Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the reviews! Sorry about the long wait. I just had my wisdom teeth cut out and the medication made it kind of hard to concentrate. But, here's the next chapter. Hope you all like it. Let me know!

Chapter Four: Jackson

There was only one word that went through Lisa's mind at that moment and it began with an F. She kicked herself out of shock and back into gear, attempting to lunge to Jackson's side to get past him, screaming for help as she went. He was too quick though. He caught her around the waist with one arm and covered her mouth with his other hand, silencing her. Then, he dove into the closing elevator, taking Lisa with him. She kept screaming into the palm of his hands as she watched the doors close. Jackson pinned her to the back wall and pressed himself against the length of her body. Lisa threw what was left of her drink in his face and then hit him in the side of the head with the empty glass. She was slightly disappointed when it didn't break on impact. Damn movies. Jackson stumbled to the side slightly and lost his grip on her waist, which she took advantage of and shoved him as hard as she could into the far wall. She went to push the emergency stop button, but Jackson's hand closed around her wrist and he pulled her away from the panel. She turned to swing at him again, but he blocked her wrist and she lost her grip on the glass. It fell and shattered into a million pieces as soon as it hit the floor. Lisa actually paused for a moment and thought to herself, it figures. Jackson shoved Lisa to her knees and into the corner, then pushed a floor number and looked down at her.

Lisa looked up at him and then away, closing her eyes. She wrapped her arms around her legs, curled into the fetal position. This was not happening. This was not happening. There was no way in hell that Jackson Rippner was really standing there, staring at her. She opened her eyes and looked up. Sure enough, there he was…standing there…staring at her…with those breathtaking eyes of his. Interestingly, what came to her mind were her dreams. The reality of the situation was a little different than what she had dreamt about. It was much scarier.

Lisa stared up at him now, her dream, her nightmare, her fantasy; standing there in all his glory. Jackson leaned back against the wall farthest from her, ran both hands back through his hair and blew out a deep breath. He looked pretty much the same. His hair had grown out, just a little. He was dressed in a dark suit with a light blue shirt unbuttoned at the collar. He wore no tie, but then he didn't seem like the tie type. Lisa felt the tears welling up behind her eyes but fought hard not to let them fall.

"What do you want?" She asked.

Jackson's eyes focused on her then, like he hadn't really been looking at her but lost in his own thoughts. "Awe, Leese," he chimed, mocking smile that Lisa remembered all too well firmly on his lips, "can't an old friend just pop up to say hi?"

Lisa glared at him and then grabbed the hand rail and pulled herself to her feet. She couldn't bear to have him looking down at her anymore than their height difference allowed. She may have been standing unsteadily, but at least she was standing. Jackson smiled again and shoved his hands in his pockets. Lisa watched as his eyes traveled down her body and then back up to her eyes and he let out a low whistle. "Damn, Leese." He said, "Did you get all dressed up just for me? Cause I gotta tell you, I like it."

Without her bidding them to, her hands grasped the hem of her dressed and tugged. She could see amusement dancing in his eyes; amusement at her expense. Her fear was suddenly replaced by searing anger.

Interrupting her thoughts, the elevator stopped and the doors dinged open. Lisa and Jackson locked gazes before Lisa bolted through the doors with Jackson nipping at her heels.

"Help me!" she cried just as Jackson grabbed her from behind and slung her sideways into the wall.

She bounced off the wall and hit the ground as Jackson trotted three steps past her before stopping and turned back around. Lisa looked up at him before scrambling backwards with her hands. The first door she reached, she jumped to her knees and began pounding on it with her fists.

"Please, help me!" she shouted.

Jackson smoothed out his jacket as he walked ever so calmly up behind her, tangled his hand in her hair and jerked her to her feet. He spun her to face him and then slammed her back hard against the door, covering her mouth once again with his hand as he did so. Lisa pushed on his shoulders trying to get him at arms length, but it was pretty much in vain. Soon enough, he was pressed completely against her; thigh to thigh, stomach to stomach, chest to chest. He cradled to back of her head with one hand while keeping the other securely over her lips.

"Shh." He muttered, his eyes boring into hers as he listened for any movement from within the hotel room. When he didn't hear anything, he beamed at Lisa, "Looks like you picked an empty one, Leese. Sorry, better luck next time."

Lisa whimpered against his hand and closed her eyes as a single tear slid down her cheek. Then, without warning, she brought her knee up hard, right into his groin. One loud grunt and Jackson dropped gasping to his knees. She got maybe two steps away before his hand shot out and caught her ankle and she went down, barely getting her hands up in time to keep her head from smacking into the ground and knocking her unconscious. Lisa kicked at him with her free leg, but he caught that ankle as well, saving himself from a high heeled pump in the face. He growled at her through clenched teeth as he began to crawl his way up her body, and considering she was on her stomach there wasn't a lot that she could do to stop him. He grabbed her upper arms and held them to her sides, leaning down so that his mouth was right beside her ear.

"That seemed a bit uncalled for." He said, his lips brushing against her temple.

Lisa took a breath and told herself that she was not enjoying the feel of his lips against her skin. A shutter ran through her entire body, but she shook it off and braced herself for what she was about to do. This was gonna hurt. She closed her eyes, clenched her jaw, and threw her head back, connecting solidly with his face. She then shifted all of her weight onto her side, throwing Jackson off of her. She stumbled to her feet just as Jackson flipped up onto his own feet and came after her. He caught her by the shoulders and pulled her to a stop just short of the elevator. He slung her around and moved his hands to grasp her by both sides of her head. Lisa clutched at both of his wrists and stared up into his angry eyes. The next thing she knew, she felt the hard impact of her head hitting against the wall and her world went black.

Jackson jerked Lisa sideways, knocking the side of her head into the wall and she collapsed against him, her body going completely limp as she lost consciousness. He just stood there for what must have been an entire minute, and for Jackson, that was a pretty long damn time. He couldn't believe it. After two years, Lisa Reisert was right in front of him, insensible as she may be, she was still there. He supported her weight with one arm around her waist and used his other hand to brush a rope of auburn hair that had come loose from her twist back behind her ear. He relished in the silky soft feel of it. Her skin was just as soft as he had remembered; her scent just as sweet. Now, the real question ran through his head. He had her. Yay him. Now what in the hell was he going to do with her?

He kept the one arm around her waist and then scooped her legs up with the other one and carried her past the elevator down the hall. He rounded the corner and went on until he came to the door of his hotel room. Lisa had made the mistake of jumping out of the elevator on his very floor, poor girl. He set her legs down and cradled her upper body against his chest while he pulled his card key from within his jacket pocket and opened the door.

It was amazing how he could not seem to shake himself out of the euphoria of having her there with him. He had been watching her on and off for the past two years, but he had never allowed himself to get this close; too close. Just checking up on her really. He had watched her walk around with that mistake that she was about to marry and felt the need, hard and strong, to pull her away from him. Daniel Davis would never be able to make Lisa happy; not his Lisa. Not the woman who had fought him tooth and nail. Not the hard-headed, stubborn, driven woman that he had known those years ago. Sure, she had been fragile and vulnerable, but there was a spark inside of Lisa that would not be denied and Daniel Davis was sure as hell not the man to handle that spark. The way he treated Lisa was disgusting; like he owned her. Like she was a piece of his property. Lisa wasn't anybody's property and even if she was…she sure as hell would not belong to a wank like Daniel Davis.

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Elevator. Doors. Elevator doors. Opening. Closing. Strong, smooth hands. Blue eyes. Jackson. Jackson on the elevator.

"I came for you." He says.

Kissing. Breathing. Sweating. Moving rough. Tangled bodies. Passion. Pain. Longing. Needing. Touching. Feeling. Skin.

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Lisa's eyes fluttered open as she finally began to come to and the pounding in her head caused her to wince. Okay, some turn off the freaking marching band, she thought. She moved to put her hand to her forehead, only to find that her wrists were bound to her chair with those plastic zip ties. It all came crashing back to her in one nauseating wave. Jackson. She was also overcome with regret for wearing such a short dress as she soon discovered that her ankles were tied to each leg of the chair, her legs separated and spread wide. She strained against her bindings, trying desperately to press her knees together. Her hair was loose now and her lower lip felt hot and swollen. She wasn't gagged, so her first instinct was to call out for help, but at the same time she didn't want to alert Jackson that she was awake. Instead, she took in her surroundings.

She was shut up in a bedroom not unlike the one in her own suite. She assumed that she was in Jackson's room, which meant that there had to be something lying around in the room that she could used to cut herself free. She searched the room with her eyes. She was tied to the desk chair, though the desk itself, which was littered with several manila folders and papers, was definitely out of her reach. There didn't appear to be anything sharp enough to break her plastic restraints on it anyway. In fact, there was nothing of that nature in plain sight, but maybe in the bathroom…at the very least, surely he had a razor or something. Though, he did seem fond of that five o'clock shadow stubble look that he had going. He did pull it off well. No! What was she thinking? She shook the thoughts of him and his stubble out of her head and readjusted her focus on how to get to that bathroom. She scooted as far to one side of the chair as she could and then all at once shifted her weight to the other side. Her reward: the chair slid maybe half an inch across the carpeted floor. Half an inch closer to the bathroom. She did it again. Another half inch. She did it again. Then again. Maybe if she was really lucky, he would be a straight razor kind of guy. She thought again about the stubble. Okay, probably not gonna be a straight razor. She scooted again. But, on her next shift however, one leg snagged on the carpet and tipped the entire chair over. Lisa groaned as she crashed sideways onto the floor.

"Shit." She mumbled.

She heard the doorknob turn and muttered another obscenity under her breath as Jackson came strolling into the room. "Well, well, look who's awake." He said, taking position behind the chair and righting it. "Did you have a nice nap?" he moved as he said this, allowing his knuckles to brush against her; the phantom touch of her soft hair against his skin.

Lisa waited for him to walk back around in front of her and narrowed her eyes at him. "Lovely. How long was I out?"

"You got somewhere to be?"

Lisa had just opened her mouth to respond when the door to the hotel room opened and cut her off before she had choked out a sound. Lisa thought she would swallow her tongue when she saw who came in. It was the Tyra Banks supermodel waitresss. She paused at the doorway, her eyes locked on Lisa.

"Did I miss something?" 'Tyra' said and Lisa watched as Jackson rolled his eyes before spinning around on his heel to face her.

Jackson strolled into the other room, his hands in his pockets, ever casual, that cocky swagger that he did so well and Lisa couldn't help but to remember the couple that she had seen in the lobby earlier. It had been him! She shifted her attention back to the couple now as they tried to speak in hushed voices, but she managed to follow the conversation nonetheless.

"Is there a reason you've tied the wife of a politician to a chair in your bedroom?" the supermodel asked.

"She's not his wife." Jackson countered.

"Whatever. Don't you think someone's gonna notice she's gone?"

"Not this one."

"That's comforting."

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

"Why is she here?"

"She recognized me."

"Okay, so she knows you. Big woohoo." 'Tyra' said, "Why not just kill her and be done with the problem?"

That was a good question, Lisa thought. Why hadn't he killed her yet? Oh, yeah. He probably wanted to torture her and exact some vengeance plan that he had been meticulously working on and perfecting for the past two years.

"Maybe I want her to suffer a little first." Jackson said.

'Tyra' cast a glance Lisa's direction, crossed her arms over her generous bosom and took a few steps into the bedroom toward her on her sickeningly long legs. "Hardly seems sporting with her all tied up, though."

"She's got a point, Jack." Lisa said, not really thinking about the consequences of pissing him off in her current state.

"Ooh, that girl just called you Jack." 'Tyra' said, "I like her."

Lisa plastered her most innocent smile across her face, "Cut me loose. It'll be like old times!"

"You're funny, Leese." Jackson said.

"Leese?" 'Tyra' said, clearly putting things together in her mind, "Lisa? Your Lisa? As in the Lisa?"

So she looked like that and she had a brain? Lisa groaned inwardly. Sometimes life just wasn't fair.

"None other." Lisa said, the smile leaving her face.

'Tyra' freaked out. "Oh, my God! I cannot believe that I am meeting the Lisa Reisert! The girl that kicked Rippner's ass! Girl, you are my hero. I would shake your hand if you weren't all…you know…tied up."

"Neela." Jackson warned, his tone low and dangerous. Lisa had heard that tone before…too many times.

"I appreciate that…" Lisa said to Neela, "I think."

Neela turned to Jackson with a knowing look on her pretty face. "Well, isn't this a happy coincidence. We're doing a job in the same hotel that you're favorite mark just happens to be staying in."

"Neela." Jackson warned again, his tone getting even lower. Apparently, Neela was treading on very thin ice.

He may have said more, but Lisa didn't hear it. She was too busy thinking about the fact that Neela didn't seem to know that she was going to be there. Jackson's partner, his new dog so to speak, did the fact that she was a female make her his bitch? Off the subject, anyway, she didn't seem to know that Lisa was going to be there. She wasn't there for her, therefore they as a team weren't there for her? So, what or who was their job?

"So, who are you here to kill, Jackson?" Lisa asked, drawing both his and Neela's attention.

"Well, isn't she a clever one?" Neela chimed.

Jackson glared at her and Lisa knew exactly what he was thinking, which was scary in and of itself. Jackson had always had a air of superiority to him, frighteningly intelligent and not one to suffer fools. Neela had sat there openly talking about having a job in the hotel and she had done this after finding out who Lisa was. Jackson was probably having fantasies about smacking her in the mouth at that very moment. It gave Lisa a private thrill to think that maybe supermodel-like Neela wasn't as bright as she had originally seemed.

"Why don't you answer my question, Jackson?" Lisa said, drawing his gaze back to herself. She kept saying his name. It made him seem more real to her. Why she wanted him to feel more real; that was the real question. She also wanted to keep him looking at her. She wanted to be able to see those pretty eyes of his. Okay, it was definitely time to seriously consider therapy.

"You don't need to know, Leese." Jackson stated. It wasn't harsh. It wasn't snappy. He said it exactly how he meant. A plain and simple fact.

"It's a politician, I know that much." Lisa kept going.

"Oh, do you?" Jackson laughed.

"Yes. You had your girl there scoping out the dinner banquet tonight. She brought me a glass of champagne. Your target is someone who was at that banquet."

"Real astute, Leese." Jackson quipped sarcastically, but he couldn't hide his admiration for her. She had impressed him yet again.

She smiled at that. She was enjoying this too much; having him look at her that way. Then, something hit her like a slap across the face and the smile dropped. "It's Daniel, isn't it?"

"Huh?" Jackson said.

"You're gonna kill Daniel to hurt me."

"Contrary to what you might think, Leese, you're not that important to me." Jackson said. Okay, so he lied. Call it self preservation.

"Then who?" Lisa pleaded.

"Why do you need to know?"

"Jackson."

"Lisa."

"Okay!" Neela bellowed, just trying to get a word in, "I'm gonna go change out of this hideous uniform and leave you two alone. You apparently got some issues that you need to work out and I need to go over some files anyway."

With that, she left, taking her long perfect legs with her, much to Lisa's delight. No offense to Neela or anything, but being in the same room with a woman like that could make anyone feel a little inferior.

"Think we pissed your girlfriend off." Lisa chirped.

At first, Jackson just gave her a sharp look, his brow furrowed. Then he laughed. He laughed loudly.

"What is so damn funny?"

"The fact that you think that Neela is my girlfriend." Jackson answered simply.

"I just assumed…"

"Leese, you're more her type." Jackson explained, shoving his hands into his pockets, the laughter dying from his voice.

"Huh?" Lisa said, confusion setting in. Jackson quirked his eyebrows at her and realization dawned. "Oh!"

"Yeah." Jackson said, still smiling.

It would be nice to say that she had forgotten how handsome he really was, but she hadn't. But, being in the same room with him again was unreal. She had thought about it, dreamt about it, even daydreamt about it a million times…but none of that could have prepared her for how it would actually feel. He was standing there less than five feet away just staring at her. She thought about all the dreams where he had thrust her up against the wall and kissed her with a passion that she had never experienced. She thought about them and suddenly felt like a fool. Jackson would never see her that way. She was the woman he was hired to follow, torment, and use. She would always be the woman who had stabbed him in the neck with a ballpoint pen.

Jackson lost himself staring at her. She looked so much like he remembered her. He wanted to untie her so she would try to run and he would have an excuse to touch her again; an excuse to press himself against her and feel her tight little body squirming against him as she tried to get away. He found himself staring down at her bare thighs. When she noticed this, Lisa clamped her knees as far together as they would possibly go, glaring up at Jackson as she did so.

Though, it did give her a strange warm, tingling feeling all the way down to her toes when he looked at her with what could only be described as lust in his eyes. She would never admit that and she sure as hell wasn't going to look any closer at the feeling. She looked up at him and blinked back her tears.

"You're really not here for Danny?" she asked, desperate for his attention to be elsewhere.

"No," Jackson hissed, his face contorting into what could best be described as a sneer, "your precious fiancé is safe."

Lisa couldn't help but notice how he practically spat the word fiancé. The way he seethed at the mere mention of Daniel did not inspire much confidence that he had no intentions of harming him. "Promise?"

"What?" Jackson asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Promise me that you're not here to kill Daniel."

"Didn't I just say that?"

"Why should I trust you?"

"I never lie, Leese." Except about his feelings. Unimportant.

Lisa looked up at him with disbelief evident on her pretty face. Frustrated, he blew the air out of his lungs and leaned back against the wall. Lisa saw something flutter behind those amazing eyes of his as he looked at her. Something that seemed so familiar to her, but at the same time it was so distant…It was something haunting; something personal; something that hit her a little too close to home.

"What do you want from me, Leese?" he asked.

"Let me go." She chirped; her attempt at being glib.

"Try again."

"Why are you here?"

"I've got a job."

"Did you come here for me?"

"No."

"Then who?"

"Lisa…" Jackson warned.

"What am I gonna do? You've got me tied to a chair. I just want some peace of mind."

"And knowing who I was sent here to kill is going to give you peace of mind? I don't think so, Leese."

Jackson watched as Lisa's pretty lips pressed together in a tight line. He could practically see the wheels in her head turning as she tried to figure out another way to get him to give her what she wanted. He could think of one way. It involved the incredibly large bed in front of him. He quickly pushed that thought out of his head and turned to exit the room before he got himself into more trouble that he had already gotten himself into by merely having her here.

Unfortunately, Neela was coming in just as he was going out and the two of them crashed into each other as though they were two drunken drivers on a busy freeway. The collision sent the file folder that Neela was carrying spilling out across the bedroom floor. Lisa's eyes fixed immediately onto the piece of paper that floated ever so gently like a feather to come to rest at her feet. It was an 8x10 glossy photograph of none other than Doug Claustine.

Author's Note: That's it for this chapter. Let me know what you think, kay!