It was hot. It was aching hot outside. But not only outside. Inside she was burning up. It had been over a year and she was not used to hands gripping her skin in places she had not been touched for too long. No, it was so unusual, this whole experience. She decided she would savior it forever.

Fighting hard against thinking of all the wrong reasons for this to happen, she let out a moan of excitement. His hands were like silk on her skin, his tongue like honey in her mouth. She had lost all reason the second he had placed his lips on hers. Lips that were now so swollen and red from the undivided attention they had been receiving all night. And it wasn't even morning yet.

Sweat was dripping down from their bodies and still it was impossible to stop. It was as if they had been made for this, as if they were glued together, with this twisted love neither of them could seem to stop.

Higher and higher she went, riding on the ecstasy of their joined bodies moving together. A low moan managed to escape his lips, which drove her to the verge of exploding. It wasn't until he forced her to look at him, until she was eye to eye with his crystal blue stare, that she couldn't take anymore. Just one more thrust, one more, and she would be able to leave it all behind, just, just….

Sheets were thrown aside as she sat up suddenly, sweat still dripping down her body. Lisa took a glance in the mirror. Her face was all flushed and her body was still throbbing. She couldn't believe she just had another one of these dreams and had woken up like this. All sweaty and excited. God, she was so hot. She felt so suffocated by the thick summer air that drifted through her open windows into her dark bedroom. It had been this hot outside for days on end.

Lisa usually slept naked, but not anymore. Even when she was so hot she could barely sleep. Almost all of her habits had changed drastically ever since the man which she just had a very sensual dream about, decided to terrorize her on the red eye flight from Texas to Miami. No more bay breezes for Lisa. No more late night movies. No.

She had taken to going out at least twice a week, taking more breaks from her job while doing so, in order to get the excitement back in her life while still managing to maintain some sort of routine. She had replaced bay breezes with martini's and going to late night movies had become watching the comedy marathon each Wednesday night. However, on occasion she still ordered a bay breeze, but not without glancing every way first somehow trying to make sure nobody familiar to her would see it so she could pretend it had never happened.

Waking up in the middle of the night craving for scrambled eggs had been one of the habits Lisa hadn't been able to shake. She usually never slept through the whole night; always woke up exactly 5 minutes before three a.m., and then she would get up and make herself some scrambled eggs, with a big glass of diet coke, check her appearance in the mirror (it had become another habit) and get back to bed.

Lately she had been moving on with her life, making sure she was thinking of herself too and not just pleasing everybody else around her. But it had been hard. After all, she was a born people pleaser and you can't deny what's in your genes.

Still, every now and then, she would buy herself a gift just to compliment herself on the fact she had been dealing with the whole red eye situation so well.

No she hadn't thought about Jackson since he had been taken to the hospital after her father had made Jackson's body a few bullet holes richer. Well, maybe once then, when he had been on trial. Or a second time maybe when she had heard he had escaped high security prison. But after that, she had banned him from her mind.

Not tonight though. Or any other night when she woke up from that dream.

The clock read 3:55 a.m. when she woke up again from a huge thump outside of her room. What the hell was that? It certainly wasn't the usual thump the drycleaner made once a night. This had been far too loud to be anything but a human walking into something.

Not a second did it cross her mind that it could've been Jackson Rippner. Not one. Not even when she heard a knife breaking the lock of her bedroom door. Yeah, so what, she kept her bedroom door locked. It was for when she ended up in situations like this. So that she would still have a little time. To escape.

And so Lisa didn't know how fast to get out of bed, run out and lock herself in the bathroom. But where to go from there? There wasn't any way back to the hallway without going through her bedroom first. She couldn't imagine sitting here and waiting for the worst. Her eyes quickly scanned the room and landed on her razor. Without a moment of hesitation she took the razor from the cabinet and hid behind the shower curtain. Whomever was out there, they could always think she was not home. No, she wasn't scared, or shaking for that matter. Her hands were tightened around the razor as she listened carefully to each sound she heard.

Someone was walking through her bedroom.

"Liiisa."

There was a voice that belonged to the someone. And again, no, she wasn't surprised at all when she recognized it. Even when the voice it had a slight rasp to it.

"Come on Leese, I know you're in there." The voice was closer now. She could hear a slight rattle coming from the door and immediately realized the person was trying to get in. She couldn't bear to think of his name. No, it would only make things more complicated.

While she was planning her next move her brain went into overdrive. Several thoughts entered her mind at once. What the hell was she to do now? Why did she remove that window in her bathroom four years ago? Why was he here? Was she going to die?

Her breathing quickened and she could hear the steady thumping of her heart increasing it's speed. It seemed as if it took ages for him to finally break the lock. And when he did, she closed her eyes in a reflex of what was coming next. But there was nothing. Not even when she waited two minutes with such a tight grip on the razor that she accidentally cut herself and didn't even realize it. Not even when she opened the shower curtain and got out of the bath. And finally, not even when she walked through the now open bathroom door into her bedroom once again. She should've thought about this. She should've realized he would want to trick her into coming out of hiding. How could she be so stupid?

All these thoughts came at once when she was grabbed from behind and shoved against her own bedroom wall.

"Now we finally meet again, huh, Leese? Isn't that exciting?"

It was Jackson. It was Jackson Rippner. A shudder went through her body when she thought of his name and she tried to wriggle her way out of his grasp.

"Not so happy to see me, then? How come, huh? Aw, you're not scared of me, are you?"

Lisa opened her eyes with a certain determination she hadn't got several minutes ago and spat in his face.

"Do you think I would tell you this, Jack, even if it were so?"

His crystal blue eyes blazed as he sneered at her. With a quick move she hadn't anticipated he slapped her in the face and dragged her over to her bed. While he pushed her onto her bed he kept her arm in a firm grasp and placed himself on top of her. Lisa's face flushed out of fear as she now tried in a futile attempt to kick him in the groin.

"You bastard, get off of me!"

Instead Jackson tightened his grip on her arms and placed them above her head. He took them both in one hand and his other traveled down her body where he finally let it rest on her hips. A smirk appeared on his face.

"So, I think this is quite the improvement. Now we can finally talk business. After all, we don't need your foul mouth taking the pleasure out of this whole meeting."

His face turned serious once again as he looked down on her. What was going to happen now? Was he going to rape her? Please no, no, no, nononono. Lisa looked away and went stiff as the hand which was on her hips just seconds ago was now under her shirt, going higher and higher and just when she thought he would place it on her breast it stopped moving. In all the consternation she hadn't realized he had his face in her neck, his breath tickling her ear. She could hear the amusement in his voice as he spoke.

"Now, Leese. Don't jump to conclusions too quickly. Would I ever do something to you against your will? Oh, oops! I think I unfortunately broke that rule before. Ah well. Let me rephrase that. Would I ever rape you Leese?"

When he said this his gaze was once more upon her, his hard cold eyes staring unblinkingly into her frightened ones.

Lisa let out a shudder and still wasn't able to find the clear-thinking Lisa from the plane, from just a few seconds ago even, to rationalize the whole situation and give a fitting retort to Jackson's verbal punch. So instead she closed her eyes and repeated over and over again: this is not real. This is not real. It's not. It's. not. Real.

She could hear Jackson laughing at her antics and with a start she realized he had released her. She immediately sat up trying to get some footing on the side of the bed, but it was all in vain. He had handcuffed her to the bed. Lisa let out a groan of frustration and slumped back against the headboard of the bed.

Jackson was standing by the bedside looking down on her.

"Never thought you had such a kinky side, Leese. Well, I guess male driven fact based logic doesn't get you everywhere these days. Especially when analyzing women with such lack of rational thinking."

Finally, with the greatest effort, Lisa managed to speak in a bare whisper.

"Why are you here Jackson?"

It seemed like the entirely wrong thing to ask as soon as she saw his face when she had vocalized the question. His facial expression returned to the usual scowl, his eyes were once again devoid of all emotion. She wanted to keep herself on his emotional side, it was, after all, the side she could influence the best.

"Quite the interesting thing you ask there, Leese. I guess you learned a thing or two about actually asking relevant questions while I was away. I'll consider answering this one. Give me a moment,"

His face screwed up as if to ponder her question. "Uhmmmm,"

Lisa rolled her eyes at him as he sat down on the bed next to her still pretending to consider answering her question. After 2 more minutes he finally spoke.

"Ok. I decided to answer your question. Now, where to start."