Arriving at the restaurant

It took the entire journey to the restaurant for Nadia to resettle. She looked over at him from the passenger seat and asked, "I'm still -- You did something with my arousal, didn't you?"

James seemed impressed that she'd figured it out. "Yeah, just a run-of-the-mill arousal resonator - should keep your arousal from fading as fast as it normally would."

"James!" She smiled, before pausing, concerned for her evening, "Wait, how much longer?" Nadia asked as they pulled into the valet stop.

James thought for a second. He couldn't remember how much he'd put in the potion. His thought was disrupted by the valet opening the doors for them.

"James?!"

They stepped out into the covered entryway to the grand hotel. The building was clearly old, but well maintained. The staff were dressed immaculately in burgundy velvet suits.

"Oh! I don't know - five, ten times? It's been a really long time since I made this batch.." James started walking around the car to meet her at the entrance. He paused as he rounded the car to smile, appreciating how lovely she looked in the emerald dress she'd chosen, letting her magically curled black hair pour over her shoulders to the small of her backless dress.

"There's a big difference between five and ten!" She let him catch up and squeezed his hand as they walked into the hotel together. "How can you forget?!"

James looked briefly uncomfortable, quietly focusing on getting through the hotel atrium to the elevator.

They followed the burgundy carpet through the old corridor to the restaurant.

"We have a reservation under Nadia." James asserted to the waitress at the door. He felt Nadia squeeze his hand twice as the arousal hit her again, followed by the realisation that he booked the table under her name precisely for this moment.

The waitress looked between them before turning to Nadia, "You must be Nadia?"

"Oh." Her heart skipped a beat. She felt a twitch between her legs and a flushness on her chest as a second wave hit so soon after the first. "I mean, yes, that's me."

"Right this way."

The waitress led the couple through the glass entryway, past the sparkling bar and through the bustling restaurant. The clinking of cutlery and music from the live jazz band faded, however, as they went out the other side onto the balcony.

While James knew what to expect, Nadia felt a wave of much more innocent goosebumps traverse her back when she saw the table they would be seated at. The balcony itself was warmly lit by strategic fire pits, beautiful in their own right, but nothing compared to the view. Their table, against the old stone wall, overlooked the lights of the entire city and across the darkness of the ocean cove it wrapped around. Momentarily mesmerised into forgetting her arousal, she wrapped her arms around James's arm and looked up at him. "It's perfect!" She exclaimed.

Being so close to his body heat started to bring her focus back to her needs. She tried to surreptitiously rub her tingling, hard nipple, against his arm through her bra for some minor satisfaction but became frustrated when her body refused to get any closer than she was. She was impressed with the intricacy of the potion almost as much as she hated it.

Meanwhile, seeing that the waitress pulled out a seat for her, Nadia sat, turning to the stunning view for a distraction. Her hips yearned to grind gently on the chair but her body wouldn't even permit that.

"How are you doing over there, Na--"

"STOP! I won't be able to make it through the dinner alive if you keep saying that damn word."

"We'll see about that."

She used her mock anger to distract her from thoughts of sitting on his lap as he sat there. Taking him inside her as she looked out across the ancient city with its warm twinkling lights. From the balcony, if it wasn't for the occasional car, it almost looked untouched by the last few centuries. It must be so beautiful to live here. She imagined retiring here with James, going on evening walks.

"Nadia?" James' voice woke her from enjoying the view.

She jumped, snapping back to the sounds of the restaurant. "Huh? Wh--" The next wave of arousal hit, stacking onto the last two fresh cursed waves, barely faded themselves. Short of breath, he squeezed her legs together and, unable to squeeze her breasts as she wanted to do, squeezed the arms of her chair instead. "Asshole!"

James signalled with his eyes to the waiter who was trying to slide a menu in front of her.

"Sorry. Thank you." She said, smiling meekly to the waiter, before staring daggers at James.

"Can we -- stop with that -- I am so," She squeezed the arms of the chair again to relieve some tension and demonstrate her point. "I just want to go home and..."

James just smiled.