Author's Notes: This is a songfic based on Secret Valentine by We the Kings. If you haven't heard the song, check it out on YouTube. I had never heard it before but it's pretty good. This is my first songfic, so I hope you enjoy. This was written for NCIS-Addict-4427 as a thanks for her being reviewer #70 on my Comfort Comes in Many Ways story.

Secret valentine

-Takes place after Final Nail-

I watched as Castle followed his friend out of the townhouse. I knew that this whole thing has really upset him. Castle had been so sure of Westlake's innocence that he decided that he would solve Philip Westlake's case all by himself. I sighed. I was pleased to know that the person responsible for Philip Westlake's murder was finally behind bars but I was sad that it was Castle that put him there. We walked away from his friend's house and I offered to buy him a drink. He said he was fine and I could have played along with that but I just whacked him with my elbow and called him a liar.

We stopped at the Old Haunt and as I ordered Castle a double scotch, neat, he went and found a booth. I didn't get a drink because I knew that I was going to go out later and I didn't want to have too much alcohol on a work night. Castle and I just sat and talked for a while about the beginnings of his writing career, we were even sitting in his favorite booth. I was having a nice time when I realized how late it was. I offered to drive him home but he insisted that he would just call a cab.

"Are you sure you are okay?" I asked as I stood up. "I can take you home if you want."

"No, I don't want to make you late for your date," he said.

"Okay, you know my number if you need to talk," I said as I patted him on the shoulder. I knew that he wouldn't call me any night much less on Valentine's Day when I had a date, but if he needed to talk then so be it, Josh would have to understand. "Send me a text letting me know you are home safe, okay?" He nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night," was all he said.

I rushed home and quickly got dressed in my new dress and shoes that I bought specially for tonight. I was a bit later than I thought so I didn't have time to do my hair just the way I wanted but it still looked nice. I was lucky with traffic and was able to make it to the restaurant with a few minutes to spare. I was seated at a nice table in the center of the main room and I placed an order for a glass of wine. I didn't order anything for Josh because I wasn't sure what he liked to drink.

I checked my watch a few minutes after my drink arrived and wondered when Josh was going to get here. I pulled out my phone to check and see if he left any messages for me regarding an emergency but there weren't any from Josh. The only message I had was from Castle saying that he had gotten home safely. I was about to call Josh when I spotted him walk in the door. He spotted me and soon sat down but didn't bother to remove his coat.

"Did you have an emergency surgery?" I asked him as I noticed the scrubs under his coat.

"No," he said, rather shortly.

"Okay," I replied confused.

"What were you doing this afternoon?" he asked as he fidgeted with his silverware.

"What? I was working."

"At the Old Haunt?" he asked looking up at me. "One of my friends saw you there with him. Said you looked mighty friendly."

"We had just finished a case that really upset Castle and I took him out for a drink."

"On Valentine's Day?"

"He had just found out that one of his oldest friends arranged the murder of his father."

"Castle's father?"

"No, the friend had his own father murdered to get his inheritance early."

"Not to sound callous then, why did Castle need you to have drinks with him?"

"He's my friend; I offered to buy him one."

"What else do you offer to him?" he asked under his breath but I still heard.

"Josh!" I exclaimed, then looked around to make sure that I hadn't drawn any unwanted attention. "That's uncalled for. Castle is my friend he was upset. Of course, I am going to help him out."

"All this about Castle just being a friend but somehow I don't believe it," Josh said agitated as he sat back in his seat. "So is he good in bed?"

"I have no idea!" I whispered harshly.

"You never slept with him?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Keep your voice down and no," I was adamant and kept eye contact. He needed to know that I was telling the truth.

"Is he a good kisser?" Josh asked and damn it my eyes betrayed me. "You told me before that you hadn't kissed him so when did you?"

"It was just once," I said sad to hear the tone of his voice that was slightly hopeful. I knew that he was hoping that I would tell him that it was months or even years ago and I had just never told him but I couldn't lie to Josh. "It was while we were undercover for a case, two weeks ago."

"Two weeks ago, while I was in Africa?"

"Josh, we were undercover, it didn't mean anything," I said even though I thought 'great now I am lying to myself.'

"May I get you something from the bar, sir?" the waiter suddenly appeared. Why did they always show up at a bad time?

"No, thanks. I won't be staying," he said avoiding my eyes. The waiter left before Josh continued. "If it didn't mean anything, you would have told me about it before. Good-bye, Kate."

I sat there stunned as he stood and walked out leaving me alone at a romantic table for two. Not wanting to stay there and eat alone on Valentine's Day, I quietly gathered up my purse and jacket. I didn't bother to wait for my server and simply went to the maitre d'.

"We won't be joining you tonight after all, something has come up," I explained and handed him a bill to cover my glass of wine and the inconvenience. I headed out to my car, glad that I hadn't drank more than a sip of the wine. I knew my tolerance for alcohol was pretty high but I disliked driving at all if I had any. I turned on the radio hoping for something to distract me for a bit. Of course, since it was Valentine's Day, it was a love song. It was called 'Secret Valentine.' I laughed humorlessly, thinking my secret for Valentine's this year is that I suddenly didn't have a valentine.

My mind suddenly thought about Castle who also didn't have a Valentine this year since he broke up with Gina. I know that he said he was okay but since I was close by his place I thought I would stop over to check on him.

"Kate what are you doing here?" he asked clearly surprised to see me at his door.

"Oh, I just thought I would check up on you," I said as he stepped back to let me in.

"I'm doing okay," he said. "How about you?"

I could tell that he knew something had happened between Josh and I. It didn't take a detective to figure that one out.

"May I take your coat?"

I paused a moment trying to decide on if I wanted to stay or not. I thought about my only other option of going home to my empty apartment and decided I didn't want that.

"Sure," I said as I slipped it off and handed it to him.

"You look amazing," he said. I raised one eyebrow and I could tell that he had not intended to say that out loud. "Um, can I get you something to drink?"

"Sure, something strong."

"Go ahead, and make yourself comfortable," he offered as he poured two drinks.

"Thanks," I said to him as I accepted the offered glass of vodka as I sat down on one end of the couch. I thought it was interesting that we knew each other's favorite drinks but I didn't have a clue what my boyfriend liked to drink.

"What happened, Kate?" he asked softly as he sat on the couch close to me but not too close.

"It seems that one of his friends saw us at the bar earlier. Said we looked real friendly."

"What did he say about that?"

"I told him that you had a tough day and that I just wanted to buy you a drink. Next thing I knew was he was asking me, in the middle of the restaurant mind you, how good you are in bed."

"He didn't."

"He did. I told him to lower his voice and that I had no idea. I think he believed me but then he asked me how good of a kisser you are."

I watched him as his eyes dropped to my lips and he swallowed nervously. I knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"I had told Josh before that you and I had never kissed, so admitting that we had meant that I had basically cheated on him."

"You didn't cheat on him. It was to keep our cover to save Esposito and Ryan."

"I know," I said staring into the fire, knowing that he was right about the first kiss but not the second one, the one that I initiated. I stretched out my legs and tried to wiggle my toes but my shoes were still too new.

"Give me your feet."

"What?" I asked sure that I must have heard him wrong.

"Your feet," he said again and patted his lap. I hesitated a minute then throwing caution to the wind, leaned up against the arm of the couch and swung my feet to where he suggested. He gently took one ankle in his hands then slipped the shoe off with the other before repeating his action with the other shoe.

I sighed as his hands lightly rubbed my feet easing away any discomfort that the shoes had caused. I closed my eyes and let his hands work their magic. He let his hands massage up to my ankles but never tried to go any further than that. I moved to set my glass down and unintentionally must have pressed my heel into a soft spot.

"Careful," he said as he moved my feet a bit closer to his knees but not before I realized that the spot my heel was on was no longer soft. I looked up at him, hoping to meet his eyes but he was avoiding them.

"Did you ever tell him if I was a good kisser?" he asked softly almost as if he was afraid of the answer.

"No," I said before I paused, knowing that what I said next was pretty important and I knew I couldn't lie. I figured that it could go two different ways. I could tell him the truth and simply say that I never really answered Josh or I could tell Rick the truth, the whole truth. "I didn't say anything."

"Oh," he said disappointedly.

"I didn't think it would be nice to tell him that I felt more from your one kiss than from all of his."

His eyes jumped to mine and his entire body stilled. He again swallowed nervously then as if he didn't believe it the first time, asked me "Can you repeat that?"

"You don't believe me?" I asked him with a small smile.

"I have to be dreaming."

"Does this feel like a dream?" I asked as I slipped my foot from under his hands and let my toes walk up his thigh. He stopped me just before I got to my final destination though.

"Kate..."

"I want this Rick. I've wanted this for a long time."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Speed up your breathing
Just close your eyes
We'll hope its not for nothing at all

He ran one hand up my left leg, before tucking it behind him. His left hand trailed up my right leg as far as he could before my skirt got in his way. I leaned up and reached for him wanting to bring him closer. He quickly wrapped one arm around me, leaving the other trail up and down my leg. His lips lowered to mine but stopped just a breath from mine, his eyes searching for any sign of resistance. I met him the rest of the way and pressed my lips to his. We pulled back for a moment; both shocked at the sheer passion in the one simple kiss. Our breath speeding up and with at least me shaking inside, I pulled my arms tighter around his neck and we kissed again.

My gasp as he pressed his chest to mine was lost in his mouth and turned to a groan as he took advantage of my open lips. His tongue darted in slowly at first as if waiting for an objection. He wasn't going to get one, and to make sure he knew I was okay with that I let my hands wander. I tangled one hand in his hair and the other I ran down his back urging him closer. This time he lowered me back to the couch, spreading my legs as he turned his body and pressed it into mine.

I could feel his erection against my thigh and I suddenly wished that my skirt wasn't quite so tight. As if we planned it, our free hands both went to opposite sides of the offending skirt and pushed it higher. Finally having full range of movement, I wrapped my legs around his hips as he rocked his hips against me. My head flung back as I took a deep shuddering breath. My breathing sped up even more as his lips found my neck and nuzzled just under my jaw.

"Dad! Dad! Dad!"

We both shot apart surprised and a bit mortified that we were so lost in each other that we never even heard his daughter open the door. My embarrassment turned to confusion when Alexis kept repeating herself. We looked over to the door and suddenly realization crossed Rick's face. He pulled his phone from his pocket and answered the call. He spoke to her for a few moments before hanging up and tossing the phone to the coffee table.

"I never thought I would see the day when I was glad she was late for curfew," he said as he continued to nuzzle my neck causing me to laugh a bit. He pulled back a bit to look into my eyes before he continued. "She's going to be home in about ten minutes."

"Maybe I should go," I said even though I really had no desire to do so.

"No. Stay, please," he asked with a kiss. "Kate, I don't want you to leave until we can figure out what this is between us. Alexis will probably go straight to bed when she gets home, then we could talk or, um…"

"Continue where we left off?" I asked with a smile.

He sat back on the couch and eased my one leg behind him before he stood up offering me his hand. I swung my legs to the floor and stood up. I tugged my skirt back into place and stepped back a bit as he grabbed my shoes from the floor. I took my shoes from him, then picking up my nearly untouched drink I walked to the stairs.

"My room is the first door on the left," he said. "Make yourself comfortable."

"Oh, I will. You might want to put a blanket or pillow on your lap when Alexis comes in," I commented with a smile, my eyes darting down to the noticeable bulge in his pants. He gave me a steamy look that made me hope that the teenager was a heavy sleeper.

Nervous and shy

For the moment

We will come alive tonight

The only problem about stopping when we did was that now we were both frustrated and even worse, we both had time to think about just what the hell was going on. I knew that we had been dancing around this issue for a while now and it was about time that this was settled. Castle had given me a way out of this tonight by suggesting that we talk instead of just what our bodies obviously wanted to do. I did appreciate the gesture but I wasn't going to take him up on it, I had waited too long for this. I heard him outside his door wishing Alexis good night so I quickly stepped out of view of the door in case she looked into the room.

Castle walked into his room, his eyes at once meeting mine. He shut the door and locked it before he walked over to me. I let my eyes wander and enjoyed, not for the first time, how nicely he moved.

"Like what you see?" he asked smugly.

"Yes," I said honestly.

"Kate, we really should talk."

"I'd rather wait until later," I said as I walked closer to him.

"Will there be a later?" he asked, clearly nervous about my answer.

"Yes," I replied, my eyes dropping from his. "I don't know what this is between us but I want to find out."

"Me, too," he said as he gently cupped my cheek, bringing my eyes back to his.

Lay down be still

Don't worry talk they will
I'll be loving you until
Mornings first light
Brings tomorrow

I'll take care of you tonight

"So where were we?" I asked.

"Cursing that your dress doesn't have a longer slit in it."

"Me too," I laughed. "Maybe we should just dispense with it all together."

"Such a smart woman."

I turned my back to him and with one hand he lightly traced his fingers along my neck sweeping my hair to the side. His lips brushed my skin as his other hand found the zipper and slowly lowered it. I shivered as his fingers followed the zipper, touching the newly exposed skin. He unhooked my red lace bra as he came to it, and then continued with the zipper. I stepped out of the dress before I tossed it and the bra over to the chair in the corner.

"I think someone is over dressed," I said softly as I reached for the buttons on his shirt. I half expected him to rip his shirt off but was happy when he stood still and let me undress him. I wanted to touch his body as he had touched mine. My hands found their way to his waistband and I had popped the snap before he finally moved, leaning down and pulling me into a kiss. I made quick work of his zipper and lowered his pants to the floor. He stepped out of his pants and kicked them aside before he stepped closer and pulled me tight to him. We both moaned as we pressed our nearly nude bodies together, his erection nudging against my lower belly.

We just stood there in the middle of his bedroom for a while kissing passionately before we both knew that we wanted and needed more. We moved over to the bed our lips still locked together, hands still desperately clutching each other. I finally pulled back so that I could lie down on the bed.

"You are so beautiful," he finally spoke, his voice thick with passion.

I could see that he was still a bit unsure or he just wanted to make sure that I was ready for this so I said the one thing that I could.

"Make love to me, Rick."

Rick leaned over the bed and gave me a quick kiss before his hands reached for my panties. Thankfully, he didn't tease me, much. He just placed one kiss just above my now damp panties, before he eased them down my legs. He reached into his nightstand for a condom before he pulled off his boxers then tossed them in the same direction as my panties. Kneeling on the bed, I got the chance to see him in all his glory for just a moment before he lay down beside me. I took the foil package out of his hands and opened it. I looked into his eyes as I touched him for the first time. I could tell that he was fighting to keep his eyes locked to mine as I slowly unrolled the condom down his very hard and impressive cock. We both took a deep breath once that little chore was taken care of, mine catching in my throat as his fingers moved between my legs, finding my clit quickly. I knew that I was already so close so I lightly pushed his hand away.

"I want you inside of me when you make me come," I whispered.

He wasted no time as he rolled over on top of me, pressing me into the mattress, his legs slipping between mine. I rocked my hips against him even as I spread my legs to let him even closer. Rick braced himself on his elbows as he looked into my eyes. He leaned down to kiss me again not trying to rush things, both of us just enjoying the feel of each other for moment.

"I can't wait much longer, Kate," he whispered raggedly into my ear.

I didn't trust my voice so I simply reached down and guided him into me, again looking into his eyes. He moved slowly, taking quite a while before he was fully inside me. We were both breathing heavy as he stopped moving. I enjoyed the feel of him inside me but I needed him to move. I braced one foot on the mattress and I pushed up into him. I could see his control shatter as he eased back before thrusting into me again. We quickly found a rhythm that made us both happy, speeding up or slowing down, as we needed it. All too soon, he shifted his weight and slipped one hand between us, finding my clit causing me to gasp. Not wanting to make too much noise, I pulled his lips to mine, this time keeping our eyes open as long as we could as we both gave into the pleasure.

When guilt fills your head
Brush off rise up from the dead
This is the moment that we will come alive
Brace yourself for love sweet love secret love

I woke up at 5 just like I normally do but I could immediately tell that this morning was different. I wasn't in my bed, nor was I alone. I knew that last night was probably a mistake but it sure didn't feel like it then. I tried to ease out of Rick's arms but he pulled me tighter.

"Don't leave, Kate."

"What time does Alexis get up?" I asked as I settled back against him.

"Around 6:30 or so. We have time."

"To what?" I asked amused.

"To talk," he said. I rolled over in his arms realizing that we needed to see each other. "I don't want last night to be just a one night thing, Kate."

"Neither do I," I admitted.

"Really?" he smiled. "You don't think it was a mistake?"

"It probably was," I said. Seeing the hurt look flash in his eyes, I continued, "I just broke up with Josh, we aren't dating or anything so yes, it probably was a mistake. But it was a very nice one."

"Very nice," he smiled knowing that I wasn't going to just run away from what ever this is between us. "So, Kate, where does this leave us?"

"I don't really know. We will need to talk about it more later, I can't really think right now," I said as I let my hands wander.

"Why not?" he smirked.

"You are a bit distracting."

At 6:15, I was dressed in a pair of Rick's sweats but still wearing my red high heels. I gave him a quick kiss as he opened the door for me.

"Rick," I said a bit nervously. "I do know that I don't want anyone to know about last night. At least not right yet."

"That's okay, Kate. We don't have to tell anyone until you are ready. Until then I'll be happy to be your secret Valentine."