Page 73 of Horn in My Side
“Okay?”Mal’s voice pitched higher.“You’re kidding, right?It was phenomenal.”His hands waved at the empty dishes and bowls in front of them.“How did you even get a recipe for kuj’ata stew?Or buy kuj’ata meat in the first place?”
She flashed him a mysterious smile.“I have my ways.”
Jasmine had begun to scheme their second date even before their first one ended.While she certainly couldn’t afford to take him to Blackbyrd or another fancy restaurant, she could whip up a meal that would knock his socks off.After all, her lola always said a way to a man’s heart was through his stomach.In this case, she wasn’t trying to get into Mal’s hearts, but into his pants.
Her grandmother would roll over in her grave if she found out how Jasmine was using those cooking skills she’d passed on.
Initially, she’d planned to prepare one of her specialties—either lasagna or caldereta, Filipino beef stew cooked for twelve hours.However, she had to step up her game if she wanted to beat Chef Lucien’s cooking.After a whole day of research, she found a recipe for a traditional orc dish, kuj’ata stew.It wasactually similar to her beef stew, so she scoured the internet and found the ingredients from a specialty website, then paid extra for express shipping.When Friday rolled round, she told Mal before she left the shop that she would be picking him up at his door at seven o’clock.She arrived promptly, shopping bags in tow, and proclaimed that she was making him dinner at home.
Leaning back in his chair now, he patted his stomach.“Don’t tell my mother, but I think it’s better than hers.”
“Thank you.”All the effort had been worth it, especially hearing Mal’s words of praise as well as his satisfied groans throughout the meal.“And no, I won’t tell her.If she’s anything like my lolashe probably wouldn’t speak to you for days.”
“Definitely.Thank you, Jasmine.”His purple eyes shone with warmth.“This ...this was special.It’s nice to have a bit of home when you’re far away.”
“I know what you mean.”As she cooked for him, she had told him stories of her grandmother.It had been good for her too, reliving all those memories.“So, are you ready for dessert?”
“There’s dessert too?”His face lit up.
“Of course.There’s always room for dessert.It’s not an orc recipe, though.I couldn’t find any online.”
“Yeah, orcs aren’t into sweets.We eat fruits and berries, maybe the occasional honeycomb snack.”
“But you’re an exception, right?”she teased.“You did demand a whole dessert for yourself last week.You have a sweet tooth, don’t you?”
“Guilty as charged.”He licked his lips.“What did you make?”
“It’s one of my favorite recipes my grandmother passed down to me.Coconut and corn pudding, or maja blanca.Why don’t we have it in the living room?You go on ahead.I’ll bring it over.”
“All right.”
Jasmine took the metal pan she had stashed in Mal’s fridgewhen she arrived and then cut the contents into squares.Once plated, she garnished the maja blancawith coconut curds she’d made herself.
Holding the two plates up, she sauntered into the living room, walked over to him, then leaned down to hand him his plate.“Here you go.”
She didn’t miss the way his eyes briefly dipped down to her cleavage.In fact, she’d been watching him all night ashewatched her.She’d deliberately worn her sexiest and shortest dress with a deep V-neck that would show off her breasts and her legs.While he thought she wouldn’t notice, she definitely saw him ogling them that morning they were setting up for the Founding Day Festival.
“Th-thanks.”His eyes scooted respectfully above her neck.“This looks delicious.”
And so do you.
When he asked what to wear, she told him to dress more casually.So tonight he wore a pair of jeans and a tight black polo shirt that showed off his muscled arms.He looked so good that the moment he opened the door she almost dropped her bags of ingredients and jumped him right there.
Stupid three-date rule.
Jasmine had already decided that, while she wasn’t going to break their agreement, perhaps she could bend it just a little.While waiting was a good idea, she was going to honest-to-goodness expire if she didn’t getsomethingtonight.Besides, next week was date number three and she just wanted a little preview of things to come.After all, she might need a little extra mental preparation—and several rounds of prayers and offerings to her ancestor spirits—to be able to take on what Mal was packing between his legs.
“Oh.”She bounced on top of the couch, knowing it would make her breasts jiggle.“You changed the sectional?”
“Uh”—he swallowed audibly—“yeah, it was pretty worn out so I ordered a new one.I mean, I’m probably going to regret it when I have to get rid of it once this place sells, but I couldn’t stand sitting down on those lumpy cushions.”
“I see.”The oh-so-casual reminder that he would be leaving in a few months slid off her like water on a duck’s back, though a small knot formed in her stomach.She quickly pushed that thought aside.“If I haven’t said it yet, thank you, Mal, for helping me with my magic.”
“Of course.”
As Mal said, their magic was very different, not just in type.Mal’s skills were miles ahead of hers and there were things he could do that she could only dream of.But he reminded her that he had basically been using magic since he was a teen when he was apprenticing with his stepfather, plus he continued to grow his skills by attending regular spell-casting workshops and seminars and through using them every day for his job.
While he wasn’t able to teach her how to use her magic directly, Mal helped her pinpoint her main weakness.Just as she had thought initially, knowing she actually had magic made her second-guess herself even more.It was easier before, as all she had to do was to make an intelligent guess based on her observations.If a fenrir cub was whining, then it was sick, hungry or tired, and her first guess would always be correct.Now, however, it was hard to tell if she was using her magic or her gut, and that only made Jasmine doubt herself.
