there should be stars (13/X)
Title: there should be stars (13/X)
Characters/Pairings: Castle/Beckett
Summary: Four years can make a world of difference. AU.
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~2600
Spoilers: Up to Season Four finale.
Author's Note: Many thanks to
airbefore for giving this a look to calm my worries.
He’s wearing that persona, the one she never really liked. But it’s more subdued than before. Sure, he walked in with two women on his arms but they were his mother and daughter, not supermodels. He hasn’t signed any chests, only books. He’s flirting good-naturedly with the women in the room.
But every time he stops, looks around the room, his eyes land on her and she can almost see the love leaking from them.
She knows she looks good. She refused to let him see her before she showed up at the party by herself. The dress hugs her body, a deep vee that dips between her breasts letting the cool metal of her necklace brush her skin. The soft curls of her hair tickles at her neck.
She’s been avoiding the book display for as long as possible. He’s always watching her and she wants to do this alone. But she’s made the rounds of the room, talking to Montgomery and the boys and the ADA she has a case coming up with. So she steps over to the table and picks up one of the books.
She has already yelled at him about how naked the woman is on the cover so she flips past it through the copyright and title pages until she can hold her fingers against the paper to read the dedication. He had told her before that he only ever dedicates books to people he loves. His mother; Alexis; Kyra, the girl he fell madly in love with during college. She thinks it’s sweet of him, finding people in his life that truly matter and then hiding their inside jokes in the dedication. A secret for only the two of them to ever understand.
“Hey,” he says quietly at her shoulder. His fingertips skim over her hip.
Beckett doesn’t look up from the page. Eleven simple words. But it’s the first four that have cut straight to her heart. “Castle…”
“I mean it,” he murmurs, his lips close to her ear. “You are extraordinary.”
She’s speechless, staring at the book. “I don’t know what to say,” she says, turning to face him. She doesn’t have to look up thanks to the heels, too tall to be worn at work but for a book launch, they’re perfect.
“Say thank you,” he prompts with a tiny smile.
“Thank you,” she whispers, putting the book back on the stand.
Paula is gesturing wildly and Castle touches her hand. “Come find me at the end.”
Then he’s gone, dodging people on the way over to his publicist.
She’s tipsy. Not drunk, nowhere near drunk but definitely not totally in control. She’s sitting next to him in the booth, the rest of the room empty save for the staff as they start to clean up. She should have left hours ago, after he stood next to her as she read the dedication of the book. But she’s here, letting his fingers trace patterns over her thigh, dancing under the hem of the dusky blue fabric of her dress.
“Come home with me,” he murmurs, dipping his head so his nose pushes her short curls away from her ear.
She laughs, head tipping onto his shoulder as she wraps her fingers around his wrist. “You just wanna have sex with me,” she sighs. Okay. Maybe a little closer to drunk than she thought if her shields are that far down.
“Yeah,” he agrees, tugging her leg over his, hands gripping her hips as she falls against his chest. “I do.” His fingers are pushing up her dress, unaware or uncaring of the staff.
“Castle,” she mutters, lips tickling his neck from where her head is tucked into his shoulder. “We’re in the restaurant.”
He grins, pulling back enough to kiss her. “That’s not a no.”
“Shut up and get us somewhere else or it is a no,” she says, swing her legs off of his lap. She catches herself on the table, a little unstable in her heels. “I drove so…”
Castle grabs her hand, keeping her at his side as he moves to the front of the restaurant. “I didn’t.”
“God, did you get a limo?” she groans as he practically wiggles with excitement.
“Yeah!”
He lets her slide in first, nearly crushing her as he rushes to get in after. The door is barely closed before he gives her shoulder a shove, laying her down on the seat. He plants a knee between her legs and she can’t help but rock up against it, a moan caught behind her teeth.
“Lift up,” he groans against her shoulder, hands fighting with the skirt of her dress.
And by lifting her hips up so that he can push her dress up, she only brings her center in contact with his thigh even as his fingers skim up along her waist. On the end of her shuddering gasp, he kisses her, catching the rest of the air she has left in her lungs.
Her fingers shake as she reaches between them, working at his belt after yanking his shirt from the waistband of his pants. “Castle, get these off,” she manages even as his own fingers pull at her panties.
“Can’t get my shoes off,” he says against her cheek, teeth nipping at her jaw.
“Fine.” She shoves her panties into the inside pocket of his jacket as she pushes up. “Pants down. Now.”
He fights with the button and zipper as she trails kisses along his neck until he has his pants and boxers past his knees. Then she swings into his lap, grinding her hips down onto his while his hands grip her waist. She snakes her hand down, smoothing her thumb over his tip and watching as his head tips back against the seat. She follows, brushing her nose along his with a teasing smile.
But the car jerks to a stop and she pitches forward enough that he slides into her. They both gasp, twin breaths mingling.
And then she feels him brace his feet on the floor of the limo and thrusts up. She throws an arm out onto the backseat, head falling into the crook of his neck on a low whine. It takes her a moment to gather herself, to rise up to the point where he nearly slips from her and slides back down, setting a fast pace that has both of them babbling senseless words into the other’s hair. His hand presses against the small of her back, bringing her in contact with him when she withdraws. The other hand knocks her arm off the seat, making her body collapse against his chest.
She whimpers into his shoulder, muffled by his jacket. “Castle,” she whispers hoarsely, turning her head enough that her breath feathers over his skin. “Car stopped.”
“Shit. How close are you?” he asks and she briefly wonders how he’s capable of full sentences even as he thrusts up into her and a squeak escapes her lips. He chuckles, skimming his mouth over her cheek. “So you’re close then?”
Beckett’s about to protest, tell him that the driver’s going to be coming around in a matter of seconds, when he throws an arm out and hits the locks on the door. The same hand that then fights to get between their bodies and circles at her clit. The arm across her back keeps her against him when her body starts to arch away as he breaks her apart over him with a startling amount of skill.
Her hearing fuzzes out, blinking against his neck as she tries to take stock, making sure her limbs will work for her when she gets off his lap. He tugs on her hair, pulling her head back enough for him to touch his lips to hers softly.
“You good to walk?” he says, voice rough.
She nods, legs shaking as she flops onto the seat next to him. “Yeah.”
He fixes his pants, leaving the starched shirt untucked from the dress pants. She watches from lidded eyes, focusing on breathing until his fingers touch her cheek, brushing back her hair. “Ready?”
Beckett has to give credit to the driver. Straight-faced as he takes the door, holding it as Castle slides out, hand tangled with Beckett’s. He thanks the driver, slips him a bill from his pocket. Beckett pauses, taking in their location. Because it’s not his apartment.
“My place?” she asks, following him as he pulls her toward the front door.
“Yeah. My mother and Alexis will be heading back to the loft after the party and I don’t want them walking in on what I have planned for you,” he says, already taking her clutch from her hands and looking for her keys. He unlocks the front door, pulling her through both the first door and then the security door. “You’re too slow,” he mutters, turning to face her.
But she doesn’t notice and keeps walking right into him. He bends, picking her up so that her legs go around his waist, heels clattering to the ground. “Castle, put me down,” she says, shoving at his chest even as he picks up her shoes.
“Too late.” He hits the button for the elevator with his elbow.
So Beckett makes the best of her position, ducking her head down to press kisses against his forehead and over his temple. “God, you’re so hot when you do stuff like this,” she admits breathlessly.
He pushes her back against the faux wood paneling of the elevator until the ring of the bell echoes in the car. She tightens her legs around his hips, rolling her body up along his in a successful attempt to hasten him around the corner to her apartment.
“You’re gonna kill me,” he growls, fumbling with the key in the lock.
The apartment is dark when he finally gets the door open. Beckett drops to the ground, tossing her clutch onto the side table. “Don’t worry, Castle,” she calls as she runs on her tip toes for the bedroom. “I’d make your last moments enjoyable.”
“Leave the dress on,” he says from just inside the door, toeing his shoes off. “I want to take it off you.”
She does take the pins from her hair, shaking the curls out as she places her earrings on the bureau. She’s vibrating, the near-drowsiness from the copious amounts of champagne she drank earlier burned off in the back of the limo. And he’s taking too long out in her living room doing who knows what.
So she sits on the edge of her bed, hiking the skirt of the dress back up around her waist. Her fingers dip into her folds, dragging some of the moisture up and around her clit, planting one foot on the edge of the mattress to angle her hips up. Her free arm braces behind her, holding her up even as her head drops back. The ends of her hair tickle at her shoulderblades as her teeth bite into her lower lip, little sighs escaping anyway.
Then his hand is at her wrist, pulling her fingers away even as she feels herself nearing another climax. “What the hell?” she hisses, shaking his hand off of hers.
“You started without me,” he says, kneeling on the floor so that his mouth brushes over her thigh.
“Kept the dress on. That was your condition. It’s on.”
His teeth nip at her skin, making her glare down at him. “Still not fair,” says Castle a moment before his mouth replaces her fingers. The flat of his tongue roughs over her.
The hand holding her up buckles and she falls back onto the bed. “Castle, please…”
Two fingers slide into her under his tongue even as he bends her other leg up, placing it on the mattress, her toes pressing into his shoulders. Her breath catches in her throat, hiccupping out as a strangled sob instead as her fingers grab for the sheets, something to anchor her as he works her back up using his teeth and tongue and fingers in perfectly practiced movement.
And then he pulls his fingers out, straightening as she glares up at him. “I swear to God, Castle,” she starts as he fights off his pants, pulling his shirt over his head. But when she goes to take her dress off, his hands still her.
“What did I say about the dress?” he warns, placing a knee on the bed between her thighs.
“Get a move on then,” she growls, arching up so her wet center smears over his leg, hoping to inject some sense of urgency into him. “Dress or me or something!”
The fabric of her dress stretches as he half-sits her up, pulling the tight top over her head. “Dress, then you,” he says into her neck as soon as the dress is on the ground. She reaches for him, trying to pull him down over her but he captures her wrists, pinning them over her head. He catches her whimper as he angles his mouth over hers. “Trust me?” he asks, painting a wet line across her cheek.
“I trust you,” she rasps, already flexing her hands under his. “I trust you, Castle.”
He transfers both of her hands to one of his, the other cupping her cheek, thumb smoothing over the area under her eye. He’s tipping her head up, the kiss soft and warm as his knee nudges at hers, bending it up so that he can slide into her. His forehead falls down, nose touching hers as he breathes her name into her skin.
Slowly, he rolls his hips into hers and his name tumbles from her lips as her head presses into the mattress, hips coming up to meet his. She’s already there, balanced on the edge from his teasing, but she wants - needs - to hold out for him to catch up with her. Her teeth dig into her bottom lip, swollen from his kisses. “Are you…?” she chokes out as her body bows up, muscles bunching under his palm. She’s trying to flip her hands, needing to hold onto the fitted sheet below her. He’s not letting her, adding pressure to her wrists as he thrusts into her deeper, harder.
Then he brushes a kiss over her lips, speaking directly into her mouth. “Just come for me, Beckett. I’m right behind you.”
It takes one more tight twist of his hips against hers before she breaks on a stuttering cry. Her fingers curling into her palm, short nails cutting into the soft flesh, stretching back out, and repeating again as she feels him come on the heels of her orgasm. He collapses onto her, his weight bringing her back to herself slowly.
He flips them over, pulling her hands up onto his chest and begins to gently massage her wrists. “You okay?” he murmurs into her neck.
Beckett shivers, wiggling her fingers and tickling his bare skin. “We’re really good at this.” He looks up, blue eyes still clouded with the aftershocks of the sex but she can see the twinkle of humor in the depths. “Like, really good. Like, mindblowingly good.”
“Keep going,” he says, grinning as he pushes up a little and manages to skim his lips over her jaw. “I’m liking all these compliments.”
She rolls her eyes as she sighs. “It’s the alcohol talking.”
“No need to make excuses. You’re right,” he says, tugging a hand through her hair, catching on the flattening curls at the ends. “We’re really good at this.”
“Yeah, we are.” Her eyes flutter shut, lethargy taking over the will to stay awake. “You gonna stay?”
His answering hum vibrates through his chest as he drops a kiss at her temple. “I’ll stay.”