Rachel lay under the covers of the hotel bed, resting her head next to Jesse's on the pillow while her arm and leg were draped over him possessively. She listened to the soothing sound of his steady breathing, willing herself to sleep but sleep just wouldn't come.
"Jesse, are you sleeping?" she asked softly, glancing up to see that his eyes were closed.
"Not yet," he answered her, opening his eyes to look at her.
"Have you thought about what our future together will be like?" she asked, moving her head back on the pillow so she could look him in the eyes.
"All the time," he told her, reaching up to caress the side of her face. "Have you?"
"In my dreams, every night, for the past month. It's always a different snapshot of us together," she said. "My last dream is the reason why I wanted you to know that I was no longer with Donovan."
"Must have been some dream," he replied, smiling warmly at her as he ran his fingertips up and down her arms slowly.
"It was our honeymoon," she confessed.
Jesse hand stopped its movement. "Honeymoon?" he asked, eyebrows raised.
She felt blood rush to her face as she blushed. "I-it was… just…" she stammered. "Not that I'm expecting us to get married as soon as your divorce is final or anything. I completely understand that you'd want to take some time before getting married again but–" she rushed out, until Jesse cut her off with a sweet kiss.
"Stop," he said, looking down at her. "Rach, I love you and want to be with you and I would marry you next week, hell tomorrow, if I could." Rachel reached up and ran her hands through his hair, her fingernails scraping along his scalp lightly. "So what was our honeymoon like?"
"Perfect," she told him as she looked up at him, still playing with the back of his hair.
"Is that all I'm going to get?" he asked as he lay back down on the pillow next to her. He took her hand in his and laced their fingers together. "Where'd we go? Did we have a lot of sex? Because I'm thinking we did."
"No." She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. "My dream was a day with you in Santorini."
"Ah, Greece. So is that where you want to go on our honeymoon?" he asked, a dreamy smile on his lips.
Rachel felt butterflies form in her stomach at his question. She knew it was silly seeing as just moments before he had told her that he would marry her tomorrow, but there was something about him asking her where she would want to go on their honeymoon that made it all just a little more real. "Maybe," she said, coyly.
"So what happened on our honeymoon?"
"It was a dream, Jesse, I can't remember it all," she replied, shoving her hand that was still in his towards him. "Although, I do remember you wanting to have sex with me when we were in the water with lots of other people around."
"Sounds like me," he laughed, winking at her flirtatiously. "So did we? Because I'm pretty sure I could talk you into it."
"No, we didn't. And no, you couldn't."
"Oh, I think I could." Once again he was hovering over her, she waited for him to tease her or touch her to prove his point but instead he just stared at her. Rachel felt her pulse quicken with the way he was looking at her.
"What?" she nearly whispered, an almost shy smile on her lips.
"You are so beautiful," he responded in a hushed tone.
Cupping his face in her hands, she leaned up and kissed his lips tenderly. She sighed as she lay her head back down on the pillow, her hair fanning out on it. Jesse reached out with one hand and caressed her face, running his fingertips over her lips.
"So tell me more about our dream honeymoon," he said softly before he placed a feather light kiss on each cheek. Rachel's eyes fluttered closed at the sensation. She felt his lips on her eyelids then on her forehead and finally on her lips. He rubbed his nose against hers affectionately causing Rachel to smile. She opened her eyes again as she felt him pull away.
"If you keep doing that, I'm going to forget what we're talking about."
"Am I distracting you Miss Berry?" he asked as he dipped his head and kissed her neck, his tongue darting out to taste her skin. "Do you still think I couldn't have persuaded you into having sex with me in that water?"
If Rachel had been about to give in to him, his last words made her even more determined. So she did her best to ignore the delicious sensations he was currently causing her to experience and focused on what she could remember of the dream. "Pictures," she blurted out.
Jesse stopped sucking on her neck and pulled back to look at her. "Pictures?" A look of utter confusion etched into his beautiful features.
"You kept taking pictures of us," she grinned up at him, biting her lower lip as she conjured up the images of her vivid dream. "It was like you wanted to capture every second of every moment we had together."
He noticed her smiled fade a bit as her eyes moved to focus on the view out of the window instead of on him. "What's wrong?" He cupped her face to try and get her to look at him again.
"It's nothing."
"It's obviously something. Tell me."
She finally looked back at him. "It bothers me that we don't have any pictures of the two of us together. Not of us onstage or anything to do with our show. Pictures of just…us. I mean, I know why we don't, but…"
"Well, we'll have to change that now, won't we?" Suddenly he rolled off of her and towards the nightstand where his phone lay.
"What are you doing?" Rachel asked as she sat up to see him with his phone in his hand. He messed with it for a second then scooted next to her and wrapped his free arm around her, holding her close to him.
"What does it look like? Taking our picture together obviously," he replied, planting a quick kiss on her cheek.
"Jesse, I have sex hair," she told him and giggled when she looked at him. "And so do you." She reached up and fixed his hair a little bit.
"Yes, we do and you look so fucking hot right now," he said. He leaned down to whisper something else in her ear. "Just looking at you is making me so hard. The sooner we take these pictures, then I can bury myself deep inside of you." Shivers of pleasure ran down Rachel's spine at his words. And then it was like he hadn't just whispered suggestive things in her ear, completely turning her on, as he said, "Smile for the camera." He held out his phone in front of them and they both grinned. They continued to pose for another picture and Rachel turned and kissed Jesse's cheek.
"Let me see." She tried to reach for his phone but he held it out of her reach.
"Wait a second. One more, only this time…" he trailed off as his lips found hers. Instinctively her eyes closed as she kissed him back only to hear the click of the phone to signal that a picture had been taken. He brought the phone between them so they could both look at the pictures they'd just taken.
Rachel sighed and grinned as he showed her the first picture then the second and finally the last one he had taken. "I think that's my favorite," she said, indicating the picture of the two of them kissing and getting a strange sense of déjà vu. "You know I'm going to need that on my phone too."
Jesse tossed his phone to the foot of the bed and grabbed Rachel, his hands covering hers as he pinned her underneath him and they lay across the pillows on the bed. "I might be willing to trade sexual favors for it."
"Oh, you'll get those for nothing," she teased, lacing her fingers through his as she rubbed her foot up and down the back of his leg.
"Now that's what I like to hear." He leaned down and pressed her into the pillows as his mouth covered hers in a deep kiss, his tongue languidly finding hers. He groaned as Rachel rubbed herself against him, letting him feel her wetness and how completely ready for him she was. Jesse rolled them over so that she was now pinning him to the bed.
Rachel broke their kiss and sat up with a lustful grin on her lips as she took him in her hand. She sank down on him fully, her eyes closing and her head falling back causing her hair to cascade down her back. She braced her hands behind her on his legs so she could lean back and have the perfect angle as she rode him.
Jesse watched Rachel's breasts rise and fall each time she rose up and down on him. It was almost hypnotizing. Finally, he gave into his baser need to touch her breasts and took one in each hand. He rubbed his palms against her already taut nipples which caused Rachel to quicken her movements and lean into his touch. The delicious friction it was creating was intoxicating.
"Oh, God, Jesse," Rachel moaned as he squeezed her breasts and teasingly pinched her nipples between his thumb and forefinger. The way that Rachel was savoring the feel of him inside of her, it was like they had been apart for years rather than weeks. She wanted to prolong the feeling for as long as possible as she felt the tension in her body increasing with every movement.
Jesse's hands roamed over the smooth skin of her body as he watched her ride him before they found their way to her hips. As she sank down on him again, he held her hips and thrust even deeper inside of her overly stimulated body. She leaned forward and placed her hands on Jesse's chest as her movements almost caused him to pull all the way out of her and then plunge right back inside of her deeply. Once again, Jesse had her breasts in his hands as he teased and tweaked her nipples.
"I love you," she rasped out as she looked down at him.
"Let go, baby," he encouraged as she let out a loud moan that echoed off the walls of the room, knowing that one more thrust would do him in completely. When she went to sink down on him again, he thrust up into her. Hard and deep.
Rachel and Jesse both cried out in release as she collapsed onto his chest. Her body felt like Jell-O as she lay on top of him, trembling with the aftershocks of her orgasm.
"Do you know how amazing you are?" Jesse asked, pulling her hair back from her face as she smiled up at him in response. Turning her head, she placed a kiss on the spot on his chest just above his heart then kissed her way up his neck until she reached his mouth. Jesse took her face in his hands and they locked eyes. "God, I love you, Rachel Berry." She sighed contentedly at his declaration before he brought her lips to his in a passionate kiss.
"This is happening, right? I'm not going to wake up in the morning to find that this was all some dream and I'm alone in my bed at home," Rachel said once they broke apart to catch their breath.
"Definitely not a dream." He wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."
Rachel awoke the next morning forgetting where she was for a moment as the bright morning light streamed through the window. Then she felt Jesse's arm wrapped around her waist as he held her to him and it all came rushing back to her. She slowly twisted in his arms and saw that he was still sleeping peacefully.
She realized that they could wake up just like this every morning now if they wanted to. As Rachel thought about it, it dawned on her that if they woke up like this every morning then they might as well be living together and it was way too soon for that. He had just left his wife and was going to be going through a possibly messy and lengthy divorce. The last thing they needed to do was to live together. Her happy mood started to fade a bit as she thought about the possibility of Isla dragging out the divorce purely to make life as difficult as possible for Jesse.
Desperately trying to rid herself of the unhappy thoughts, she nuzzled into Jesse and wrapped her arm tightly around his waist. Her movements woke Jesse as she felt him stir in her embrace and a light kiss was placed on top of her head.
"Morning," he said, his voice still raspy with sleep.
Rachel leaned back so she could look up at him. "Good morning." She loved how bright and crystal clear his eyes were even though he had just woken up moments before. "So I was thinking…" she paused for a moment.
"Uh huh," Jesse said with a little quirk of his mouth.
"That you should stay with me," she told him. Then she thought about how that sounded and added, "You know, just for a few days until you can find your own place. You shouldn't have to spend all this money on a hotel when there's a spot with your name on it next to me in my bed."
"How could I say no to that?" he asked, leaning down for a quick kiss. "Thank you."
"Jesse, can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"I didn't want to ask last night because I didn't want to ruin the mood, but…what happened with you and Isla after you left the party? I'm sure she knows all about us now?" Rachel saw Jesse's features darken as he thought about the answer to her question. She almost wished that she wouldn't have asked about it. Almost.
"She knew something was up with me and you at the party so when we got back to the apartment the first words out of her mouth were her asking me if I was having an affair with you," Jesse explained, deciding it was best not to use the exact words that Isla had used. "That was when I told her about how you and I were together in high school and how you were the first girl that I ever loved."
"I'm sure she was angry," Rachel said, ducking her head slightly as she thought of how Donovan had reacted to that very same confession.
"Yeah, and she had a right to be angry about the fact that I never told her about you," he admitted. "I should've told her about you when we talked about exes when we first started dating but I didn't because I didn't want to share you or what I felt for you with her or anyone. You were mine and mine alone."
Rachel looked up at him sweetly as she felt her heart swell at his admission as to why he never told Isla about her or their relationship.
"Then I told her I wanted a divorce," he continued. "Needless to say, she didn't take that news too well."
"What did she say?" she asked, her morbid curiosity getting the better of her.
"That she was going to do everything in her power to drag out the divorce for as long as possible just out of spite."
"Will she do that?" Rachel was unable to hide the worry in her voice. What Jesse had just told her was one of her biggest fears in all of this.
"If there's one promise that Isla can keep, it's this. I ended our marriage effectively bruising her ego enough to where she will make me pay for it any way she can," Jesse explained. "She's vindictive that way."
"She's going to make our lives hell isn't she?" Rachel asked miserably.
Jesse wrapped his arms around Rachel, pulling her fully into his embrace. "She'll try, but as long we're together, Rachel, it doesn't matter. She can't take you away from me and that's the only way that she can really hurt me. We – you and me – can deal with everything that she might throw at us. Right?"
Rachel simply nodded, tears filling her eyes as the she thought of the difficult months that lay ahead of them. "Do you think she'll leak anything about us to the press?" she asked suddenly, panic rising in her chest at the thought.
"Honestly, Rach? I don't know. I'd like to say no because she would think it's too shameful for people to know that her husband had cheated on her and left her for another woman, but who knows what she's going to do." They sat in silence for a moment before Jesse spoke again. "What about Donovan? He has a new show to promote soon and he's fame hungry enough to do something like that. Have you talked to him?"
"Not since I broke up with him. He came by the apartment one day when I was gone and cleared out all of his stuff. I would hate to think that he would do something like that just to get his name in the press." She looked down as she twisted the edge of the down comforter between her fingers.
"Rachel, he's an asshole. I still don't know what you saw in that douchebag." Irritation colored his voice as he thought about Rachel's ex-fiancé.
"He wasn't always a jerk," Rachel replied, a little defensively. It wasn't that she wanted to defend Donovan because Jesse was right, he was an asshole but the guy that she had fallen for back in college wasn't the same guy that she knew now. "What about Isla? What made you want to be with a bitch like that?" she deflected as she saw the look on Jesse's face over her defense in her ever being with Donovan.
Rachel fully expected him to make a comment about how Isla had changed over the years, but that didn't happen. "Right now, I don't know what I ever saw in her. I don't think it's that she's changed, it's that I have. I never thought I was the type of guy that would settle for anything, but looking back on it, I can't help but wonder if I did."
She wasn't quite sure what to say to that.
"How about you and I order room service and go take a shower while we wait?" he asked, changing the subject. He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the room service menu, opening it so they could both look at it.
"I don't even need to see it. I'm in the mood for some pancakes. And fresh fruit," she told him, kissing his cheek before she started to scoot out of the bed. "I'm going to get in the shower." She stopped as she reached the edge of the bed and sat up, looking back at him. "Join me when you're done."
Jesse watched and admired her perfect, naked body as she padded towards the bathroom. He felt the blood rush to his groin as he thought about all the things he wanted to do to her body in that shower. Hearing the water turn on brought him out of his daydream and he quickly reached over for the phone.
In the bathroom, Rachel stood under the spray of water and let it soak her completely. She sighed at how good the hot water felt on her skin and muscles. She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there when Jesse's hands encircled her waist and pulled her back to him.
"How long do we have?" she asked, feeling Jesse's hardening erection pressing into her lower back.
"They're busy so we have at least thirty minutes," he said in a low voice that made the ache between her thighs almost unbearable.
She twisted around and stood on her tiptoes, bringing her lips close to his. "Plenty of time for a quickie then."
Jesse growled possessively as his lips descended onto hers in a hard kiss.
Rachel and Jesse were in their own little world as they rode in the back of the cab towards Rachel's apartment after the show later that night. "I could get used to this," Jesse said, sweeping her hair behind her ear gently.
"Get used to what?" she asked, legs draped over his as she leaned into his touch.
"Going home together night after night," he answered.
Rachel sighed happily. "Maybe there's a unit in my building that you can rent." As she thought about her suggestion she began to get excited.
"Are you sure you want me to be your neighbor?"
"Mm hmm," she murmured as she tilted her heads up toward him. "I would love it." She kissed him sweetly to emphasize her words. The car lurched to a stop, letting them know they had arrived at their destination. Jesse handed the driver the money and intertwined his fingers with Rachel's as she opened the door and got out of the car.
Rachel stepped onto the sidewalk as Jesse got out of the cab behind her and enveloped her in a hug. "I love you," he whispered in her ear. Pulling back slightly, she looked up at him and smiled before he lowered his head to kiss her.
As they broke apart and began to head towards the building's entrance, they were completely oblivious to anything or anyone around them. They were so enthralled with each other that they didn't even notice the person lurking in the shadows of the building watching them.
Thirty minutes later, they were lying in bed languorously making out when Jesse's phone chimed, alerting him that he had a text message. He groaned as he reluctantly broke their kiss and sat up to see who had sent him a text message at this hour. When he picked up his phone and hit the button to unlock the screen he saw a picture that made him freeze.
Rachel noticed the change in Jesse's demeanor as he looked at whatever it was that someone had sent him. "Jesse, what's wrong?" she asked, sitting up and gently laying a hand on his arm. "Who's it from?"
He looked at the picture that was clearly of him and Rachel kissing in front of her building before he read the text message that accompanied it.
You really should learn to be more discreet. You never know who could be watching.
"It's from Isla," he told Rachel before he held out the phone for her to see the picture.
"What in the hell was she doing here?"
Jesse typed out a response to Isla. Are you going to be stalking me now? How did you get this address anyways?
"Jesse, why don't you just call her and talk to her?"
"Rachel, that's exactly what she wants me to do. I'm not going to give her what she wants." Jesse got out of the bed and headed to the kitchen with Rachel in tow as he waited for Isla to respond. He looked down at his phone as he heard it chime.
You really need to change the password on your computer more often.
"What did she say?" Rachel asked as she took the glass of water she had just poured for herself and sat down on the couch.
"That she went through my shit to find out where you lived." He looked at his phone debating on whether or not he should respond to Isla or just ignore her. Before he had the chance to respond with anything he got another message from her.
Let your whore know that I'll tell Donovan that she says hi. Sweet dreams.
Jesse's mouth gaped open as she read her message. "What the fuck?" He looked up to see the questioning look on Rachel's face as she waited to hear what the message had said. "It sounds like she's meeting with Donovan."
Rachel sat there for a moment, completely shell shocked by this new development. "I knew she was a bitch but I didn't know she was a psychotic bitch," Rachel said, her hands shaking. "What in the hell is she meeting with Donovan for?"
"I don't know what her game is," he replied with a shake of his head.
It suddenly dawned on Rachel what Isla might be up to. "She works for a magazine, Jesse."
"A fashion magazine, not the New York Post."
"It doesn't matter. She somehow used the fact that she works at a magazine as a way to get in with Donovan. I don't know how, but she obviously did. She thinks she's found a way to destroy us," Rachel rushed out as Jesse came over and sat on the couch with her. "It looks like we have our answer to the question we had this morning."
Jesse followed Rachel's train of thought as he pulled her into his arms. "She's going to try to use Donovan to sell us out to the press."
Author's Note: I fully intended to post this Saturday, but when I went back and read the original ending I was not a fan so I had to go back and completely re-write it. Thank you to those of you that have either added this story to your favorites or to your story alerts. And a big thank you to those of you that leave reviews for me every chapter. It brings a smile to my face knowing what you think about the stuff my brain conjures up for St. Berry. As always, reviews are love so let me know what you think of this one. I'll do my best to take my sweet time getting the next chapter posted. :)