Author's Note: I fully intended on having this chapter posted on Wednesday but work and real-life got in the way. :) I honestly cannot thank everyone who has reviewed enough for all of your wonderful feedback. It just makes me want to write even more. Let me know what you guys think of this chapter! Enjoy!
Surprisingly, when Jesse and Rachel got back to his place, they didn't immediately rip each other's clothes off the moment they walked through the door. Instead, they popped some popcorn and cuddled on the couch together to watch a movie.
Unlike all the times that they had done the very same thing when they had been dating in high school, they actually managed to make it through an entire movie without making out on the couch at all. As Jesse turned off the TV when the movie had finished, Rachel smiled as she remembered the one time her dad had caught them in a very compromising position on the living room couch late one night.
"What are you smiling about?" Jesse asked, looking down at Rachel who was comfortably snuggled into his side still.
"Just remembering that one time when my dad came downstairs and caught us making out on the couch," she grinned up at him.
Jesse chuckled. "We thought they were upstairs sleeping," he remembered.
"Well, one of them was," Rachel giggled as she turned to face him, leaning her head on the couch and resting her legs across his lap.
"What were we even watching?" Jesse asked, racking his brain but coming up blank.
"I forced you to watch Serendipity again for the fifth time," she said with a completely innocent look.
"Ah, I remember now," he laughed. "You were so focused on John Cusack until I started kissing your neck."
"And completely made me forget why I was so into the movie in the first place," she sighed, remembering how her body had reacted to him, even then.
"I swear we made out for the last half of the movie," Jesse said, absentmindedly rubbing his hand up and down her thigh as they took their little trip down memory lane.
"You somehow managed to get me underneath you," she told him, as she held his other hand in both of hers and traced the palm of his hand lightly with her fingertips.
"I seem to recall you liked it so much that you wrapped your legs around my waist. Especially when my hand found its way under your shirt." He raised his eyebrows at her suggestively.
"Oh my God, that was the first time I ever let a boy feel me up and the outcome was so mortifying," she squealed at the memory. "I am surprised I didn't have to go to therapy for that."
"Your dad's face as he saw the position that you and I were in, is burned into my memory," he groaned. "I thought he was going to strangle me. Or maybe castrate me."
"I think he thought that our embarrassment was punishment enough," Rachel laughed. "I couldn't look him in the eye for over a week."
"How do you think I felt?" Jesse asked.
"Well, it certainly didn't deter you from making out with me in my bedroom the very next weekend and doing the same thing again," she teased.
"Yeah, but after that we never did much more than kiss on the couch or if we made out in your room we never left your door unlocked, did we?"
"No, we didn't," she admitted before leaning over to kiss his lips softly.
When Jesse kissed her back, his lips were persistent on hers as he leaned over and laid her down underneath him on the couch. "Trying to recreate the moment?" Rachel asked breathily as Jesse turned his attention to her neck.
"Perhaps," he murmured against her skin which elicited a moan from Rachel. His hands found their way underneath her shirt and her bra.
"No dads to interrupt us this time," she whispered as she arched into his hands.
"So does that mean you can lose the shirt?" he asked playfully, pinching her nipple ever so slightly causing Rachel to gasp at the feeling.
"I want to lose a lot more than the shirt," she replied as she reached down and began undoing his jeans. "And so should you."
"That's what I like to hear," he said huskily as he pulled her shirt and bra off of her. Reaching inside Jesse jeans and boxers, Rachel grabbed his ass and pulled him against her.
Jesse made quick work of her jeans and underwear then sat up to remove his own. As he did so, Rachel sat up and just watched him. Before he could resume the position they'd been in once he was naked, Rachel moved over and straddled him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she rubbed herself against him, and leaned in so they were cheek-to-cheek, then she whispered, "Fuck me." She nipped his earlobe, before she leaned back and just looked at him.
Gripping him in her hand, she rubbed the tip of him against her wetness causing Jesse to groan in pleasure. Rachel pressed her forehead to his, not breaking eye contact as she sank down onto him slowly. He pulled her in for a deep kiss, caressing her tongue with his as she rode him with agonizing slowness.
Rachel grabbed the back of the couch as they broke apart and she increased the rhythm. His fingers dug into her hips as he thrust up against her roughly. As she leaned back to change the angle a little, Jesse circled one of her nipples with his tongue before he lightly scraped it with his teeth which caused Rachel to jerk against him, breaking her rhythm slightly.
He could feel her walls start to clench around him as he thrust into her harder. Her cries echoed in the living room of his apartment as she continued to ride him as she orgasmed. Jesse continued to gently push into her as he let her orgasm subside before he picked her up, laid her down on the rug and spread her legs before he started pounding into her.
"Oh fuck, Jesse…" she gasped as she was rocked with another powerful orgasm as he continued to drive into her. He may have been able to last through one of her orgasms but this time she took him over the edge with her as he thrust deeply one more time before he came.
Their bodies were both slick with sweat as he rested his head on her chest and they both tried to catch their breath. "Holy shit," Jesse panted as Rachel wrapped her arms around him.
"I know," Rachel rasped out, ghosting her fingertips up and down his back. She loved how he didn't immediately pull out of her. He felt so good inside of her, the weight of his body on hers. Rachel was sure that she could fall asleep in that position, but she knew that her body would hate her for it the next day. "Let's go to bed," she said softly, running her hand through his damp hair.
Without a word, Jesse finally pulled out of her and stood up, bringing her with him. She began to walk towards the bedroom when he gripped her hand and stopped her from moving any further. The next thing Rachel knew, he hooked one arm underneath her knees and the other behind her back and carried her to the bedroom.
The look on his face as he carried her was one of pure love. For some reason, it kind of scared Rachel. He set her down on the bed gently before he sat down next to her and placed soft kisses all over her face. It made Rachel forget all about how the way he had looked at her had scared her before. She was pretty sure that she now wore that exact same expression as she let out a blissful sigh.
They lay in bed just facing each other, hands clasped, fingers linked together. For the last hour, all they had done was talk about nothing and everything. Rachel thought back to earlier when they had been reminiscing and decided she needed the answer that only he could give her.
"Can I ask you something that has bothered me for years?" Rachel asked. It was a question that she had asked herself over and over again after they had broken up. It had tortured her. Sometimes she had thought she'd known the answer, but other times she had been sure that she didn't know anything at all, especially when it came to Jesse St. James.
He gave her hand a little squeeze of encouragement. "What is it?" Jesse asked, curious.
"Did you really love me?" She seemed so vulnerable.
"Yes," he said simply. He hated that everything he had done to her had made her question that. After they had broken up, that was one of the truths that he had clung to. He had hoped that she would know that he loved her despite how things had ended. "Did you?" he asked. "Love me, I mean." He had held on to that little nugget of hope for years, that his love for her had been reciprocated despite the fact that she never actually said those three little words to him.
"What do you think?" answering his question with another question.
"Yes," he replied. She merely nodded in response, a watery smile gracing her features. Jesse tugged on her hands and she complied with his unspoken request to move closer to him. He just looked at her for a moment, running his fingers through her hair before he closed the space between them and covered her lips with his own. It was a slow, lingering kiss that Rachel never wanted to end.
When he pulled away and rubbed his nose against hers a couple times, the panic that Rachel had felt earlier came back. The look in his eyes terrified her. He looked like he was about to say something that he wouldn't be able to take back and she didn't want that. Not right now. It was too soon. There was still so much that they needed to talk about.
"So what happens tomorrow?" she asked, effectively killing the moment that they had been about to have as she saw the small smile slip off his face.
"I don't know," he answered honestly, rubbing his thumb in circles in the palm of her hand. "We go back to reality and figure out what we need to do next."
"What if I'm not ready for reality?" Rachel pushed Jesse on his back and laid her head down on his chest.
Jesse wrapped his arms around Rachel. "Then we just hope that time stops and tomorrow never comes."
"If only," Rachel sighed as she closed her eyes and fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.
They spent the entire next morning in bed burning into their memories the way that they tasted and felt. It wasn't like they were planning on ending what they had been doing for the past couple of days but they knew that it wasn't going to be the same. Everything was about to change. They couldn't pretend anymore.
Finally, they decided that they actually needed to get out of the bed so as Rachel was taking a shower, Jesse stripped everything off of the bed and started a load of laundry before he made them lunch. It hurt Rachel more than she thought it would to see the bed stripped of all evidence of their coupling.
Jesse walked into his bedroom to find Rachel, clad only in a towel, just standing there looking at his bed. "Rach?" he asked, tentatively which startled her out of her reverie. She just smiled at him. "I made some lunch," he told her, walking over to her.
"Lunch sounds great," she replied. "I'm just gonna get dressed." Jessed nodded and kissed her on the lips before leaving her alone in his room again. He knew this was going to be hard. He just hadn't realized how hard it was actually going to be until now.
Once they had eaten lunch and Jesse had taken a shower, their mood had lightened up considerably. They were laughing and joking just like they always did. It was a perfect afternoon.
Hours later, they stood hidden behind one of the curtains backstage, talking before the show. "I have proposition for you," Jesse said with a smirk.
"And what would that be?" she asked, biting her lip slightly as she stepped closer to him.
"I was thinking that we should make a little ongoing game out of your rules of not breaking character during our love scene," he explained.
"I'm listening," she replied.
"I think we should do best two out of three, but before you agree you should know that last night counts," he told her.
"Fine."
"Really?" He was surprised that she had agreed so easily.
"It's not going to happen again, St. James, so what do I get when I win?" she asked, a smug grin firmly in place. She was pretty confident. He was so turned on by her in that moment.
"You have to do whatever the winner decides." He knew he was going to win, but he would continue to let her think she stood a chance.
"An open bet? You're pretty confident, aren't you?" she whispered as she ran her hand up his chest.
"Always." He leaned down so she could feel his breath on her face. "I don't make bets I can't win."
Never breaking eye contact, she moved close enough so that their lips were almost touching. "Neither do I," she replied, before she stuck her tongue out to playfully lick his lips.
"Shake on it?" he asked.
"How about we seal it with a kiss," Rachel offered with a smirk.
She knew exactly what she was doing, and he loved it. "You are so hot right now," he whispered before his lips found hers in what was only supposed to be a simple kiss. Soon the only sound was their ragged breathing as they kissed like they hadn't just spent the last two days doing that very thing. A loud noise backstage startled them out of their lust-filled haze.
"I'm gonna win," Jesse said into her ear just before he walked away from her.
An hour and a half later as they did their love scene, Rachel tried not to think about their little ongoing game that they seemed to be having. Their kisses were perfect stage kisses. Every touch and caress was part of the choreography of the love scene. Jesse's face was right next to hers as he thrust against her as they neared the end of the love scene when he whispered, "I love you."
It was so soft that only she could hear it, but it wasn't part of the scene and if she hadn't been so shocked to actually hear him whisper those words, she might've been happy that they'd both broken character at least once now. As the scene came to an end and the lights went down, Jesse kissed her neck quickly before jumping off of the bed and hurrying off-stage to prepare for his next scene.
Rachel felt like she was in a daze as she made her way backstage as well. Jesse St. James had just confessed his love to her in a moment where he knew she couldn't respond. She smiled to herself as she thought about it. He hadn't needed her to repeat the words back to him. He had just wanted her to know how he felt. It made her fall even deeper.
Jesse smiled as he walked down the hall backstage towards his dressing room. He couldn't wait to see Rachel in a little bit. "Good show man," he said, slapping one of his cast mates on the back just before he opened the door to his dressing room.
His smile fell immediately as he was greeted with an unexpected guest in his dressing room. He stood in the open doorway in shock, not sure what to say.
"Surprise," Isla said, cheerily.
He knew he should be a little more happy to see his wife but the only thing that he could think of to say was, "Isla, what are you doing here?"
Her too bright smile faltered as he made no move to step any further into the dressing room and greet her properly. She knew she had fucked up and was now just going to act like nothing was wrong. He wasn't going to make it that easy for her.
"Since I missed your opening night, I wanted to come and see the show," she explained as she walked towards him.
"You could've called," he replied, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the door handle tightly.
"But then it wouldn't have been a surprise," she told him as she came to a stop in front of him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and Jesse felt the anger that had been building in him reach a boiling point.
Grasping her arms in his hands, he removed them from his neck and stepped away from her, shutting his dressing room door forcefully. He walked further into the room. Further away from her.
"Jesse, you can't still be mad at me," she scoffed.
"Are you serious right now?" he asked, his voice rising. The only answer he got was her folding her arms across her chest as she narrowed her eyes at him. "You tell me at the last possible minute that you have to travel out of the country for work and can't make it to one of the most important night's of my career, then you leave the country without a single word or note and I don't hear from you for a week and you're just going to walk in here as though everything's fine?"
"I didn't come here to fight," she said, looking at him defiantly.
"No, you just came here to pretend like nothing happened and there's nothing for you to apologize for," he spat.
"It's my job. I shouldn't have to apologize for that," she retorted, walking towards him again. "Besides, you're the one who yelled at me and walked out of our apartment then came home drunk and slept on the couch."
"You don't get it, do you?" he asked in disbelief. "Isla, I'm glad that you have your career because you're good at what you do. You're great at what you do. But at one time, you also had a husband that you loved and supported. Who you would do anything for. Shit, you can't even be bothered to save me coffee in the morning anymore."
Just then a knock came at the door. Jesse stepped around Isla and went to answer the door.
"Hi," Rachel said softly, smiling at him as he opened the door and wedged his body between the door frame and the partially opened door. Jesse just shook his head at her to let her know that now was not a good time. "What's going on?" she asked, concern laced her voice.
Without a word he opened the door slightly and Rachel peeked around him to see the back of Isla standing in the middle of his dressing room. "I'll see you tomorrow," he finally said with a sad look before moving back into his dressing room and shutting the door.
Rachel felt her heart constrict and she struggled to breathe as she felt like she had just been kicked in the stomach. Reality had come a lot sooner than she had expected.