Blackfoot Affair by Doreen Owens Malek Page A

you?”
    “That’s an excuse,” he said dismissively.
    “I shouldn’t even be talking to you outside the courtroom,” she went on, “much less...” She trailed off unhappily.
    “Much less what? Engaging in illicit sexual activities?”
    “Oh, you really are vile,” Marisa said disgustedly.
    “I see. What happens now? Do the lady lawyer police show up and cuff me to the headboard?”
    “I think you should go.”
    “Just like that.”
    “Yes, just like that. What else is there to say?”
    “You might say you enjoyed our night together, and what followed this morning,” he said calmly.
    Marisa maintained a stony silence, not meeting his eyes.
    “Marisa, what do you expect?” he demanded. “I’m not going to apologize for finally doing what I’ve wanted to do from the first moment I saw you.”
    “I’m not asking for an apology,” she said.
    “Then what? For me to act like last night never happened?”
    She met his angry gaze squarely.
    “Oh no. I’m not going to play ‘let’s pretend’ with you,” he said, shaking his head. “Let’s pretend that Marisa is a legal robot, let’s pretend that Marisa is an innocent little virgin without an active hormone in her body...”
    Marisa slapped him, and then stared at her hand as if it had taken on a life of its own.
    “Great,” he said tightly, the imprint of her fingers still on his cheek. “Thanks a lot.” He picked up his jacket and brushed past her, reaching for the doorknob.
    “Wait,” she said miserably.
    “For what? Another smack?”
    “Don’t forget to take your pills, you missed the dosage last night,” she said inanely.
    “You’re crazy, do you know that?” he said, his back still to her. “You wallop me for telling you the truth and then you remind me to take my medicine?”
    “I’m sorry I hit you,” she whispered, her eyes swimming again.
    He turned to face her, his jaw set. “Look, lady, I don’t know why you can’t admit it, but you want me. You want me as much as I want you, and the sooner you face that fact the happier we both will be.” He yanked open the door and bolted through it, slamming it behind him.
    Marisa collapsed on the bed, rubbing her eyes with her fingers. She could still see the imprint of Jack’s head on the pillow next to hers.
    It was several moments before she heard the insistent tapping coming from the next room.
    “Marisa?” Tracy’s voice said tinnily. “Are you all right?”
    Marisa hid her face in the crook of her arm. Please God, she thought, no more. Then she got up and faced the inevitable.
    Tracy was standing on the other side of the connecting door with her hands on her hips when Marisa opened it.
    “Well?” Tracy said, waving the note Marisa left for her in the air. “What’s going on?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Nothing?” Tracy said, peering over Marisa’s shoulder. “I heard voices, a man’s voice and yours. Who was here?”
    “Jack Bluewolf.”
    “What a surprise,” Tracy said sarcastically, moving into Marisa’s room. “Is he the reason I got this little missive?”
    Marisa was silent.
    “He spent the night here?” Tracy asked, her voice rising into a little squeak.
    “It’s not what you think.”
    “Oh, of course not. You played board games all night.”
    “He had just gotten out of the hospital and he was a little shaky. He fell asleep on my bed and I didn’t want to move him. He needed the rest. That’s all there is to it.”
    “Not all, from the expression on your face, sweetie. You look shell-shocked.”
    “We had sort of a fight before he left.”  
    “I heard. And why did he come here to see you straight from the hospital?”
    “Well, we had sort of a misunderstanding when I visited him there,” Marisa explained awkwardly.
    “I see. You had sort of a misunderstanding then and sort of a fight this morning. You know what that means, don’t you?”
    “I’m losing my mind?” Marisa suggested feebly.
    “Sexual frustration,” Tracy said