Thanks for the reviews. I appreciate knowing that you are still reading and enjoying it and as I said before, if you keep reviewing then I'll keep posting so here comes the next part. Enjoy !

The interrogation

The next morning Summer was waiting in her car when Marissa came down ready for work. Marissa got in wondering if Summer was going to make any comment about the phone call last night.

Summer started the car and pulled out of the car park. "So…I'm gathering you and Ryan got things sorted out after you left the Cohen's yesterday?"

Marissa looked over at Summer unsure about what she was really referring to. "Yeah um about that…. I'd like to apologise for my melt down yesterday. I just decided that I didn't want to talk to her."

"I totally understand. I'd been waiting to have a go at her myself." Summer explained.

"Did you?" Marissa asked wondering how Julie reacted to Summer giving her a piece of her mind.

"Not really. I guess we exchanged a few "un" pleasantries before she went out to the pool house, but then I didn't get the opportunity after that." Summer stated obviously disappointed.

"I'm sorry did you leave too? I didn't mean to spoil lunch for everyone. I'll have to call and apologise to Sandy and Kirsten later today." Marissa suggested.

"No. We stayed for lunch but your mother didn't come in." Summer explained.

Marissa frowned. "What she stayed in the pool house… even after we'd gone?"

"Yeah…Kirsten said she was a bit of a mess. Apparently she had the doors open so she heard your little…" Summer searched for the right word. "outburst at Ryan….seems she didn't take it too well." Summer explained.

Marissa went quiet. She didn't know quite what to make of that information. Should she be happy or sad that Julie had heard what she'd had to say?

Summer added. "For what it's worth, I think you did the right thing. Nobody would expect you to talk to her after what she put you through."

"Yeah… except Ryan." Marissa suggested.

"Surely he didn't give you a hard time about it? Or if he did, then you seemed to have gotten over it by the time I called you last night. Unless of course I totally misread the sounds you were making?"

Marissa went bright red. So Summer had known or at least suspected what had been going on. "No. He didn't give me a hard time…" she smiled thinking back to what Ryan had been doing to her while she was on the phone and then decided to correct herself. "Well it was hard." she burst out laughing and Summer joined in. Marissa added "He was actually very understanding."

"Sure….I believe you…. that's why you were doing whatever it was that you were doing. Because he was 'being understanding'?" Summer asked teasing her friend.

"Hmm…something like that." Marissa wished she could tell Summer that they were actually celebrating their engagement but she knew she would just have to wait to share her joy. "Actually things were a bit strained for most of the afternoon but we seemed to get passed that." Marissa replied thinking of the way they had spent the evening.

"All I can say is Chino must be really good… because the only thing that sounded 'strained' to me was you. I thought you were about to explode."

Marissa felt herself going bright red yet again. "Yeah well what can I say?"

Summer looked over at Marissa again noticing the look on her face. "So you're telling me that whenever you're having problems he is so good you just give in?" Summer enquired.

Marissa smiled. Obviously Summer had spent quite some time thinking about this. "Well yes and no." Marissa answered hoping to leave it at that and not have to go into detail.

"Uh uh" Summer shook her head from side to side. "You can't get away with an answer like that. I need details."

Marissa smiled thinking about the effect Ryan had on her. "Yeah…." She smiled. "He really is that good. I don't think I could ever hold out if he really wanted to wear me down. He only needs to look at me that way and I go weak at the knees and my body takes on a mind of its own…." Marissa sighed knowing what just thinking about Ryan could do to her. "But he wouldn't do that to me. Yesterday when we came back from Newport I told him I just wanted some time on my own to think about things so I went and took a bath … on my own" Marissa added, just in case Summer thought otherwise. "... and he totally respected that. He actually ordered pizza and sat and watched the football.

"So then what was going on when I rang?" Summer asked. "Please don't tell me you were pleasuring yourself in the bath? Then I would be really scarred for life."

Marissa laughed at Summer's suggestion. "No. I felt a lot better after my bath so I just wanted to spend some time with him and let him know how much I appreciated him always being there for me and knowing and respecting when I needed some space." Marissa explained.

"So you were the instigator?" Summer was surprised. She had always thought that it was Ryan that couldn't get enough.

"Well yes…. I guess I started it. But that was a while before you called. We just hadn't moved far. It was sort of a recurring dream if you know what I mean." Marissa felt herself blush again… thinking about the evening she had spent with Ryan.

"Wow." Summer said. "Do you mean….?" She glanced over at Marissa and raised her eyebrows at her, obviously wanting more information.

Marissa nodded and smiled as she thought about just how long they had managed to keep themselves 'entertained'.

"……Like how many times?" Summer asked her eyes huge waiting for the answer. "I can't believe I actually asked that. I mean I want to know but I'm scared that if I know I'll be so jealous, I'll never want to talk to you again."

Marissa laughed. "Good then don't ask. Because yes it was a lot and no I didn't keep count. But then we had something to celebrate." Marissa shut her mouth as she realised she had almost let it slip.

"What were you celebrating?" Summer was puzzled. After everything that had happened yesterday she couldn't imagine what they would be celebrating.

"Um…" Marissa tried desperately to think of something plausible that her friend would believe. "Ryan's team won the football." Marissa stated. "Apparently they don't win many so it was a special occasion."

"Well I'm sure you'll be a big supporter too then if you get to celebrate like that every time they win." Summer suggested.

"Yeah." Marissa smiled. She wanted to change the subject desperately before she slipped up and revealed their secret. "I wonder who they've got to replace Jake? I hope he's nice."

"Well we'll soon know." Summer answered as she pulled in to the studio's parking lot. "Let's go find out."

---

As Marissa and Summer made their way from the car park to the Sound Studio where Fashion Victim was being shot they were stopped by J.B. going in the opposite direction.

"Marissa. Summer. Welcome back. I hope you both had a pleasant few days off?"

"Yes. Thank you." They both answered almost in unison.

"I gather from the newspaper that things are going well with Ryan?" he looked at Marissa and smiled.

"Yes. Thank you." Marissa returned the smile; blushing slightly as she thought that perhaps 'well' was understating it. She wondered what he would say if he knew the full truth.

"You do know how important he is to this studio don't you? I hope you treat him right." He smiled as he looked at Marissa. He could tell from the glow she was emanating that things were obviously going well between her and Ryan. He smiled as he wondered if Ryan was glowing too. He'd like to see that.

"I don't know how important he is to the studio but I do know how important he is to me, so I will definitely treat him right." Marissa reassured him.

J.B. chuckled. "I must be going soft or something. The thought of you two together ….well let's just say….I'm very happy for you… Both of you… You can tell Ryan I said that… And we still need to work out when we are going to have that dinner I promised you. Get Ryan to give me a call and we'll sort out a time."

"Okay. Thanks. I will." Marissa replied.

"Well then off you go. You've got a movie to make. I don't want to hold you up. Just remember this time, that if you have any problems come and see me. Although, I don't think there will be any problems this time. Matt is a completely different type of guy from Jake. And he's happily married as well. So you shouldn't have any problems coming from that direction." JB shook his head. "I'm still embarrassed about all that Jake business. You should never have had to put up with it. Or should I say with him."

"Well it's all over now and I promise I won't try to deal with things on my own if it should ever happen again."

J.B. smiled. "Well if what I heard from a little bird is right you're not on your own any more? I believe the room at the hotel has been vacated. Perhaps we should be paying your accommodation allowance somewhere else….like maybe to a certain person's penthouse?" J.B. suggested. He suspected she was living with Ryan but he really wasn't sure.

"I'm staying with a friend. A good friend. And they said they'd be offended if I attempted to pay rent so I guess the studio's just saved some money." Marissa replied knowing that he was just fishing for confirmation of whether they were living together or not.

J.B. burst out laughing realising that she had known exactly what he was trying to do. She was definitely no 'dumb blonde'. "You're very good Ms Cooper. I can see why he likes you so much." And with that he put his foot down on the accelerator of the golf cart and left them as he took off in the opposite direction.

"You've obviously made a hit there." Summer stated after sitting quietly watching Marissa talking to J.B. "You know with him on your side you could go far in this industry."

"So I've been told…But…" Marissa started.

"But?" Summer asked.

"I don't know." Marissa shrugged. "I'm not really sure if this is what I want to do with my life? I mean don't get me wrong. It's fun. It's not like I don't like coming to work or anything. But..."

"Come on just out with it." Summer urged her to finish.

"Well I'm just not sure if it's what I really want to do. But I guess at least it keeps me near Ryan so maybe I'd better try to be good at it. I certainly don't want to have to go back and work in Europe."

"So does this mean you're staying here for good?" Summer asked sure that Ryan would love to know the answer to that question himself.

Marissa smiled. She desperately wanted to tell Summer her news but she knew she couldn't. Keeping this secret was proving to be harder than she had ever imagined. "Well let's just say that I'm not keen to look at any career that would make me leave LA."

Summer smiled. "Don't you mean Ryan?"

Marissa smiled. "Mmmm. You have no idea." She thought about the evening they had spent together and knew that he would always be the most important thing in her life.

---

When Ryan got to work, he made his way to his office only to bump literally into Annabel as he walked in the door. She had been walking out of his office and he caused her to drop the bundle of documents that she had been carrying.

"Sorry." Ryan said as they both bent down to pick up the dropped paperwork. Annabel was wearing an extremely low cut blouse and as she bent over in front of him it was impossible for Ryan not to look straight into her cleavage. And very nice cleavage it was, he had to admit. He remembered what Marissa had said, and about what his suspicion's were about Annabel's state of dress or undress, as the case might be, from Friday night and he knew he had to quickly try to avert his eyes in case she got the wrong idea but he was too late. Annabel had obviously known that she was giving him an eyeful and that he had been taking it all in.

She smiled at him. "I was just dropping off the morning mail." Annabel replied. She knew Ryan had been checking her out. She didn't know whether she should be happy or embarrassed. At least, if he was finally looking, then the outfit had done its job and he was no longer being indifferent to her as he used to be. And for that she was happy. She had decided over the weekend to try to make him realise that she was (or at least could be) so much more to him than a co-worker.

She had been concerned that he had noticed that she had been about to strip off her clothes and make a move on him on Friday night. But perhaps he really had been so embarrassed about Marissa's state of dress and his obvious "reaction" to it, that he hadn't actually noticed. Then again, maybe he had realised her intentions and was just checking out the merchandise to see if he was interested. She smiled as the thought crossed her mind. Maybe he and Marissa weren't a done deal just yet.

"Ah. Thank you." Ryan stated as they both stood up and he handed her the papers he had retrieved from the floor.

Annabel didn't want to remind him about Friday night but she knew she needed to tell him about the contracts. "I dropped those contracts off this morning on the way to work. They said they'd call to let you know when the client had signed off on them as well."

"Thanks. I appreciate the trouble you went to." Ryan said as he moved around her and went to sit behind his desk. He couldn't help himself giving Annabel the once over. Did she always look this good? Or was it just that being with Marissa had made everything have a rosy glow?

Annabel noticed him looking her over and smiled to herself. "No trouble." She stood in the doorway waiting for Ryan to say something else and giving him time to have a good look at the merchandise. When he didn't she added. "Did you have pleasant weekend?"

Ryan nodded. He wasn't sure just what she meant. He had started to realise that maybe some of what Annabel said had a deeper meaning than he had at first thought. He had always taken everything she said at face value but maybe that wasn't the best idea. He had a feeling that she wasn't looking for a 'yes thank you' type answer. But surely there was no harm in trying. "Yes. Thank you. And yourself?"

"Well…I didn't do anything newsworthy like some people." She said.

Ryan frowned as he looked at her. He wished she would just come out and say whatever it was that was on her mind. He really wasn't in to playing her little games. "Am I missing something here?" he asked.

"Only if you didn't see yesterday's paper." She replied.

"Ahh….I see." Ryan started to understand what she was getting at.

"Should I expect to see you in the paper regularly now? I thought you didn't like all that sort of attention?" Annabel asked.

"I don't. You know that." Ryan replied.

"Well then you'd better stop hanging around with Marissa Cooper. Because I'm sure the paparazzi will never leave you alone while you are with her. Maybe you should be looking for someone else. Someone without such a high profile." She suggested; stopping short of actually volunteering for the position.

Ryan figured this was as good a time as any to make it clear to her that as far as he was concerned Marissa was here to stay. "They'll just have to get used to it." He said and it was on the tip of his tongue to add 'and so will you' but he didn't. "I think she is worth putting up with them for." He added wanting to make sure that she understood just how he felt.

Annabel was disappointed. She had seen the way they were on Friday night and she knew from what Marissa had said that she definitely had a thing for Ryan but what Annabel hadn't been sure of was Ryan's feelings on the whole matter. She had lost a lot of sleep over the weekend thinking about it and had managed to hang on to a small thread of hope that maybe he didn't reciprocate Marissa's feelings; at least to the same degree. But it looked like that wasn't the case. She had never heard Ryan talk this way about anyone. He hated the paparazzi with a passion. If he was prepared to put up with them to be with her then this really was serious. She had worn the low cut blouse deliberately hoping to get some sort of reaction out of Ryan and there was no doubt that it had the desired effect but it looked like she would need a lot more than a new outfit to make him forget about Marissa Cooper.

Ryan watched her as the different emotions played across her face. "I believe you are joining us for dinner on Wednesday evening?" he asked wanting to move the conversation on.

His use of the word 'us' didn't go unnoticed by Annabel. "Umm…if that's okay. Please don't feel that you have to include me. I know that Marissa was probably just trying to be friendly." Annabel stated.

"No. She's definitely expecting you. I've been given orders to invite Skip along as well. I think she's trying to do a bit of match making between the two of you. But if that would make you uncomfortable then just say and I won't ask him."

"Skip? The pilot you use?" Annabel asked. She knew Marissa had said she had someone in mind but she didn't realise that it was a pilot. That would certainly be a change from the boring guys she normally associated with.

"Yeah. He's a great guy." Ryan answered.

"Um...then no. That's fine. I mean if he's not doing anything." She shrugged her shoulders not wanting to let Ryan see just how intrigued she was in meeting Skip. "I'd hate to be the reason he missed out on a free meal."

Ryan laughed as he watched the play of emotions on her face yet again. "Okay. I'll give him a call. But I'm really not the match making type. That is all Marissa's idea. I just hope you both have a pleasant time."

"With company like you two; how could we not." Annabel smiled and turned and made her way back to her desk. Maybe if nothing else she could try to use Skip to make Ryan jealous.