Be My Queen Read Online Free PDF Page B

Diego kissed her forehead.
    "Hey, now," said Abuelito . "She's mine until five."
    Diego grinned. "I guess I can let you have her for that long."
    "Wait," said Lavender. "I need…"
    Diego touched her chin. "What?"
    Lavender looked over the crowd without seeing anything. "I… I have to buy something."
    "I'll take you."
    But Lavender wasn't about to let Diego see the store where she was buying the girdle. Maybe other stores had ones just as good. She was uncomfortably hard right now and he'd barely touched her.
    *~*~*
    Diego looked out at the water. Despite what Jessica had said, this would be a good spot for necking.
    Jessica leaned against the rail. "Why did you insist on paying for the ice cream? He was going to give it to us for free."
    "How am I supposed to show I can take care of his granddaughter if I took advantage of his hospitality?"
    "She isn't his granddaughter."
    "He said she was."
    "She isn't. None of his children live in the area."
    "That doesn't mean she isn't." Diego put his hand over his shorts pocket to make sure the necklace was still there.
    "The lady in the bead stall said she just showed up one day and asked for a job. Plus she's almost a foot taller than he is."
    "Lavender is the perfect height." She was tall enough that Diego didn't get a crick in his neck when he kissed her, but short enough to not be taller than him in high heels. Just because she wasn't related to the old man by blood didn't mean she wasn't his granddaughter. Diego's mother hadn't given birth to him, but she was his mother in every way that counted.
    Jessica scowled. What did she have against Lavender? "Are you nitpicking?"
    Jessica threw up her hands. "I always nitpick. Didn't Patrick tell you that?"
    "He only says nice things about you."
    Jessica snorted. "I don't believe that. Anyway, have fun with that girl. I can get home by myself."
    "Wait, Jessica. You have a reason not to like Lavender?"
    Jessica paused and looked anywhere but at him. "It's a woman thing."
    "That means?" Weren't 'woman things' supposed to be mysterious, not incomprehensible?
    Jessica pressed her lips together. "Don't you think she's too perfect?"
    Lavender's little quirks, like her bold shyness, were what made her perfect to him. "No."
    Jessica walked up the pier, then stopped. Diego caught up. Jessica sighed. "She's dressed like the world's most modest high schooler. Who wears long skirts anymore? Not even my mother. And I don't remember the last time my sister or her friends covered their bellies. Ruffles and lace? She's out of time."
    "That makes her wrong in some way?"
    "She's dressed like an extra from a pirate movie, and stands as sure and proud as if she were a queen."
    A Pirate Queen. If not this Halloween, the next. "That's wrong in some way?"
    "Her makeup is caked on, and she still gets boys drooling over her." Jessica pointed down the pier. Lavender was surrounded by teenage boys. They all stood a good way back from her as they licked their cones.
    "Her makeup isn't caked on." The girls she was with last night had much heavier makeup.
    "She could be anything," said Jessica, "but she chooses to be a living advertisement."
    There were worse ways to earn a living and just because she was pretty, healthy, and smart didn't mean that society didn't put impediments in her way.

Chapter Six
    Lavender tried not to show interest when Jessica walked by again. Diego wasn't with her. Where was he? He wasn't at the end of the pier or by any of the shops. The guy telling her about his favorite band glanced behind her. Huge, warm hands touched her hips. "Beautiful, I'll return at five."
    Diego kissed her neck and nodded at the guys near her. They nodded back, while looking at their feet. Diego caressed her palm with his fingertips as he moved away, sending shivers up her arm. She couldn't get the girdle soon enough. She should be wearing one now.
    After he turned a corner, she returned to the guys. The one with his hair in his eyes said, "So, that's your