Ticket to Paradise
By: Lara

                "Sweetie...I'm home!"  Howie announced as he opened the front door.  The sight before his dark eyes made his heart sink.  Three large suitcases were packed and sitting at the bottom of the large staircase.  He took two steps into the study and froze.  His books and papers were everywhere.  The cushions on his favorite sofa were slashed, and the stuffing was scattered about on the floor like snowflakes.  As he walked down the hall to the dining room, his shoes crunched on broken glass.  His favorite crystal goblets, smashed to pieces.  He didn't even bother with the kitchen.
                "Honey?"  He called, slowly walking up the steps. 
                He stood in the doorway of their bedroom, saying nothing.  Kelley was busily slashing up his best Armani suits.  The silk shirts were already on a pile at her feet. 

                "Don't talk to me," she muttered, not even looking up from her task.  "Don't fucking talk to me."
                He leaned against the doorframe, sighing as he caught sight of the ketchup that filled his favorite shoes.  "You couldn't have even left the shoes alone?"
                "Howie, you are really pushing it."  She cut the sleeves off of the last coat and dropped the material onto the floor.  "Goodbye."

"Do you mind telling me what this little rampage is all about?"
                Kelley whirled around to laugh at him.  "You actually even LOOK innocent...like you have no clue.  I told you when we got married, Howie, that my temper is a dangerous thing...and that you never wanted to be on the receiving end of it."
                Howie grabbed her by the shoulders, quickly tiring of this expensive temper
tantrum.  "Kelley...before I smack you, tell me why the HELL you have decided to destroy everything I own!"
                "THIS is why."  She shrugged away from him.  She went to her purse and pulled out a small pile of papers.  "Two plane tickets to the Caribbean."
                She threw the things down on the bed as she listed them.  "A hotel receipt for a hotel in the Caribbean.  Receipts from various boutiques where they don't sell men's clothes, as well as a receipt from Frederick's of Hollywood.  A receipt from Tiffany's."  She glared at him, ignoring the tears that streamed down her cheeks.  "And I know it isn't for me, since you haven't even bought me a Hallmark card in months."
                Howie sat down on the bed, his brown eyes full of misery.  "You thought I was cheating on you?  You thought this was all for someone else?"
                "Howie, ever since you started promoting this last group of yours, you haven't paid more than ten minutes of attention to me a day.  Every night it's "I'm sorry, Kel, I have to stay late at the office."  I can't handle it anymore, Howie.  I was ready to sit down with you tonight and have a long talk about whether this marriage is worth saving.  And now...with all this..." she waved her hand at the pile of documents on the bed.  "Who is it?  That little blonde who sings lead?  Or the brunette who plays the drums?"
                "How did you find all this stuff?"  Howie asked, refusing to answer her
questions.
                "Figures you'd want those kind of details," Kelley snorted, though she did flush a bit.  "I was looking for your address book in your desk, and I came upon them."
                "We have an address book in the bedroom," he reminded her.  She blushed some more.
                "Well, I was down here, and I..."
                "You were snooping," he accused her.  She turned a furious red.
                "That doesn't make any difference.  That's not the point, and..."
                "I'd say it's exactly the point.  Obviously you don't think this marriage is worth a damn if you're snooping around on me."  Howie's voice rose.  "You are totally intimidated by the fact that this new group is five girls...five young pretty girls.  You are insanely jealous, aren't you?"  Kelley opened her mouth but nothing came out.  "Well, did you ever think to wonder about how I feel being stuck in the office instead of eating dinner with you every night?  How do you think I feel about having to sit around and play
babysitter with five teenage girls who can hardly put two intelligent sentences together, and who think a good time is seeing how quickly they can sneak away from their manager when we're out at a party or something?  It sucks, Kel, it really sucks."  He ran a hand through his long hair.  "You're right...this marriage is stumbling over some rough roadblocks right now, and something has to be done about it."  He picked up the pile of papers.
                "Yes...plane tickets...and if you'd look at the hotel bill, you'd see it was for NEXT week.  And if you would be so kind as to go down to the trunk of my car, you'd see bags of clothes in YOUR size...and an emerald necklace that's just begging to go around YOUR neck."  Kelley stared at him.  "I was going to take you away tomorrow...take you to a special place I've been searching all over for.  I was all ready to take two weeks off and do nothing but pamper my wife...something I haven't been able to do in a long time."  He stared at her sadly.  "But not only has your little tantrum ruined my things, but it's also ruined my surprise...not to mention broken my heart.  I know things haven't been the greatest, Kel, but how could you think I'd...how?"  Howie got up and left the room.
                Kelley stared down at the pile of things on the bed, not able to focus.  For her...he was doing it all for her...and she had ruined it all.  She ran down the staircase and found him in the study, putting his books back on the bookshelves.  Kelley knelt down and began to pick up papers.  "I...I don't know what to say, Howie...all I could see was you with someone else...kissing them...buying them things...telling them..."
                "What?"  Howie interrupted sharply.  "Telling them I loved them?  Sorry, Kel, you may be able to say that at the drop of a hat, but I can't." His dark eyes stared at her.  "I only love like this once, and only God taking you away from me would change that."
                Kelley began to sob. "Oh...Howie...I'm so sorry.  What have I done?  Can you
ever forgive me?"
                Howie took her in his arms.  "Baby...please don't cry.  I'm as much to blame as you are...I should have found a way to make more time for you."  He kissed the top of her head.  "I promise you that things are gonna change, starting right now.  AJ has been telling me for weeks that I should get an assistant, and when we get back that's the first thing I'm gonna look into."
                Kelley brought her head back to look at him.  "When we get back?  We're still going?"
                "If you want to...of course, I should take all the gifts back now, since they're no longer a surprise..." he teased.
                "The hell you are," she muttered, but here eyes were smiling.  He cupped her face in his hands, and gently kissed her.   His tongue ran against her lips, and she moaned, opening her mouth to him.  Her hands wound around to play in his hair, and his fingers trailed up and down her back.
                "I feel like it's been forever since I've made love to you," he murmured against her ear.
                "Three weeks and four days," she said before she could stop the words.  He
stared at her.
                "It's been that long?"  She nodded.  "Well...since this is the first day of the rest of our marriage, I move that we change that."  He swept her in his arm and carried her up the staircase.  He walked past their room and turned into the smallest guestroom.
                "Honey, this bed...it's only..."
                "I don't want any room for you to get away from me," he told her.  He deposited her on the bed and began to unbutton his shirt.  She jumped to her feet and helped him, moaning at the sight of his smooth muscular chest and stomach.  Her fingers danced across his skin as once again his mouth claimed her.  Before she knew it, he had her t-shirt and bra off, and they were fighting with the rest of their clothing.
                "Oh, YES," Kelley groaned as Howie buried his head between her legs, skipping every other part of her body.  His tongue snaked inside of her again and again as one thumb toyed with her clit.  "HOWIE!"  She shrieked as three fingers took the place of his tongue.  He sucked and teased her clit, going from barely touching it to bathing it and then back again.  She grabbed his hair, pulling it ferociously as she came.
                "I have been so fucking stupid," he panted as he came up to kiss her, letting her taste herself on his lips.  "How in the world did I live so long without feeling you...tasting you...fucking you..." he savagely drove himself inside of her again and again, pinning down her arms with his own.
                "Oh...God...Howie..." Kelley gasped as she came once more.  Howie bit fiercely at her neck as he spurted inside of her.
                "Oh...my sweet Kelley...I'm so sorry for deserting you the way I have been lately," Howie whispered as he buried his face in her breasts.  "Forgive me?"
                "Of course...if you forgive me for being such a child," she told him, stroking his head.
                They lay silently for a moment, then Howie said, "You'll be unpacking those
suitcases, right?"
                "Well, we ARE going away, and..." Kelley stopped as Howie shook his head.
                "We're NOT going away?"
                "Oh we are...but where we're going you will not need three suitcases.  You won't need any suitcases at all.  I have clothes for you in the trunk, but otherwise you are gonna be walking around naked for the next two weeks...that is...if you can still walk at all."

The End

Please tell Lara what you thought of this story!