Chapter 6: Lust and Booze.

Iris' POV

Ludovic stepped into the palour and strolled to the bar, claiming one of the padded bar stools beside me. His long brown wavy hair was wet from the heavy downpour, plastered around his neck. His light brown skinned seemed to add an extra glow from the sparse yellow lights hanging down from the old light bulbs in the relaxation palour.

"Amber." He grinned at Amber, pulling off his dark brown thicken coat to hang it on a coat tree at the edge of the counter to dry off.

"My baby boy." Amber cooed. She reached for his hair and shook off stubborn drops of water from it, sending splodges of water falling away. I wished I could give his hair the same gesture, but no, he's a total stranger, and I had no right to comb my hands through his hair lustfully.

I tightened my hands around the glass of tequila on the counter in frustration. I thought I had seen the best of beauty when I met Gustav, but this stranger sitting beside me is the icing on the cake.

He had a chiselled frame that could make any human in skirt look his way the second time. The way the rain glued the flower-patterned vintage shirt he wore to his body caused a stir in my stomach, evoking the goddess of lust to take over my senses.

The palour was warm enough to keep me dry and comfortable, but the sudden cold that froze my thighs were not consequent to the rain, but the dimples that formed cute little impressions on his face when he grinned at Amber. Even with his low trimmed beard, there was no mistaking the hollow they sculpted on his face.

"C'mon, Amber!" He leaned away, "I'm not a child anymore."

"Don't play grown-up with me now. You'll always be my baby boy." She reached for his nose and pinched it playfully.

"Happy now?" Ludovic raised a brow at Amber. She was having the best time of her life teasing Ludovic- my Ludovic.

"Not yet." She slanted her head and placed her wrinkling hands on the table.

"No, no, no!" Ludovic backed off as if he was running away from some lethal threat. "I'm twenty-eight years-old for Christ sake, Amber. It's embarrassing."

"Seems you've gotten yourself another mama." Amber sank herself into the bar stool beside her, and pressed her face into her hands, making sobbing sounds that got me thinking.

'What kind of relationship could exist between Amber and Ludovic?' I thought.

"All right, all right," he shrugged, inhaling deeply. "Just this once."

Like a patient brought back to life with the help of a defibrillator, Amber sprung back to life and reached for Ludovic's plump cheeks, pulling them with renewed vigor. Ludovic resigned to the treatment, and rolled his eyes to the back of his head.

"Aren't you a cute little boy?" Amber pouted and reduced her voice into a plastic mutter, pouting her lips at the defeated big baby.

She turned his face to me, still holding on to his pulled cheeks. "Isn't he cute?"

I was startled by the sudden diversion of the play towards me. I wasn't expecting Amber to save me a spot in the show. They had ambled on as if I wasn't with them in the first place.

Right. How thoughtful of her.

"He looks cute." I said. "Like a cute little bunny,"

Ludovic sent me a 'not-you-too' kind of look, and sighed. Amber let out her signature hysterical laughter that made the eyes of every member in the palour look our way again.

Ludovic winced and rubbed his cheeks with his fingers. They were red- either because of Amber's hands on his cheeks, or because of the embarrassment he suffered as an aftermath.

"And who's the pretty bride in the champagne dress?" He waved at me, flashing me a bright smile that rivalled the yawn of the morning sun.

Oh my heavens, he thinks I'm pretty. A new wave of heat shot through my spine that straightened me up to sit like a proper lady. I crossed one leg over the other, exposing the fairness of my thick thighs to him.

'One thing must kill a man, ' I thought

"Oh! This is Iris." Amber gestured towards me.

"Hi." He waved again, staring at me with a grin.

"And Iris," she turned to me, "This is my baby boy, Ludovic" . Ludovic winced in protest, but it was too late.

"Hi." I extended my right hand to him for a shake.

He clamped my hands over his and I was bewildered at the softness of his palm. Judging from his physical build, I expected his hands to be coarse, but it was obvious I had judged his book by the cover. It felt so good touching him, and I didn't want to ever let go.

How can a human be this hot? I thought again.

He bent forward and brought the back of my hand to meet his lips. Cold shivers spiraled from my hand and up my lips, freezing them in place. I wondered how it would feel to have his lips meet mine in a locking French kiss. What a dream come true it would be.

He slipped his hands out of mine, and turned slowly to Amber. "The usuals, please."

"Right away." Amber turned to the bar to fix him his drink.

"What do you care for?" He glanced at me.

"Anything strong enough to make me forget my past." I sighed dejectedly, running one hand through my tangled hair.

"Speaking of pasts, what's your story?" He wore a serious look and turned his seat to face me. He was interested in hearing my story, but I had my reservations about divulging everything about me to a total stranger who had my heart clasped in his grasp with one hollow of his dimples. If I must tell him anything, for my heart's sake, I must be selective with my story.

I told him I was a human, to which he smiled suspiciously. I told him about the death of my parents, but I lied that I lived with a distant aunt and her humble family on a ranch in Illinois.

Amber served him a chilled beer cocktail in a hurricane glass, but he shoved it my way. "Another cup, please." Amber wore a surprised look on her face, but obeyed anyway.

"You're miles away from home, cowgirl." He straightened. " What brings you to New Orleans?"

"Marriage." At the realization that I could be married, his expression dropped a kilowatt. "But it didn't work out between us." I interjected quickly.

He sniggered, then reached for his serving waiting for him on the tile-top counter. "Cheers." Our glasses clicked, as we shared our first sip of the drink. "What went wrong?"

"He cheated." I lied.

"Before tying the knot with you?"

"Yeah." I lied again, taking another sip of the cocktail.

"Such a prick!" He scoffed. "Why didn't you return to your aunt at Illinois?"

I gulped the remaining content in the cup, making a mental search for what else to fabricate to him. "I can't return home." I ended.

I held my forehead in one hands. I had had too much to drink, and I was beginning to feel woozy.

"Amber, can you play us a classic from the 90s?" Ludovic jumped down from the bar stool and stood before me. He bowed, and stretched his right hand towards me.

"May I have this dance, my lady?" He grinned.

"I have two left feet." I resigned, giggling.

"Nonsense! I'll teach you what you need to know."

I was reluctant to take his hand, but I took it anyway. What did they say about keeping a gentleman waiting?

Our bodies melted into each other like melted chocolate, causing my heart to pound so hard against its rib cage. I placed my hand around his shoulder, while he wounded an arm around my waist. For once, I felt special again.

We danced to Michael Gielen's Symphony Orchestra, twisting, twirling, and turning with reckless abandon. I looked up into his face and saw raptures of excessive love lusting out of it. His thin, natural lips stretched into a smile.

Ludovic was a good dancer, strong and professional. He caught me and twirled me around like a born dancer. I never realized thirty minutes had passed until I felt dizzy from the dance.

I felt a stir in my stomach, like someone was churninhg pasta in it, and without warning, I threw up on Ludovic's shirt. My wobbly legs became weak, and I fell into Ludovic's waiting arms. I lost myself into his masculine arms and the darkness that seemed to envelop only me.