty sure she could get in quite a few naps in the next ten minutes.

"Here, rest on my shoulder. I'll wake you when we get there."

Understanding, she leans against him, her hair falling across her face, shielding her. Grins into his shoulder. "Thanks, Kitten."

His fingers stop their movement and he grinds them against her in pleasant punishment at the moniker. Her hand reaches under the coat, grasping the inside of this thigh steadying herself.

She's not so sure this was such a good idea as she her teeth clamp down firmly on her lip and works hard to keep the sound of her pleasure down. Already a struggle.

He leans across her with his other hand and cracks the window. "Surprisingly hot day out there for September in Chicago." Uses his thumb and forefinger to pop her button and slide her zipper down slowly. The whipping wind covers the sound nicely.

Okay then. He's doing this. Left handed and while casually chatting up the driver. And, honestly, it's really working for her because damn, she's about sixty seconds away and he's still working through fabric.

Sal nods. "We've had a lot of these lately."

Her hand moves up his thigh, knuckles brushing against him, pleased to find that he seems to be enjoying this as much as her. His hand slides into her pants and he presses two fingers on the damp fabric at her opening.

"This is where I wanna be right now."

He definitely just said that aloud and the words send a flare of arousal through her body. Bites back her moan like a champ. Squeezes his leg tightly and breathes heavily into his shoulder. Slowly moves her head and buries it between his arm and the seat behind him. Cheeks flaring pink at the realization that she's already losing her mind enough to not really care that she's not exactly selling a nap right now.

Castle continues, unfazed. "Chicago in the summer. Breezes off the lake. It's beautiful this time of year."

Sal nods. "That it is. I love this city."

At the very least Sal is doing a hell of job pretending he has no idea anything is amiss. Castle's fingers slip underneath the fabric and she focuses on keeping her breathing steady. It's hard work as his fingers trail up and coat her with her own arousal. Rubs once, twice. Slides back down again all too casually. If she gets through this without tipping off Sal, she should get a fucking medal.

"I love how wet it gets here." Taps his fingers against her.

Okay, he's trying to kill her. She's sure of it. Her heart is racing and it's all she can do to remain still. Moves her own hand up further to cup him through his pants.

His voice doesn't even hitch as he continues. "Just got back from Vegas and I was pretty surprised at just how much I missed the rain."

"You might just be in luck then. Heard it might rain here tomorrow actually."

"That so? I'm a lucky, lucky man." His fingers move in time with his words and her body shudders involuntarily.

She holds her stomach tight and counts her breaths. One, two, three: breathe. Her left hand moves from a fist at her side to wrap around the arm draped across the front of her. She squeezes tightly, anchoring herself to him.

She can feel the muscles dance under his skin as his fingers rotate below. She clamps her mouth down on the back of his arm as she fights the desire to bounce in her seat. Moves her other hand into action, trailing across the front of his pants, finding his zipper easily.

She's absolutely losing her mind because he has to cough to cover the sound of his zipper that she forces down and shit, she didn't even think to try and make that quieter. His fingers let up just as she is sure she's about to ask Sal to please pull over and vacate the vehicle.

She hears Castle cough again for good measure and inwardly praises his acting abilities as he pulls a water bottle from the bag beside him and takes a sip, clearing his throat. Sells it well.

"Think that desert air really dried my throat out."

Sal's response doesn't even register as the fingers on her jump back into action, a cloud forming in her mind. She pulls him out through the opening of his pants and immediately starts gliding her hand up and down. He quickly sets the water bottle down on his lap, stilling her hand. Clearing his throat once more. Keeps the water bottle there as he picks up the pace once more with his left hand. She hums into his back, her body pushing up against his hand.

She really can't help it, tears well up in her eyes as the crest gets closer. Ten minutes and he's not sparing a second. She squeezes his arm as he puts two fingers inside of her. Brings them quickly up and rotates, pressing hard. Her breath hitches and it's definitely audible but she doesn't even care. Squeezes her legs together as her release pulses through her. Loud rushing in her ears.

She buries her face against his back and exhales loudly. Body nearly shaking as she struggles not to launch herself off of the seat. She fights it hard but is pretty sure she's totally blowing their cover and can't bring herself to care as the pulsing slows and his fingers bring her down gently. Sounds trapped at the base of her throat. Damn, she's terrible at this subtlety thing. His fingers let up as she relaxes against him, only to immediately tense as his voice cuts through the fog in her head.

"Kate. Kate, wake up. I think you had a bad dream."

Voice so casual as his fingers curl tightly inside of her. She grunts. Out loud. Oh god.

Unfortunately the clarity that comes brings her to a whole new level of embarrassment. The reality sets in that she just had an orgasm in a car in front of some third party and is pretty sure that barring some holy miracle, he's probably well aware of what just went down. Holy shit, she's not ever going to be able to look Sal in the eyes again. Castle better give him a big fucking tip.

"Kate?"

"Yeah?" Her voice comes out muffled behind him.

"Oh good, you're awake. I think you just had a bad dream. You okay?"

Okay, bad dream. Good. She can do bad dream. She lifts her head, blinking to readjust to the light in the car. Yawns. "Bad dream?" she parrots. It's much less of an act than it appears; her brain still slow with basic motor skills.

He laughs. Pulls his hand out of her pants casually and rests it on the coat on her thigh. Leans up to Sal with a smirk. "Always takes her a little time to wake up." He turns towards her. "Man, you really were tired." She watches dazed as he wipes his hand on his coat nonchalantly.

She raises her eyes and finds him watching her with dark eyes. "Sorry, still really tired," she says sleepily.

"I bet." Something catches his eye out of the window. "Well lucky for us, we're here."

Sal turns into the hotel and Castle smirks. "Perfect timing. You look like you could probably nap again."

His eyes meet hers and quickly glances down to his lap and back up again. It's enough to clue her in and she realizes her hand is still very much in his pants, wrapped around him. Huh. She pulls her hand out and looking at him finally registers the small trace of strain in his eyes. Pats his lap gently. Apology unspoken. "We could both probably use a nap."

"Yeah," he says on a sigh.

Sal pulls in the underground lot of the hotel and drives them up to the elevator. He gets out of the car to retrieve their bags and as the door shuts, Castle exhales loudly, quickly lifting the jacket and tucking himself back into his pants. Kate redoes her own pants and flattens out any wrinkles. She turns and grimaces. "How loud was I? Do you think he knows?"

He laughs as he pulls his zipper up and adjusts the front of him. Still erect and tucked up into the waistband of his boxers. "Not too bad. Think he bought the bad dream thing and even if not, he's too much of a gentleman to say otherwise."

"Oh god," she groans.

He smiles. "You good?"

"Me?" She laughs and her eyes fall back to his lap. "I'm good. You going to be okay?"

He exhales heavily. "Yes, but stay close."

"Not a good idea to tell you all the ways I want to pay you back right now?"

He smirks. "Definitely would not help but hold that thought."

She smiles. Leans in and kisses his lips. "I've missed you."

"You too."

She checks his lap. "Looks good."

He leers at her.

She smirks. "Not what I meant, but definitely that too."

"Okay, woman. Out of the car."

She laughs. "Okay, going." She hands him his coat and takes one last glance over herself. Satisfied, she reaches for the door.