Rachel woke up the next morning to a heavenly smell wafting under the bedroom door from the kitchen. She lay in bed for a moment, stretching with a big smile on her face as she pictured Jesse in her kitchen making breakfast for her. Her smile faltered as she remembered what had happened with Isla the night before. Shaking her head as if to rid herself of the unwanted thoughts, she instead focused on the gorgeous man that was currently in her kitchen most likely standing in front of the stove looking incredibly sexy.
She had just slung her legs over the side of the bed to go join Jesse when her bedroom door opened to reveal a bare-chested Jesse with a tray of food in his hands.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," he said as he walked over to her side of the bed. Setting the tray down carefully at the foot of the bed before walking over to her, he placed his hands on either side of Rachel on the bed and leaned down to plant a kiss on her lips. As was usually the case whenever their lips met, a simple peck was just never enough.
Rachel sighed and her lips parted only to feel the soft caress of Jesse's tongue on her own. She lay back on the bed and Jesse covered her body as they got lost in their kiss. As Jesse's lips left hers, a blissful smile spread across Rachel's face. "Mm, now that is how you say good morning," she told him. "You taste delicious, by the way."
"Fresh strawberries," he replied, pointing towards the tray that still sat at the foot of the bed.
"I can't believe you brought me breakfast in bed." She ran her hands through his hair before wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I wanted to something for you for letting me stay here for a little while," he explained, running his thumb over her bottom lip lightly. "Besides, I also kind of love you." His eyes danced in amusement as he grinned at her.
Rachel scoffed as she pushed at his chest and sat up. "Kind of?"
"Okay, maybe a lot." He winked at her as he went to pick up the tray of food and coffee.
"That's better." Tucking her legs back under the comforter, Rachel fluffed the pillows behind her and waited for Jesse to put the tray on her lap. She looked at the wonderful spread of fresh fruit, a large cheese omelet, buttered toast and bacon that was obviously enough for the both of them. Grabbing a slice of the bacon, she bit into it hungrily as Jesse slid into the bed next to her. She moaned in pleasure at the taste of it. "So good. I'm glad that I gave up being a vegan in college."
Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, Jesse brought the bacon to his mouth and took a large bite. "Mm, that is good," he agreed.
Rachel polished off the rest of the bacon that was in her hand before reaching for the steaming cup of coffee. She knew before even taking a sip that it was exactly how she liked it: two sugars and just a splash of cream. "Perfect," she remarked, after she had taken a sip. "I knew you more than 'kind of' loved me."
"I do." She felt his lips press softly against the crook of her neck before he took a slice of toast off of the plate. "So I was thinking that maybe we could find a song for us to sing together after our matinee show this afternoon."
"Oh my God, with everything that's been going on recently I've been so completely distracted that I nearly forgot about that. Do you know what song you're singing solo?" She took a bite of the omelet as she waited to hear Jesse's answer.
"I found it a few days after they asked me to do the cabaret," he replied, taking a sip of his own coffee.
"What song is it?" she asked eagerly, excited to hear what he had chosen.
He shook his head as he responded to her question. "Uh-uh, it's a surprise." Rachel looked up at him, her bottom lip sticking out in a pout. "God, you're cute when you pout." Instead of getting the answer that she had hoped her pout would get her, she got a quick peck from Jesse. "But no, you're not getting it out of me."
"Fine, then when I pick mine I won't tell you what I'm singing either," Rachel replied haughtily, snatching a strawberry from the bowl the fruit was in and popping it into her mouth.
Jesse smirked, knowing that his answer was going to infuriate her even more. "Good, I like surprises." He was right as she turned her head slightly and gave him a look of pure annoyance before she reached for her cup of coffee and finished the rest of it. Her reaction only caused Jesse to chuckle as he took a bite out of the omelet.
Rachel merely continued to eat the fruit in silence, going through a mental checklist of songs that she might like to sing. She did her best to ignore Jesse who she could see out of the corner of her eye was grinning at her.
He nudged her slightly with his shoulder as he leaned in closely. "Smile." She shook her head stubbornly in response as she continued to try to ignore him. "Smile." She felt his fingertips dance on her waist lightly as his lips brushed against the skin of her cheek. Unable to resist his charm, the sides of Rachel's lips quirked up in a smile.
She turned her head just enough so that their lips met. Rachel sighed as they broke apart, her forehead resting against Jesse's. "Don't think I'll always cave so easily to your charms," she told him, looking him in the eyes.
"I wouldn't dream of it," he replied with a disarming smile.
Rachel's phone rang while Jesse was in the shower and she was getting dressed so they could head over to the theatre in a little while. She looked down to see who it was and saw Kurt's name.
"I know you must be in some sex-filled, bliss bubble with Jesse or otherwise I would think that you wouldn't go nearly two days without calling your best friend and giving him the details. Am I right?" Kurt said, not even giving Rachel a chance to greet him.
Rachel giggled, amused by her friend's irritation. "I'm sorry I didn't call you yesterday, but yes, Jesse and I are together. He's actually staying at my apartment for a little bit until he finds a place of his own," she explained.
"I'm hoping there's been a lot of makeup sex," he told her, the smile on his face evident in his voice.
"A lot of fabulous makeup sex," Rachel replied with a satisfied sigh.
"So what happened after I left your apartment the other night?" Kurt asked, wanting more details on how she and Jesse ended up back together.
"Well, I didn't know where he was so I called him and he didn't answer, so I left a voicemail hoping that he would call me back. When he didn't I called him again and again and again. I sent text messages. Finally, he answered when I called him again." Now as she recounted the events of that night, she realized how her incessant calling and text messaging had bordered on slightly crazy.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Kurt chuckled slightly. "Did he answer the phone just to get you to stop calling?"
"I think so," Rachel answered. "However, my persistence paid off in the end and that was all that mattered."
"I take it he wasn't at home then?"
"Nope, he was at the Four Seasons and I met him at his room and explained everything to him. How I broke up with Donovan weeks ago and that I had lied to him because I was scared of getting hurt again." She paused for a moment as she remembered Jesse's words. "Then he reassured me that he would always choose me and I told him that I loved him and he said he loved me…" She trailed off, vivid memories of their lovemaking after that taking over her thoughts.
"And…" Kurt encouraged.
"And you don't want to know the rest of it."
He understood what she meant perfectly. "You're right, I don't. So any trouble with Jesse's soon-to-be ex?"
Rachel sighed before answering Kurt's question. "Apparently, she's been in some sort of contact with Donovan."
"Are you serious? Why would she do that?"
"The only thing I can think of is that she wants him to sell me and Jesse out to the press. That way she can save a little bit of face but still play the victim," Rachel mused.
"You should call Donovan," Kurt suggested much to Rachel's surprise.
"I don't know," she replied hesitantly.
"Rachel, maybe he'll tell you what she's up to. Maybe you can convince him to not leak a story to the Post."
Rachel looked up as Jesse walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He mouthed asking who was on the phone and Rachel mouthed back that she was talking to Kurt. "What makes you think I can convince him to do anything?" she responded to Kurt. "I broke off the engagement remember? I don't think he wants to talk to me."
"All I'm saying is that it's worth a shot. Sometimes people surprise you." Rachel sighed as she thought about the inevitably awkward conversation between her and Donovan if she did contact him. "Just think about it, okay?"
"Look, I have to go. I'll talk to you later."
"Alright. Tell Jesse I said hi," he replied.
"I will." And with that she hung up the phone.
"What's wrong?" Jesse asked as he slipped his shoes on.
"Kurt thinks I should call Donovan and see if I can get him to not go along with whatever Isla might have planned," she explained, walking over to stand in front of where he sat on the bed.
Jesse nodded his head in response as he mulled over what Kurt had suggested. "You know how I feel about Donovan, but I agree with Kurt." He stood up and stepped forward, placing his hands on her arms. "What can it hurt?"
She looked at him incredulously. "Gee, I don't know. Considering that we didn't end things on the best of terms, he might not be so keen on wanting to have a civil conversation with me." She shook off Jesse's hands. "You, of all people, should understand."
"Rach, I do but we can't just sit here and do nothing," Jesse replied, following Rachel out of the bedroom and into the living room. "If I thought that talking to Isla would do any good at all, then I would do it."
Rachel spun around to face him. "You know, maybe we deserve this. Some kind of karmic retribution for what we did to them. We had an affair. We were unfaithful. We betrayed them. Maybe this is just us getting what was coming to us."
"Don't say that. Yes, we did all those things, but we don't deserve to have our names run through the mud and for us to be tried by the court of public opinion." She just stood there looking at him helplessly so he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace. He placed a kiss on top of her head. "Will you at least see if he's willing to meet you?"
Rachel simply nodded her head in response.
Early that afternoon as Jesse was getting ready for the show, a knock came on his dressing room door. "Come in," he yelled. As the door opened, he turned and looked to see Thomas walk into his dressing room. "Hey," Jesse greeted.
"Hey yourself," Thomas replied, walking over to Jesse's couch and plopping down on it. "Since I didn't get the full rundown of what happened after the party the other night yesterday like you promised, I figured I'd try again today."
"Shit, I completely forgot. Rachel and I just wanted to get out of here after the show last night."
Thomas nodded his head. "That's understandable. So, spill."
Jesse recalled the events after the party for his friend in as much detail as he could remember until he got to the part where he and Rachel had completely made up.
"So are you staying at Rachel's?" Thomas asked with a slight smile.
"Yeah, but I'm going to look for my own place tomorrow. Until my divorce is final, it's best that we have our own apartments." Jesse tried not to think about how if things were different, that his apartment search the following day would be for both him and Rachel, not just him.
"Based on Isla's reaction, it sounds like it could possibly be awhile," Thomas remarked.
Jesse scoffed. "You have no idea. Get this, she was outside of Rachel's building last night and she sends me this." Jesse handed his friend his phone so he could look at the text messages.
Thomas looked at the picture and then the text messages that followed. "Are you fucking serious?"
"Who knew that I married such a crazy bitch, right?" Jesse took his phone back from his friend. "I just can't believe she's getting Rachel's ex involved in her vendetta to make my life hell."
"I just don't get it. Why in the fuck does she care all of a sudden?" Jesse just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders in response to his friend's question. "I gotta be honest; I was convinced she was fucking around on you a long time ago."
"I thought so too at one point. All those late nights and business trips, it made sense but I never cared enough to find out." He thought about the truth in his statement. Maybe that's what the biggest problem in his marriage had been; he hadn't cared about her or their relationship for so long. "Now I just wish I had been smart enough to do this a long time ago."
"Better late than never, I say," Thomas told him, looking at his watch to see that it was almost time for them to convene for their pre-show stage meeting. "Come on or we'll be late."
He stood up and Jesse followed behind him to the hallway. Jesse thought about Thomas's last comment as they walked down the hallway towards the stage. While he agreed with Thomas and he recognized that hindsight was 20/20, he just wished that he would have followed the philosophy of 'sooner rather than later'.
Rachel's living room looked like a disaster area later that evening as she and Jesse tried to come up with a duet that they wanted to sing. Finished boxes of Chinese takeout sat on the coffee table while sheet music and CDs were scattered all around her living room floor and Jesse's iPod was in the dock playing yet another song.
"What about this song?" Jesse asked with a mischievous glint in his eye as he began to play 'Baby, Come to Me'. He knew Rachel would hate the completely cheesy 80s vibe of the song, but he wanted to hear what she would have to say.
Without even looking up from the sheet music she was currently rifling through, Rachel responded with an emphatic, "No."
"You won't even consider it? Come on, just keep an open mind." He tried to keep from laughing but couldn't stop the snicker that escaped his lips. "Alright, fine. I'll keep looking."
She found a piece of sheet music and looked at the title of the song. "'Let's Call the Whole Thing Off'," she blurted out.
"Huh?" Jesse looked up in confusion.
"The song," she replied, looking at Jesse like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "'Let's Call the Whole Thing Off', I think it could work for us. It's kind of flirty and we could play off our chemistry onstage."
"I like it," Jesse agreed before leaning over and giving Rachel a quick peck on the lips. "I say it we put it in the 'maybe' pile." Rachel nodded and placed it on the coffee table with a couple of other songs that they had thought they might like to do. "Okay, I have one." Jesse hit play on his iPod and 'Islands in the Stream' started playing.
Rachel smacked his leg. "Jesse, be serious," she reprimanded. "That song is not us and you know it."
"Rach, you have to see past what you're hearing. We can take these songs and make them our own," he explained. He actually thought that they could do a pretty fantastic version of 'Islands in the Stream' even if the original wasn't really their style.
"I'm putting 'Not While I'm Around' in the 'maybe' pile," Rachel told Jesse as she placed the sheet music with the other ones.
"Okay, but I have one that I think is a serious contender." He ignored the annoyed look that Rachel shot at him as she fully expected him to play a song that they would never sing in a million years. Instead she heard a very familiar song. "I happen to know we would be amazing singing this song since I seem to recall we did an impromptu version of it at Carnegie Hall awhile back."
"You're right. 'Both Sides Now' is definitely in the 'maybe' pile," she said, smiling at him.
Jesse went back to his playlist and scrolled through the artists slowly, a smile lighting up his face as he remembered a song that he had always loved that wasn't actually a duet originally but could easily be turned into one. "I think I may have found the one." Rachel looked up at him and waited for him to continue or play the song. Jesse hit the screen and Adele's 'One and Only' began playing.
"I used to listen to that album non-stop back in high school. God, I forgot how much I love this song." She closed her eyes as she listened to the words and imagined her and Jesse's voices blending together with harmonies on the chorus and alternating verses. It had the potential to be magical.
"What do you think? Top of the list?" Rachel nodded her agreement. "So how many songs is that?" Jesse asked, searching his iPod for a particular playlist.
"With the four we just added plus 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' and 'Stop, Dragging My Heart Around', that's six." She had just picked up more sheet music to continue to search for more songs when she felt Jesse's hand rest on top of hers lowering it back down to the floor. "What?"
"Dance with me," he said, taking the sheet music out of her hand.
"We still have to find more songs and then narrow them down. We need to focus on the task at hand," she told him, beginning to reach for the sheet music that he had laid down on the floor moments before.
He grabbed both of her hands before she could pick up the sheet music and pulled her up off of the floor with him. "Our song is one of the six that we've already selected. We don't need to look for anymore. Trust me." Rachel didn't protest anymore and instead melted into his arms as they began to sway slowly to Coldplay's 'The Scientist' in the middle of her living room, not caring that they were stepping on the sheet music that was scattered on the floor. "I just want to dance with the woman I love," Jesse nearly whispered into her ear as he pulled her hand into his chest and held it over his heart.
Rachel closed her eyes and rested her head on Jesse's chest, completely content and happy to be wrapped in his arms. Then he began to sing softly to her – But tell me you love me, come back and haunt me/Oh and I rush to the start – and Rachel realized that it was simple moments like that moment that she never wanted to end.
She hadn't even realized that a new song had begun a couple of minutes later until Jesse said, "I think you should sing this at the cabaret if you haven't chosen a song yet." Rachel knew that she recognized the song based on the opening guitar chords, but then Beyoncé started singing and she knew exactly what it was. "You would absolutely kill '1+1'."
"I'll think about it," she told him, looking up at him as she wrapped both of her arms tightly around his waist as they continued to sway to the music.
Jesse cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to claim her lips with his own in a long and lingering kiss. As they got lost in each other, their movements came to a halt and they were no longer dancing as Jesse backed Rachel towards the couch a few feet away. Lips still fused together, Rachel lay down on the couch and welcomed the weight and feel of Jesse's body on her own as he lay on top of her.
As soon as Jesse's lips left her own, she immediately missed the sensation until he found the spot on her neck that he had managed to find all those years ago when they had been teenagers. His hand snaked under her sweater and into her bra causing Rachel to gasp as he teased her nipple with his fingers and she felt his lips, teeth and tongue on her skin. She was in sensory overload and it was absolutely heavenly. She was still amazed that no man in her entire life had ever been able to make her feel the things that Jesse could. Others had tried, but Jesse knew exactly how and where to touch her like he was made just for her.
The words of the song hit her so hard that she almost felt like the wind had been knocked out of her as he continued to touch her and almost worship her body. "Jesse," she said, trying to get his attention. Grabbing Jesse's head in her hands, he unlatched from the spot on her neck that would surely bear his mark tomorrow and pulled back to look at her.
"What?" he asked before he rubbed his nose back and forth across hers affectionately then pulled back again. His thumb rubbed back and forth over her nipple absentmindedly mimicking his movements from moments before.
"Put the song on repeat," she told him.
Taking his hand out from under her shirt, Jesse reached over to the coffee table for the remote control and hit the repeat button, before he turned his attention back to the breathtaking woman who was currently underneath him. "Better?"
"Much," Rachel smiled and raised her head off of the couch just a few inches to press her lips against Jesse's before she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly to get as close to him as possible. Rachel plunged her tongue into Jesse's mouth as he pressed her into the arm cushion of the couch. His fingertips ghosted across the exposed skin between her sweater and skirt, before his hand found its way to the small of her back to hold her lower body fully against his.
As she felt the effects that their makeout session was having on Jesse press against her abdomen, Rachel spread her legs even more and tried to reposition herself in an effort to feel his hardness on her center. She finally draped one of her legs over his hip so she could create delicious friction between their bodies. Jesse rocked his hips against hers and was rewarded with a deep moan from her that he felt in his own chest.
Rachel whined as Jesse broke their kiss, but was soon whimpering in anticipation as Jesse slid down her body and ran his hands up her thighs only to hook his fingers in her panties to pull them completely off of her. She watched through a lust-filled haze as he held one of her legs in his hand and kissed the inside of her calf only to make his way up to her knee then finally to the soft skin of her inner thigh. Then he grabbed her other leg and made the same trail with his lips on the inside of it. Finally he hooked both of her legs over his shoulders and he licked and suckled his way ever closer to the place she so desperately wanted him to touch her.
Slowly he lowered his head and Rachel could feel his hot breath on her skin. She buried her fingers in his hair and arched against him as his tongue parted her flesh. Her moans and cries of pleasure made him grow almost unbearably hard as he laved at her nub in long, languid strokes.
Several times Rachel was sure that the wonderful things that he was doing to her with his mouth and fingers were going to send her over the edge, only for Jesse to draw out the exquisite torture by momentarily halting his ministrations to let her once again gain control. She looked down and locked eyes with him as he dipped his tongue inside of her causing her body to start to tremble with her impending orgasm as she felt his fingers begin to tease her again.
Jesse watched as Rachel threw her head back against the couch again and started panting heavily. He could feel the beginnings of her orgasm, but this time there was no more drawing it out as he increased the pace and the pressure of his movements. Before long Rachel was screaming out his name as he brought her sweet release.
She looked down at smiled as Jesse removed her legs from his shoulders and made his way back up her body. Sometimes it frightened her how much she loved this man, but it was moments like this where she saw a look in his eyes that told her that he loved her just as much, if not more. Hearing the lyrics of the song, Rachel mimicked them as she wrapped her arms around Jesse's neck. "Make love to me," she whispered against his lips.
On the floor of Rachel's bedroom, Rachel's phone buzzed silently in her purse with a text message.
Just got your voicemail from earlier. We can grab lunch or coffee sometime this week especially since I know exactly why you're calling. We definitely need to talk.
It was from Donovan.
Author's Note: Sorry for the bit of a cliffhanger guys. I just wanted to kind of give you an idea of where the next chapter is headed. And you know, I don't know what it is about St. Berry but I just can't help writing smut with them. LOL I hope you guys liked this chapter. Once again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed (and all the new alerts and favorites). The review alert brings a smile to my face every time I see leave me some feedback and let me know what you thought of this chapter.