Author's Note: So I stayed up extra late just to get this posted before I go to the Caribbean on vacation tomorrow. :) I already have the next chapter planned out and if I want something to do at the beach then I may just write some of the next chapter. Thank you guys for all of your awesome reviews b/c they really do make me happy and they make me want to write more. I'm hoping to come back from vacation to lots of reviews for this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it!
Rachel and Jesse had just walked out the door of her apartment to start Jesse's apartment hunt the next day when Rachel remembered that she hadn't checked her phone since the night before. Not that she would have had the opportunity seeing as she and Jesse had been pre-occupied with other things. Suddenly her thoughts were filled with vivid memories of Jesse's lips on her skin, her nails digging into his back, the feel of him sliding in and out of her. She felt a blush creep up her cheeks despite it being only her and Jesse in the elevator as she did her best to think of other things, non-sexual things. Like apartments.
Pulling her phone out of her purse she saw that she had a text from Donovan. When she had called him the day before, she hadn't expected him to get back to her so soon. And now it looked as though he wanted to meet up for lunch sometime during the week. She thought that she would have a couple of weeks to prepare for what was sure to be a completely awkward meeting at best, not a couple of days.
Jesse noticed Rachel looking at her phone and asked, "Did Kurt text you?"
She looked up at him with a blank expression on her face. "Donovan."
"So he called you back that quickly? That's gotta be a good sign, right?" He knew this meeting with Donovan was going to be hard for Rachel, but they needed to know if they should be prepared for some massive public fallout in the near future because of Isla's scheming.
"I guess," Rachel answered, unsure of what it all meant. She stuffed her phone back in her purse deciding to wait to respond to him later in the day.
Jesse could tell that she didn't want to discuss it anymore, so he didn't say anything further and instead slid his hand down her forearm to take her hand in his. He gave it a small squeeze before the elevator dinged and the doors opened into the lobby.
Once outside, they stood on the sidewalk and waited while the doorman for Rachel's building hailed them a cab so they could meet Jesse's real estate agent. Rachel breathed in the cool, crisp early November air and leaned back into Jesse, who wrapped his arms around her. There was something so perfect about New York in the fall but most especially in November. Rachel wasn't sure if the reason it was almost magical to her was because it signaled that the holiday season was fast approaching but there was just something in the air that made her love this time of year.
As they slid into the back of the cab a few minutes later, Jesse gave the cab driver an address on the Upper West Side. She had figured that Jesse would want to stay in his current neighborhood but based on the first place they were going to see, he was looking for a change. "You know that I want your honest opinion on every place we see today," Jesse said, breaking her out of her thoughts. "It's important to me that you like it as much as I do."
"Of course I'll tell you what I think, but it's your place," she replied.
His response made her heart skip a beat. "For now."
Jesse smiled as he saw Rachel's eyes widen noticeably as they walked into the lobby of the first building that they were going to look at an apartment in that was currently on the market. He saw his real estate agent, Veronica, sitting in a chair near one of the fireplaces in the large, elegant limestone and marble open space.
A smile brightened the older woman's face as she recognized Jesse. "Jesse, it's so good to see you again," she greeted, sticking her hand out to shake his.
"Veronica, this is Rachel," he introduced, intentionally keeping it vague as to what Rachel was to him.
Rachel reached out and shook the real estate agent's hand, noting that the woman seemed to fit perfectly in the elegant surroundings of the building's lobby with her tailored black suit and perfectly coifed silver bob.
"Are you guys ready to go up and see the first place we're going to be looking at today?" the older woman asked as she gestured towards the elevator. Both Jesse and Rachel voiced their agreement and followed her to the elevators. Once inside the elevator, she hit '20' and turned to Jesse and Rachel to give them more information on the building and the apartment they were about to see.
As they walked into the apartment moments later, Rachel did her best not to fall in love immediately with the openness of the living area, her favorite thing about her current apartment. But the thing that this apartment had that her apartment did not was an amazing view. She was in complete awe as she left Jesse's side to walk over to the windows and look at the view of the city that was laid out in front of her.
The late fall colors of the Park with the skyline of the Upper East Side as a beautiful backdrop. It was absolutely breathtaking. She walked over to the fireplace and ran her hand along the mantle before she wandered around the apartment on her own while Jesse and Veronica continued to talk in the living room. The first room she came across and poked her head into was clearly the second bedroom based on its smaller size and the fact that there was no en suite bathroom, so Rachel continued down to the end of the hall glancing at the guest bathroom as she walked by it and stopped in the doorway to the master bedroom.
Spinning around in a circle as she entered the room, she tried to visualize a big bed in the room. As she pictured furniture in the room, images of her and Jesse lying in bed and being lazy on their day off were so vivid that it was almost like they were actual memories. When she finally stood where she imagined their bed would be, she gazed out the window and sighed at the thought of not only waking up to a dream view of her favorite city in the entire world every single day, but waking up to that view with Jesse by her side.
"I see you've found the master," Veronica said to Rachel as she and Jesse walked into the room. Rachel smiled at them, walking over to Jesse and sliding her hand into his.
"It's a beautiful apartment," Rachel commented, her eyes appraising the room once more.
Veronica nodded her agreement and gestured for Jesse and Rachel to follow her into the master bathroom. Much like the rest of the apartment, Rachel thought the marble bathroom was gorgeous. Veronica continued to give them the grand tour of the apartment until they finally finished in the kitchen. Rachel wanted to find something to nitpick but there was nothing. She absolutely loved it, but she knew that she needed to keep an open mind because they had plenty of other places that they were going to look at.
"So what do you think?" Veronica asked the both of them.
"I definitely want to look at some other apartments just to keep my options open, but I could definitely see us living here," Jesse answered, his arm wrapped around Rachel's waist.
And there he went again talking about them living together. Rachel knew that he meant in the future and tried not to get ahead of herself and envision them living in the apartment together by Christmas, but she just couldn't stop the thoughts from taking over. How could she not be excited by the fact that Jesse was clearly planning a future where they could build a life together?
Half of the day was spent looking at various apartments on the Upper West Side, but the latter part of the afternoon saw the three of them on the Upper East Side. Rachel was still shocked by the apartments that they had seen. She may not have been a New York real estate expert but she knew that every place they had looked at that day was at least a couple million dollars.
Yes, they were both currently in a very successful Broadway show and Jesse had been in a few before this one and was getting paid well to do the show, but she wasn't sure exactly how he would be able to afford a place as expensive as the ones they were currently looking at.
As the car pulled up outside of the last building that they were going to see for the day, Rachel decided not to worry about how Jesse, and by extension she, would afford these apartments because she had fallen in love with the first apartment that they had seen and she had a feeling that she was about to fall in love with this one as well.
Unexpectedly when they had arrived upstairs, Veronica merely unlocked the apartment but didn't walk inside like she had all of the others. "I want you guys to go in and just see the apartment for yourselves," she explained with a warm smile.
Rachel smiled up at Jesse as she turned the doorknob and tugged him into the apartment behind her. "Oh, Jesse," Rachel breathed out as she saw the apartment in front of her. The chocolate-stained wood floors, the built-in bookshelves on one of the walls, the floor-to-ceiling windows that let the late afternoon light pour into the apartment. Much like the first apartment they had seen, this one was also completely open with the living room and dining room.
While Jesse headed for the kitchen, Rachel made her way towards the bedrooms. Finding the master bedroom, Rachel walked over to the windows and gazed out at the expansive view of the city in front of her. After every apartment they had looked at throughout the day, Rachel had compared them to the very first one they had seen on the Upper West Side. She couldn't stop herself from making the comparisons again and imagining their life together in this apartment.
Unbidden, an image of a curly, dark-haired little girl running through the bedroom and over to the window overwhelmed Rachel. Her heart ached as she thought of having a family with Jesse and raising children with him in this apartment. Jesse's hands snaking around her waist from behind startled Rachel out of her daydream.
"So what do you think?" he asked his lips against her temple. "Is this our future home?"
"I'm so torn. I love this one and the first one. This one feels a little bit cozier, but the views in the first one were just so incredible," she replied, leaning back into his embrace and resting her head on his chest. "What about you?"
"I was leaning heavily towards the first one, but there's just something about this place." Rachel wasn't even sure he realized what he was doing as he rubbed his hand in slow circles over her flat belly, almost like he was imagining a small bump beneath her sweater.
"Jesse, as much as I love all of the places that we looked at today aren't they a little expensive?" She turned in his arms so that she could look him in the eyes. "There are plenty of more affordable apartments downtown that I'm sure are extremely nice."
"Rach, if I couldn't afford these places, I wouldn't be looking at them," he reassured her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"But how?" she asked. They had never really discussed how much they were both making from the show, but now she was really curious.
"I'm doing well for myself," he told her cryptically. Rachel gave him a look that she needed more than that so he continued. "My generous yet neglectful parents also set up a trust fund for me years ago, but I refused to touch it when I turned eighteen and the money has just been sitting there untouched for years."
"But won't Isla want some of your money in the divorce settlement?" Worry colored her features as she looked up at Jesse.
"My dad actually gave me some good advice before I got married and I had Isla sign a pre-nup," Jesse explained, assuaging any fears that Rachel might have had about Isla trying to take his money on top of a potentially nasty divorce.
Just then they heard the front door open and Veronica call out their names. They walked out into the living room hand-in-hand, the older woman smiling at them knowingly. "Does this one rank at the top with the first one we saw today?" Veronica asked them both.
"It does, but I think we might need a little bit to think about it," Jesse answered for both he and Rachel giving her hand a squeeze. He looked down at Rachel for confirmation. "Right?" He fought the urge to plant a kiss on her lips as she beamed up at him and nodded.
Rachel felt her phone vibrate as it rang in her purse, so she excused herself as Jesse continued to talk to Veronica. "Hey Kurt," she said as she walked into the empty master bedroom.
"Hey yourself," he teased good-naturedly. "So Daniel and I were just sitting here talking and he suggested that we have you and Jesse over for dinner next Sunday night. We would invite you over sometime this week but my ass is sound asleep in bed by the time you guys are done with your show so…"
Rachel giggled before responding to Kurt. "I'll talk to Jesse but I know that he'll be fine with it so plan on us next Sunday night for dinner."
She heard Kurt tell Daniel that they were on for the following Sunday before he spoke to her again. "So what have you guys been up to today? Holed up in your apartment having Naked Monday?"
Now that is an idea that I may have to use in the near future, Rachel thought. "No, we've been looking at apartments all day. We're actually looking at our last one right now."
"Ooh, do tell," he said excitedly. "Where exactly might these apartments be?"
"A few on Central Park West and now we're on the Upper East Side," she told her best friend.
"So cheap dumps, huh?" he quipped which made Rachel smile. "I didn't realize that Jesse had that kind of money."
Rachel turned and looked at the bedroom door just to make sure she was truly alone before she lowered her voice and responded to Kurt. "I knew his parents were rich. I mean, you don't winter in Bali year-after-year without being wealthy but apparently he has a trust fund that he's never touched." She knew Kurt's mouth was gaping open in astonishment and what his response would be before he spoke.
"How can someone have a trust fund and not use it? Especially when you're living in New York? Doesn't he own his old place with Isla?"
"They bought that place together with their own money. You know, he doesn't have the best relationship with his parents. For crying out loud, they couldn't even be bothered to come to our opening night performance. So I can understand why he didn't want to use the money they gave him," she replied in a hushed tone.
"Well, I guess if he's going to use some the money, it might as well be to buy an awesome apartment," Kurt sighed, thinking about the apartments that Jesse and Rachel must have looked at throughout the day. Suddenly, he remembered their conversation from the day before. "Did you call Donovan?" he blurted out.
"Yes, and he actually sent me a text last night that we need to meet this week," she replied.
"So have you called him back?"
"Not yet," Rachel told him weakly. She knew he was about to lecture her for avoiding Donovan.
His voice was stern as he responded to her. "Rachel, it's not just going to go away. You need to call him back and tell him that you'll meet him for lunch. This is yours and Jesse's careers on the line and your reputations. Do you want Isla to win?"
"No," she told him emphatically.
"Then I'm hanging up now and you are going to call him or text him back," he said, bossily. "I'll talk to you tomorrow." Then just as promised he hung up the phone.
Rachel looked down at her phone and opted for the easier option, a text message. Lunch tomorrow at 12:30? Her finger hung over the screen on her phone for a second before she hit it. As she left the bedroom to go join Jesse and Veronica in the living room, her phone vibrated signaling a new text message.
We can meet at the diner around the corner from the apartment.
"Where are you headed to?" Rachel asked Jesse the next morning as she was getting dressed so she could meet Donovan for lunch.
"I have to meet with some musicians for the cabaret," he replied, giving her a peck on the lips. "I'll meet you here after lunch before we head over to the theatre later." She gave him a nod, a nervous expression on her face. "Rach, it'll be fine. I love you." He kissed her again before he grabbed his leather jacket off of the bed and headed out the door.
Rachel took a deep breath as she looked into the mirror. "You can do this, Rachel," she said to herself.
Forty-five minutes later as she walked into the small diner, she felt less confident than she had back in her apartment. Glancing around at the tables she looked for Donovan but didn't see him anywhere so she decided to get a table and wait for him. She didn't have to wait long as he walked through the door as soon as she sat down. Not sure if she should smile in greeting, Rachel opted for a simple wave as Donovan headed towards the table she was sitting at.
"Hi Rachel," he greeted her before she could say anything.
"Hi, thanks for meeting me," Rachel replied, unsure of what else to say. There was an awkward silence that fell over the two of them before Rachel decided she should just get straight to the point. "You know why I wanted to meet with you, right?"
"Because I met with Jesse's wife the other day."
She needed to know, so she figured the best thing to do would be to just to ask if her suspicions of Isla's motives were correct. "Did she tell you to go to the Post about me and Jesse? Or any other newspaper or magazine?" The expression on his face was unreadable as he listened to her question.
"She might've," he replied, glancing down at the menu in front of him before motioning the waitress over. It took everything in Rachel not to yell at him to just fucking tell her what she wanted to know, but she figured that probably wasn't the best idea. So instead she fixed him with an irritated look as he ordered something to drink from the waitress.
The waitress turned to Rachel then. "Just a water, thanks." As the waitress walked away, Rachel waited for Donovan to continue.
Sighing, he rested his elbows on the table before he answered Rachel. "Look, she called me up out of the blue on Saturday. I didn't even know who in the hell she was until she told me that she was Jesse St. James's wife. She wanted to know if I could meet with her yesterday because she needed to talk to me and I told her yes, so we met for coffee," he told Rachel. "I figured she had suspicions about you and Jesse and wanted me to confirm them for her, but it turns out that Jesse had confessed everything to her a couple of days before."
"So did she tell you what she wanted from you?"
"She tried to sell me on the idea that by telling the press about how the stars of the new and extremely popular Broadway show had wronged me and had an affair. That I was left broken-hearted but was picking up the pieces day-by-day and that my new Broadway family was helping me." He paused, smiling at her ruefully. "Of course, she tried to convince me that it would only help me and the production in the long run because people would feel sympathetic and would be intrigued by the real-life drama."
Rachel felt her mouth go dry as she listened to Donovan, and was grateful for the water that the waitress set in front of her as she gulped it down. She did her best not to let the panic set in before she asked Donovan the question that she desperately needed the answer to. "So…what did you tell her?" For a brief second, Rachel saw something akin to hurt and disappointment flash across Donovan's face before it was gone again.
"I told her I wasn't interested," he replied matter-of-factly as though Rachel should've known the answer to her own question all along. Before he could continue, the waitress interrupted their conversation to take their orders, so Rachel had the chance to really digest what her ex had just told her. After the woman walked away, Donovan continued. "I know when you broke up with me I was pissed, but I would never do that to you. I may be a lot of things but I would never want to use our past as a way for me to get ahead in my career."
Hearing everything Donovan was saying, Rachel was actually surprised by his response. She did her best to not let the shock she felt show but she knew she wasn't entirely successful. Finally, Rachel spoke. "But I hurt you."
"My pride, yes," he admitted. "But you were right. We were over a long time ago, it was just…" He searched for the right word.
"Familiar," Rachel offered.
"Yeah." He took a deep breath before continuing. "That doesn't mean that I'm okay with the fact that you cheated on me, but if Jesse's wife wants you and Jesse to be all over the gossip pages then she's going to have to do it herself."
Rachel pondered what Donovan had said. She wasn't sure what else to say other than "Thank you." The rest of their lunch was spent discussing a very neutral topic, Broadway. It wasn't extremely comfortable but Rachel was grateful that they were able to be civil and almost friendly. Maybe one day, they might actually be friends.
The moment that Jesse and Rachel walked into Kurt and Daniel's apartment the following Sunday evening, Kurt handed them both a large glass of red wine. "Kurt, you know, you could let them actually take their jackets off first," Daniel admonished with an easy smile.
"But we are celebrating," Kurt said, handing a glass to Daniel as well. Daniel just looked at his partner quizzically. "The fact that Rachel and Jesse won't have to deal with any bad press because Donovan isn't as big of a douchebag as we always thought he was."
They all laughed as they clanked their glasses together before taking generous sips of the wine. "Well, we still have to worry about I–" Rachel said, but Kurt cut her off before she could finish the name.
"Uh-uh, there will be no saying that name in this house tonight. Got it?" Rachel and Jesse both nodded in agreement as they both set their wine glasses down to take off their jackets. Rachel had just started to remove her jacket when she felt Jesse's hands tug it gently down her arms. She turned her head to smile at him before he gave her a quick kiss on the lips and then proceeded to take off his own jacket.
"I'll take those," Daniel offered, holding out his hands for the garments in Jesse's hands. Jesse thanked him as he sat down on the couch next to Rachel, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend as she leaned back against him.
"So have you decided on an apartment yet?" Kurt asked, sitting down on the loveseat cattycorner to Jesse and Rachel. Before they could respond to his question he added, "You know, I could always go look at your top two if you're having a hard time deciding."
Jesse chuckled at Kurt's eagerness. "I love them both so I'm leaving the decision to Rachel."
This was the first that Rachel was hearing of that. "What?"
"Central Park West or Upper East Side, such a tough decision," Kurt teased noticing the look on his best friend's face.
"It is hard, Kurt," Rachel retorted, her brow furrowed as she thought about both places.
"Rach, you don't have to make a decision now," Jesse laughed, noticing the look on her face. "So how's work Kurt?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Hectic, we're working on our new line and there's a big industry party next week that we had to design a couple of unique pieces for," Kurt answered, his face lighting up as he talked about his passion. Jesse felt Rachel relax against him as she took a large sip of her wine and listened to Kurt rather than think about the apartment decision.
For the next few hours, the two couples sat around just talking, eating and drinking. It was almost like they had been getting together for dinner every Sunday night for years. Looking up at the kitchen counter, Jesse noticed that they had gone through nearly three bottles and judging by the way Rachel was slurring her words, he was convinced that she had maybe had an entire bottle on her own.
"I think we should probably head home," Jesse said to the small group as they sat on the couch. "I need to get her in bed."
Rachel giggled at what he had said, rubbing her hand back and forth across his chest. "We're gonna have sex," she slurred out happily. "We have lots of sex." Kurt and Daniel looked at each other before bursting out laughing.
Jesse chuckled along with them. "And that's our cue." He stood pulling her up with him gently before wrapping his arm around her waist. "Thanks for dinner you guys. We'll have to do this more often."
"You can invite us over to your new apartment when you figure out where that is," Kurt replied as he stood up to grab Rachel's purse off of the counter. Daniel went to grab their jackets out of the bedroom so they could get going.
Jesse held Rachel's jacket out so she could slide her arms in before he put his own jacket on. Rachel flung her arms around Daniel then Kurt. "I love you guys!"
"We love you too," Kurt said, kissing Rachel on the cheek before releasing her from his embrace.
The moment that Jesse finished giving the cab driver the address to Rachel's apartment, he felt her lips latch onto his neck and the warm, wetness of her tongue on his skin. He threaded his fingers through her hair, lightly massaging her scalp as he enjoyed the attention that she was lavishing on his neck. It was all innocent enough until Rachel's hand began messaging the growing bulge in his jeans. "Rach," Jesse said, placing his hand on her wrist to stop her movements.
She detached herself from his neck and pulled back to grin up at him mischievously. The next thing Jesse knew, she was straddling him and her lips were on his in an open-mouthed kiss. "I want to fuck you right now," she whispered, leaning forward to whisper in his ear. To emphasize her point, she ground her hips against his.
Jesse did his best not to groan at the sensation before he placed his hands firmly on her hips before she could move again. "Rach, the cab driver can see everything we're doing right now," he whispered back, looking over her shoulder to glance at the driver who darted his eyes away from them in the rear view mirror.
"Let him watch if he wants," she replied, darting her tongue out to lick his lips playfully. Jesse knew that if she wasn't as drunk as she was, she wouldn't think that. "Fuck me," she practically begged, snaking her hand to rub his groin hard. She captured her lips with his again and thrust her tongue into his mouth roughly, kissing him deeply.
Getting caught up in their kiss, Jesse let Rachel continue to rub him through his jeans making him extremely hard. Before he knew it, she had unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and was about to take him in her hand when he stopped her once again. She whined slightly as they broke apart and he maintained his firm grip on her wrist. He glanced out the window to see where they were and noticed that they were only a couple of blocks from Rachel's apartment. "We're almost home," he told her.
She looked out the same window that he had just looked out of, trying to get her alcohol addled brain to register where they were. When she turned her head to look at Jesse again, she had a pout on her lips.
He leaned forward to whisper something, his lips grazing her ear and sending a jolt of electricity through her. "A few more minutes and I'll be inside of you, fucking you into oblivion." Rachel didn't think it was possible but his words turned her on even more than she already was.
Reluctantly, she rolled off of him and he buttoned and zipped his jeans back up just as they pulled up outside of Rachel's building. Jesse paid the taxi driver before they both got out of the cab.
A few minutes later, as the elevator door closed behind them Jesse had Rachel pressed up against the wall, hands and lips everywhere and anywhere. He had the urge to pull the emergency stop button and take her right there in the elevator but before he could do anything the elevator came to a stop on Rachel's floor. They continued to kiss each other breathless as they made their way to Rachel's door.
Slamming her back against the door, Rachel wrapped her arms around Jesse's neck as her lifted her off the ground and pinned her between him and the door. Jesse somehow managed to fumble with the key and open the front door and go inside the apartment even with Rachel wrapped around him. She began undoing his jeans once again as he carried her into the bedroom. By the time he had her on the bed, she had him in her hand, lightly stroking him. He needed to be inside of her, feel her walls clench around him so he moved her underwear to the side instead of taking it off and buried himself to the hilt causing Rachel to cry out in ecstasy as she had her first of what was sure to be many orgasms for the night.