The most sincere of thanks to Jenny for looking this over forever ago when it was first written.
The bottle of water sweats onto her thigh, the chilly droplets trickling over bare skin. Castle reaches over, warm fingers tracing the path of the drops before sneaking up under the hem of her shorts. She bats him away, setting the bottle in the cup holder next to his Coke.
"Cut it out," she says, turning the key in the ignition and backing the car out of the convenience store parking lot.
He grins, moving his fingers up to her waist, sliding his thumb under the fabric of her tank. "Can't. You're irresistible."
"Best selling author and that's the best line you've got?" Kate narrows her eyes, reaching into the console to get the map before shoving it into his face. "Here. Tell me our next exit."
"No fun," he mutters, unfolding the paper map and snapping it open.
"Didn't say that when I interrupted your editing last night to-"
His hand flies to her mouth. "Stop."
"Also didn't say that." She smiles, eyes on the road but she can still see the aroused shock make him grin. "Find our exit, Castle."
The breeze catches some of the flyaway hairs dancing around her temple and as he moves to tuck them back behind her ear, the map flutters out of his hand. "Shit," he shouts, fumbling for it futilely.
"Great," Kate sighs, tugging on the neckline of his shirt to get him back in the seat as he twists around to watch the folded paper fly further away.
"It's not my fault," he spouts off automatically.
"Nothing ever is."
All he gives her is a bright smile in response and a tiny shrug of his shoulders as he re-adjusts the seatbelt across his chest. "Come on, Kate. This'll be fun!"
Kate changes lanes with a quick glance behind her. She taps her fingers on the steering wheel, focused on the highway rather than the man at her side. The only sounds in the convertible are the loud roar of engines around them echoing back from the granite walls surrounding the road and the classic rock station vying for attention.
"Listen," he starts when she doesn't respond. "We can just take the next exit. We'll turn around, stop back at that store, and get another map. It'll be fine."
She hums thoughtfully. "Or we could just drive."
"What?"
When she spares a glance to the right, she finds him watching her carefully. "Let's do it," she says. "Maybe going rogue will be okay this time. Slim chance we'll end up in a freezer, right?"
Castle's eyes light up, his smile returning in full force. "Really?"
"Sure. But," she says, poking him in the chest once. "I get to pick the roads. Not a peep from you about other options. You can have the next road trip."
"Deal."
"Good," Kate replies. She pats his thigh, leaving him with a gentle scrape of her nails against his kneecap.
Castle catches her fingers, keeping them against the cargo shorts and making her drive with one hand. She turns her hand over, letting her fingers fall into the spaces between his, her thumb smoothing over the knuckles of his forefinger.
She takes side streets at random, a few of them chosen at the last possible minute and that leave him bracing his arm against the door of the car as they turn. Eventually she settles on a highway surrounded by trees and fields of cows and horses. The sun peeks from behind clouds, casting Castle's hair in shades of golden brown making her push down the sudden desire to find a secluded rest stop and run her fingers over him.
He does well, letting her call the shots; he doesn't once take his phone out to look for a map. He only plays with the radio when the station turns to static, stealing sips from her water after he finishes off his soda.
After two hours, though, she can sense him getting restless at her side and the sun paints the sky with the smudged fire of evening.
"Another fifteen minutes," she says, brushing a hand over his shoulder. "Then I'll find a place to turn around and you can program the GPS to get us back to the city."
The woods to their left drop away to a river, white heads of foam dotting the dark surface where the rocks turn the water to rapids. Castle leans on the console, trying to look down the sharp decline at the water until Kate shoves him back into his seat.
"You've seen a river before," she mutters.
He grumbles until the road curves in front of them. To the right, the trees are broken by a waterfall. Two levels, the upper more pronounced than the lower, but both are covered with tumbling water that appears clearer than the river water below.
Castle sits forward, his knee hitting the dashboard as he taps his hand against the heated plastic. "Can we stop? Please?"
He behaved for the trip, stayed quiet and let her pick their route and living up to his promise so she nods, following the signs to the parking area just beyond the falls. He gets out of the car before she can take the key from the ignition, practically running back toward the bridge. Kate snags his belt, pulling him to walk next to her, hugging the barrier on the side of the highway.
During the five minute walk back, Kate has to keep slowing Castle down as he chatters about how cool it is to find a waterfall in the middle of nowhere and how this is definitely fate. About how amazing it is to find something so beautiful in the wilderness on their unplanned road trip.
They jump over the low wooden fence and go just far enough into the woods bordering the falls that they can still see the water slide over the edges of the rocks below.
"Admit it," he says, linking their hands so that the back of her fingers rub against his shorts. "This is pretty awesome, right?"
"Yeah," she sighs, turning her head to press a soft kiss to the hollow of his throat. "Pretty awesome."