Chapter 2

Hank waited out on the side walk beside the detective's vehicle, taking in the rush of New York City, the sea of black suits mixed in with the tourists spending their summer vacation in the city. He loved New York but he preferred to live in Los Angeles now, particularly because of Californian weather.

He lit up a cigarette and leaned against the side of the Crown Vic waiting for the Detective and her partner to return. She was a nice piece of ass. His mind lingered on just the way she walked, her shoulders squared, chin up, such long legged strides and as confident as hell. Speaking of legs, fine legs he would love to have wrapped about his hips and for that matter his head.

Castle. Moody dwelled on Castle a moment, tried to figure out his situation with the Detective. What the hell was going on with them? Just friends! He'd been clearly told that by both of them. Yeah right! But as they had mutually stated in the car, they were in a non-sexual, plutonic relationship. That implied he was free to have a crack at the Detective. He took a long deep drag on his cigarette, thinking he needed to get the two of them out for the evening, to a bar. He needed to put a few drinks in Detective Becket and loosen her up a bit, find out what made her tick, what had attracted Castle to her in the first place.

Twenty minutes later he spotted the Detective come out of the building solely on the way she walked, and behind her catching up was her shadow, Richard Castle. She slowed down and turned to tell him something then she stopped and faced him. He was acting serious. Her phone must have rung because she suddenly had it to her ear and then the two of them were close, listening to the conversation. Seconds later they were on their way to the car.

"So Hank, did you miss me?" Kate mischievously inquired as she walked to the driver's door, her dark eyes swallowing him whole.

Moody laughed at the Detective's body language that he had little trouble with interpreting, and put out his third cigarette. "You have no idea, Detective Beckett."

Castle stood at the front passenger door, very worried about the foreplay going on between Moody and Beckett. There was damn nothing he could do about it.

"Any one up for drinks tonight?" Moody asked.

"Of course we are. Castle owns a bar, right Ricky?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. We can go there." He replied. He was seriously wondering why the hell he hadn't thought this all through before he introduced them.

"Then it's date." Kate confirmed and got in the car with the boys.

"You are the exact opposite of each other." Kate declared with sound solid belief behind her own statement. She took another healthy sip of her vodka martini, her eyes glancing between Castle and Moody, a seductive sparkle in her hazel eyes. Rick's bar was busy as usual but they had managed to secure their usual booth to have a few drinks at. She had met the boys at the bar after she had gone home to shower and change. She felt like exposing Rick to the woman Kate Beckett was in her twenties.

"No, we're similar." Castle objected and Kate burst into amused laughter which also caused Moody to have a chuckle shaking his head.

"No way." Hank responded. "Beckett's spot on. Ying and Yang."

"We both write." Castle persisted.

"Castle, you write crime novels, he writes about sex." Kate replied unable to believe he thought they were similar.

"There is sex in my novels." He defended, his voice going a little too high even for his liking. He cleared his throat and said in a deeper voice. "I write sex scenes."

Kate stared playfully at him, watching his body squirm in discomfort. She smiled, "Not like his," she replied, loving the fact that for once she was capable of messing with Castle's head.

Rick swallowed, and decided to take her knock on the chin, embrace it. He smiled and leaned into Beckett, his hand going to his chin. "Okay Beckett, how so? Why is his sex scene different?"

Kate laughed. "You're kidding me, right?" She glanced between the men, pinched her bottom lip, her eyes glistening. She leaned close to Rick, her hair falling around her face, "Moody is full throttle on the sex scene, you write it in but step out of the room at the same time, excuse yourself and leave it to the reader's imagination."

Castle sat back, mortified by her comment. "Out of respect!" He replied, "Respect for my muse because she, quote unquote, doesn't want Nikki Heat to be slutty," he finished mimicking Kate's frequently used statement.

"What?! No!" She squawked, pulling at face at Castle. Hank laughed his heart out at her expression. Kate glanced to Moody then turned to Castle. "Anyway, I'm not Nikki Heat. She's just someone you made up in your head so you can imagine the sex without feeling guilty. Written masturbation. No!" She excitedly pointed a finger at him, "It's like fanfiction."

"That's not true." Castle objected, and emptied his glass. "You really like fanfiction, don't you Beckett."

"What?! No!"

"You can really pick your muses, Richard Castle." Hank laughed, playing with a cigarette. Hank offered them around. Castle instantly waved them off. Kate looked at the pack of cigarettes. She seriously contemplated letting Castle see what Kate Beckett in her twenties, her wilder days, used to be like when she was off the job. She took a cigarette, her eyes flickering to Castle who wore an expression of pure shock. He was clearly horrified she had accepted a cigarette. She ignored his facial expression and focused on lighting up. It was hard not to laugh at his reaction. She had never figured shocking Castle would be so much fun. Hank held out the lighter for her and she lit up the cigarette taking three or four short breaths.

"I didn't know you smoked, Kate." Castle commented noting how well she did breathe it in without a cough.

"There's a lot of things about me you don't know, Ricky. Whoops, another layer of the onion just peeled off." She responded, her dark eyes lingering on his face a little longer than usual. Her lungs wanted to cough but she held it off. She was reminded of why she didn't smoke.

"I don't like it." He replied.

"More material for your Nikki Heat novels perhaps."

"Well, she smokes," Hank remarked, "in more ways than this," and laughed heartily, loving the dynamics between these two people. They were so fucking hot for each other but too bloody stubborn to admit it. Moody sat back in his chair observing the two of them. He made up his mind he was going to test how loyal they were for each other.