Unbetaed. Finished and posted. Editing reduced to a minimum, and my editing skills suck hard. Every typo and mistake is mine. Also know that I wouldn't mind if you listened to The Pretty Reckless as you read. Especially You Make Me Wanna Die.
Everything Looks Better As The Sun Goes Down
For an improvised honeymoon that only served to mask an investigation, it wasn't going so bad. Sure, his enthusiasm for the little things made the discomfort and the lack of modern accommodation bearable, everything considered. Even this forced stop in the middle of the desert of Arizona didn't look so bad, with her husband - God, it still sounded so strange - currently cooking some delicious grilled sausage over an open fire. The wine in the tin cup wasn't cool enough but she couldn't pretend everything to be spotless perfect. Also, without the blistering sun over their heads that made their clothes sticky with sweat, she felt definitely better.
And she had to admit it, the thrill of adventure was catching up with her. There was something in the air that singed, and it wasn't the fire in front of them, there was something electrical but she couldn't really pinpoint what it was.
Maybe this was indeed their honeymoon, or something she could enjoy even though it wasn't a private beach on some tropical island.
"You look extremely at ease," she said after a long moment of silence broken only by the crackling of the fire. "I never pegged you for an outdoorsy type."
"I've done my fair share of camping when I was younger. You know, I wasn't always a millionaire, and I still remember how to grill sausages on a fire. And you? Never done camping?"
She shrugged. "Yes, but with state of the art equipment. And never in the desert, mostly in the mountains, around my dad's cabin. But it's been ages and… well, I kind of miss it."
"Well, we can do it, somewhere down the line. I want to take you to that tropical island before that though." He handed her a tin plate with her dinner. "I know this isn't exactly what you wanted for our honeymoon but…"
She gently touched his forearm to stop him. "Castle, it's fine. It's not ideal but… I'm having fun, really. It's just… no, it's nothing, it's us in the end!"
"Come on, don't you wish we were on a private beach in Bora Bora with the warm sand beneath us and the sea washing ashore just feet away from us?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows in the most comical way.
"I wouldn't say no, but… you're here, and that's the most important thing at the moment."
They ate their dinner in silence for a while. "You know, I wasn't really sure I could still cook this way," he said at some point. "It has been so long since my last open fire barbecue…"
"You grill perfectly well at home, way better than Ryan at least."
Castle chuckled, as he remembered that time Ryan had tried to help he and Esposito grill at the Hamptons and he had managed to cause a small fire that had nearly ruined the barbecue for everyone. "His shepherd's pie is to die for though. No seriously, it has just been so long since I used a non-controllable heat source. You like it?"
"It's grilled sausage, of course I like it. Come on, relax for a moment. It's not your fault if we're stuck here for the night!"
He sighed. "I had plans for tonight, although the bed is so small."
"We'll we're out here, and we have all the room we want, right?"
The tin plate fell from his grasp with a clatter. "You mean…"
"Rick, we're out here all alone in the middle of the desert, I highly doubt anyone from the ranch will come looking for us. And I don't know you, but I'm tired at all!"
Before she could even register the movement, Castle had grabbed her wrist and pulled her flush against his body, making her straddle his legs, her back suddenly too warm from facing directly the roaring fire, but it was nothing compared to the heat of his palms splayed at her hips and his lips crashing hard on hers.
A soft moan escaped her throat when he pulled her hips closer to his and made her wrap her legs around his back and she wrapped her fingers around the lapels of his vest and pulled it off his shoulders and down his arms.
He chuckled. "Eager, uh?"
"Shut up, it's our honeymoon!" She finally managed to pull the vest off him completely and threw it somewhere behind him just before he attacked the buttons of her own short.
"I thought you said…" Castle breathed before she shushed him again with a quick bite on his lower lip.
"Forget what I said, we're here, we'd better enjoy the moment!"
Her blouse and bra quickly joined his vest. His mouth latched to the column of her throat as he worked on the buttons of his own shirt. She gasped as he bit down just above her clavicle. She felt a surge of arousal when he gripped her thighs and stood up, carrying her with him but most of all grinding his now very prominent hard on over her core, sending sparks of pleasure through her body. "Where are you going?" she murmured against his neck.
"Can't do it on the ground…" he panted. "Sand everywhere, not good…"
He gingerly walked to the back of the cart and grasped a tattered throw blanket stored in there and haphazardly tossed it on the sandy ground before kneeling on it. "Now this is better…" he murmured against her mouth as he fumbled with her belt.
Fire burned high and roaring between them as they tried to divest each other, clumsy and feverish with haste, as if time had suddenly gone back to when they were teenagers at their first experiences. Crazy how an investigation could lead to such bursts of adrenaline.
A wrecking shiver coursed through her when his tongue touched her nipple.
"Castle…"
She thought she had whispered his name, but the look he threw her made her realize she had screamed. "That good?" he asked, a wicked smile lighting up his face.
She nodded. "Yeah, that good. Keep going!"
He grinned again. "As you wish."
"God I love you when you're loud." He pulled hard at her jeans and finally got them off. "Why do you think I wanted a private beach for our honeymoon?" His fingers barely touched her skin as he got her rid of her panties. "Because I wanted you as loud as you can be…"
With a frustrated grunt, she pushed his pants and boxers down his hips and ass, pulling them down his thighs with her foot. "Then make me scream!"
He did. Oh he did. Her voice, foreign even to her own ears, echoed through the Arizona desert. Each time he thrust deep in her, pleasure coursed through her like a shockwave, a nerve-wrecking earthquake of contrasting sensations that nearly tore her apart. The cool air of the night in the middle of the desert, the gritty texture of the blanket beneath her, the heath from the fire and her husband's body draped over hers. His hands gripped her ass tight, so hard she's probably have bruises in the morning, but the touch of his lips were soft, his tongue a barely there moist caress on the sensitive skin of her bottom lip.
"Uh, feels so good…" he murmured against her throat, his voice soft but hoarse in his effort. "Better than that twin bed…"
Kate nodded, but she knew she'd regret it in the morning. So would he, with his busted knee, but neither of them cared, so caught up in the throes of pleasure they were taking from each other.
Her orgasm was approaching fast. Between the adrenaline from the ever-present risk of being caught and the sheer talent her husband had between the sheets - or in open air, in this case - she knew she wouldn't last long. And she knew it would be that kind of releases that would leave her boneless, spent and nearly delirious with the intensity of the pleasure. She dared to open her eyes, look up at her husband - the novelty of calling him that way added something more to the whole thing - and found him boring deep in her eyes, his blue irises focused on hers as his forehead nearly dripped with sweat.
He was holding back.
"I'm right behind you, let go…" he groaned, then ducked his head and hid his face in the crook of her neck.
All it took was the softest feeling of his teeth against her pulse point and one last, hard thrust that sent her over the edge. She felt it rising higher and higher from the pit of her stomach to the tip of her fingers as she clawed into his ass with an unconscious convulsion that sent her soaring as pleasure washed over her like the proverbial wave on the shore. Her blood pumped in her ears, suffocating any other noise from outside. She barely registered the strangled howl he let out as he peaked too, right after her.
Kate had no idea how long they lay there, spent and sated, just basking in the afterglow of their orgasm, could have been seconds, minutes or maybe an hour. It didn't matter. They only thing that mattered in that moment, was them, the unity they had created together, no matter how fleeting it could be.
Only when the cool air engulfing them became too cold, Castle moved from the warm cradle of her thighs to gather their clothes. He shivered as he stood, and so did she.
"With the private beach, we wouldn't need to get dressed now," he mumbled as he pulled his pants up.
"With the private beach, there would be no thrill."
He chuckled. "Sometimes I forget how kinky my wife can be."
Kate stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Don't know about the kinky side, but I surely know how to enjoy the best out of things like this."
"So you're not angry at me for dragging you down here?"
She shrugged as she got dressed. "Let's just say that everything looks better when the sun goes down."