Nacho Figueras Presents by Jessica Whitman Read Free Book Online Page B

Alejandro never should have let Gustavo make the pick. Worried that he was losing influence with the team, the older man made sure that the new vet was cringingly weak and totally biddable. And while the pathetic specimen he’d chosen did serve to make Dr. Gus look good in comparison, he did pretty much zero to benefit the team.
    Alejandro gave the men a terse hello and suggested they might like to get back to the barns to check on the ponies. Gustavo colored and set down his drink as if he’d been slapped.
    Alejandro resented the older man for forcing him into what had to sound like a reprimand and wished—not for the first time—that he had whatever quality would inspire his staff simply to do the right thing, sparing him the necessity of acting like an asshole.
    Valentina appeared, wanting money for one of the thousands of overpriced trinkets on sale. The girl could run through cash like nothing Alejandro had ever known. Still irritated by the vets and his brother, he decided it would be easier to just give in. He reached in his pocket for a fifty. Valentina gave him a perfunctory kiss on the cheek and then folded and pocketed the crisp note and turned away. He was left with the uncomfortable feeling he’d just bought his way out of a scene. One more loss of unrecoverable control.
    *  *  *
    Georgia watched as Alejandro was kissed by a stunning girl with long, dark bangs wearing the latest everything. By contrast with the blushing wreck the man had made of her, this woman looked completely fearless in his presence, tugging on his shirt and speaking to Alejandro as if they were the only two in the room. He offered her something which she snatched from his hand before kissing him and then turning on her heel. Alejandro looked for a second like his heart might break.
    Georgia tried to curb her stupid disappointment. Of course, she didn’t know who the young woman was to Alejandro, but the interaction between them dripped with intimate familiarity. She smiled ruefully, thinking that she had, at last, disproven Billy’s faith in her ability to take the measure of a man almost as soon as she met him, because she sure as heck hadn’t pegged Alejandro as being the type who dated the barely legal.
    A voice over the loudspeaker announced that the grounds would be closing in thirty minutes. Sebastian suggested Beau and Billy and Georgia meet them at the Player’s Club after the match tomorrow evening. Rory gave Georgia a salacious wink as he left. Sebastian swooped in for two kisses, murmuring a very private “Lovely to meet you” in Georgia’s ear as he slipped away.
    Beau had to return to pack up his booth so he and Billy unpeeled their fingers with a lingering look of promise. As the tent crowd moved toward the exits, Billy looked to Georgia with barely contained hope in his coffee-colored eyes. “So?” he said. “What did you think?”
    Georgia smiled at her friend. “Honestly? I thought he was great. But I’m not so sure that my judgment can be trusted at the moment.”
    Billy swept her up off the floor and into a bear hug. “Oh, I knew it! I knew you’d like him. He’s just about perfect, right?”
    Georgia laughed. “He seems to be a very nice man.”
    Billy put her down, but continued to beam at her. “And didn’t you have fun?” he asked. “You were a hit with Sebastian. And Rory, too, from the looks of it.”
    Georgia waved that away, embarrassed. “Oh, come on. They were just being polite, is all.”
    They left the shade of the tent and headed for the car. Billy was chattering happily about the evening treatments he’d booked for them both at the spa.
    Georgia waited until she trusted her voice to sound casual. “So, what’s the older brother’s story?”
    “Alejandro? Oh, total bummer, right? His wife was in a coma forever after being injured in a show-jumping accident. His father passed only a little while before they turned off her life support.” He glanced at Georgia and frowned.