Author's Note: In this, Rachel's a vegetarian, and not a vegan (I don't believe I have mentioned before her eating habits). I'd like to thank you all for the reviews and alerts and favorites. You truly are amazing. I hope you enjoy the new chapter.
the star
seven
The rest of the week went by with no unpleasant accident. Rachel was nervous to go shopping again, but she refused to allow that to stop her. She told herself that meant her mother still controlled her. She bought what she liked to eat and enjoyed all the nights at the children house, loving the company of her puppy. She didn't see Jesse, what made her even more comfortable with the situation, feeling her mother was really wrong about the reasons that made him to protect her.
On Saturday it was a wonderful day, and she felt tempted to go out as soon as she finished cleaning the house. It amused her to take walks with her puppy on the garden. He stopped and sniffed everything, he would bark when he found a frog and kept jumping everywhere in pure happiness. Rachel would laugh every time he stumbled and, immediately after, would stand up looking around, as if he asked he did that to him.
She always ended up rolling around the grass with him, and that was how Jesse found her, on his way to the boat house.
"Hello!" He said, startling Rachel. She straightened up her spine immediately, which compelled him to add, "Don't get up. It's good to see you so relaxed, and I'm just passing through. It's such a perfect day I thought of taking the boat out of the port".
Just like her, he also wore shorts and a t-shirt, and once again Rachel was stunned by his wonderful physique. He crouched down and held his arms out for the little dog, which rushed over to sniff him.
"Hi, buddy". As he gave the puppy one of his hands to lick, Jesse scratched behind his ears with the other, smiling at Rachel. "Which name did you pick anyway?"
"Fiyero".
"Fiyero?" He repeated, surprised, kinking an eyebrow up. "It's an unusual name for a puppy".
"Wicked is one of my favorite musicals. I always wanted to play Elphaba".
"Okay. I understand the significance of it".
"A name deserves to be thought through. It accompanies you throughout your life", she smiled. "Mine reflects my Judaism. My father picked it".
He noticed the glimmer of grief in her eyes before she could hide it. To distract her from her sad memories, Jesse fell on his back on the grass, pretending Fiyero had knocked him down. The puppy jumped on his chest and frantically licked his chin.
"Help! Make him stop!" Jesse pleaded.
"Fiyero, come here!" She said firmly, and the puppy ran towards her, his tail flicking. She held him in her arms and looked amused at Jesse, as he rolled on his side and rested his weight on his elbow. "I don't believe you needed to be saved from a cocker spaniel puppy".
His blue eyes sparkled teasingly.
"He was enjoying to have a taste of me. He could have eaten me up".
She burst out laughing.
He smiled, and that made a wave of female hormones to explode inside Rachel. He was só attractive that for a moment she envied the intimate relationship Andrea Cohen had with him, wishing she could experiment with him as lovers. Her mind immediately blocked the thought and seeked for a distraction.
"Did you have a dog as a child, Jesse?"
The smile became an ironic mask on his face as he shook his head.
"To live in my house... It wouldn't be fair to the dog".
It wasn't fair to you either, she thought. Distant parents, even if wealthy, couldn't have given him a stable life.
"I had rehearsals even during Sunday mornings, when we prepared for competitions. Those rehearsals would start at seven every morning and would go until ten, eleven at night", he explained.
"You've changed a lot in your life since then".
"I have. But my life is still too rushed to have a dog".
Or a wife.
She wondered if all those years living with his parents had taught him not to get too attached to anything or anyone, and to count only with himself. But that place attracted him.
"But now you have a home".
"A home to come back to. I travel a lot, Rachel".
"Don't you ever get tired of traveling?"
"Flights can be boring. US aren't exactly close to the other great entertainment centers. But I like to see the world as my backyard, to not be hindered by limits".
She sighed. 'You made me realize how limited my world was. I never even got to leave the country. My mother always kept piling work up for me. I rarely rested".
"You can change it if you want too".
Yes, she could. Freedom was something powerful, if she learnt to use it wisely.
"Have you ever gone sailing, Rachel?"
"No".
"Then come with me to the catamaran. We'll be out for only an hour or two, and Will can take care of Fiyero. He's on the backyard working on the bushes".
Jesse watched as temptation warred with caution. She wanted to accept, undoubtedly, but Shelby, surely, had fed her fear of being alone with the big bad shark. The puppy had made that first meeting safe, allowing Rachel to relax, but without Fiyero...
She looked at the port; her jaw clenched slightly. Then, with an air of determination, she looked back at him. "You'll need to tell me what to do".
"You won't need to do anything, other than to sit or lie on the deck and enjoy it as we sail", he assured her, smiling as he stood up. "I'll take the catamaran to the beach and prepare it while you drop Fiyero with Will".
When she rose from the grass, her face shone with great happiness.
"I'll be as fast as I can".
"No need to rush. Grab a hat, and apply sunscreen".
"Okay".
Triumph filled Jesse as he walked to the boat house. Shelby's influence on Rachel was vanishing quickly, which was very good. He wanted her to feel free to choose for herself. And she had just chosen to be with him, in spite of the opinion of the others.
When they left the port, Jesse realized that his victory had a down side. He had the thrilling pleasure of seeing Rachel's glowing joy as they sailed on the beach, how she laughed as she saw the water splashing against the boat, getting them both wet. She didn't care about how she looked, loving how it felt to sail. And that sent Jesse's desire to unbelievable highs, to the point where it became unbearable.
Several times he had to turn his back on her, to seriously focus on working the sails, changing the direction of the catamaran, waiting until his tension lifted off a little. His loose shorts hid his reaction, but not anymore when the both of them got wet. And the fact that Rachel's wet clothes adhered to her seductive curves only made things worse.
Jesse couldn't remember ever having felt like that for a woman. He wanted to lick the salty water off Rachel's beautiful face, to taste her musical laughter, to rip her clothes off, bury his face in her breasts, lick the nipples that so teasingly popped up, to bury himself in her that nothing else would matter; to voraciously have sex with her, in a way that would erase all the reasos for which they couldn't do that.
He knew Rachel wasn't immune to his sex appeal. The occasional deep sigh, and how she looked away, pulling her long, unclothed legs closer to her body revealed a lot. The big question was: would she resist what he wanted with her, or would she welcome it?
A risky business.
To rush her could shatter the trust Rachel had in him... But it was so hard to control himself...
He would give it at least one more week. He'd keep building the chemistry between them, breaking down the walls she had built, making tempting invitations, which would look innocent, with no reason to be refused...
"Did you have fun?" He asked as they left the catamaran, holding out his hand to help Rachel get out of it.
"It was wonderful, Jesse! Thank you!"
"Sailing makes me hungry. Do yohu want to have lunch with me by the pool after you have a shower?"
She hesitated, again.
He insisted, adding, "We can feed Fiyero bits of our food under the table".
She laughed. "He loves chicken".
"I'll ask Emma to make chicken salad".
"I'm glad. You'll have two excited guests".
"I'll be glad to have the company".
Lunch was delicious. Jesse was completely relaxed, amused by Fiyero's appetite for chicken. Rachel had put a cover-up over her bikini and, relieved that she had her body a little less exposed, she relaxed too. Jesse was swimming when she arrived, and had a towel wrapped around his waist, a cover decent enough to lessen how affected she was by his body.
Fiyero settled down on a pool chair and slept as they kept by the table, polishing off the bottle of wine Shannon had brought with the food.
"Jesse, I know your parents were absent and died when you were still young. Your life wasn't much better than my own. I'd like to know how you managed to overcome everything".
He looked away, with a blank expression. When he finally spoke, his voice was dry. "I grew up practically raised by nannies and maids. I overcame it because I had no choice". He looked at her, with dark, fierce eyes. "Your path is harder, Rachel. You know you have someone to ask for help if things get too difficult. This can weaken your impulse to move forward".
"I'll never go back to my mother".
He smiled.
"I hope not. I saw an energy in you today that you didn't have before".
He had made her feel more alive than ever. It wasn't make believe, an escape from reality.
"Did you daydream when you were a child, Jesse?"
"No. I sang. I danced. I had no bed time, and those made me tired enough to fall asleep. I'd stay in my house's music room, rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing. Trying to understand what made a musical so different and no less special than the others. Was it the script? The music? the cast? The director? What could I do to stand out in a world of others like me? Probably thinking like that since my childhood was the best preparation for what I do now: to think of how to improve what is already good, to contract the right cast and crew to make a show even more attractive.
"But you didn't start behind the cameras. And you could have been successful as an actor". He certainly had that it quality of masculinity that was very attractive.
"When I started college, I found out I didn't want to be an actor. Don't ask me why. I wanted to run the show, to have control, to do everything my way".
The master of his own destiny, she thought.
"When I turned 21, I switched majors on school and interned on a great television station. That opened doors to get where I wanted".
Rachel didn't know his exact age; he was a little older than she was, nearing thirty, maybe. It was a big feat, to be so young and a billionnaire TV baron.
"It must be incredibly satisfying for you to be able to choose which shows you want to produce", she commented.
"Hum..." An impetuous drive shone in his eyes. "The way I wanted".
"Like managing to hire me to lead this show", she said, remembering what he had said. "You didn't care how much my mother bargained for the contract".
His mouth twisted a little, and the look in his eyes changed into something that made her heart jump and her entire body tingle.
"I wanted you", he said.
It was apparently a professional comment, but it didn't look like one. She quickly looked down and covered her inner confusion reaching for her glass of wine, nearly empty, and finishing it off. Was she hearing what she wanted to hear, seeing what she wanted to see? Jesse was in a relationship with another woman, a breathtakingly beautiful woman that probably was as self-confident as he was. Why would a man such as himself want a woman as weak as she?
Besides, she shouldn't be feeling excited with the idea that the attraction she felt for him was mutual. That gave their situation an outlook that was dangerously close to the one her mother had of it. But Jesse hadn't tried to seduce her. There wasn't even a hint of a pickup line. They were just talking. Which was what she should be doing, instead of thinking.
"Which was your favorite show growing up, Jesse?" She asked, forcing herself to look at him with a curious interest.
"House, M.D", he replied without hesitation. "The writing was brilliant, the cast, expertly directed, the acting was flawless, and it could make people laugh or cry, I mean, to rise every kind of emotion. I loved that show.
Love... That was what she sensed in his voice, and she wondered if he had ever loved a woman with that same fervor, loving her completely.
"Did you like it too?" He asked.
Rachel had to focus again on the conversation.
"No. My mother controlled everything I watched".
"Do you want to watch it for a while? I have the full House collection on my office. I can lend you the first season DVD set and, if you like it..."
"Yes, please. Can we go pick it up now, Jesse? The morning exercise and the wine during lunch... I'm feeling a little drowsy and I want to take a nap now, but I'd love to see what you saw in House once I'm awake".
He nodded, rising from his chair, and she quickly picked up a still asleep Fiyero. The walk to Jesse's office lasted only ten minutes. It was amazing: his shelves had more TV shows' and films' DVD discs than books, although there was plenty of those too. Jesse went straight to the House collection, gave her a small box of DVDs and told her she could switch them for others when she wished to. Rachel thanked him and soon left.
She was really tired and went to sleep.
Fiyero's loud barking woke her up. She rolled to her side, planning to pick him up and soothe him so that he silenced, but she realized the sound came from the living room.
Frowning as she considered what could have bothered her puppy, she got up from bed, automatically covering herself with the silk robe as she left the bedroom.
And she froze.
A face peeked through the glass panels of the front door. A face she never wanted to see again.
Finn Hudson.