Just as Jesse had said the night before, when they awoke the next morning, they lay in the bed intertwined with their heads propped up on some pillows as they listened to and watched the waves crash on the sand just outside their little cottage. They relished the feeling of being able to spend a lazy Monday morning lying in bed together, doing absolutely nothing. It was so tranquil that they even dozed off again for a little bit.

When they awoke again, they realized what time it was and knew that if they didn't get out of bed that they would miss breakfast. So they threw on some clothes, headed out of the cottage and down the path to the main building hand-in-hand to have breakfast.

As they walked inside, Rachel smiled when she saw that the room was sparsely populated. She loved the fact that it was off-season because it made her feel like she had run of the place and they could do anything they wanted. Sitting down to peruse their menus, she leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his lips, knowing that nobody else in the restaurant was paying them any attention. It was so liberating to be able to do something like that here.

After they had ordered and the waiter had brought their coffee and food, they sat and ate in comfortable silence for a moment in their little corner of the restaurant. "So what do you want today?" Jesse finally asked Rachel over the rim of his coffee cup before taking a sip of the steaming hot liquid.

"Maybe go into town and go shopping for a little while? We could eat lunch and then spend the rest of the afternoon on the beach." She leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Or we could just spend the entire day naked and have mad, passionate sex on every surface in the cottage." Rachel ran her hand up his thigh and lightly rubbed his hardening groin for emphasis.

Jesse did his best to keep his voice and facial expressions neutral as she continued to rub him, waiting for him to respond. "I know I'm going to regret this, but we should go into town." She pulled her hand away with a smirk. "I plan on us getting naked later and spending the entire night that way," he whispered into her ear, brushing his lips across her neck, which sent shivers of anticipation down Rachel's spine, before he went back to eating his breakfast.

After they had finished breakfast, they hopped in the car, put the top down and headed towards town. Leaning her head back against the seat, Rachel closed her eyes and let the sun shine on her face. They couldn't have asked for better weather than this. She felt Jesse lift her hand to his lips and kiss it softly which brought a smile to her face as she continued to bask in the sun. Before Rachel knew it, Jesse was parking the car on the side of the street and they were getting out so they could walk around.

Rachel snuggled into Jesse's side as he threaded his fingers through hers while they were walking down the street. The anonymity that being in a place like this afforded the two of them was wonderful. She thought about the night before when they had checked into the resort and the front-desk clerk had called them Mr. and Mrs. St. James. Hearing someone call her Mrs. St. James had made Rachel much happier than she had ever imagined it would, even if it wasn't true. Even though there was already a Mrs. St. James and it certainly wasn't Rachel.

Well, at least not at that moment in time. One day though… She shook her head, trying to rid those thoughts from her mind for the time being.

As they continued to walk down the street, they neared an antique store and Jesse squeezed Rachel's hand gently. "Let's go inside," he told her softly before tugging her towards the front door. The store had just opened thirty minutes before and only had a couple of people milling about inside. Rachel watched Jesse as he touched some of the furniture delicately.

"I never would've pegged you as an antique kind of guy," she teased, giving him a playful shove.

"What can I say? I'm eclectic," he replied with a wink as he let go of her hand and walked towards an old bookcase on the wall.

"Except in your fashion choices." She looked pointedly at the black button-up he was currently wearing, raising her eyebrows in amusement.

"Hey, I branch out from my staple black quite often, thank you," he said in mock offense. "Alright, well, maybe not today."

Walking over to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him, wanting him to kiss her so badly. "I'm not judging. I happen to think you look very sexy in black." Her little comment got Rachel exactly what she wanted as Jesse reached up to cradle her face in his hands, kissing her softly. "Although, I really prefer you in nothing at all," she added quietly just before she let go him and began perusing the area next to her.

Jesse just chuckled, shaking his head slightly as he turned to look at some of the books on the shelf. He ran his fingers along the spine of some of them, reading the titles. He came across a leather bound Pride and Prejudice and picked it up off of the shelf. Opening it up, he looked at the loopy script on the inside, from what he assumed was probably the original owner of the book, and smiled at the words.

There was a drawing of a rose and the inscription simply read: I will love you until the end of time. He loved that it wasn't personalized in any way. It was just a simple declaration of love. A timeless declaration of love even with the fading ink and the yellowing of the pages of the book. He looked over at Rachel who was looking at some china in a display case and felt a powerful wave of contentment wash over him.

Noting that Rachel was completely engrossed by all of the history surrounding her, he walked up to the checkout counter to purchase the book. Jesse smiled at the clerk as he paid for the book and the man handed him the small bag that now contained his little gift for Rachel, then he looked over to find that she was no longer in the spot that he had last seen her in.

Jesse walked around the store searching for Rachel until he found her in a back corner looking at a small silver brush and mirror set that had probably belonged to a little girl. "It's beautiful," he said, startling her slightly.

"It is," she agreed, brushing her fingers across it. She turned around and smiled at him, noticing the bag in his hand. "What'd you get?"

"Just a book," he replied nonchalantly. "Are you ready to go?" Nodding, her small hand found his larger one as they walked towards the front of the store.

Once outside, Jesse watched as Rachel's eyes widened as she noticed the store across the street for the first time. "You know that I'm going to have to go in there," she told him, giving a little tug on his hand as she stepped down on the curb to the street.

After crossing the fairly deserted street, Rachel closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as they stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the store. He knew that Rachel didn't indulge in things like candy and sweets very often, but he was sure that today she would make an exception.

The clerk greeted them as they opened the door and stepped inside. Rachel immediately led them over to the glass counter in front of the clerk that was full of all different flavors of fudge. Jesse watched her out of the corner of his eye as she listened intently to the clerk tell them about some of the seasonal flavors like pumpkin and vanilla pumpkin.

Of course, she had to try a few different kinds before making her final decision, so each one she took a bite of, she would leave the other half for Jesse to taste. Jesse saw the older woman behind the counter smiling at them knowingly as Rachel would pop each piece of fudge in Jesse's mouth and then beam up at him.

"Which one?" she asked.

"I like them all," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh, you are no help," she rolled her eyes at him playfully before turning her attention back to the display again. "I think I'm going to stick with my favorite: peanut butter." The older woman nodded and began to cut a chunk of fudge for them.

Jesse wandered over to the front of the store where it seemed all of the seasonal candy was. He felt Rachel come up beside him and look at what was on the shelves in front of him. Her eyes fell on something that she obviously had to have because she snatched the small bag of pumpkin-flavored yogurt covered pretzels off the shelf quickly and took them over to the counter to purchase them along with the fudge.

Following Rachel back to the counter, Jesse reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet to pay for the items. "What do you think you're doing?" Rachel asked, grabbing his arm and holding it to prevent him from taking his wallet out.

"I'm paying."

"No, you're not," she told him, emphatically before handing some cash to the clerk. Noticing the look on his face she said, "You can get lunch if you really want to." Then leaning up on her toes she gave him a quick kiss.

Once again, Jesse saw the older woman behind the counter look at them with a small knowing smile. He saw the wedding band on her finger and wondered if they reminded the woman of her and her husband at their age. Jesse returned the woman's smile as Rachel thanked her and grabbed her bag of candy off the counter and headed for the door.

For the rest of the morning, they walked from shop to shop just browsing through the various items before they found a pub off of the Plaza that both of them agreed on. The atmosphere reminded them both of the night when it all really began between them.

Rachel was sure they looked like one of those couples that usually annoyed her when she was out at a restaurant. They sat on the same side of the booth with their heads bent together as they talked quietly, in their own little world. She was sure if she could have seen herself that she would have been rolling her eyes at her and Jesse, but she was happy. Blissfully so.

"So what did you get when we were at the antique shop?" she asked.

"It was something for you actually," he replied, grabbing the bag from the bench beside him and pulling the book out.

Taking the book that he handed her, she felt the leather on the cover and read the book title. "My favorite." Jesse knew he had made the right decision in buying that book by the way she looked up at him before she opened the front cover of the book. A smile spread across Rachel's face as she ran her fingers over the inscription and the rose that was drawn just below it.

"I loved the inscription."

"It's perfect," she breathed out, craning her neck up to kiss him. "I love you." She just couldn't stop saying the words. She had been in love before, but never like she was with Jesse.

Rachel and Jesse lay on a blanket on the secluded beach just in front of their cottage; the only people that they could see were specks in the distance down the beach. The nice, cool breeze blowing in from the ocean kept them from lying in the sun in just their bathing suits, but just in case they decided to jump into the chilly water Jesse had changed into his board shorts and put on a t-shirt while Rachel had slipped into her bikini and put her shirt and linen pants from earlier back on.

Jesse had his eyes closed as he listened to Rachel read from the book that he had bought her at the antique store. Her head lay on his chest, and he ran his fingers through her hair soothingly as she continued to read from her favorite part of Pride and Prejudice. She had explained to him how Elizabeth Bennett's tour of the palatial Pemberley and unexpected run-in with Mr. Darcy was her favorite part of the book, the part that gave her butterflies when she was reading because she knew it was the moment that everything changed.

After finishing the chapter, Rachel set the book down beside her and flipped over on her stomach. Jesse opened his eyes behind his sunglasses as she leaned over him, casting his face in shadow. "Why'd you stop reading?" he asked.

"Because…" she started before she lowered her lips onto his.

He smiled against her lips. "Oh, I like that reason." Before he had a chance to kiss her again she pulled away and sat up on her heels. "Where do you think you're going?" He reached for her but she stood up quickly, laughing.

"Let's go for a walk."

"But I wanted to make good use of this blanket." He raised his sunglasses and looked at her with a suggestive quirk of his eyebrow. She just stood there smiling down at him. "Alright," he conceded with a sigh and stood up, joining her on the sand.

Linking their fingers together, Rachel led Jesse down to the water and they began walking away from the resort along a stretch of beach that didn't have much on it, people or buildings. "This just makes me want to take a real vacation," Rachel said as they walked along the beach hand-in-hand.

"Oh yeah? Where would you want to go?" he asked.

"I've always heard that Turkey is beautiful, so maybe some resort town there. Or maybe one of the Greek Islands."

"I went to Mykinos with some friends when I was in college, you know."

"How was it?" Rachel asked, wanting to know every detail.

"What I can remember? It was pretty awesome."

"What you can remember? Did you guys party the entire time you were there?" She bumped him with her hip playfully as they continued walking down the beach.

"The bars and clubs are open until the sun comes up so we basically drank around the clock," Jesse remembered. "It was fun."

"I bet the girls just loved you."

"Well, I mean, it is me we're talking about," he teased. "I might've met a few girls on that trip."

"And I bet you don't remember a single one of their names," she laughed.

Jesse thought hard about it for a moment. He thought that he might at least remember one girl, but their names and faces failed him. "I've got nothing. Although, I think one of them called me Apollo because one of my friends teased me about it mercilessly for weeks when we got back to New York."

"Apollo? As in the Sun god?" Jesse nodded in response, and Rachel laughed. "I can see it now. You with your sun-kissed curls and chiseled physique just like a statue of Apollo."

"I'm thinking it was more because I fuck like a god," he said in her ear, before letting go of her hand and walking backwards in front of her, a smirk firmly in place.

Her mouth hung open slightly at the words that he'd uttered in her ear as he continued to walk in front of her. Then a mischievous grin slid across her face as she stopped walking. "That was obviously a long time ago," she quipped before taking off in the other direction back towards their blanket. Rachel's feet splashed in the water as she sprinted down the beach, laughing.

"You better run!" Jesse yelled after her, casually walking in the direction she was currently running.

Rachel stopped at the distant sound of his voice and turned around to see that he was just casually strolling along the beach. Then he started running towards her and she was off again. She was nearly back to their blanket when he caught up with her, wrapping his arms around her waist and spinning her around which made Rachel squeal with delight.

He had just set her down in the ankle deep water when she kicked her leg, splashing him. "You wanna get wet, huh?" he asked, chasing her a little further into the water, the bottom part of her linen pants thoroughly soaked. Wrapping his arms around her waist again, he picked her up and walked further into the water.

"Jesse don't you dare throw me in!" she yelled as he swung her back and forth like he was about to toss her into the water.

"But you have your bathing suit on," he teased, continuing to swing her and letting his hold on her slip a little.

"Jesse!" came her high-pitch shriek. Figuring he had tortured her enough, he walked closer to the edge of the water and set her down in the ankle deep ocean again. "Jerk!" she yelled, smacking him on the arm.

He put his hands up in defense as she hit him again. "Hey, you started it," he chuckled, watching her stalk up the beach back towards the blanket. Jogging up behind her, he once again wrapped his arms around her, her back coming in contact with his solid chest. "You're so hot when you're mad," he said in her ear as she craned her neck to the side, his lips brushing against it ever so slightly.

One hand rested on her stomach while the other that was draped over her shoulder moved its way towards her breast, squeezing it gently as he kissed and licked her neck in the spot just below her jawbone that she loved so much. They made their way over to the edge of the blanket before Jesse turned Rachel around to face him.

Their lips fused together as he slowly lowered them down on the blanket so that she was partially under him, his leg in between both of hers. Getting lost in each other, Rachel wrapped one of her legs around Jesse's hip in an effort to get as close to him as possible.

She felt Jesse's hand firm against her breast again before he slid it slowly down her side, coming to rest on her hip. He brushed the back of his fingers back and forth across the sliver of smooth skin that had become visible during their make out session on the beach.

The tips of his fingers moved towards the center of her abdomen as his touch gave her goose bumps. He moved his fingers just a little bit lower to beneath the loose waist of her linen pants. "Jesse…" she warned, feeling his fingers just barely brush the waistband of her bikini bottoms.

His only response was a wicked grin.

"Someone could see," she admonished, glancing around the beach.

He looked in both directions on the beach and didn't see anyone in the distance walking their way or anybody even nearby to them. "No one's going to see," he whispered against her lips, before his tongue found its way into her mouth again as Rachel silently and all-too-willingly gave in to him.

She wondered when she had turned into such an exhibitionist as she felt Jesse's fingers slowly travel into her bikini bottoms. All coherent thought left her though as his fingers pushed inside of her.

A few hours later, Jesse and Rachel arrived at the restaurant where they had dinner reservations and were escorted to a table with a spectacular view of the setting sun and the water. It made Rachel wish she had a camera so they could have their picture taken in this beautiful spot. A frown crossed her features as she thought about why they didn't have a camera and weren't taking any pictures.

Jesse ordered their drinks and noticed that Rachel seemed to be deep in thought about something. Judging by the look on her face, they weren't happy thoughts. "What's wrong?" he asked, reaching across the table and breaking her out of her reverie.

She smiled at him and shook her head. "Nothing's wrong," she lied.

"Rach," he pushed, but again she shook her head.

"I love this place," Rachel said, changing the subject. "Did you also do extensive research to find this restaurant as well?" she teased.

Jesse decided to give in to her unspoken request and let the subject of what was bother her drop. "Actually, Thomas recommended it to me. He thought you might like it."

"So Thomas knows we're here?" She knew that Thomas was aware of her and Jesse's relationship but she didn't know how aware until just now.

Jesse took her hand in his and squeezed it reassuringly. "Of course he does, I'm supposed to be in Atlantic City with him this weekend. He sent me a text earlier to tell me he was winning big."

"He actually went to Atlantic City?" Rachel couldn't help but laugh at how typically Thomas it was for Jesse to suggest a fake weekend and then for Thomas to decide to turn it into reality. Well, for him anyways.

"I know, he's crazy," Jesse chuckled, thinking about his best friend. "He sent me another text telling me how he and the rest of the guys are going to a strip club tonight and asked if I was jealous."

"And what was your response?"

"Of course I'm jealous," he teased, smirking at Rachel. She merely rolled her eyes at him, unable to hide her smile. Jesse leaned across the table and said quietly so that only she could hear, "Although, I think he'd be jealous if he knew about the private show I'll be getting later tonight."

Rachel couldn't resist a little jibe at his confidence even if he was completely right. "You're pretty sure of yourself thinking that you're going to be getting lucky later."

"Well, you can't resist my charms so…"

"Is that so?"

He nodded his head with a cocky grin in place.

"We'll just have to see about that later, won't we?" she challenged. Rachel knew perfectly well that there was no way in hell that Jesse wouldn't see her naked before the night was through, but she couldn't resist giving him a little bit of a hard time.

Jesse just smiled at her knowingly before his eyes traveled from her face to the rest of her body that he could see above the table. "It's like you're glowing. You're stunning."

Rachel felt a blush creep across her cheeks. There weren't many things that made her blush too often with Jesse anymore, but for some reason with the way he was looking at her, her cheeks began to burn. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing it while keeping his eyes on hers. She felt like her face could break from all of the smiling she had done over the last two days and the moment they were having was no exception.

Placing her hand back on the table, he continued to hold it in his own, rubbing his thumb over the back of it absentmindedly. "I'm happy," she told him. "The happiest I've been in a long time."

He felt his heart clench at her admission as he thought of what he still needed to tell her. They had been having so much fun all day that all thoughts of Isla and what had happened between them had been pushed to the back of his mind. Hearing Rachel say how happy she was and with the way she was looking at him had brought it all rushing back to him. "Me too."

He didn't have to fake the smile that was currently tugging at the corners of his mouth as he looked at the woman he loved. Jesse just hoped that she couldn't see the fear that was just underneath the surface at the thought of what his confession might do to them.

As they walked into the cottage, Jesse threw the keys to the rental car on the counter and walked over to the iPod dock that he'd brought with him, placing his iPod in it. He selected a playlist and turned it up just enough to where they could hear it anywhere in the cottage.

Turning around, he saw Rachel standing in the middle of the room, smiling at him. She held out her hands for him and he took them before pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her waist as they danced to the music. Rachel closed her eyes as one of Jesse's hands left her waist and he began tracing his fingers over the outline of her face softly.

A smile graced her lips as his fingertips brushed against them and she felt his movements stop. Bringing his thumb up, he caressed her lips just before she heard him whisper, "Perfect." Then his mouth was on hers in a hungry kiss.

Rachel walked Jesse's backwards towards the bedroom, their lips glued together as the back of his legs hit the end of the bed. Pulling away, she lightly shoved him causing him to plop down on the bed. He reached for her to bring her to him, but she backed away from him.

"Uh huh," she told him, wagging her finger at him playfully.

Slowly unzipping the side of her strapless dress, she swayed her body to the beat of the music as she let her dress slink down her body. She stepped over the material that had pooled at her feet, now only clad in her stilettos and lace bra and panties.

Rachel walked over to stand directly in front of Jesse before she reached behind herself and unclasped her bra. Jesse's eyes widened slightly and a lecherous grin spread across his face as he looked at her bare breasts. He started to reach out to touch her until she smacked his hand away again as she continued to slowly dance to the music.

Turning around, she moved her backside in front of him tantalizingly. Rachel looked over her shoulder coyly before she sat down on his lap and began to grind against him. Finally, she let Jesse touch her as she moved her hips which elicited a low moan from Jesse. He grabbed her breasts and began to knead and massage them, pinching and twisting her nipples which only made her move against him a little harder and a little faster. "God, you're sexy," he said against the naked skin of her shoulder, kissing it lightly.

Keeping one hand on her breast, Jesse snaked the other down her body before slipping it inside of her panties. He smiled against her skin at how wet she was already and slipped his fingers between her slick folds distracting Rachel for a moment as she stopped her movement, relishing the feel of what his fingers were doing to her. She began to grind against him as she gripped his thighs even tighter.

"I'm the one who's supposed to be pleasuring you," she panted as she felt his fingers move a little bit deeper.

"You are," Jesse groaned.

Rachel turned to look at him at the sound of his voice only to discover that his eyes were closed. His lips were so close to hers so she moved her head slightly managing to catch Jesse by surprise as her lips met his. And then just as quickly she broke the kiss, gasping and throwing her head back on his shoulder as she felt the pressure of his thumb circling her nub.

All of a sudden he pulled his hands away and Rachel was about to protest at the loss of contact when she felt his hands on her waist. Instinctively, she knew what he wanted and complied with his unspoken request, standing up and getting rid of her underwear as she heard Jesse unzip his pants and take them off quickly. He had just finished pulling them off when Rachel turned around to see him still sitting on the edge of the bed, gloriously and completely naked now.

Placing one knee on the bed next to him, Rachel linked her fingers together behind his neck as she placed her other knee on the other side of his body. One of Jesse's hands came to rest low on her back, his fingertips grazing the top of her ass. Then he was entering her body and they began moving slowly. Their torsos glued together intimately as they kissed languidly.

Rachel noticed Jesse's furrowed brow as they lay together in the bed. "Are you okay?" she asked. "You seem upset about something." He'd been unusually quiet in the car ride back from dinner but he had seemed perfectly fine when they had got back to the cottage so she hadn't thought much of it until now.

Sitting up in the bed, the sheet bunching at his waist, he leaned back against the headboard and looked down at Rachel. "We need to talk."

Author's Note: Sorry for the cliffhanger. I fully intended to have Jesse confess this chapter, but I just couldn't stop writing fluffy!St. Berry and the chapter just kept growing and growing. Their weekend away was only supposed to be one chapter but obviously I was a little inspired. :) Reviews are love and they also inspire me so please let me know what you guys think.