302. Chapter 302

After Fool Me Once

Episode 2.04

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I could never con you into believing I own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Kate Beckett closed Heat Wave after finishing the book. Is he conning me? She thought. I know what Richard Castle is like. He's gone through women like a plague of locusts. Page Six of the Ledger is filled with his exploits. A super model followed by a starlet followed by a wealthy society woman. So why not a cop just for a change of pace?

She looked at her watch and decided she could have another glass of wine and think about Nikki Heat, Jameson Rook, Kate Beckett and Richard Castle. Castle wants to sleep with me. I'm not being egotistical with that. I'm good looking, in fact, I think that I'm at least as attractive as some of the women that Castle has bedded. Unlike his ex-wife, who he was so proud of bedding in spite of the act that she's his ex-wife, I also have a brain as well as a job and a conscience and…What the hell. What do I care about some woman Castle has slept with?

He's been with me for a while. He's been in danger, shot at and beat up. Would he do all of that just to get me into bed. Kate thought about it. Perhaps he would. He said that con men love the game itself, not just the financial payoff at the end. He said it's like a drug to them. Is that it? Is Castle addicted to getting women into bed and is getting the most difficult women into bed the greatest challenge for him? There are plenty of women who'd go to bed with Castle just to say they'd been in his bed, or to get something from him: A night at an expensive restaurant, a trip to some tropical paradise, jewelry, clothing, whatever. After a while that might get boring. So try for a woman that isn't fascinated by you. Try for Kate Beckett who started out disliking and wanting nothing to do with you. Now that would be a challenge for Castle, wouldn't it?

Kate decided she wasn't so sure about that. I've seen him with his daughter. He loves her. He loves her a lot. He isn't one of those wealthy parents who gives their children money instead of love. He's a good father. A very good father. He's the sort of person I'd want the father of my children to be.

Kate stopped suddenly. Whoa! The father of my children and Castle in the same thought? How did that happen? No, it makes sense. I can certainly want someone who is as good a father as Castle is to Alexis without wanting Castle as my husband. Castle as my husband? Now that is absurd.

She thought of something else. I've gotten so that I can read Castle fairly well, in spite of his vaunted poker face. When I suggested I might have a date and then when I said I might have been sparring with a man, he was jealous. Not green-eyed monster jealous, but jealous. Now why would Castle be jealous if he saw me as nothing but a thing to be used and discarded? That doesn't make any sense. Unless it's an ego thing. Castle hates the thought of another man sleeping with me instead of him? That could be it, but my gut tells me that's not right. My gut? What am I thinking of? I'm a cop. I believe in verifiable evidence, not hunches or gut feelings.

Kate picked up Heat Wave. Why the hell am I worrying about this? Castle is never going to sleep with me. Never. Ever. Who cares what he's trying to do?

Kate started leafing through Heat Wave. Okay, Nikki Heat is still a stripper's name and the cover makes her look more like one of those bimbos that was using Castle as a stripper pole in the precinct a while ago, but I'm happy to see that Nikki has turned out to be a damned good cop. And the others are good, too: Roach, the nickname for Detectives Raley and Ochoa, Captain Montrose, every bit as good a cop as the real Captain Montgomery, Dr. Lauren Parry who really is Lanie to a tee. And Jameson Rook, who…Beds Nikki Heat. Damn! I keep coming back to that.

Kate put the book down. I'm not sure it isn't a game for me, too. Keep Castle interested, hot and bothered, and push his buttons? Flirting with him and then putting him down keeps him off balance. And who knows? Maybe Castle isn't as bad a guy as I think he is. In spite of everything, he is a good partner. Right up there with Mike Royce. Maybe we could be friends if he gets over the idea that he can get me into bed. He could be fun, though. We could…No! We could not! He's not what I'm looking for and that's that! I know I'll probably never find the kind of man I want, I'm really married to my job, but I won't settle for less than a one and done. I won't.

Kate put the book away and headed for her bedroom. I need to get some sleep and not waste my time in pointless speculation. Nothing will ever happen between Castle and me.

Esposito leaned over and whispered to his partner. "So she got the book from Castle?"

Ryan nodded. "I saw him hand it to her the other day."

"Do you think we're in it?"

"Not us, Espo. Some nameless detectives in the background is all we'll be."

"We'll know if one of them is named Honey Milk." Espo said, earning a glare from Ryan.

"Do you think she's read it?"

"She's read all of his books. She proved that on their first case together. Sure she's read it."

Ryan glanced over to where Beckett and Castle were sitting. "What do you think she thinks of it?"

"She likes it, bro."

"How do you know? She say something?"

"No. Castle is still alive. If she hated this Nikki Heat, they'd be finding Castle in the New Jersey pine barrens some day."

"We have to read that book. I mean Nikki Heat is a stripper's name and I heard the sex scene between Nikki and her boyfriend is pretty hot."

Espo smiled. "Oh, we are so going to read that book.'