Be My Queen (12 page)

"Probably."

"And you don't care?"

"That what? That I'm getting the most gorgeous wife imaginable? That everyone will be envious of me?"

"Diego."

He hugged her around the hips. Her bits were touching him and he didn't seem to care.

She closed her eyes. She had dreamed the whole thing. She'd wake up in a minute when Vish's phone went off, and she'd entertain her friends with the twists and turns until Miss Magnolia came by and told them that belly laughter wasn't feminine.

Because this could not be real.

*~*~*

Diego sat down and held up his hands. Lavender got down on her knees on the edge of the blanket. He tugged her closer. "Even knowing, I find you beautiful."

She hesitated.

"Let me show you."

The light was fading fast and he had to see her when he touched her. Going all the way should wait until she'd had a chance to think about the fact he knew about her.

She put his hand on her breast. "Show me."

He did his best. She was so beautiful, so perfect. He would be happy to be seen anywhere with her, but he yearned to see her in his bed, in his house, in his life.

She responded well to his touch with her gasps and moans and soft sighs, with her hands and mouth and skin. The way she said his name was paradise.

He made her come without touching the jewels still hidden in her silky panties. He licked his lips. She was magnificent lying there, trying to get her breath back. She tugged at his waistband. He put his hand over hers. As much as he desired to be inside her, he didn't want her to have second thoughts tomorrow. Slow was better.

He tried to make himself believe it.

She pushed his hand away and unbuttoned his shorts. "Do you have condoms? Mine are in my new purse."

Which was in the car.

Diego dug through his pockets with shaking hands. She swatted them away and found both the condoms and the lube after a very thorough search of his front pockets. What was left of his brain stopped functioning altogether when she demanded that he be inside her.

He obeyed. The light was gone, he had to make sure not to touch certain parts of her, and they didn't remove any more of their clothing, but he was swept away by just being with her. She was his heaven.

*~*~*

Lavender cuddled against Diego. Her eyes closed, but the wind was picking up and forcing its way through the blanket. He kissed her neck. "I don't want to leave."

"But we need to."

"Come home with me tonight."

She turned to look at him, but the lights from the distant parking lot didn't reach as far as his face. "You asked me that this morning."

"Nothing has changed since this morning."

She pulled her bra closed and adjusted her breasts. "Is that when you found out?"

"No," he kissed her thigh. "Last evening. Austin's really stuck on your friend. Ariel, I think."

"Does she know that he knows?" Lavender buttoned up her dress and checked the hem to make sure she'd buttoned it straight.

"Yes."

No wonder Ariel had been so apologetically nice yesterday.

Diego rolled over and set something white in her lap. Her skirt. She stood and stepped into it. He sat up and pulled on his shirt. He was beautiful in silhouette. He held up something. "Please don't put this on."

She frowned. "I don't mind you knowing, but I'm not about to tell the world."

"I respect that."

He had better.

"As we are going straight to Mrs. Raleigh's…"

"Are we?"

"Please, Lavender, will you spend the night with me?" He was down on his knees, begging.

She took his face in her hands and kissed him. "I'd go without, but you make me so hard…"

He pressed the girdle against her arm.

She laughed. "I could fall in love with you."

"Do, please."

He was telling the truth: he really did want her. She stepped away before his hands got under her skirts. Where were her shoes? They had to be here.

"Shoes on the left." Diego lifted her shoes. "Our pop bottles are on the ocean side. Trash to the right."

Of course, as they were on a bluff, the ocean was on three sides, but he found everything. He tossed the blankets over his shoulder and led the way to the parking lot. Under the lights, they looked through their stuff to make sure they hadn't lost anything. She couldn't think of anything that was missing.

Diego pulled a bag out of the trunk when he put the other stuff inside. "Are you hungry?"

He had a second sandwich and another bottle of water. She wasn't a roast beef type of girl, but just a whiff made her stomach rumble. She sat in his lap on a park bench and shared his sandwich. He crinkled the wrapper into a ball and kissed her neck. "Ready to go?"

He threw away the garbage and returned to her. He was her man now, wasn't he? Please let him be her man.

Diego opened Mrs. Raleigh's front door and looked around. Good. Travis wasn't home. He set Lavender's bags by the couch and held her hand. Mrs. Raleigh was in the kitchen. She smiled and made polite inquiries about their day. Diego brought the conversation around to where Travis was. She smiled. "He's at practice, but I told him that if he used offensive language again, his nose wouldn't be the only thing broken."

She patted Lavender's hand. "I was holding his controller at the time."

Mrs. Raleigh had been all sympathy to her youngest son until Diego had informed her, in the vaguest possible way, how offended Austin was on the girls' behalf. She had taken Travis to the emergency room while Diego, Austin, Patrick, and Jessica ate her famous meatloaf. They made sure to finish it before Travis returned.

Lavender's eyebrows rose as she turned to him. He hadn't told her that Travis had used offensive language when referring to her and her friends, had he? How would the kid react to having her in his house? Diego should have thought about that sooner.

An apology from Travis might be as bad for Lavender as hostility, given that she wanted her secret to stay a secret. Better to keep them apart.

Diego carried two of her bags to his room, while Lavender ensconced herself in the bathroom with the third. He fluffed up the pillows and made sure the blankets were even, so he wouldn't pull all the bedding from her in his sleep. He got them both glasses of water and reset his alarm. They'd go to a museum tomorrow. He didn't think she'd been to the Getty yet.

She came in, looking like a fairy. She hugged her belly. "I feel funny wearing this here."

He sat on the bed and held out his hands. "What do you want to wear?"

She squeezed his hands and looked away. "Something of yours."

He quickly found her sweat shorts and a dark T-shirt. The color of her nipples might show through a white one.

She pulled the string in his shorts tight and billowed the shirt over it. He enjoyed the view. She looked really good in his clothes and totally feminine. "My beautiful girl."

He gestured her to where he was sitting on the bed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his cheek against her belly.

She peeled his head back. "Why aren't you ready?"

He hurried off to brush his teeth. When he returned, Mrs. Raleigh was standing outside the spare room doorway with an extra blanket. Lavender thanked her and smiled at Diego. Mrs. Raleigh wished them both a good night.

Lavender sat on the bed. "She said to pull the chest in front of the door."

Diego spotted the chest she must have meant. "Do you want me to?"

She shrugged. He loved the way her breasts moved when free. He repositioned the chest. If it would help him taste those beautiful mounds again, no effort was too great.

He stepped up to her. "Which side?"

She slipped under the covers in the middle. He leaned over her and turned the light out on the far side, then took off his shirt and shorts and lay against her.

She snuggled close. "I've never slept beside anyone."

Diego'd had his share of overnighters. Some lovers rolled up against him, some rolled away, some stole the sheets, some kicked them off, and some snored. One complained that Diego snored. He had liked all of them enough to take to bed, but Lavender was different. After all the time he'd spent looking love, he finally found it.

Lavender flipped and turned and stretched and snuggled down again in his arms, where she belonged.

*~*~*

Lavender blinked her eyes open. Diego massaged a circle into the top of her thigh. What a wonderful way to wake up.

She rubbed her ass against his front. He moaned. She grinned and opened her eyes. "Good morning, handsome."

Diego pulled her tighter against him. "I must be dreaming. A beautiful woman is in my bed."

She rolled over and he lay back, so her front was pressed against his hip. "Don't kid me. You were no virgin."

He couldn't have been with how well he read her body. Other girls talked about experiences like that, but she'd never thought she'd have one herself.

He grinned. "So how do I measure up? You—"

She pressed a finger against his lips. "Don't talk about other lovers."

He ran his hand up her backside. "You started it."

She rubbed one of his nipples. "Guess what else I'm starting?"

He rolled her onto her back and lay on her. She pushed his lips from her neck. "But give me a second first."

He rolled off her. "Tease."

She sat up and looked at him. "You like teases."

He looked her up and down. "I guess I do."

The chest in front of the door was heavier than she'd expected. Diego moved it easily. Strong boyfriends were nice.

He opened the door for her and walked her to the bathroom. She finished up quickly, but when she stepped out into the hall, she had to step back. The kid from the other night ran down the hall. He skidded to a stop and turned back. His face was very red. "Sorry."

Then he turned the corner and was gone.

Diego touched her arm. "I'm not sure if he's apologizing for nearly running you down or for the other night."

She looked at her feet. "He knows."

Diego kissed her cheek. "He just came face to face with the reality that you are completely a woman."

That may be so, but… "Does anyone else know?"

Diego opened the door to the bedroom. Lavender sat on the bed and hugged herself. The news had to be bad. The kid's mother had to know, and so did Patrick and Jessica. They would never treat her like a real girl again.

Diego sat beside her and wrapped his arms around her. "No one else knows. Austin kept pretty mum all evening and left it to me to explain things. I didn't want to out you."

She leaned against him. "Thank you."

"I told Mrs. Raleigh, Patrick, and Jessica that Travis had been disrespectful to women in general and you specifically. Austin doesn't see why Ariel's identity would reflect yours."

"He thinks normal girls would want to hang out with us?"

Diego kissed her neck. "He thinks that Ariel is so interesting that everyone would be her friend."

She buried her face in his chest. "Do you?"

He held her close. "I think you are the most interesting person on Earth, the best looking, and the sexiest."

His hand snaked under her shirt.

She opened up to him. His touch would push away all her bad thoughts.

He kissed her then sat back and rubbed her bottom lip. "I'm afraid I need a bathroom break as well."

"Tease." She tossed a pillow at him.

He laughed and got to his feet. "I love you."

But Mrs. Raleigh waylaid him as he closed the bedroom door. Lavender was alone in a strange room for who knew how long and she was as horny as Vish.

She dug out her phone. Had Vish sent her a text? Yes, and she'd also left her a voice mail.

"Blossom, Flower Girl, sweetheart. Guess what just happened?" Vish's voice echoed a bit. "I’d better tell you. You will never guess, never in a million years. He's buying me…" Her voice filled with tears. "He's buying me a va-gi-na."

She sang the last word.

"He's going to expedite my passport. Isn't he wonderful? I'll go out Husayn Akhund and return Vishva Rose with a big, beautiful
F
. I'll be fully a woman."

Lavender moved the phone from her ear. Vish's voice continued loud and clear. "He made reservations for me. I'll spend Christmas in Thailand, where the doctors really know what they are doing. It will be like a vacation. He's going to fly out with me and come back to pick me up. Then, in the spring, he's taking me to the Mediterranean and I'm going to lay topless on the beach and show him what he paid for."

Lavender tried to be happy for her. Vish would get her dearest wish.

But being remade wasn't Lavender's wish. Sure, she hated her bits, but at least her hated bits weren't severe acne or visible scars. Her mother had said she was beautiful just the way she was, and had gotten very angry at a dealer for commenting that removing Lavender's testicles would do the same thing as anti-androgens and be cheaper in the long run. Her bits might be worthless and in the way, but they were part of her.

And if Diego could love her the way she was, why would she want to be any other way?

He did love her, didn't he?

Or did he assume she would go under the knife and that she'd soon be a real woman? Is that why he talked of living together and marriage?

Lavender tossed her phone in her bag. The rest would be just like the texts: demands to know where she was or questions about if she'd be home last night. She hadn't looked at them earlier for a reason.

She pulled Diego's shirt over her knees and hugged them. Maybe she should just go home.

*~*~*

Diego finally got away from Mrs. Raleigh without saying what he really thought was the reason for Travis's strange behavior this morning. Mrs. Raleigh concluded that it was because Lavender was a very pretty lady and the only women Travis was used to seeing in their nightclothes were his mom and Jessica.

Causing a teenager to stammer, lose his concentration, and blush would take more than that, otherwise that would be all that seventeen-year-old boys could do.