Four Blind Mice

the other, playing no favorites. Her breasts were small, just right. In my eyes. I continued to be amazed that Jamilla didn’t seem to know that she was attractive. I knew it was a terrible thing that happened to some women, and some men too.
    I lay my head down and looked at her face, studied it some. I kissed her nose, her cheeks.
    She was smiling in a way I’d never seen before. Open and relaxed, beginning to trust, which I loved to see. I felt that I could stare into her deep brown eyes forever.
    I eased myself inside Jamilla, and I had a thought that this was just about perfect. I had been right to trust her. Then I had another thought that I hated —
What will spoil it this time?

Chapter 37
    JAMILLA STARTED TO laugh and then she said, “Phew.” She ran her hand over her forehead.
    “What’s ‘phew’?” I asked her. “Don’t tell me you’re tuckered out? You look in a lot better shape than that.”
    “Phew. I was worried about the two of us being together, and now I’m not worried. Phew, sometimes men are really self-centered, or rough in bed. Or it just feels all wrong.”
    I smiled at her. “Slept with a lot of men, huh?”
    Jamilla made a little face. Cute. “I’m thirty-six years old. I was married for four years, engaged another time. I date some. Not too much lately, but some. How about you? Was I your first?”
    “Why? Did it seem like it?”
    “Answer the question, smart guy.”
    “I was married once too,” I finally said.
    Jamilla lightly punched my shoulder, then she rolled over on top of me. “I’m really glad I came to Washington. Took a little nerve on my part. I was definitely scared.”
    “
Oohh,
Inspector Jamilla Hughes was scared. Well, so was I,” I admitted.
    “How come? What scared you about me, Alex?”
    “Some women are so self-centered. Or rough in bed —”
    Jamilla leaned over and kissed me, probably to shut me up. Her lips were soft and sweet. We kissed — a long, lingering one. I was ready again, and so was she. Jamilla pulled me close, and I moved inside her. This time I was on top.
    “I am your love slave. Completely submissive,” she whispered against my cheek. “I’m definitely glad I came to Washington.”
    Our second time together was even better than the first, and also edged out the third time.
No, there had been nothing for either of us to be afraid of.
    Jamilla and I stayed at the hotel through the afternoon and into the early evening. It was almost impossible to leave. As it had been right from the start with the two of us, we found it easy to talk about anything on the planet. “I’ll tell you something really strange,” she said. “And the more I’m with you, the stranger this seems to me. See, my first husband and I could never really talk. Not the way you and I do. And we still got married. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
    A little while later, Jamilla got up and disappeared into the bathroom. I saw the light flash on the telephone on the nightstand. She was making a call.
    Once a detective . . . oh boy. Here we go.
    When she came out, she confessed, “I had to call work. Murder case I’m on out there is a mess. Nasty stuff. Sorry, sorry. Won’t happen again. I promise. I’ll be good. Or bad. Whatever you want me to be.”
    “No, no, it’s fine. I understand,” I said. I did, of course. Sort of, anyway. I saw so much of myself in Jamilla. The Detective! I
think
that was a good thing.
    I hugged her and held her close once she got back into bed. Then the truth finally came out. It was my turn to confess. “Long time ago,” I told her, “I was at this hotel with my wife.”
    Jamilla pulled back a little. She looked deeply into my eyes. “That’s okay,” she said. “Doesn’t mean anything. Except I really love that you were guilty about it. That’s nice. I’ll always remember that about my trip to Washington.”
    “Your first trip,” I said.
    “My first trip,” Jamilla agreed.

Chapter 38
    OUR TIME TOGETHER in Washington raced by like a couple of blinks of an eye, and before I knew it Jamilla had to go back to San Francisco. Sunday afternoon at a very crowded Reagan National. Fortunately, my badge got me out to the gate area. I was bummed to see her leave, and I didn’t think she wanted to go, actually. The two of us hugged for a long time at the gate and didn’t much care if anyone was staring.
    Then Jam had to run to her plane, or miss it.
    “Why don’t you just stay another night?” I asked. “Lots