Chapter Twenty Four #2
“You found provisions?” Jaak turns away from me and I let out a grateful breath.
I can more or less function around him when he’s not looking directly at me.
I pick up my glass of punch and take a hasty sip.
I’m so thirsty all of a sudden. Is this because of how much I want Jaak?
Is that a thing? Do you get thirsty when you want someone so bad you could scream?
“Meadow?” Jaak stops in the pantry doorway to look back at me. “You look ill. Do you need to rest? I can take you to bed now and bring you dinner when it’s ready if you aren’t feeling well.”
Take you to bed.
Holy smokes. Those four words paint a pretty picture for me, a scorchingly hot pretty picture but I feel remorse. I don’t want Jaak to think I’m sick when I’m not and especially not when he’s supposed to tell me about his demon origin story. Get it together, Meadow.
“No, I’m fine, really. I just, it’s nothing.
I think I’ll feel better after a good night’s rest,” I say and pick up the pitcher of punch for him to see.
“Do you want something to drink? The house was making up for earlier with the door. It made us dinner and this too. That’s where all the food came from. ”
“Interesting,” Jaak says. He comes and takes the pitcher from me. I watch as he holds it up to the light and then gives it a sniff.
He looks at me over the rim of the glass. “Do you know what this is?” he asks.
I shake my head and take another deep drink from my glass.
“No, but it’s yummy. I’ve never had anything like it.
Try some, you'll like it. Who knew the house was this handy with drinks? I wonder what else it can make.” I bounce on my toes.
I feel energized, restless even. I must be getting my second wind of the day.
“I wonder too.” Jaak takes the glass and pours himself a glass. “And I expect I will,” he says and raises his glass when I hold mine up for a cheer.
“It’s bad luck not to cheers,” I tell him. “I’m cheersing to a good dinner and night with you.”
He smiles at me. “You picked a fine cheers. I’m happy and honored to be your husband. I cheers to you, my beautiful and brave wife. You are and have always been my light in the dark,” he says and clinks his glass lightly against mine.
My cheeks go hot. How does he always know exactly what to say? Every time he opens his mouth he gets sexier.
“Thank you,” I murmur and drop my eyes to my glass. I’ve barely got a few sips left so I move to grab the pitcher to top my glass off when Jaak puts a hand out, covering the top of my glass.
“I wouldn’t do that. Maybe you should slow down on the drink,” he says while he proceeds to start chugging his glass.
I toss back the few sips I have left and then put my glass down with a thud. “Slow down? Why? And why are you drinking it so fast? There’s plenty more and I’m sure the house will make us another pitcher if we ask nicely. Right, house?” I ask.
The house helpfully flickers the kitchen lights in answer.
Jaak doesn’t answer me. Instead, he drains his glass and then puts it down with a deep sigh and closes his eyes. “I’m drinking it that fast because this is an aphrodisiac.”
I can feel my eyes bugging out of my head. “A what?”
“An amorous amplifier,” he says, eyes still closed. He looks like he does when Nina meditates. “I haven’t had this kind in a very, very long time. It’s referred to as liquid fire, but I think in your language that’s liquid libido.” Jaak taps his chin and looks thoughtful while I start panicking.
“Are you saying I drank a sex potion?” I whisper.
Jaak’s eyes open and he smiles at me. “Yes.”
“Oh my gods.”
“This one in particular is rare because of how fast it sets in.”
“How long is it going to last?”
“With the amount we had, all night.”
I look at the empty glass and then up at the ceiling accusingly.
“How could you do this to me?! I thought we were friends. You poisoned me. You’re back on the shit list!
” The lights dim in the kitchen and the kitchen door gives a sad little swing that makes the hinge creak, which makes me feel bad because if a house could be depressed it would be this.
“Don’t give me puppy dog doors. Why would you give us a sex potion? ”
“It might have thought it was being helpful,” Jaak says, before he puts his hands down on the kitchen island and takes a deep breath. “This drink is setting in a lot faster than I remember.”
“What do you mean helpful? And why-why did you drink yours so fast?”
“If you were to be afflicted then so am I.”
“You mean you drank it so I wouldn’t be alone and-” a wave of heat rolls through me and my skin feels itchy. I pull at my sweater and take in a deep breath.
“And aroused,” Jaak finishes for me. He looks over his shoulder at me and my mouth goes dry. His eyes are sultry, bedroom eyes. I've heard that phrase before from Ms. Donna but I didn’t understand what it meant. Now I do.
I fall back a step and lean against the counter. “What are-I mean, yes, aroused but you didn’t have to do that.”
“I did. There’s no dispelling this kind of drink. The only way for it to stop is to let it run its course. I’ve had liquid fire before, I know well the effects it has on the body.”
I’m not the jealous type. I’m really, really, not.
That’s also because I’ve never had a reason to be jealous when I was with Roy.
It’s not like I actually wanted him the way I was supposed to, the way that comes so easily with Jaak.
But jealousy is the only way to describe the feeling in the pit of my stomach.
He’s had this drink before, which means he knows exactly what’s coming because he’s gone through it before and that’s fine.
It’s totally, absolutely fine…but still, there’s a part of me that is jealous of the partner Jaak had then.
I’d give anything to know what it was like.
So do it, my brain whispers to me. And that’s when I have the best idea I’ve ever had. I’m going to make the most of this sex potion.
I’m going to seduce my demon husband.