Abuelito made up a yarn about how long Diego and Lavender had been in love and how Diego had to keep going up to Oregon for his job, and how Abuelito dreaded the day Diego would come and take Lavender away forever.
The new guys looked Lavender over. She smiled back because they bought ice cream. These new guys told her about a better movie that they'd seen. A family came up for ice cream, but couldn't get to the window. Lavender smiled at each of the guys, said she'd see them later, and went inside the shop to help Abuelito.
Once the guys were gone, several other families came by. Lavender sighed.
"Tired?" Abuelito asked.
Lavender wasn't really, but talking to the guys, being talked to like she was a real girl, had lost some of its appeal when compared to Diego's attention.
More guys arrived. Lavender sold them each an ice cream cone. Abuelito shooed her to the front of the shop. She smiled, nodded, and flirted, admired skateboards, shoes, and haircuts, but today, more than ever, this was work.
This wasn't how people acted when they really liked someone. It wasn't how Diego acted with her.
*~*~*
Diego leaned against a railing. He was close enough to see her, but far enough that he wouldn't interfere with her work: getting people, especially boys, to buy ice cream. Half of the boys around her weren't as tall as she was. She'd make a wonderful hostess for one of Mom's parties. Tall, smart, beautiful, and friendly in an elite way, not to be touched, but with a smile that drew men in. He was one of those men.
He checked his phone. A few more minutes.
A woman walked by the ice cream shop with two children. The preschooler begged for a treat, but the mother said no. She was trying to pick out a basket at the stall on the other side of the row. The girl threw a tantrum and knocked over the toddler, who'd just wiggled out of his mother's arms. He looked at his mother, at his sister, then back at his mother, and howled. Seconds later, the noise stopped. Lavender was on her knees in front of the little boy. She covered her face, then revealed it. The little boy laughed. The little girl got to her feet and talked to Lavender. Diego couldn't hear what they were saying, but one of the boys brought Lavender a napkin and she wiped the little girl's cheeks.
Lavender looked so right with small children. Maybe someday, those children around her would be theirs.
The mother paid for her basket, picked up her toddler, talked to Lavender for a while, then spoke to the girl. The girl shook her head and looked at her feet as she said something to Lavender. Lavender smiled. The little girl looked up at her mother with pleading eyes, but she didn't cry. The mother bought two ice cream cones. The one for the little girl was upside down in a cup. The mother shared the other with the toddler. The little girl talked to Lavender until her ice cream melted. Then, she followed her mother up the pier while eating the sticky cone.
Lavender watched them go, her lip between her teeth.
Diego smiled at Lavender's grandfather and put his finger to his lips. Her grandfather nodded towards the back of the shop. The boys near Lavender bristled. Diego ignored them. They weren't worth his time. Lavender's grandfather looked at her with a sigh. "You say you will marry her?"
Diego nodded. "If she'll have me."
"I love her," her grandfather placed a hand over his heart, "as if she were my own."
"I can understand that."
Lavender was lovely, filled with grace and beauty.
"You will do right by her?"
"We'll invite you to our wedding."
Lavender's grandfather laughed. He looked at Lavender. "You don't mind her little crowd?"
A boy tried to get her attention.
"She is a goddess. They have come to worship."
Her grandfather smiled at her. "A saint. A virgin."
Diego hoped not. Many people found their first time painful or awkward—he'd buy some lube, just in case.
*~*~*
That was Diego's laugh. Where was he? Lavender turned. Why was he talking to Abuelito behind the shop? He grinned and walked up to her. "It's five."
He wrapped his arms around her waist. "You're mine."
Diego's lips pressed against hers and his tongue slid into her mouth. He kissed her like he was never letting her go. So good. And he was still a gentleman, and he didn't pull her hips against his, so she didn't have to stop him. Her body was painfully turned on, but his hands on her skin… she'd only have him for this week. She had to savor him while she could.
"Now, now," said Abuelito. "Go have fun."
Diego stepped back with a sigh. "We will, Abuelito."
Abuelito pressed money into Lavender's hand. "Princess, come back when you are as lonely as me. I will be here when he returns home."
Diego laughed. "What if I convince her to move up with me?"
As if that would happen. She waved good-bye to Abuelito. The guys she'd been talking to had retreated to the basket shop across the way. One called that he'd see her later. She nodded to him and the others. A few waved. Diego pressed his hand against her back. "You're mine for the evening. What do you want to do first?"
She needed to buy that girdle. Had she made enough money? How could she get one without him knowing?
Diego loved lingerie stores. This one was pink, and also lavender-scented. Would she like this perfume? He liked the way she smelled now, but lots of people liked scents, and some of the scents made a good-smelling person delicious.
Lavender stopped in the doorway and turned. "You aren't coming in."
"Why not?" Diego lifted a purple camisole off a rack and held it against Lavender. "This would look good on you."
She rolled her eyes. "I need to shop."
He waved her further in. "Go ahead. I'll keep myself busy."
He picked up a bra. He needed to find one in the correct color, but covered in lace. She'd need the support of fabric beneath it. Maybe several layers. Every time he kissed her, her nipples showed through her shirt. He spotted some of the push-up variety. She didn't need the extra boost, but that thick layer of foam would keep her nipples hidden from everyone but him.
This one looked the right size. Now, where was she? She was already headed toward the front of the store. "We can go."
"Didn't find what you were after?"
She looked past him and whispered, "Not here."
He leaned down until his lips touched her ear. "I'll make up the difference."
She shook her head.
"Please. I want to see you in this." Diego held up the bra.
Lavender took the bra and laughed. "This is not my size."
"What size are you?"
She led him back to the rack and pulled out a different size. He spotted another purple one in that size, but in a different style. He walked around the store picking out purple things. Most were pale purple, but a few were bright, and one was almost black. The woman behind the counter said they could only take five things in the dressing room at a time, so he picked his five favorite bras and pulled her in after him.
She crossed her arms. "I'm not changing with you in here."
She was so delicious. He rubbed his fingers across her cheek. "Why not?"
"I thought you were a gentleman."
Diego grinned. "That's only my disguise."
She pointed to the door. "Out."
He opened the door. "Will you show me?"
Lavender sighed. "If it will make you happy."
"It'll make me very happy." He leaned back in for a kiss. She must not be as mad as she pretended to be if she could still kiss him like that.
He waited outside the door. Was he the only guy in the store? Probably. None of the other women in the changing room had men waiting. Lavender's door opened and she stuck out her hand. He took it and let her draw him in. The gaps in the bra's pale lace showed off her dark skin nicely, but the darker, richer one might go better with her coloring.
"Does it fit?" It looked fine to him, but then, he had never worn one. Some of his exes had complained about straps digging in and fabric itching.
"It's fine. Do you like it?"
Diego pressed his face against her shoulder and lowered his head until her breasts touched his cheeks. "It's perfect."
Lavender laughed. "Is that all it takes to be perfect?"
"As long as you like it, I do."
She crossed her arms over her beautiful chest. "Really?"
"As long as you like it and it looks beautiful on you and makes me want to see you without it, it's perfect."
She grinned and turned, so she was looking at him over her shoulder. "Really?"
He nodded.
"Then unfasten me and pick out the one I should try next."
Really? She smiled at him in the mirror. Maybe a week was all he'd need to win her heart.
*~*~*
Lavender liked the way Diego looked at her. As if she was his heart's desire. Of course, she wasn't, but for today, she'd pretend she was.
He held his hands an inch from her skin and waited for her to consent to his help, even though she'd already said yes. And he didn't touch her just anywhere. She was a treasure, a porcelain doll, a Fabergé egg: fragile and special and irreplaceable.
Diego set two bras and a camisole Lavender looked particularly good in on the counter, and placed the small bottle of the lavender-scented perfume beside them.
"Plus whatever she doesn't want me to see." He passed his credit card to the cashier. "A girl must keep her secrets."
The cashier grinned. Lavender scowled. "I could buy out the store."
"You won't, because then I can't take you to dinner." He pointed toward the nightie section. "Call me when you need my signature."
Too bad this store didn't have a wider color selection. Lavender would look adorable in a baby-doll, especially this transparent one. Lavender took it out of his hands and hung it back up. "I would never wear that."
"Wrong color?"
She rolled her eyes. He followed her to the counter, where the purchases were safely bagged. He signed the screen. She hadn't spent as much as he thought she would. The mysterious thing couldn't have cost more than the bras.
"Now where?" He knew better than to ask to carry the bag.
"Home." She looked down at herself. "This isn't what I planned on wearing."
If they went back, she might find some excuse not to go out with him. She was the fish he had at the end of his line, and he was coaxing her in. He stopped in front of a shop window. Inside was a dress with not just any purple flowers on it. "You have to try this on."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
Lavender rustled the bag.
Diego scanned the mall. "Change in the restroom?"
Lavender shook her head. "You have an answer for everything."
"I do." Diego grinned.
He walked her to the ladies' room. "The bra that opens in front?"
She eyed him and pushed the door open. He leaned against the wall opposite the door. Whatever she came out wearing would be beautiful, simply because she was wearing it.
*~*~*
Lavender pulled off the girdle's tag. That man was frustrating. He'd just spent over a hundred dollars on her, and he planned to spend more. She wasn't a kept girl or a mistress. She didn't need him paying for everything. A trip to the secondhand store and a bottle of purple dye would keep her happy for a long time.
But she'd seen him in action this afternoon. He was stubborn when paying for stuff, so she'd let him. Maybe he'd hit his credit limit. That would show him.
But what made him the most infuriating was how pretty the new bra and girdle made her, so feminine, so female. Or maybe that was just because of the way he looked at her.
Infuriating to the bone.
*~*~*
Diego held the dress in front of Lavender. "Pretty, right?"
She bit her lip. He leaned forward and kissed her neck. She smelled of the perfume he'd just bought her. The dress had buttons down the front, which would give him easy access to all the places he longed to go. She took the dress and fluffed at the skirt. "I'll need a slip."
A slip would get between him and her perfect breasts. He looked around the store. A clerk stepped up. "How can I help?"
"We need a half-slip, or something that would work as a half-slip. Maybe something fluffy?"
The clerk had just the thing, or rather, several things—maybe she worked on commission—but this gave Diego the chance to spend a bit more quality time with Lavender in a changing room. Lavender let him in after she'd put on a full, white skirt with ruffles at the hem. He didn't mind, since he did so love her top half.
After trying many things on, Lavender consented to letting him pay for the dress with the lavender on it and the white skirt. While she changed into them in the dressing room, he paid for a second outfit. This one was a little less frilly, in a more 'classic' style. She had said 'no' as soon as she'd seen the price tag, but she really had looked gorgeous in it. She should wear it when she met his mother. Mom would love her, because Diego did, but first impressions were still important.
She eyed the bag, but said nothing. He led her to a jewelry shop with very reflective, black glass walls. She put her hands on her hips. "You aren't getting me in there."
He stepped behind her and kissed her ear. "I know."
The necklace chain was miraculously not tangled, despite spending hours in his pocket. He slipped it around her neck. "I was passing the time at the pier, waiting to see you, when I was distracted by the most beautiful woman in the world."
"Diego!" She smacked his arm, but not very hard.
He kissed her neck.
She touched the amethyst pendent. "Thank you. It's very pretty."
"So are you." He steered her into a department store.
"I don't need anything else."
He pointed at her feet. "Mom says no one is completely dressed without the right shoes."
She sighed. "And just what are the right shoes?"
First, he stopped in the sock section and picked out some tights. She put them back. "L.A. in September."