Belle Morte Bites (Belle Morte 4.3)

Valentine's Day: Part Three

"Sometimes modern dating sounds like a nightmare," Ludovic commented.

"It can be." Roux caressed his fingers. "But it's not something I have to worry about anymore. I found my Prince Charming."

"Is that what I am?" Ludovic said, looking amused.

"You are to me."

Movement caught Roux's attention – waitstaff were bustling into the ballroom carrying plates of starters, and Roux caught a whiff of garlic cream and asparagus.

"Did Ysanne really hire a Michelin-starred chef for tonight?" she asked.

Ludovic nodded.

Roux sighed. "Why couldn't she have done that when I was alive?"

"I want to tell you that missing food does get easier, but food was pretty terrible when I was human, so there wasn't much to miss. I suspect it's different for you," Ludovic said.

"I think I'll always miss it, but I'm also sure it will get easier." Roux gazed into Ludovic's eyes, such a deep blue that it was like looking into the heart of the ocean. "Even if it doesn't, I wouldn't change a thing. I lost food, but I gained you, and there's no competition. You're the best thing that ever happened to me, Ludovic de Vauban."

Ludovic kissed her hand again.

Isabeau flitted through the tables, light from the chandeliers sparkling off the silver detailing on her dress, camera in hand, snapping photos. Roux spotted her take a picture of Ysanne when Ysanne wasn't looking, and she hid a smile.

After the starters, the main course was brought out, and Roux briefly closed her eyes as the ballroom was filled with the smells of buttery lobster, rare steak, and herb-crusted lamb. No one knew how vampires existed – how they could be dead and alive at the same time – but it was a particularly cruel twist of fate that they could still crave the food that they could no longer eat.

Then she opened her eyes and looked at Ludovic again, the quiet, steady centre of her entire world, and all those delicious smells faded away. Maybe she'd always miss food, but she wasn't lying when she said it was worth giving up for the man sitting opposite her.

Roux had been turned into a vampire against her will, but if she'd been given the choice, she would still have chosen this life, she would still have given up everything human to be with Ludovic.

He was worth it.

After the chocolate souffles had been eaten, and the champagne had been drunk, Roux and Ludovic slipped away from the ballroom before the human guests could start to leave.

When they reached their bedroom, Ludovic hung back slightly, letting Roux push open their door. She stopped dead in the doorway, her mouth dropping open.

Roses were everywhere.

Not the red bouquets that had filled the ballroom – these roses were white, spilling out of glass bowls and vases or scattered loose across surfaces. The floor and the bed were seas of white petals.

"Ludovic . . ." Roux couldn't manage another word.

He put his hands on her shoulders. "Do you like it?" he said.

Tears pricked her eyes. "It's beautiful. Oh my God, it's so beautiful."

Ludovic gently nudged her further into the room, then closed the door.

"How did you do all this?" Roux asked.

Ludovic just smiled.

Roux kicked off her shoes, wanting to feel the soft petals under her bare feet. "This is the most romantic thing anyone's ever done for me."

Ludovic leaned down to kiss her, and Roux sank against him, trembling a little.

"I love you," Ludovic whispered.

Words failed Roux again, because saying I love you didn't seem enough to convey what she was feeling. The sun was in her chest. The stars were in her eyes. The world was at her feet.

She pushed the straps of her dress off her shoulders, letting the front fall away. She wore no bra, and Ludovic's eyes flared red. His hands settled on her hips, quietly possessive, before he pushed the dress down until it fell into a gold satin puddle at her feet. Beneath it, Roux wore the tiniest lace thong she'd been able to find, knowing how much Ludovic loved seeing her like this.

He shook his head as he gazed at her, as if he couldn't believe she was real.

Roux stood on tiptoes and kissed him. "This is the part where you take your clothes off," she whispered.

Ludovic ripped open his shirt so fast that buttons flew across the room. The rest of his clothes suffered similar rough treatment, as did Roux's thong when he tore it from her with one hand. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing, and Roux couldn't stop touching his face as he carried her over to the bed and laid her down among the rose petals.

He kissed her eyelids, her nose, her mouth, her throat – barely-there touches of his lips that made her writhe with need until she gripped his neck and whispered, "Please."

Then he finally slid into her, slowly, inch by inch, one hand clasped to her cheek so she couldn't look away from him. The sun in Roux's chest flared brighter and hotter and she couldn't help a little sob because it shouldn't be possible to love someone as much as she loved Ludovic.

She locked her ankles around him, pulling him harder against her, urging him to move, and he did. His hips surged against her, hard enough that it might have hurt if she'd still been human. As a vampire, she felt only raw pleasure.

She clung to the back of Ludovic's neck, her nails digging in, hard enough that a couple of drops of blood trickled down his skin and onto the white petals that surrounded them. Ludovic didn't seem to notice.

He kissed her, passionate and demanding, his fangs grazing her lower lip, and Roux squeezed her eyes shut as sweet pressure started to build deep inside.

Petals flew like confetti as Ludovic moved in her, and Roux gasped his name, over and over again, the only word she could find, until that blissful wave crashed over her and the world turned fuzzy at the edges. Drifting, boneless, on a cloud of euphoria, she felt Ludovic reach his own peak, and the weight of him collapsed across her, his mouth at her ear.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he whispered.

All Roux could manage was a little moan.

Ludovic leaned on one elbow to look down at her.

"I think you broke me," Roux said.

"In a good way?"

"In the best way."

"Good." Ludovic gently nibbled Roux's throat.

Roux pulled a petal out of Ludovic's hair. The smell of roses was stronger than ever, coming from the petals crushed beneath her back.

"See? I wasn't wrong when I said this was the best date ever," she said.

Ludovic's fingers trailed down Roux's thigh. "We're just getting started."

"Oh, good!"

Ludovic kissed Roux's throat against, and sweet heat started stirring to life again.

"I'm not going to get any sleep at all tonight, am I?" she said.

"Not a second of it," Ludovic agreed.

"Who needs sleep anyway, right?"

Ludovic smiled.

Roux scooped up a handful of petals and gently blew them in his face. "I'm ready for you to take me back to heaven."

Red glinted in Ludovic's eyes. "As you wish."

It was, Roux thought, going to be an exquisitely long night.

3/5