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Miami

The flight to Miami was uneventful. Unfortunately there was no Mile High Club to be joined on a packed commercial flight but that didn't stop Seth from alluding to it more than once. Summer had promised to strangle him if he referred to it ever again.

Ryan and Marissa had curled up together to try to get some sleep. They were still trying to catch up, as not much of the last few nights in bed had actually involved sleep. It seemed that ever since Marissa's 'punishment' of Ryan they couldn't get enough of one another. Ryan knew that he would have to tell Marissa about his conversation with Seth. Even though he had basically threatened Seth to within an inch of his life if he ever revealed anything about their conversation to anyone, Ryan knew that is would be impossible for Seth to keep it to himself. Even with the best of intentions, Ryan knew that one day Seth would just come out with it. It would be completely accidental but it was guaranteed nonetheless.

When they checked in to the hotel in Miami it was after midnight and they went straight to bed in the suite that Sandy had reserved for them. However, they had forgotten to close the curtains and so early the next morning Marissa was woken by the bright stream of sunlight falling across her face. She tried to burrow into Ryan's chest to escape it but it only worked for a short while and then the creeping sunlight found her yet again. She squinted as she looked at the beautiful blue sky outside and realised that Ryan was still asleep. She looked at the sun and figured that he only had a few more minutes and then the sunlight would be across his face too. She used the time to take in every nuance of the face of this man that she loved more than life itself.

She knew it would only be a minute until the sun invaded his restful sleep, so to keep it from waking him she moved her head to protect him and block the sun's rays. But in doing so she found herself with her lips inches from his. Much as she wanted to let him sleep she was driven by a force stronger than she could resist and she lent forward and kissed his perfect lips. Feeling no response she tried again this time using her tongue to trace the outline of his lips and then lightly pulling his bottom lip between her teeth. She pulled back as she felt the small smile creep across his face and felt his arm tighten around her pulling her closer to him.

She tried again. This time as she went to kiss him, his mouth opened and their tongues entwined as Ryan pulled her on top of him obviously keen to take this further. Marissa was more than happy to oblige. His hands ran over her as she moved on top of him, loving the feeling of his skin on hers. They spent the next little while reconfirming their passion for one another.

---

They were lying in a sweaty ball, limbs entwined, panting heavily when the phone rang.

"Ignore it." Ryan said as Marissa started to disentangle herself from him.

"I can't. It might be Sandy or Kirsten." She replied reaching for the phone that was on her side of the bed.

"My bet's on Seth." Ryan stated as Marissa answered.

"Hello." Marissa said softly into the phone and she rolled her eyes and smiled at Ryan. "Yes Seth we are awake. What did you want?" Marissa listened and then covered the mouthpiece and said to Ryan "He wants to meet us in the restaurant for breakfast."

Ryan shook his head. "I'd rather have room service here with you."

"Seth I don't think …" Marissa started and then stopped as Seth obviously tried again to convince her. Marissa smiled and looked at the gorgeous naked man beside her, only partially covered by a sheet. She listened intently as Seth proceeded to babble on in her ear. She started to play with Ryan running her fingers gently over his chest longing to spend the morning in bed with him. She finally spoke. "I can't believe I'm saying this… But give us an hour and we'll meet you there."

Ryan looked like he had been wounded by her words and started to shake his head violently. "No." he mouthed.

Marissa shrugged her shoulders trying to convey to Ryan that she didn't have an alternative. "Seth. Either give us an hour or eat on your own. Your choice." Marissa waited. "Okay see you there." She replaced the phone.

"Why, why, why would you agree to that? " Ryan asked.

"Because he is freaking out. Summer was in the shower and he was going on and on about how he couldn't do it. That she would never say yes. That he would never be good enough for her. I think after breakfast I'd better take Summer shopping or something and you can have some serious Seth/Ryan time otherwise he's going to chicken out again." She looked at Ryan and noticing the disappointment in his eyes added. "But I did say we wouldn't meet them for an hour and I know we can get ready in 5 minutes if we have to, so I figure that leaves us with 55 minutes to ... amuse ourselves." Marissa smiled as she pulled the sheet back and started to run her hands over his body.

Ryan wanted nothing more than to spend every one of those minutes showing Marissa just how much he loved her but he knew he had to tell her about what had happened yesterday before they spent any time with Seth just in case he decided to mention it. If something was to come out, it would be bad enough if she had been forewarned but if she had no idea, well …. After keeping the Annabel clothing choices to himself, he had promised that he would try to not keep things to himself anymore and he knew since Marissa was vitally involved in this one then he had to come clean. He grabbed Marissa's hand in his own and stopped it from its path over his body knowing that he couldn't concentrate on anything while she was touching him like that. "Riss. We have to talk."

Marissa stopped straight away. She didn't like the sound of this. "What is it?"

"I just need to tell you something." Ryan ran his free hand through his hair obviously having trouble finding where to start.

"If it's Annabel again, so help me, I'll …" Marissa started.

"No. It's nothing to do with Annabel. I think that Skip's got that all under control." Ryan assured her.

"Then what is it?" Marissa was starting to get worried.

"It's just." Ryan tried to start again. He took a deep breathe knowing there was only one way to get this over and done with and that was by coming straight out with it. "I told Seth about what happened on Wednesday night."

Marissa frowned and then added. "Seth was at the dinner. He knows what happened."

"Not that." Ryan looked at her, hoping that she would understand. "After."

Marissa looked at him shocked. Surely he didn't mean … "Not …?" she asked.

Ryan nodded guiltily.

"You what? Why would you do that? I thought it was private and special. Not something for you to brag about with the boys." Marissa was offended that he would have told Seth of all people.

"That's the problem. It was special, very special." Ryan said looking at her; his eyes pleading with her to understand. He had a bad feeling that this wasn't going to go well and for good reason.

"I'm sorry Ryan. I don't understand. If it was special then why would you…" Marissa started to get up from the bed.

Ryan put his hand on her shoulder and turned her around to look at him. "Please just let me explain."

She turned back and then couldn't help but see the regret in his eyes. She sat back on the bed and pulled the sheet up over her. "Okay. But this better be good."

"Well … Seth came to see me yesterday and … he was having second thoughts about going through with things today. I reassured him and finally got him to agree and then he asked me for some advice for this evening."

"What with a speech for dinner?" Marissa asked.

"No. For after." Ryan said hanging his head in embarrassment. "He said he wanted to make the night extra special for Summer. You know. Take her to places she's never been, type stuff." Ryan could feel himself start to blush. Why… he had no idea.

Marissa couldn't help but smile, knowing that she'd been to those places and then she watched as the blush crept up Ryan's face. That fact that he could still be embarrassed about anything in front of her she found endearing. "Uh huh. Go on." Marissa still couldn't see how this would lead Ryan to reveal their secrets.

"Well. I kept saying no and he kept asking hadn't I ever had one sexual experience that stood out among all others." Ryan looked at her waiting to see if his words were registering. "I could hardly say no since I don't think I've calmed down even yet. Just thinking about it gives me a hard on. Look." he said pulling back the sheet.

Marissa had to smile as his 'excitement' was indeed evident. She turned her eyes from his hard on before she weakened and dealt with it and added. "Go on."

"When I still refused, he basically blackmailed me by saying that unless I gave him some ideas then he wouldn't go through with the proposal." He looked at her again hoping for her understanding. "I couldn't let that happen. We need them to get through this so that we can start to make our own plans." He added.

Marissa smiled. She was looking forward to Seth getting this over and done with just as much, if not more, than Ryan. "So what exactly did you say?"

"I just told him it was something that was done to me not by me. And that if you remove some of the senses then the feelings from the others are intensified. I wasn't about to give a ten point plan. He still didn't understand so I told him that I had been restrained and blindfolded and what had been done to me and he agreed that it would be amazing but ….."

"But? Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like the but?" Marissa asked.

"Well he got a bit carried away just thinking about it and I guess so did I and I said I still hadn't recovered and well he put 2 and 2 together and realised that…

"It was me." Marissa sighed. "So I guess that now I can expect to get rude and crude comments from Seth about bondage and torture." She looked back at Ryan. "Just what I've always wanted."

Ryan looked at her guiltily. "I'm sorry. But the last thing I wanted was for him to postpone this again … and once I started talking about it…well you can see the affect it had on me …" he looked down at the tent pole still evident under the sheet. "Sorry … has on me. But I did promise to kill him if he ever mentioned it; for what it's worth."

Marissa looked at him and couldn't help but smile. "I guess you're right. It would have been worse if he had postponed things again. Although, I'm not looking forward to Seth having that sort of information on me. Who knows when it will come out? And I think we both know that it will come out, eventually."

Ryan looked at her knowing he had to agree.

"But if and when it does, I can assure you that you will pay." Marissa stated.

"When you say it like that I can't wait. Bring on the punishment." Ryan replied.

"Oh no. Not this time buddy. Next time it's my turn. You can do all the work and repay the kindness."

"Mmm. I like the sound of that too. It's a deal." Ryan agreed.

"Okay. "Marissa said as she moved over to sit astride him. "So…. it was the one sexual experience that stood out among all others, hey?"

"Yeah. And you know it." Ryan replied.

"Even better than all those Chino girls?" she asked.

"Way better." Ryan assured her.

Marissa glanced over at the clock beside the bed. "So I figure we have about 30 minutes left before breakfast. I was wondering if you needed help with that hard on problem you have?"

Ryan rolled her over and held himself above her. "I thought you'd never ask."