I'm not going to apologize for the rating on this. If I'd taken it any deeper into the dirty muddy pit of my mind... this fic wouldn't get finished before the premiere. Hope you enjoy it anyway! Happy Season 4 (and book 3!)!

She'd been right when she'd dreamed of unleashed hours before. Her brain could barely connect the thoughts together as they consumed each other. The way his lips tugged and begged hers as they met, breath for breath, was downright life-changing.

The thought sent a gasp spilling from her lips as his hands pulled her harder against him and hers clung to his face, arms and body, anywhere she could reach as if he'd escape from beneath her. When they finally parted for air, they both looked shell-shocked and speechless. Equally confusing as the fact that they'd migrated inside and managed to close the door without recollection.

"What are we doing?" Kate asked, her lips blushed to a deep pink. Her tongue snaked out to soothe them, and Rick let out a sound that sounded suspiciously like a growl. It was so faint, that had she not been wrapped up in him beside her hotel room door, she'd have likely missed the noise.

"You asked." His smile was mischievous as he brought his mouth back to hers. She wasn't going to argue.

He pressed her against the wall, kissing her until she thought she'd melt into the textured hotel wall paper. The noises slipping from his mouth as his hands skimmed and scraped against her tank top left no doubt that he was also enjoying the unraveling of their carefully tied knot.

But when he abruptly stopped and pulled himself free from their tangled limbs, she worried.

"What?" Her breath huffed, "What?" His feet took unsure steps backward before he sank into the little desk chair.

"I don't want to do this."

"Oh." She misunderstood.

"No, like this, here. I want to take you home. At least to my place here, I don't want to just fall into some hotel bed with you."

"Oh." She smiled a little. "That's cute."

"I made Kate Beckett say cute." He teased, the smile he wore crinkling the skin around his eyes, while she let a tiny one tug the corners of her lips even though she tried to frown.

A blink later and he was on his feet, taking her hotel room key off the table and stopping only to hold the door open. With a subtle wave out to show the way, he grinned.

"I should..." Kate started to protest. But her lips burned, and the look in his eyes stopped her in her tracks.

"Your stuff will still be here tomorrow," he promised as she lingered near him. His hand reached out and clasped her wrist, giving a gentle tug out the door.

The drive from the East Hamptons deeper into the heart of the town was long enough to drive them both insane. She watched him as he drove with concentration. He smiled every time he glanced her way, the mix of everything she felt was reflected back on his face. She tugged at her sleep shorts and silently worried just slightly about getting stranded or pulled over wearing such a thing.

"Jake said," Kate started, and stopped. "No, that's the wrong way to start."

"What?"

"I love you," tumbled free before she could stop it.

Rick slammed the brakes on the car as the approached as street light. His eyes shone with wonder, and out of embarrassment, Kate chewed her lip ever so gently.

"Damn it, Kate," He scolded, before reaching across the seat and pulling her face to his for a quick catch of their lips. It was nothing spectacular, but just one of those kisses that had to happen and shocked a person by having its own demands. "You always have a way of picking the worst times."

"Me?" She laughed, and a car honked behind them. "You told me you loved me as I was dying."

"You weren't dying." He protested, simply because he hated the idea, not because it was false.

"I was." They traded a look that shared their thankfulness over the actual outcome.

"You should have told me this before." He complained, but his tone was happy, relieved, and sure.

"I almost did once."

"What? When?" He astonished, as he made a few more turns before he slowed and without ceremony pulled into the drive that was his. The quiet sat over them as he parked inside the garage and climbed out. Before he even had a chance to attempt letting her free from her side, she was out herself.

"Does it really matter? It wasn't the right time." Her comment left him thinking and he kissed her to forget it. They were lost in each other alongside the car's hood, his body resting above the tire well as she leaned against him.

"How long have you known?" He whispered into her hair as he inhaled her sweet scent.

"A long time. I haven't been ready nearly as long."

"How long?"

"Demming." She sighed, tucking her head into his chest. She felt his body tense as he back tracked. The reality of everything fell heavily against his chest. "But I've only really known since the freezer." Her voice was tiny, smaller than she wanted it to sound, missing her power and ability to carry herself so proudly.

"That's when you almost told me. But you stayed with Josh." She could only nod, buried against his chest.

"I just couldn't risk you. Things had just started to be okay again, after..."

"That summer." He confirmed, trailing his hands up her back in comfort. He tilted her head up to him, the must of the garage and humidity from the sea blending together in an odd odor. "It doesn't matter." He promised her, touching a piece of her hair letting his fingers skim down its length as he pinched it gently. "I've screwed it up too."

A hiccup of a laugh escaped her own lips as a smile graced them. "I won't even say it."

"We couldn't rewind to last summer even if we wanted to, it wouldn't have worked then."

"I didn't accept it until this week, when you were gone." She agreed, "It wouldn't have meant as much then."

"And you'd be kicking and screaming when I told you, I love you."

It wasn't really clear who started the kiss they fell into, but when she sighed against him, warm and fluid as his hands found the curves of her waist and the other more delicate ones, it didn't really matter. He, again, was the one to pull himself away and as he fought to push away from the car as she pinned him there.

"I love you." She managed again. The words hurt her, not because she didn't want them, but because she still feared the outcome.

"It's going to be okay." He promised her, bringing his mouth to her forehead. "Let's go."

And she agreed without a word.

The morning light brought him awake. A sudden stream of it, from the arched patio door in the center of his bedroom, spilled across the bed as she pulled them open. She stood, carefully touching the spot beneath her tank where her scar still hummed and tingled from his lips careful worship of thanks. Rick didn't let her know he was awake, but rather watched in awe as the salt water views sank in.

When she turned to him, her mouth gaping, he almost laughed.

"Good Morning." He smiled lazily from the bed. She simply pointed at the ocean.

"Damn it, Castle," she snapped, "How much did this place cost?"

"Doesn't matter, unless you want an official half," he teased.

"No." She looked at him horrified, "Don't even." They passed a look of understanding, his joke merely a joke for now.

Just as all his lingering comments had been a prelude to their moments the night before.

Yup, really. This is the end. May the next week fly quickly by and may Josh not wreck everything. Happy Season Four!