Car keys jingling loosely from her left hand, Kate leaned in to steal another kiss before venturing back into the en suite to finish her morning preparation. Giving herself the once over twice, she smirked at the image reflected back at her, completelysatisfied
with the effort. Collecting her makeup into the smallish clutch, carefully ensuring her love note from Castle got tucked inside also.

Just then she allowed herself a moment of reflection. A scant twelve hours beforeshe sat in a town car looking to escape. But from what? she considered. The party was awesome, an unqualified success. It must have been the time after, the great
unknown wherethe after party would free their spirits further, unleash their inhibitions, offer an opportunity for regret after as the next morning broke.

No, she knew all that didn't measure up, at least not to stir up the trepidation inside her bones. Hell, she partied wilder in college and sporadically with Lanie since, even recently. No, she knew it had to be the presence of one person. The oneperson
who knew her better than anyone. The one who pushed and pushed, who emerged as her partner and now with Josh kicked to the curb many months ago, emerged as a true friend, a real best friend, in fact. Only her own insecurity kepther fromseeing
if anything more could develop.

Castle. Damn, did he prove her wrong at every turn since she came back from her summer exile. This amazing overnight was just the icing on the cake. Stopping once more to check herself in the full length mirror, turning first to her leftand thenher
right, she nodded in approval. Bernadette certainly outdid herself as she loved how great the clothes fit and most especially how fabulous they looked on her. Maybe she'd let Castle make Bernadette her personal shopper again!

Emerging from the bedroom pulling a medium rolling suitcase, again, curtesy of the ever thoughtful Bernadette who arranged today's wardrobe, she spied Rick on the phone near the remnants of their breakfast banquet.

"Yes, almost ready...sure send Mateo up for the luggage... No car is in the garage, will need to get that ourselves"

She could not hear the question on the other side but blushed when the answer was spoken.

"Ummmm because I don't actually have the keys and don't think I can wrestle them away" his voice sliding into a sheepish murmur.

"Hey Castle" Kate rang out "you ready?"

"Just waiting on the bellhop" the reply came back.

"What, you too good to roll your own luggage now?" She shot back, mocking him while repressing a chuckle.

"Err, no" finally fully understanding his faux pax in exercising his social stature. Thumbing the extension digits for the concierge on his cell, he cleared his throat saying "never mind, I will take my bags myself"

Kate could not resist smacking him on the shoulder and laughing. "God, you are so easy" as she reached for the handle of her new luggage, hips swaying JUST a bit more than normal as she made her way to the front exit. Turning the knob andpullingopen
the door, she paused half way through, shooting a glance back at the frozen in place Castle, demurely offering "you coming Castle?"

The elevator doors opened on level 2 of the parking garage. The Ferrari was obvious to all, parked two spots away, even closer than the blue signed wheelchair emblemed handicap spots. An orange road cone on each side of spot number two was theonlyreasonthey
needed to exert themselves an extra eight feet. Castle's 'charm' must have ensured the 'safety' of his precious hunk of metal.

A simple press of the icon on the key fob and the trunkunlatched, opening for storage. Kate crooked her head to the side to see Castle a step and a half behind drawing a loud cackle from her lips. "How funny" she thought "Castle went frompompousrich
guy awaiting for a servant to her personal bellhop with the simple pull of two wheeled suitcases"

Reaching the trunk, Castle muscled the two cases into the snug opening, pushing and shoving them until the trunkhood would close. When satisfied with his arrangement, he took a stutter step toward the drivers side just to see Kate already there,keysdangling,
a pleased smile affixed. In defeat, he slunk over to the passenger side, the side he should have anticipated once Kate agreed to return to the city with him.

Kate felt the sheer rush of an embarrassment of excessive horsepower as she pushed down on the gas pedal. Granted she had driven this before, but that was only a short distance and only within midtown Manhattan. No, here she can find out ifthisglamour
car had any balls. Dropping the gear shift into reverse, the car eased backwards easily. Left foot on the clutch the chess piece shaped knob found first. Holding the clutch a second too long, Kate screeched the tires,essentially burningrubber,
laughing merrily at the sound. Castle watched in awe at the pure pleasure she gathered from such a simple act.

Once out of the parking cavern, Kate negotiated the arterial roadway surrounding the ancient city, sliding thru a yield sign onto Route 9 heading northbound with no particular immediate destination in mind. Proving Castle wrong onceagain, she recapturedher
skill for handling a stick shift easily, like riding a bike as the old saying goes, smoothly negotiating the clutch and gears as they blurred by the traffic.

They were quiet as the temperature this fine day permitted the convertible roof to be lowered. Castle loved the wind whipping through his hair while driving and to be honest, Kate did too. Soaking in the scenery, Kate marveled about how muchthearea
changed in the ten plus years since she cruised this road last. Back then, the motorcycle club loved to go "upstate" on weekends for their rally's. Those were some great Saturday's and Sunday's only to sink back into her personallycreated
hellhole Monday morning.

About a half dozen traffic lights later, the larger than life mansion and grounds of the famous Vanderbilt family homeadorned the eastern shoreline of the mighty Hudson River some one hundred feet above the shoreline. Sheflicked on the
turnsignal and made a left into the historical sight. Surprisingly for such a lovely day, the lot had a lot of open slots near the main gate.

Parking easily, they both jumped out and began to wander the grounds. The gardens were toward the end of the season but you could still see their beauty. The trees had their colors,the golds and bright yellows more hearty than the reds but all andallstill
beautiful. After walking the full expanse, the equivalent of a large 18 hole golf course, they found a bench overlooking the water below.

Sitting quietly for a moment, Castle reached over and placed his hand over Kate's. Instead of recoiling, she embraced the gesture, intertwining her fingers with his. Castle could not help the smile that lit up his face. Anothermoment passedbefore
Kate broke the silence.

"Castle, thanks again for such a great weekend, it turned out amazing"

"I should thank you" Castle interrupted "you were the perfect plus one!"

"So Castle, do you think there evercould be an us?" Kate inquires very sheepishly

Swallowing the lump in his throat and gathering the words he needed, Castle countered " Funny, I want to ask you on a date, so instead of waiting any longer, Kate would you have dinner with me tomorrow night?"

"I think I would like that"

They sit for a shorttime more when the tour guide passes bylooking to spur on sales. Rick and Kate standSimultaneously thensay "that could be fun!"

Chuckling, the follow the guide inside to the ticket desk.

"Two Adult please". Rick asks

The lady handling the tickets sets her novel down on her desk looks up and is flabbergasted. Laying open with the cover side up is the latest Nikki Heat book, and she recognizes Rick from the cover. Quickly slipping a scrap of paper in as a bookmark,she
flips to the dedication page and extends a pen to the author. Then instituting the international sign for pretty please, the clasped hands raised in a prayer like form, she pleads with her eyes as her mouth still fails understandsand
after seeing her name badge, he signs the book with care and hands it back. Then, catching Kate off-guard, hands the pen to her to do the honors also. It took a beat or two but Kate added hername with a flourish right belowher famouspartner.

The tour took almost an hour and provided plenty of trivia sprinkled with historical facts. Both Rick and Kate loved the artifacts and restoration that had been done. They debated back and forth about how life was then in the light oftheir socialstanding
and wealth. They held hands and walked together, jostling shoulders occasionally in the merriment contained in the companionship of each other.

Now back at the rocket, Kate buzzed down route 9 to the Mid-Hudson bridge, crossing over then heading north on 9W for two lights until finding the turn for route 52/55. Briefly closing her eyes, she brings back the memory of this greenarrow
appeared and Kate deftly made the left to begin the assent up the eastern ridge of the Catskills mountain.

As the hamlet of Highland faded in her rear view mirror, Kate navigated the snake like roadway as if she were a Formula One driver and the route was a Grand Prix course much like LeMans in France. Castle barely looked at where they were goingsotransfixed
on the sheer exhilaration radiating from Kate's face. Truly a thing of beauty is all he could think of so he captured a remembrance on his phone camera to save and relish later.

Reaching the apex, Kate slid off the road into a cutout created as a tourist lookout. Castle's imagination ran wild, he pictured Kate exiting the Ferrari, slowly, oh so very slowly, removing her crash helmut, shaking her head to release hergorgeous chestnutlocks
as theycascaded down her back. No longer in jeans, she wore a red racing jump suit, perfectly fit accentuating her curves and shape, sponsors adorning most of the precious real estate, none more prominent than the name RICHARDCASTLE acrossthe
bust line!

Kate raised her voice this time, trying to snap him from his reverie, Rick jumped at the sound.

"This is the Shawangunk Ridge, the most scenic view of the lower Hudson Valley" Kate schools him

"Simply beautiful, now I see why this was a popular trail to cruise?"

"Yea, especially this time of year, aren't the colors outstanding?"

"Beautiful"

Kate steps next to Castle putting an arm around his waist pulling him close. He does likewise, their hipsnestle against each other. Extending her long left arm, camera phone at the ready, Kate clicks a series of shots ofthe two of them withthecanvas
of Mother Nature as their backdrop.

"One more" she pleads, and as the camera is positioned, she placed her lips onto his cheek and snaps away. Kate knows these will be priceless as she can feel the radiation of shock from Castle on her lips. Noticing the shadows extending over therich
farmland, Kate pulls Castle toward the car.

They jump back in the car and it seems like only seconds when Kate is pulling over again, this time on the right side. They look out and are speechless. Kate focuses the phone collecting several shots of the sunset with Castle prominently intheframe.
The sky is a mixture of purple, pink, yellow and orange streaks, with a large blood orange colored sphere appearing to be nestled upon the mountain range.

"Simply breathtaking" muttered Castle "thank you for sharing this with me".Kate could see the simple wonder of it all in his eyes and on his face. It melted her heart seeing how he could be such a stone self assured man yet still have the heart
of a child. It hit her then that she actually loved him. Not taking anytimeto think, she slid her iPhone into herback pocket. Kate then wrapped her arms around his neck, clasping her hands securely pulling his head down to her lips engaging
his eagerly. It took only one heartbeat for Castle to secure his arms aroundherwaist, tracing the seal of her lips with his tongue begging for entry. They shared a deep passionate longing kiss, fully aware of each other's feelings
hoping that the moment would not end.

The combination of the higher altitude and desperate need for oxygen parted them. They took another moment to stare into each others eyes before the sun fully descended below the ridge and the blue hue of impending nightfall became aparant.

They reluctantly made their way back to the car and Kate negotiated the descending S turn roadway with precision, although with far more down shifting than she had intended. Route 52 deposited them in the City of Liberty, still a great distancefromthe
Isle of Manhattan.

Kate knew this route by heart. The route known as the "Quickway" to the locals would be sparsely populated for at least for next thirty miles. Sliding the beast onto Route 17 eastbound, she determined to fully push the redrocket to its limit. Castleheld
on for dear life as Kate found triple digits on the speedometer. The smile encompassing her face said it all as to how much a thrill this was. Castle could not be any more pleased feeling as if hewere the luckiest person on earth.

Far too soon for Castle's liking, Kate eased the sportscast to the curb in front of her apartment building. Castle tried to jump out first and get the door for Kate but she beat him too it. She deftly slid the keys into his front jeans pocketbeforeengulfing
him in a tight embrace. They gently kissed on the sidewalk breaking away after a moment.

"I wish today wouldn't end" Castle breathed hesitantly

"Me neither" Kate admitted, reaching back up to his lips with hers

Finally breaking apart, she fists her hands on his lapel.

"So you wanna come up?"

"I dunno, I have a big date with thisgorgeous detective tomorrow night and I don't want to ruin that"

"What she'll shoot you?"

"Can't take that chance".Castle grinning wildly

"So where are we going?"

"Let's just say somewhere between Remy's and LeCirc" giving her a chaste kiss goodbye

"So see you tomorrow at the station?" She says as Castle turns back to the car

"I think not, I'd rather wait until I pick you up tomorrow night"

He fires up the Ferrari and pulls away as she gently blushes from his courting of her. She can't wait!