The plans

Marissa had just finished with her list when she saw the car turning off the lane and into the farmyard. "I have to go." She told Emma. "Ryan's home."

"Okay. I'll make sure that everything gets to Venice." Emma replied.

"You're a pal." Marissa said.

"Uh huh. I'll see you Saturday. Cathy has everything under control. It'll all be waiting for you just as you asked."

"I'm never going to be able to thank you for all this." Marissa said and then quickly hung up as Ryan walked through the door. She jumped as if she'd been shot.

"Hey. Why are you so strung out?" he asked as he put the eggs on the table and joined her on the sofa.

"Um nothing ... Sorry." Marisa replied. "I just didn't hear you come home." she said quickly ... trying to still her racing heart. "I mean not home but ... back. I guess I was just surprised."

Ryan frowned. Something didn't seem quite right with her ... she was a little off. "Who were you talking to when I came in?" he asked.

Marissa didn't realise that he'd seen her on the phone but now she was going to have to explain. She had hoped that she'd have a little time to herself to run over just what she wanted to tell him but she was going to have to explain it now. Hopefully it would all make sense and he would believe everything she said. "Um Emma."

"And what are you never going to be able to thank her for?" Ryan asked wondering about her final words on the phone. He was hoping to be able to work out why Marissa seemed to be acting so ... strangely.

Marissa could tell that Ryan suspected that something was going on. She was going to have to do a better job of covering up or he would work out that something was afoot. She took a deep breath. "The use of her car. I called her just to say hi and thank her again for letting us use her car and she told me that things in Paris are interesting to say the least."

Ryan frowned. "Interesting in what way?"

"Apparently the news of our marriage has sent the paparazzi into a feeding frenzy. They are camped out in front of the apartment around the clock. And they have been talking to Karl and Claudine trying to find out our whereabouts."

"As if we'd be likely to tell them." Ryan remarked still unable to feel a little bit of jealousy whenever Karl's name was mentioned. And Claudine was the one who had shown no loyalty and basically sacked Marissa … he didn't have any time for her either.

Marissa was glad that she hadn't invited Karl to the wedding. It had crossed her mind but she didn't think that Ryan would have been happy about it and now … from the tone of his voice ... she was sure of it. And when she thought about it – it wasn't as if she would have been too happy to have one of Ryan's old fuck buddies there either. So it was probably all for the best. "Exactly." She agreed. "Emma suggested that maybe it will have quietened down in a couple of weeks when we are due back but when I told her that we were going to Venice for the weekend and that we'd planned to return by then … well she said we would be insane to go back to Paris at the moment. She thinks that we are sure to be spotted and then followed."

"Well … I'm not prepared to share what's left of my honeymoon with a section of the press so it looks like I'd better just call Roger and let him know that we won't be there. He'll just have to manage without us." Ryan said.

Marissa panicked. This wasn't working out the way that she wanted at all. "But I thought that you were looking forward to it? Going and looking around Venice." Marissa asked.

"I was. But not enough to ruin our honeymoon. He'll just have to either wait till some other time or find someone else to do the job." Ryan assured her. "There's no way that I want the paparazzi finding out our whereabouts. I'm having much too much fun." he said with a suggestive leer in her direction.

Marisa laughed. "Well what if we don't need to ruin it?" she asked. She was now in fix-it mode.

Ryan looked at her puzzled. "I'm sorry I don't understand. I thought that you just said that we can't return to Paris without the paparazzi finding out and following us?"

"I did. But we're not going to Paris. We're going to Venice." She explained.

"But how?" Ryan asked still confused. She seemed to be talking in riddles.

"Emma suggested that we drive. She said it's about 5 or 6 hours from here. We can just leave here on Friday and take our time and we'll still be there by Friday night." She shrugged. She knew that she couldn't be seen to be pushing this too much or Ryan would start to twig that something was going on. She had to appear as if she didn't care one way or the other.

Ryan thought it through. It seemed like a great plan. "Emma doesn't mind us taking her car?" he asked.

"No. She's the one who suggested it."

"And that's what you were thanking her for." Ryan said as it all started to make sense.

"Yes. Well that and the fact that she's promised to go and pack a bag of our clothes and send them on ahead."

Ryan smiled lasciviously. "And what do we need clothes for? We seem to manage quite well without them." He said starting to unbutton Marissa's blouse.

Marissa giggled. "We do while we're here. But it will be a different story in Venice." She explained.

"Well in that case then maybe I don't want to go to Venice." He replied.

"Yes you do. And I want to take you. I want to show you all my favourite places. Plus there's a little restaurant that I want to take you to on Saturday evening. And I promise that we won't have to wear clothes ALL the time."

"That's sounding better." Ryan said a big smile on his face.

"Maybe over the next 2 days I can wear you out and then you'll be looking forward to spending some time with clothes on." Marissa suggested grinning from ear to ear.

Ryan looked at her sceptically as if that would never be possible. "You're welcome to try but don't be surprised if you fail."

"Is that a challenge?" Marissa asked.

Ryan couldn't help but smile. "I like you when you're like this." He chuckled.

"Like what?" Marissa asked.

Ryan hesitated and then a small smile appeared on his face. "Horny." He replied.

Marissa playfully swatted him. "I don't think that it's all one sided?"

"I never said that it was. I'll happily admit to being horny whenever you're around. Hell – It seems that I have been since I met you."

Marissa smiled. How could she still enjoy flirting with him so much when they were already married? "Yeah well … the feelings mutual."

Ryan pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply.

When they came up for air Marissa pulled back a little. "So are we going on a road trip then?" She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. If Ryan said no and backed out of the weekend in Venice then she had no idea how she could get him there without spoiling the whole surprise.

"A road trip hey? You do realise that the last road trip we took didn't go to well?" he said thinking back to Tijuana.

"A lot's changed since then." She replied. "I promise I won't OD in any laneways." She assured him.

He nodded knowing that she wasn't the same insecure person that she had been back then.

"So does that mean that we can go?" she asked.

"I'd go anywhere with you. If you want to show me Venice … then so be it." Ryan replied.

Marissa smiled as the relief washed over her. "So in 2 days it's off to Venice?" she asked just wanting him to confirm.

Ryan smiled. "Yep. We're off to Venice." He echoed and then added "But I believe that you were going to try to wear me out before then?" he asked as he proceeded to rid Marissa of her blouse revealing her braless torso.

Marissa pulled at his t-shirt wanting to feel skin on skin. This would be a fun few days.