A short staccato rap on the door brought her out of her revere. She
rose and crossed the room to release the lock, expecting to find
Julia. Before she had a chance to turn he handle, Riddick was through
the door and into the room. Without looking at her he stepped around
her and went directly to the small fridge, rummaging noisily until he
found a bottle and glass. He poured himself a stiff Scotch and
tossed back the whole glass in one swallow before turning to look at
her. He stood staring, his glass held suspended in mid air. Had the
truth be known, he was struck dumb. Never, even in his wildest
imaginings had she looked as she did now.

The pale glowing light from the bedside table cast soft shadows on
her features creating a halo around her figure. The navy blue terry
robe she held tightly wrapped around her for modesty sake didn't
really cover very much. His eyes hungrily followed the silkiness of
her legs, dynamite legs he had told her once, long like a colt.
Slowly, he assessed the rest of her body. If anything he wanted to
see more, much more.

"We've got to talk" he said and stepped past her and into the room.

"I thought that was my line," she backed an arms length away from him
and tried to appear nonchalant as she bent to retrieve her hair brush
from where she'd dropped it earlier. Lesley faced him resolutely and
caught the look in his eye. What she saw caused her to gather the
robe protectively around her slim throat protectively.

Riddick had never seen anything more beautiful nor could he remember
ever wanting her more. Without taking his eyes off her, he closed
the door. Releasing his grip on the knob, he covered the distance
between them in 3 short strides. Riddick had never seen anything more
beautiful nor could he remember ever wanting her more.

His face was inches above hers and he willed her not to speak, not to
move. She smelled faintly of lemon shampoo and he just hand to touch
her. She look up at him, studying his face, his expression, his
eyes. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him raise his hand and
hesitate, unsure of her reaction.

He's going to touch me she thought, she could feel it in every part
of her body, feel the heat she knew his touch could ignite. She had
to fight a sudden urge to step into him. It's not fair, she thought
in dismay. Despite all the grief, all the heartbreak, she wanted
him, longed to have him love her. She held herself tautly still, not
breathing, watching him.

He lowered his hand. Combating an overwhelming sense of
disappointment, she stepped back.

Her face set and expressionless she asked in a flat tone "What do you
want?"
"I wanted to talk business when I came in here but now I'm not so
sure. His brow arched inquiringly and to punctuate his question he
motioned to the robe by running two fingers up and down the underside
of the wide collar in a stoking motion.

Immediately, Lesley stiffened at the implied sexuality in both the
gesture and the remark and Riddick frowned releasing her suddenly.
He turned and dropped into the one chair in the room pulling the
small table closer to enable him to rest his booted feet upon it.

Lesley stood rigid in the middle of the room. She was angry and
afraid. She was reacting to him altogether differently than what she
wanted to. His nearness scared her. She was swallowing convulsively
and wasn't aware of the fingers of her well manicured hands curling
into her palms, biting into the flesh in her effort to keep grip on
her emotions.

"Now what?" he said between even white teeth..

"Get out." she ordered with an angry toss of her head that indicated
the door. When he didn't get up she stamped over to the door and
opened it, wide. He made an exaggerated show of further relaxing
into the chair as evidence of his intention of staying exactly where
he was.

"Well then", she replied caustically "Why don't you just sit down and
tell me what you've been up to for the past year.

Riddick indicated the door. "Close the door" he said by way of a
reply. Without looking at her he said "Sit down."

"No"
"No?"
"No" she repeated again. Lesley pursed her lips and leveled a cold
stare in his direction. Riddick picked the glass up off the table and
studied it, still not looking at her.
"I don't want everybody and his brother hearing what I have to say to
you."

"I don't want to hear what you have to say. "She ground
out. "Besides, you should have thought of that before you came in
here. Now get the fuck out." Lesley gripped the door knob in
desperation

Riddick could have ended it then and there. He ran his hand over his
shaved head in frustration. This was not going as he had hoped. If
she had said anything else he could have endured all the frustration
of the past months, he could have endured the uncertainty of her
reaction to him after all this time, but this, this hostility was
outrageous, unfair. He stood up and reached out to touch her.

The act was instinctive. She didn't think about it or she would not
have dared to hit him. But her hand came out and struck him full in
the face. Lesley watched in fascinated horror as his head snapped
back and his mouth sagged open in surprise. It took Riddick only a
split second to recover.

With a snarl he threw all of this weight on the door. It slammed
shut under his full weight. She was jerked forward and against the
jamb, the force of which momentarily knocked the breath out of her.
 
 

Riddick placed the palm of his hand against one side of the door
frame and shifting his weight onto one leg, braced himself against
the other side of the jam, effectively trapping her on either side
and behind. She frantically searched for a way to escape but he
wasn't going to let her move.
"Turn around, Look at me." She dare not.

"Look at me." He barked. Riddick jerked her around and ducked his
head down so that she would be forced to confront him.

Hesitantly she looked up at him, afraid of what she'd see there.
What she saw was determination and something else. Something she
didn't want to think about. Confused, she looked away. She would
not concede. She took another deep breath. In times such as these,
the best defense is a good offense.

Her mouth formed a thin line and she glared pointedly at his arms
that held her trapped against the door and then at his face. He saw
the challenge in her direct stare but now that he had her complete
attention, he had no intention of letting her go. At least not until
he said what he'd come to say. He backed off a little giving her
more space but did not drop his arms. His body was still against
hers and she could feel every corded muscle in
his thigh hard against hers. He could feel that she had nothing on
underthe robe and God, he wanted her. Riddick let his gaze travel
over her face and down over her shoulders, stopping at her breasts.
Such beautiful breasts, he sighed inwardly, were they as responsive
as they used to be? Instantly he became hard thinking about it.

He drew his finger down her cheek and across her bottom lip. She
turned her face away and struggled to pull air into her lungs. His
face was inches above hers.

"I want you out of here." she whispered harshly, trying to jerk out
of his viselike grip

"You're lying." he said just as brutally as she.
Am I?" she volleyed back

Hesitation and uncertainty flickered momentarily in his eyes. Lesley
was quick to press her advantage. This time her effort to pull free
of him yielded results.

Almost as if catching in a sob, her breath came labored and she
turned to face him breathing harshly as if she'd just run a marathon. Her
heart beat so fast she though it would burst, or would it just
break? She wanted to wound him, deep, like he had wounded her. She
was still hurting from his rejection and betrayal. She had waited for
this and by God, he was going to get as good as he gave.

"Am I?" she spat out again, "I've had almost a year to think about
what I would say if I ever saw you again Riddick. Did you think I'd
waste the opportunity? Riddick stood silently regarding her.
"Did you?" her voice broke on the last word and tears we lled up in
her eyes. She spun away from him. She would, she would tell him how
she'd been hurt, and hurt him by telling him. Her throat hurt and she
swallowed convulsively.

Slowly, gently he tugged her chin and brought her face around to meet
his. His mouth slowly began to trace the line of her jaw downward
toward her throat while a hand slid into the soft folds of her
robe. Searching, he found a warm breast. Immediately the nipple
hardened, thrusting against the rough palm of his hand.

No, this can't be happening, she though, dismayed at this betrayal by
her own body. I won't let this happen, I won't.
"You're hurting me." she whimpered. She was trembling all over and
desperate for him to stop. "Please don't." Her pleading seemed to be
falling on deaf ears. Riddick had no intention of stopping and knew
that she didn't really expect him to.

"Never" he breathed into her ear. "I'd never hurt you."

Never hurt her he was promising. Oh, but he had hurt her, badly. She
squeezed her eyes shut at the intensity of the pain his betrayal still
caused. She went rigid against him, her head flung back to avoid his
kiss. "Liar." she whispered. She clawed at his hand beneath her robe.
Frantically she began to fight him, pushing against his chest,
twisting her body away from his. Tears blurred her vision now, running freely
down her face. She held her arm up in front of her to ward off any further
assault. "Liar, liar, liar," she chanted, sobbing.

Riddick stepped back in surprise. Lesley was shaking, trying to hold
her robe closed around her throat. Frantically she stumbled toward
the still open door and groped for the handle pulling it open further.

"Les," Riddicks concern was apparent. She was becoming hysterical and
he didn't quite know what to do next. This was getting out of hand
fast. He became alarmed when she lunged for the com unit.

"If you don't get out of here now, I'm calling security." She was
crying so hard she was almost choking. For a frozen moment, neither one of
them moved and when it became obvious that Riddick had no intention of
leaving she pressed the button and started to punch in a number. Riddick was
on her in a second.

"You're not calling anybody" he snarled grabbing her arm and dragging
her away from the panel.

Outraged now, Lesley shook his hand off and made for the door,
thankful more than ever that it was still open. Riddick grabbed for
her, stumbling in his haste to prevent her from leaving. Lesley
wasn't quick enough and Riddick seized the loose material of the robe
in his fist and dragged her back into the room from the hall.

"No, let me go" she gritted out from between her teeth. Frantic now
to get away from him she twisted this way and that trying to make him
to let her go. Fear forced Adrenaline through her body giving her
strength she never new she had. At that very moment, echoes of some
long forgotten training suddenly came back to her.

There are several schools of thought about hand to hand fighting,
particularly when you're up against someone who tops you by inches
and outweighs you by more than a hundred pounds. Riddicks own
personal philosophy was "Get inside, Close in and stay tight and use
speed and skill.
Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, Lesley took a step
backwards and turned into him. Riddick lost his hold on her robe, the
material pulling out of his fist, leaving him clutching at thin air.
Whirling like a dancer, Lesley avoided his grasp and brought her elbow
up hard beneath his chin. Riddick never knew what hit him, the blow
almost knocked him off his feet. In surprise and shock, he staggered backward
and landed heavily on the bed. For several seconds he was so
dumbfounded he couldn't even speak. The only sound in the room was Lesley's
panting and Riddicks heavy breathing. Then Riddick did something totally
unexpected. He threw back his head and laughed.