Author's Note: This was one of the earliest Caskett stories I wrote. I had read a lot of stories with a dominant Castle topping a submissive Beckett, and I wanted to give the reverse a try. This story was originally posted on AO3 about six months ago, but I was encouraged to re-post it here for better "exposure," so here it is. I hope you enjoy it.

"I'm sorry. I can't. It's, it's too soon." Her breath whispers across his lips as she pulls back. "I just keep seeing her boobs in your face."

She moves away and Castle just stands there for a moment, clearly not quite sure how to feel. But, as so often happens, he perks up a moment later and, of course, follows her.

"Okay, Kate. Can we, can we just talk? You know, hang out and chat?"

She turns back, suspicion written all over her face. "You mean, talk like you trying to convince me to change my mind and have sex with you? That kind of chat?"

"No, no. Well, I mean, if you think it would-" Her glare sharpens and he backpedals quickly. "Not that kind of talk. Okay. No. I just meant, you know, sitting around and talking. Like couples do." He wilts a little under her glare. "Or, or so I hear."

She bites her lip and thinks about it. Well, he did apologize, and she knows that he meant it. And like couples do is enticing. It's been a few months, but she still gets flutters in her stomach at the thought of being ... couple-y ... with Castle.

"We spent almost the whole day together. What would we talk about?" she asks, but he can tell that she has softened. He takes her elbow lightly and leads her to the couch.

"I don't know, uh, read any good books lately?" he suggests, smirking a little. She can't help giving a chuckle of her own, shaking her head tolerantly as she sits down beside him. He knows perfectly well that she has just finished reading her advance copy of Frozen Heat.

"I hear Patterson has a new one out," she teases gently. "It's supposed to be really good."

"That hack!" he bristles, sitting up straighter, and she laughs out loud.

The ice thus broken, she allows him to snuggle her in against his side and they actually spend half an hour just talking about nothing much at all. It's nice. Eventually they run down and just sit there on the couch in comfortable silence for a few moments.

Kate is just starting to think that maybe she'll let Castle talk her into some bedroom activities after all, when he stirs and gently shifts her off of him.

"Excuse me," he murmurs, and makes his way down the hallway toward the bathroom.

Kate gets up and moves to the kitchen to tidy away the dishes. After a minute or two she hears Castle calling her name.

"Uh, Beckett? A little help here?"

Something in his tone sets her cop senses on edge, so she moves cautiously as she approaches the hallway. "Everything okay, Castle?"

"Um. Yeah? Kind of?"

She looks into the bathroom; it's empty. "Castle, where are you?"

"In here. In the bedroom."

"What are you doing in my-" She comes through the door and stops short.

Castle smiles sheepishly up at her. He's lying on the bed, barefoot. Her police-issue handcuffs are looped through the headboard and attached to his wrists.

"I can't find the key."

"Castle..." She just stares, completely bemused. "Did you handcuff yourself to my bed?"

"Uh..." He glances up at his cuffed wrists. "Yeah." He looks back over at her and tries his cute-puppydog grin. "I can explain."

"I can't wait to hear it." She presses her lips together tightly, narrows her eyes at him. She will not smile, damn it.

"Kate," he says seriously, "you're mad at me."

She blinks. "What? No, it's fine. It's okay."

"It's not okay. I crossed a line, with Kristina, and you're upset. You have every right to be." He holds eye contact with her, his expression open and sincere. "And I want to make it up to you."

"You don't have to. We talked it out."

"I know. I know, but then I got to thinking, and I started to remember the conversation we had the other day," his lips twitch a little, "about our kinks. Remember?"

Oh, does she ever. It all started when he admitted to a fantasy about fucking her from behind on his desk, wearing one of his shirts and nothing else. Just hearing him describe it turned her on, and she immediately went into his closet to choose a shirt. When she walked across his bedroom and into his office, wearing nothing but his shirt, and leaned forward to brace her hands on the desk, he almost spontaneously combusted. Neither of them can look at that desk the same way ever again.

And after that, when they collapsed gasping and sweaty onto the office couch, they had a long and illuminating conversation about their sexual pasts, their various kinks and turn-ons and turn-offs. It resulted in a laundry list of things they want to try, some of which they have already checked off the list ... repeatedly.

Seeing the little smile that curves her lips at the memory, Castle goes on. "One thing we talked about was dominance and submission games. Remember? You said that you've experimented with being on the submissive side, but you've never topped. And you thought maybe you might like to try it sometime."

"Yeah, I remember." She cocks her head at him. "Still not quite seeing how this ended up with you handcuffed to my bed."

"Well. I was just thinking." He ducks his head, a little abashed. "Since you're still upset over me going on that date, I thought maybe you might like to ... punish me."

Oh. Now Kate starts to get it. She takes a couple of steps closer to the bed, watching him watch her. She observes how his powerful arms are flexed above his head, trapped, stretching out the line of his well-toned body. She sees how his shirt has slid up, revealing a little slice of stomach. She sees his eyes darken as he watches her.

"So," she says quietly, "you're topping from the bottom, is that it? Trying to tell me what to do?"

A shiver runs through him. "No. No, Kate, I swear. I was just, I just thought I would suggest it. And I came in here and saw your handcuffs on the dresser and, and I thought, before I suggested it, maybe try it and see what it felt like." He twists a little bit, trying to look at the bed underneath him. "But I dropped the key."

"Uh-huh." Desire twists hot in Kate's belly and she takes another step closer. "You mean it, Castle? You'd want to ... to try that? To submit to me?" To her surprise, just speaking the words - just putting the thought out there - floods her whole body with sudden, intense arousal. The sight of Castle stretched out on her bed, cuffed, helpless, takes on a whole new appeal.

"Kate." He smiles sweetly, like he knows exactly how she's feeling. He probably does, in fact. "I'm a switch, I told you that the other day. I mostly like topping, but I've also enjoyed subbing. And I would love to be your sub." His voice actually trembles slightly on the end of that sentence, and she knows it's true.

"I see," she husks, undoing the top button of her nightshirt, watching him flush at the sight, "So...you think I should punish you, huh?"

He shivers again and her eyes are drawn to the bulge in his pants. "If you want to," he whispers. Kate can't believe how turned on he already is ... or how turned on she already is. Her underwear is already soaked, her nipples tightening. She pops another button just to watch him squirm.

"Maybe I do," she agrees, moving to the side of the bed, looking down at him. He just lies there, breathing heavily, watching her as her eyes run up and down his body.

She leans down, slowly, giving him a good look inside the gaping neckline of her nightshirt as she reaches one arm across his body. He's almost completely still, watching, clearly having no idea what she's about to do.

She snakes her hand under his ribs, onto the bedspread beneath him, and comes up with the handcuff key.

"I don't think I'll be needing this for a bit," she murmurs, turning to place it on the nightstand. Castle's breath hitches when she turns back, and she isn't sure what he sees in her face, but it has him groaning even before she touches him.

She tucks both of the pillows under his head and shoulders, supporting him and taking some of the strain off his arms. Then she climbs onto the bed, straddling his hips, and begins to unbutton his shirt. "Don't move," she orders when he tries to buck upward, pressing his groin against her. He sinks back onto the bed again obediently, grunting softly.

"Your safeword is still apples, right?" Kate prompts as she continues working on the buttons. Castle nods, his chest rising and falling rhythmically under her hands.

"Yes. What are you going to do?"

"Wait and see," she replies calmly. In fact, she hasn't quite decided yet, but he doesn't need to know that.

The last button falls free and she opens his shirt, spreading it as far as it can go with his hands still imprisoned. She reaches up to unbutton the sleeve cuffs and pulls the sleeves higher, pushing the fabric between the handcuffs and his wrists so it will provide a little protection from the metal edges.

She pushes his undershirt up to his armpits and runs her palms briefly over his broad chest and stomach, savoring the way the muscles clench under her touch. She scrapes her fingernails across his ribs and watches his abs ripple.

"Oh god," he rumbles, "oh shit, do that again."

"You aren't giving orders tonight," she reminds him, and he startles, remembering himself.

"Please?" he tries, a strangled whisper that shoots straight through to her groin, but she shrugs it off.

"Maybe later."

Sitting back on her heels, straddling his knees, she pulls off her nightshirt, leaving her clad only in a pair of satin panties. She cups her breasts in both hands, rolling her fingers over the already tightened peaks. Castle watches, mouth open. His tongue works against the inside of his mouth and she knows that he is imagining putting that tongue right where her fingers are. She leans forward just a little, pinching one nipple with her fingers, pushing the breast forward.

"Do you want this, Castle?" Her voice is lower and huskier than he has perhaps ever heard it, and he groans again. "Is this what you want in your mouth right now?"

"Yes," he gets out hoarsely, "fuck yes, please, Kate, please."

"No," she rasps back, grinning a little at the way his face falls. "Boys who are being punished don't get what they want." She drops her hands from her breasts and starts working on his belt. "You get what I want."

"Kate," he moans, his fingers tightening into half-fists above the handcuffs. His whole body is tense with the effort of holding still. "Shit, you're so hot."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," she smirks. She gets his pants unfastened and lifts herself off of him to pull off the pants and boxers.

Then she's kneeling up on the bed next to him, looking down on his long strong body laid across her bed. His cock is as straight and hard as she has ever seen it, straining into the air. His chest and arms and forehead are sheened with sweat, a lock of hair flopping limply into his eyes. She brushes it back into place. He stares at her, glazed with lust and adoration.

"So hot," he repeats. "I'm sorry for what I did. I swear I won't do it again. Please touch me, please."

"I'll touch you when, where, and if I decide to," she replies darkly, and his breath stutters in his throat, choked with desire.

She settles back onto her heels again and resumes playing with her breasts, watching him, thinking. What will punish Castle best, she decides quickly, will be to take away his words. He's a wordsmith by trade, of course, and he loves dirty talk in bed. It's one of his favorite forms of foreplay - he keeps saying that one day he's going to make her come just by talking, and she has little doubt that he could do it.

Kate herself is not particularly quiet during sex, but she isn't a writer; her words usually tend to stick with the basics. Things like oh god Castle yes, right there and harder, faster, more.

But maybe tonight a little role reversal will be fun.

"Okay, here are the rules of your punishment," she says huskily, letting her wicked smile break through. "You don't move. You don't come until I say. And you don't speak."

Castle's eyes widen; his hips twist against the bedspread once, sharply, before he stills them with an effort. He shakes his head 'no,' staring at her pleadingly.

"No talking," she reiterates sharply. "Or I'll leave you here and go sleep on the couch. Do you want me to do that?"

He shakes his head again, urgently. His mouth opens, closes, opens again, but he obeys and says nothing.

Of course she has no intention of leaving him here like this. That would punish her just as much.

The memory of another woman's breasts in his face has entirely faded, replaced by the naked want she sees in his eyes now, mirroring her own. She leans forward impetuously and takes his mouth with hers, hard. He returns the kiss eagerly, his tongue reaching for hers. A little moan bubbles up from his throat, and she considers scolding him for it, but decides to let it slide. She didn't say he couldn't make any noise, after all.

Pulling away from his delicious mouth, she lies down on her side next to him, propping her head up on her elbow, bending one knee up. She watches Castle's face as she lets her free hand coast across her breast, down the jut of her ribs, across the rise of her hip and down inside her panties. Her whole body twitches a little when her fingers find her clit, and Castle gasps, straining his neck around to watch.

"I could lie here and touch myself all night," she murmurs, moving her hand slowly against herself. "And you'd have to watch and listen, and not participate. Would that be punishment enough for you?"

He groans softly in dismay at the thought. His eyes are riveted to the spot where her hand disappears inside the underwear. He's flushed, desperately aroused, and she's a little amazed at how well her words are working on him.

"Do you know how many times I've been right here, with my hand right here, pretending it was your hand?"

He shudders and drags his gaze up to meet hers, his eyes wide with astonishment.

"So many times," she breathes, enjoying his reaction. She bites her lip and slides two fingers inside herself, lets out a little gasp of her own. "Oh Castle. Your fingers feel so good inside me." She can feel him quivering beside her with the effort of controlling himself. She pumps her fingers in and out, slowly. The wet slurping noise it makes, the smell of her arousal drifting up to them, winds them both higher.

She pulls her fingers all the way out and presses them to his lips. He opens immediately, sucking and licking eagerly, moaning at the taste of her. When he starts nipping lightly with his teeth she takes the hand back, trailing it across his chin and down to his chest. She tweaks his nipples with her wet fingers, first one and then the other, hard. He writhes briefly and then stops himself, his breath rasping harshly in his throat.

"It's so hard for you not to talk, isn't it, babe?" she teases. He nods, fixing his heated gaze on her face. She rises up onto her knees. "Maybe I can make it a little easier."

Slowly, holding eye contact, she shimmies out of her panties. She brings them up to his face so that he can smell her juices soaking the satin. "Open," she orders, and his mouth pops open instantly. She pushes the scrap of silk into his mouth. His eyes drift shut in a haze of lust. "Keep your eyes open," she barks, and his lids fly up again, startled.

Kate puts on her sternest expression and watches him react to it, a renewed flush of arousal surging across his body. "No closing your eyes, Castle. You're going to watch every minute of this."

She flops back onto the bed, lying on her back now, and drapes one leg over Castle's chest: her heel digging into his ribs, her head near his feet. She bends up her other knee so that he has a perfect view of her fingers when they slide back inside her. She closes her eyes and brings the wetness up to her clit, slowly circling and then rubbing harder, just the way she likes it.

"Oh yes," she breathes, pretending she's talking to a lover rather than her own fingers, "oh right there, yes, ohh..."

She's so close to the edge already, her inner walls starting to flutter around nothing. She can't believe how hot it is to have Castle right there, watching her masturbate, unable to do anything about it. She lets herself go and touches herself the way she does when he isn't there, increasing the speed and pressure until it's almost too much, then backing off and just rubbing tight fast circles until she hurtles over the edge, a string of four-letter words escaping her lips as she shudders in release.

When she can see and think again, she sits up and meets his eyes, which are nearly black with desire and blinking rapidly. "Have you learned your lesson yet?" she asks silkily. He hesitates, clearly unsure how to respond. She reaches out and pats him lightly on the cheek.

"Relax, babe, it was rhetorical. I'll decide when you've had enough." She smiles, slow and feral. "I haven't had enough."

She hasn't, not even close. This first orgasm on her own fingers has barely even taken the edge off. She's tingling, humming with the tension.

She reaches out and tweaks his nipple again. Then she lets her fingertips drift slowly down across his ribs, over the flat plane of his stomach, into the valley of his hipbone and down his thigh. He shudders as her hand trails down his leg without touching his desperately twitching erection. The muscles of his arms shift and bunch as he twists and pulls against the handcuffs.

She runs her hand slowly back up the other leg, using her fingernails just a little bit to tease at the sensitive skin on the inside of his thigh. Then on back up to his stomach and he's groaning, sweating with the effort of not thrusting himself into her hand. He's watching her the whole time, as ordered, and she knows that he can see how much this game is exciting her.

She shifts herself over to kneel between his legs, nudging them farther apart, and bends down until her hair brushes the tip of his cock. She looks up past it to meet his eyes again, letting her hot damp breath feather out across his sensitive skin. He makes a muffled whining sound behind the gag of her underwear, his eyes pleading.

"Is this what you want now? My mouth on you?" Her voice is low and dripping with promise. He nods fervently, chest heaving with each deep breath.

"Of course it's what you want. I know it is. But I don't feel like it right now." That's not entirely the truth, either. But she is enjoying the denial, so very much more than she would have expected. She laughs darkly at the way he groans and presses his head back against the pillow as she sits back up again, pushing his legs back together again, leaving his cock untouched.

She's back on the edge again, aching, and although she knows that what she wants to do next doesn't really qualify as punishing Castle - it's another of his favorite things - still, she wants it. And she's going to take what she wants.

She leans forward and pulls the scrap of wet satin out of his mouth, replaces it with her fingers, still damp with her own juices. He sucks and licks the fingers eagerly once more, and then she pulls them away and slips them between her legs again, teasing herself with the slick wetness of his saliva.

Then she shifts herself up, throws one leg over him and straddles his ribs, sliding higher. She hears a quick sharp inhale from Castle when he realizes where she's going. She hasn't even gotten herself situated yet and his tongue is already out, his head straining forward, eagerly reaching for her.

She gets her knees positioned on the bed by his chest, her inner thighs pressing against his biceps where they stretch up toward the handcuffs. She grabs the headboard for balance and tilts her hips forward until she feels the scorching touch of his tongue on her. She cries out and presses into him, his talented tongue already running up and down between her folds, greedily tasting the flood of her arousal. Her intention to be more creative with her words has been forgotten and she's back to nearly incoherent moans of his name and yes, yes.

Usually he likes her to grab his hair while he's going down on her; he likes feeling her fingers cupping his head, the tug and release on his hair telling him what he's doing right. But right now she's so wound up that all she can do is grip the headboard with both hands, white-knuckled, and grind herself down onto his tongue.

Of course, he also usually likes to use his hands, two or three or even four fingers thrusting inside her while his lips and tongue work her over. That isn't an option tonight either, so he's pushing his tongue inside, rolling it around her and then pulling it out and shifting up to flick at her clit, then away. Panting, she somehow summons her commanding voice.

"Castle, stop teasing," she growls, and feels him shiver underneath her. And he's obeying, abandoning finesse, just sucking her clit into his mouth and working over it with his tongue and oh god his teeth, and he's whimpering softly with his own desire as her thighs tighten around his pinioned arms. It's so good, almost too good, and she's coming again, gasping his name in an almost-scream.

She leans forward against the headboard, panting, her legs trembling a little. She takes a moment to catch her breath and realizes that Castle is still licking her softly, long slow strokes of his tongue sweeping across her folds. Sometimes he likes to keep going and bring her off twice, even thrice in a row with his mouth, and she can tell that he's hoping to go for that now, so it's time for a little more denial.

"Stop."

He does, immediately, letting his head sink back onto the pillow again, and she detaches her hands from the headboard and slides back down to sit on the bed next to him again. He stares dazedly at her as she lets one hand drop onto his belly, hot and suggestive.

"Remember," she murmurs, "you don't move, you don't speak, you don't close your eyes ... and you don't come until I say. Are you going to behave?"

He nods, slowly, eyes wide.

She wraps her hand around his shaft and he lets out a loud moan. She sees him fight the urge to slam his eyes shut. His teeth bite down on his lower lip and he forces himself to watch as her hand slides slowly up and then down again. On the down-stroke she gives a quick fondle to his balls, and then she's circling his cock again, up and down, up and down. He's groaning and whining almost continually now, his thigh muscles twitching from the effort of holding himself back.

She watches his face as she strokes him slowly, and when she sees that he's almost losing control, she stops. His eyes dart up to her face, blinking rapidly.

"Deep breaths," she coaches, and he takes one, shuddering. On the second inhale he's calmer, the tension in his body relaxing slightly, so her hand resumes its movement. Her other hand slips down between her thighs and rubs herself lightly, getting her wound up again.

She brings him right up to the edge again, and then again, each time stopping him just before the point of no return. It's amazing for her to watch him struggling to obey and hold back his release - his body taut with tension, his restrained arms tight above him. The feeling of being in control of all this is more erotic than she could have imagined.

When she finally throws one leg over his hip and straddles him, he moans deep in his chest.

"You still can't come until I say," she purrs. "And don't forget to keep your eyes open. You like looking at me, don't you?" He nods quickly, his eyes roaming her face, her chest, the moisture staining the insides of her thighs.

All it takes is a simple push backward and she takes him inside her, so floodingly wet that she can slide almost all the way down onto his cock in one motion. He groans and bites his own lip again, still watching her with intense heat in his eyes. She lifts up a little and then slams all the way down and they both grunt.

"You're mine," she growls ferociously as she grinds down against him in short sharp thrusts. "Say it. Say that you're mine."

"All yours," he gasps back, his voice hoarse from disuse, his eyes hot. "Always yours. Only you. No one else, not ever."

The words send bolts of lightning sparking through her, and she moans deeply. "Come inside me, Castle. Now."

His groan fills the room as he finally gets his release, his hips jerking uncontrollably against her. The sight of him letting go makes her whole body shudder and she comes too, blindingly hard, crying out his name again.

As the aftershocks subside, she wants to collapse onto his broad sweaty chest, but first she leans over to grab the handcuff key from the nightstand and quickly unlocks the cuffs, letting Castle's arms fall free. She kneels over him, rubbing his forearms to help the circulation resume, while their combined juices ooze out of her, painting her inner thighs with their pleasure.

Castle just looks at her with awe in his eyes as she shifts over to lie down, snuggled against him, pulling his arm around her shoulders.

"Wow, Kate. That was..." He shakes his head, dropping a quick kiss onto the top of her head. "Are you sure that was your first time doing this?"

She smiles a little, ducking her head shyly. "It was pretty good, huh?"

"'Pretty good'? It was amazing. You were amazing. It was..." His fingers nudge her chin up and he kisses her softly. "That was so mind-blowing I've lost my words."

"Hmm," she murmurs, grinning as she lays her head back down on his chest again. "Too bad that won't work for shutting you up in public."

"No," he agrees, his fingers idly tracing spirals on her bare shoulder. "But promise me we'll do that again, soon." He frowns a little, rotating his other arm to stretch out the stiff muscles. "Well, not too soon. Wow."

Kate lifts her head again, forehead creasing in concern, but Castle puts his fingers over her lips before she can voice it.

"No. Don't apologize." He holds eye contact, making sure she sees his sincerity. "So worth it."

"Okay." She bites her lip, looks away, her cheeks flushing red. "So, I, um, got a little possessive, didn't I?"

"Yeah." He grins. "It was hot."

"Really?"

"So hot." He kisses her again. "And, Kate ... I really am all yours."

She squirms a little, blushing anew. "Castle, you don't have to-"

"No. No, I mean it." He makes her look into his eyes again. "The absolute truth, Kate. I didn't spend four years falling in love with you to throw it away over some bimbo in a bikini." The pure honesty in his eyes takes her breath away. "It's only you, Kate. I can't imagine wanting anyone else. Ever."

Her throat feels tight and dry, her heart pounding. "Me either," she can only whisper. They kiss again, slowly, lingering.

Then she pulls back, reluctantly, and gets up. Her legs are pleasantly achy, and more than a little wobbly, but at least they hold her weight. "I'm going to clean up." She gives him a look. "Try not to accidentally handcuff yourself to anything else while I'm in the bathroom."

"I make no such promises."

"Okay," she sighs, rolling her eyes, "but at least leave the key where I can find it."