You're sitting at your desk, writing up the report from the now-closed murder investigation. Most people have gone home with no mysteries to solve and the people who are still at work aren't close colleagues or friends.
"No hot date tonight?" Castle asks, tearing your attention from the half-finished report your pen is hovering over. You look up, "No, just the paperwork." A small smile.
He's standing at the thin dividing wall separating the hall from the work space, computers and desks. "One of the many reasons I'm glad I'm not actually a cop," he looks away as he steps towards you, leans on the corner of your desk. his eyes widen as he finishes his sentence and then as he resumes eye contact, his eyes crinkle at the edges as he smiles warmly at you. Your mind goes blank, you feel as if water is rippling over you, too hot and too cold at the same time.
Automatically, you smile back at him, "uh-huh." Castle had the intelligence to be a cop, but having the attention span of a cocker-spaniel, he would never get through all the paperwork. Yet, he's a writer?...
"Have a good one," he rights himself in one swift movement, and starts to walk away.
Only just in hearing range, you reply, "Yeah you too." You see him smile before he turns a corner and disappears, you won't see him until the next homicide. You start to write again, trying hard to focus on the words in front of you.
Out of sight out of mind they say. Not in this case! you think to yourself. Your eyes wander from the paper on the desk, catch sight of the smooth spine of 'Heat Wave'. His book. The one he'd written. About me. He could play his role in his book and in reality, make either go however he wanted, thanks to his friendship with the mayor and his shiny platinum credit card. I was absolutely fine with that; it was none of my business. But how he controlled me. Figuratively speaking. I had no say, no opinion, and with me being so close to the law and knowing my rights, I knew what Castle was writing about was perfectly legal. But just because it was legal, it didn't make it right. Still, no-one would know I'd been reading it...