The first time he had ever fantasized about her had been after she'd crashed his reading at the bookstore a couple of weeks ago in that damn pink dress that was too short and too revealing in how it draped over the creamy silk of her skin. It was the first time he had been overcome with the constricting need to rip her clothes off.

The sight of her body – her legs – so svelte and on display, and the intentional look of lust burning like flames in her eyes when he spotted her in the crowd had been almost unbearable, causing his usually perfect storytelling voice to stutter in front of all those people.

He'd gotten off in the shower with her name on his lips later that night.

But fantasy was as far as he had ever assumed he would go when it came to the seduction of Kate Beckett. She had fascinated him from the first day – obviously he'd made that quite clear when he had decided to bulldoze his way into her life – and he was sure she had always been aware that he was attracted to her, but it was never…real. He had never fathomed anything real with her.

He had never imagined she would be lying next to him in bed, one long leg draped over his thigh, and her head practically sharing a pillow with his after making lo-

Sex, he corrected himself, they'd had sex. Too early for mentions of four letter words that started with L. He didn't even want to think about that terrifying word.

Maybe in the near future though? If she didn't bolt out the door the moment she awoke from what appeared to be a blissful slumber.

No, he wouldn't have thought so before, but after tonight, after watching her open up to him about her past, despite how much it had visibly pained her, and learning her body like a map, tracing over every valley of skin and ridge of bone with his mouth, he believed he could love her. It scared the shit out of him, but it was possible.

Just not – not yet.

Castle sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. He needed to stop thinking.

Kate stirred slightly beside him, burrowing closer to the warmth of his body, erasing the inch of space he had strategically kept between them once she had fallen asleep. Not that he was terribly disappointed to have her lithe figure pressed up against him again.

She huffed softly, releasing a cool breath of air over the skin of his throat, and damn, he really wanted to touch her, comb his fingers through the short spikes of her hair and memorize the stunning contours of her face while the opportunity was there.

She was so close. All he would have to do is lift his arm and he could brush his fingers down the slash of her cheekbone. But then he would risk waking her, and then she might leave.

"Stop staring at me," she muttered, one of her eyes cracking open to glare at him. "I told you, it's creepy."

He startled at the rasp of her voice, not expecting her to swim into consciousness yet, and his movement seemed to set off a ripple effect, because suddenly her body was stiffening and the pang of disappointment was real this time as she gently slid her leg from his, retracted her entire body from his, and turned onto her back.

He felt stupidly cold at the loss.

"Beckett-"

Kate. She'd told him to call her Kate.

"Kate."

Her sharpened hazel eyes flitted over to him and he swallowed, unsure what exactly he had planned to say.

"Are you leaving?" he blurted and internally cursed himself.

Smooth, Rick.

She furrowed her brow and propped herself up on her elbows.

"Did you want me to?"

"No!" he said immediately, her creased eyebrows rising upwards now. "I just meant – I thought you wouldn't want to stick around." he shrugged.

The corner of her mouth quirked upwards.

"Thought I was going to use you for your body and go?" she smirked and he found himself chuckling.

"Feel free to use my body anytime you like, Detective."

Her lips curled into a devious grin and she glanced to his alarm clock.

"I've still got an hour before I should probably head to my apartment, if you can handle another round…"

Castle's heart stuttered but his body didn't miss a beat, reacting to her words instantly.

She left over an hour later, just before the sun could rise on the horizon, missing the lace bra he knew for a fact was under his bed because that was where he had kicked it on his way back from the bathroom earlier in the night.

He had shown up at the precinct the same as he always did, cracked the Cavanaugh case with her, brought a family justice, all while trying not to gaze so obviously at her every chance he got.

He knew he failed each time she shot him a heated, but reprimanding glare.

But sitting next to Kate Beckett at work after he knew what she looked like underneath those professional blouses and dress pants was an incredibly difficult feat. Could she really blame him?

Later that evening, after she'd finished up her paperwork and they'd shared a brief talk at her desk about Alexis along with a joke over the lack of substance to his novels, she gathered her coat and prepared to leave.

"Until tomorrow, Detective."

She glanced down at the floor with a small smile tugging at her lips.

"You can't just say night?"

"I'm a writer, night is boring. Until tomorrow is more…hopeful."

She nodded. "Yeah well, I'm a cop. Night."

He watched her walk away from him, out of the bullpen and into the elevator, and once the doors to the lift slid closed, he bolted out of his seat.

Esposito shot him a bewildered glare as he hurried past him and towards the stairs, galloping down the steps in record time. He reached the lobby just as she was exiting and he slowed to a trot as he bounded after her. He didn't try to gain her attention until they were both a good distance from the Twelfth.

"Kate,"

She glanced over her shoulder, an almost expectant shimmer in her eye, and grinned when he was standing in front of her.

"Yeah, Castle?"

He grabbed her by the lapels of her coat and slanted his lips over hers, kissed her until a soft whimper was escaping her mouth and her fingers were clawing at his waist, and then he pulled away.

He smiled at the startled look on her face and let her go. "Night."

"Castle," she hissed, catching him by the hand as he attempted to turn back to the precinct. "I changed my mind," she smirked, tentative but sure as she twined their fingers. "Night's only beginning."

A/N: I apologize to those who found this story unrealistic due to the time it is set in. But I personally love season 1 and wanted to explore the possibilities of this scenario and tried to do so as realistically and in character as I could.

Thank you to any and all who took the time to read, review, follow, and favorite. Feedback is always sincerely appreciated.

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