Thank you so much for everyone who read, reviewed, added me as an alert, etc. You're awesome and I'm flattered. And thanks to caskett. vs .stanathan fot her amazing beta!

Hour 42

"It goes both ways Kate." He gives me a tender peck on the lips as if to seal a promise. "So… would you like some cookies?"

"Sound good to me. But wait, don't sit just yet… how about some Monopoly with our afternoon snack?"

"Beckett, are you sure you're alright? You're talking to the unbeatable champion of that game!"

"Bring it on! Oh and the looser makes dinner."

"Hey! That's not fair! I made the cookies!"

"Are you saying you're going to give up your crown that quickly? I knew I held some power over your self-esteem, but I never realized it was that much!"

"What! No, there's no way I'm giving up without a fight!" And with that said, he disappears back into his office and comes back a few minutes later, Monopoly, Deluxe Edition in hand.

"Castle! You have to share this recipe with me! These are amazing cookies!"

"But if I share the recipe with you, how do I know you'll keep coming back? We both know you're here for the food…"

"Nope… I'm here for the bed-sheets! They are the softest fabric I've ever touched."

"Softest fabric? Not thing?"

"I do think the skin behind your knees and your inside elbows is really, really soft…"

"Miss Beckett! An elbow fetishist? Who knew…"

As it was expected, the game was full of banter and innuendo. The more time we spent just bickering, the more distracted Castle gets, which obviously, is good for me. We all know women are better than men at thinking about more than one thing at the same time. Add a woman being fully seductive and you get the vestiges of a thinking man that can barely realize that he needs to buy hotels if he wants to beat me at this game. It might be considered cheating, but let's be honest, he's loving every minute of it and he is the better cook between us.

Our game is interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. For a minute there he considers not even checking the caller ID but I remind him that it could be Alexis. After all, he hasn't contacted neither her nor his mother since they left for the Hamptons the day before. As it turns out, it was her.

"Hey Pumpkin! How are you doing? Is everything OK over there?"

I don't get to listen to the other side of the conversation, but seeing Castle's face, I can assume everything is going just fine.

"We said we'd be there the day after tomorrow." Alexis must be unsure. "Yes! We will be there! We both said we'd go, and we're going. There's nothing that could keep us from going." He's not doing his greatest job. "No Alexis. Kate is not on call, we won't get a case! Don't you remember? She told you guys she quit her job. She's no longer in the force, at least, not yet. Yes honey, there's a chance she'll go back, but not before the summer is over, and even if she wanted to go back today, she can't. Both her and Espo are suspended for the next couple of weeks so there'll be no reason for us not coming. I promise. Unless the world ends, we'll be there, probably for a late lunch. What? Yes, she's here with me. Why? You don't trust me? Since when don't you trust your old man? Then why do you want to talk to her? Fine. Yes. I'm handing her the phone."

Ok, now I'm worried. "Hey Alexis. How are you?"

"Kate, you know I love you. But you must know that after last summer I find the whole trusting you blindly a bit hard to do. That's why I really need to know. Will you guys really get here? 'Cause if you're not coming, then I want to go back to the city. I know you guys want to spend a few days on your own, and I love the fact that you're trying to spend some quality time with my dad. But it's my last summer before college and the truth is, I'm not really used to sharing him." I so had reasons to be scared. What am I going to say to this?

"Alexis, there's nothing to share. You're dad adores you, and as we both well know, he wouldn't be able to spend more than a few days without seeing you. We ARE coming to the Hamptons, and if you want, I can actually send him alone. Before anything, he's your dad. So I'd completely understand if you guys want him all for yourselves…"

"So what? You're backing away?"

"No Alexis. I'm trying to give you what I think you want!"

"We want the both of you here. Det- Kate, I know I said I'm not use to sharing him, but I want to learn to do that, with you. I might have my doubts, but my dad claims you make him happy. I want to have a firsthand experience of that. Can you give me that?"

"Yeah Alexis. I can. And for what is worth, he makes me beyond happy."

"I'm glad. Everyone seems to believe you deserve to be happy Kate. And so do I. I just want to make sure you won't hurt my dad in the process."

"I know it's not enough, but I'll do my very best to make him as happy as I can. He's my one and done Alexis, and I'm not willing to risk that. Not anymore."

"Good. So, we'll see you this Friday. Oh, and Kate? You better have a way of distracting him, cause he's really good at coming back frombankruptcy!"

"How did you know?"

"I can hear him shuffling with the bills and the buildings!"

"Castle! No cheating!"

"Bye Kate!" And with that she hangs up.

"Oh, you better put everything back, because if you don't, you won't only have to cook tonight, you'll also have to do the cleaning!"

"Oh yeah? And what do you call that seducing game you were doing?"

"Your inability to focus while being seduced by your partner is not cheating! Using the attack your daughter threw my way to steal money from the bank and placing buildings you didn't have, is!"

"You snooze you loose!"

"You cheat I'll tease."

"And I'll enjoy every moment of it. Wait, what do you mean the attack my daughter threw your way?"

"Rick, we all knew she was going to have trouble accepting me as your, uhm, girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend. That sounds so juvenile…"

"Because it is. But, please, focus. It can't be news to you that Alexis doesn't really trust me…"

"She's going to have to work on that Kate. I know we've given her reason to distrust you. But it's my fault as much as it's yours. She blames you for stringing me along and putting me in dangerous situations, but let's be honest, you wouldn't have been able to keep me away from the precinct even if you really tried. And these past weeks, my behavior wasn't that of a man in love. On the contrary, I flew out to Vegas and dated a blond bimbo because I was mad at you. That was my mistake. That was me telling my daughter that you weren't good enough…"

"And you were right. I'm not good enough. But I want to be. I really want to be."

"You are Kate. You're so much more than good enough. We simply need to be good enough at the same time…Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, it does. I love you Castle. So, so much…"

"Good, cause I love you too. Now, we're going to need to work about how to behave around my daughter…"

"I think she should see us happy, but we shouldn't be all over each other when we're with her. We want her to know we're in sync, but there's no need to show off you know?"

"Yeah, I do. Now…shall we finish our game?"

"No. I don't trust you with it anymore."

"Then what shall we do?"

"Come here and find out…" And I kiss him. I kiss him as if there was no tomorrow. Lips and tongues and hands are involved. He lies over me on the bed and his weight feels so right it's distracting.

"We're going to be so good…"

"I know…maybe tomorrow?" I can live with the bruises, but he deserves my very best and the soreness I feel today will come between us.

"Yeah, tomorrow. But can I keep kissing you right now?" He kisses the tip of my nose "It" my forehead "feels" right eye "so" left one "good" right cheek, and he simply keeps going.

When the man you love is covering your face and neck with butterfly kisses you don't really need to tell him that yes, he can keep kissing you, right?