Nacho Figueras Presents (14 page)

H
e would not be stopped this time. The sight of her watching him—the sexy flush that lit up her face when she realized she was caught, the shock in her eyes, which had almost instantly turned into an urgent invitation, the way he could see each luscious curve of her figure in her panties and translucent tank top—had caused his body to roar into life. Every well-trained reflex, every fierce and brutal instinct to take what he wanted, to win at all costs, had thrown him into action. He did not stop. He just closed the distance between the two of them and took her in his arms.

She smelled like lavender and honey, sweet almonds, and under all that, a faint musk that he immediately recognized as sexual excitement. Without even kissing her first, he ran his hand down her body and cupped her crotch, feeling the warm, soaking wetness that he had instinctively known would be there.

She gasped and quivered under him, pushing her hips against his hand. He reached up with his other hand and tore off her tank top, letting her glorious breasts come unbound with a gentle bounce, feeling the full extent of her hot, silky skin smack against his own damp chest as he pressed his body to hers, and claimed her lips with his.

He roughly pushed his tongue past her lips, plunging and exploring, tasting the sweetness of her, taking her lower lip between his teeth and biting down until she groaned and twisted against him.

“Oh God,” she breathed, and one hand rose to twine itself in his hair, while the other grasped his rear, pushing him even farther against her until he felt he might burst, he was so hard.

With a growl, he tore his mouth from hers and brought his lips to her throat, finding the sensitive spot just above her collarbone, pausing a moment to nibble and tease her there as she sighed and writhed. He moved to her breasts, urgently kissing, licking, and biting first one and then the other, and then sucking her nipple into his mouth, feeling it tighten under his tongue as she threw back her head and cried out in pleasure.

She grabbed at the button on his shorts and pulled them open, grasping the length of him in her hand. He shuddered, her hand felt so good. She sank to her knees, dragging his shorts off him, and her mouth closed around him, swirling and sucking, and for a moment he shut his eyes and lost himself in the warm wet of her tongue and lips and mouth, felt himself getting harder and harder, until he pulled away with a hoarse, “No!
Todavia no.
Not yet.”

“Alejandro,” she whispered as he pulled her back up and against him, “I want—”

He interrupted her with another kiss, deep and searching, as one hand cupped her breast, finding the hard, pink tip and pinching it softly between his fingers, rubbing and teasing, while his other hand hooked her panties and pulled them down and off her. He ran his fingers through her soft, tight curls until he found the molten wetness within.

She moaned as he parted her, searching out her rigid little clit, and caressing it gently as she bucked against his hand.

“Please,” she groaned, and he turned her away from him and braced her against the wall, enclosing her body within his and pushing the length of himself against her luscious curves. He reached around and continued to circle the sensitive little bud with one hand, and with the other, he found her entrance. He slowly pushed a finger inside her, feeling the plush slickness, and then another, finding the spot that made her suddenly cry out, jerking her hips over and over, contracting against his hand as she rode the waves of her climax. Her pleasure made him ravenous. He could hardly contain his need to be inside her, to feel her around him, but he forced himself to wait. He wanted to savor every moment of this night.

She collapsed against the wall for a moment, her shoulders heaving, and then turned around and pressed herself against him. He groaned, feeling her slickness, and then he reached down and swept her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

He laid her on the bed, and she gazed up at him, so gorgeous in the moonlight, her long, honeyed curls spread out behind her, her hazel eyes half-closed, her lips red and swollen. He kissed and licked his way down her pearly skin, lingering at the soft curve of her hip, the little dip of her belly button, and then placing his mouth over the mound of her curls, breathing softly, kissing gently, tasting the salty sweetness of her, until he could feel the nib get hard again, until her breath came in little gasps. She wriggled under his tongue, greedily pushing herself against his mouth.

“
Shh, shh, quedate quieta
, let me take my time. You taste so good.”

“Oh God,” she moaned, “I don't think I can wait.”

He kissed her again, softly, and then harder, teasing her with little flicks of his tongue, driving her to greater and greater heights of desire as she writhed and pulsed under his mouth. He slid his hands under her, grasping her behind, pulling her closer, bringing her silky thighs against his face, and then immersed himself into the soft wetness of her, losing himself in her sweetness and the sound of her pleasure.

She cried out, her hands gripping his hair, her hips pulsating against him. She shuddered uncontrollably under his touch.

“I need to feel you inside me. Please, please—do you have a condom?”

He rested against her a moment, thinking, and then laughed and sat up. He opened a small silver box on the bedside table and showed her the contents. Her eyes widened. “This place really does have everything,” she murmured.

“I never thought I'd say this, but thank God for Sebastian's bad habits,” said Alejandro as he ripped open the little packet and rolled the condom onto himself.

He lowered himself over her, searching out the silky wetness between her legs. She shuddered under his touch. “Please,” she whispered.

He paused to look at her face; her hazel eyes glossy with need, the pretty constellation of freckles against the cream of her skin, her delicious, irresistible lips. He wanted her so badly. He was nearly wild with it. He parted her legs with his thigh.

Suddenly, her eyes went wide. She pushed him away, scrambling back in the bed. “The light! Alejandro!”

He turned around, confused.

Through the window he saw the back porch light had come on at the main house. Someone in the household had come outside, most likely his mother, or Valentina, looking for him.

“
Mierda
,” he swore as he leapt out of bed. She followed. He went into the living room and retrieved his shorts, pulling them on. He looked at her and ran his hands through his hair, an apology on his lips.

“Go. Go, quick!”

He slipped out the door, quickly snagging his shirt from the ground as he strode toward the porch.

G
eorgia watched Alejandro duck through the back door and then the porch light went out again.

She stood naked in her living room, trying to catch her breath, her entire body trembling with adrenaline. She could barely stand, she felt completely wrung out, but at the same time—as if something had been ripped from her—empty and unfulfilled.

What had she done?

After all her big words about professionalism. After practically lecturing him on the need for them to be nothing more than employer and employee. She'd acted like a cat in heat. She hadn't even tried to stop him.

But God, how could she have stopped him? The way he looked, the way he smelled, the way he held her, everything he did, every single touch, felt like absolute bliss. She must have come half a dozen times—and she was still standing here, aching for more.

She took a deep breath and shivered. Well, mistake or not, it was her first day of work tomorrow. It might begin with her being fired, but she supposed she would have to show up to find out.

F
or the first time in a long time, Alejandro overslept.

Normally, he never even bothered to set an alarm, he was so predictable in his habits. As soon as the sun was up, so was he. Usually long before anyone else in the household. But this morning, when he opened his eyes, the light was much too bright, and he heard the distinct sounds of breakfast being consumed in the kitchen.

He groaned in frustration. He thought of the confused look on his mother's face when he had opened the back door the night before and found her standing in the hall. “
Hijo
, I thought I heard—what in the world?”

He'd marched past her, barely making eye contact, “Swimming,” he muttered as he sent himself straight to bed.

He checked the clock and cursed. A full two hours later than he'd meant to get up. He had planned on slipping out this morning and finding a private moment to talk with Georgia before they started work. He was determined to apologize, to take complete responsibility, to let her know that it would never happen again…

Never? Really?

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, feeling the insane amount of longing from last night. Leaving her there like that, naked, and trembling, with his desire unslaked, had been one of the hardest things he'd ever done. It was only the thought of his mother, or worse yet, his daughter, finding them there that had forced him out of her arms.

Now he would have to face her at work like the hypocrite he was.

His family was sitting around the kitchen table, finishing up
café con leche
, fruit, and croissants. They all stared at him as he entered the room and casually poured himself some coffee.

“
Papá
,” said Valentina. “You're back.”

He helped himself to an orange. “I am.”

“But—”

“It was a late night.”

Sebastian smiled knowingly. “Oh?”

“He was swimming,” said Pilar. “At two in the morning.”

Sebastian shot him a puzzled look. “Swimming?”

“Couldn't sleep,” said Alejandro.

“Well, I hope you didn't disturb
la doctora
,” said Pilar. “I didn't get a chance to tell you that I ended up putting her in the pool house.”

“Yes, I don't know if that was the best idea,
Mamá
. Awfully close quarters. She may as well be living under our roof.”

Pilar's eyebrows shot up.

“So you did disturb her, then?” said Sebastian silkily.

“No, I mean, yes, I may have seen her.”

They all looked at him, waiting.

He threw his napkin down. “I need to get to the barn.” He stood up and headed for the door.

Pilar called after him. “
Hijo
, just so you know, I was thinking I would invite her to dinner this week. Make her feel welcome.”

He briefly squeezed his eyes shut in frustration, but tried to keep his voice as normal as possible. “
Sí
, whatever you think is best,
Mamá.
”

He waited until he was well clear of the house and then stopped, trying to gather his wits. He swore softly to himself. What was wrong with him? He hadn't even been able to face his own family without acting the fool. How did he expect to deal with a barn full of employees and Georgia herself?

He took a deep breath. He would just find her. Find her right away and take her somewhere private and…

Her breasts. Her thighs. The way she tasted. The look on her face when he caught her watching him in the pool…

Take her somewhere private and finish what we started last night…

He violently shook his head. “No,” he said aloud. He would talk to her and apologize and be done with it, and then get back on a goddamned horse and get ready for the next game.

A
pproaching the barn, Georgia couldn't help being intimidated by the facilities. Though obviously built much more recently, the building's design echoed the Del Campo
hacienda
, with the same gleaming white adobe walls, and red terra-cotta roof. But it was, if anything, even more impressive than the mansion, with enormous arched windows and Corinthian pillars running the length of the building.

Georgia thought of her own little dilapidated four-stall barn at home and sighed. She was definitely in over her head.

Once inside the barn, though, she immediately felt at home. It smelled wonderful in there, of linseed oil and saddle soap, deep beds of fresh hay and clean horses, and every stall was alive with Mexican grooms and working students, many of them teenage girls, their ponytails swinging, as they raked hay and picked hooves and carried heavy buckets of feed through the corridors.

There were neat checklists for turnout and grooming and feed on every stall; clearly the place was run with military precision. Most of the staff paused in what they were doing to give Georgia a sweeping look that finished with the thousand-dollar boots Beau had given her, and then quickly dismissed her. She was starting to get a bad feeling that fitting in might be harder than she'd hoped.

“Where's Enzo, please?” Georgia asked one of the students, a young African-American kid busy changing feed.

“With the blacksmith,” he said. “Last stall.”

“Thanks,” she said and offered a hand to shake, which he took very uncertainly. Obviously, that was not usually done.

She walked down the long central corridor, dust motes in the air, trophies lined up along the wall, framed black-and-white photographs of the team's triumphs displayed as if in a museum.

There were beautiful trunks outside every stall, topped with small colorful bins filled with curry brushes and combs and hoof picks, each one carefully labeled with the horse's names.

The horses all looked in such top health she wondered if there could possibly be enough for her to do. Every horse in the barn was better looked after than a Hollywood child star, groomed within an inch of their lives and tended to by a fleet of eagerly competing staff.

Before she reached the end of the barn, she noticed a group of grooms, students, and the veterinarian, Dr. Gustavo, all crowding around a stall and laughing.

Gustavo craned his neck to look into the stall, and his theatrical expression of astonishment triggered snickers from the grooms. “Is the
señor
out of his mind?”

Georgia saw a little spotted nose emerge from the stall, apparently hoping for a pat. It was Sugar.

“An interesting judgment call,” one of the students drawled in a loud aside to Dr. Gus.

Georgia smarted, thinking that the judgment call had actually been hers.

“Apparently, this is what happens when I'm not in the decision-making mix,” Gustavo said, stepping up to take a closer look at Sugar. The little horse gazed at him placidly, switching her tail and blinking her eyes. Gustavo shook his head and sneered at the palomino. “You think Alejandro plans to ride her or eat her?” he asked, and he poked the mare's ample belly.

“Hey,” said Georgia, “she's not fat, she's pregnant.”

They all turned as one to stare at her. Georgia bit her lip, embarrassed to be the center of attention.

Dr. Gustavo stared at her with frank dislike. “What are you doing here?” he said softly.

“I—well, it's my first day and—”

Gustavo blinked. “First day at what?”

Georgia was speechless. Apparently he didn't know that she'd been hired.

“I—”

“Gustavo,” interrupted a calm, deep voice from behind her, “I'm sure you remember Dr. Fellowes?”

Georgia turned. There was Alejandro, wearing his riding gear, standing so close she could feel the heat coming off his body. His eyes met hers and flickered in acknowledgment, but then he looked past her back at Gustavo.

Dr. Gustavo's face was claret. “Indeed.”

“I'm happy to confirm she'll be joining us for the season. I know you'll make her welcome, and she'll do everything in her power to supplement all you do.”

Gustavo's face got even redder. Georgia extended her hand, but he ignored it, looking at Alejandro. “Perhaps I could have a moment of your time in your office?” he asked haltingly. He turned back to Georgia. “If you'll excuse us for one moment,
señorita
?”

“Oh,” Georgia said, coolly taking note of the way he called her
señorita
instead of doctor. “Yes, of course.”

The men went into Alejandro's office and closed the door, and the crowd of grooms dispersed, getting back to their work. Georgia hesitated for a moment, not sure what to do, until she heard the soft nicker of Sugar, calling her over.

“Hey, little girl,” she said as she pressed her forehead to the mare's and scratched behind her ear, “at least someone's glad to see me.”

Sugar huffed and nibbled at Georgia's neck. Georgia laughed, but then froze when Alejandro's irritated voice echoed out of his office and resounded into the corridors.

“Gustavo, you knew very well we needed a replacement and that Hendy and I were stepping in.”

“Yes, but I did not expect you to hire some girl without even consulting me first.”

Alejandro snorted impatiently. “First off, she's not a girl. She's a highly skilled and conscientious veterinarian. Which is much more than I can say about your choice.”

The fight could clearly be heard by half the barn. Georgia stood frozen as all the grooms seemed to turn in unison to listen. She was mortified and then furious. What chance did she have of commanding any workplace authority with a beginning like this?

A slim young woman with silky, white-blond hair and eyes so dark they were almost black materialized next to her. “Hello,” she said. “I'm Antonia, known to most as Noni. That or the blacksmith. You must be our new vet.”

“Er, yes,” said Georgia, her eyes darting between the woman and the office. The men's voices were getting even louder. “I guess you were told about me, then, even if no one else was?”

Noni smiled. “I suspect that most of us knew you were coming, but no one wanted to tell Gustavo.”

Georgia shook her head and sighed. “Great.”

“So, any questions so far?”

“A million,” Georgia said, trying to ignore the rising voices from Alejandro's office.

“Let's start with one,” Noni said, striding away from Georgia so that she was forced to follow her out of the barn and out of hearing.

“Okay.” Georgia took a deep breath and tried to shake off her humiliation. Her gaze scanned the nearest corral. “Who's that guy?”

She pointed to the far field, where a handsome older horse chewed thoughtfully on his daily allotment of grass, and a tall, striking man with dark hair stood nearby filling a trough with water.

Noni smiled. “The horse is Tango. Elder statesman. He's the first pony on whom Alejandro won MVP. Most Valuable Player. He keeps him with him. Lucky talisman. The man is Enzo. He's the
piloto
.”

Georgia nodded, her mind scanning rapidly. “Sorry, but what exactly does the
piloto
do?”

“He's like part trainer, part barn manager. He also gets to play polo in the practice games. And he exercises the horses. He's usually first here and last to leave—quite likely he'll be the one to call you if you're needed in the night.”

There was another exclamation from the office. Georgia cringed.

“I think you should start by talking to Enzo,” Noni said, walking rapidly out into the field, Georgia trailing behind.

“Hey, Enzo. Georgia has some questions for you about what you do as
piloto
.”

Georgia turned to Noni to thank her but the woman had already moved on.

Gustavo jabbed a finger at Alejandro. “You're deliberately undermining me. I should have some say in who's assisting me. The girl made one lucky guess about an injured horse and has a pair of nice
tetas
—”

Alejandro slammed his hand against the desk. “Enough! We have done our due diligence, and I resent the suggestion we'd do anything less. Lord Henderson is satisfied and so am I. And if you're not capable of treating her as the professional she is, then you need to seriously consider your position.”

Dr. Gustavo sputtered. “Your father would never have—”

Alejandro's voice dropped dangerously low. “As you have pointed out to me countless times, Gustavo, I am not my father. Now please get out there, take ten minutes, then come back and begin to teach her what she needs to know.”

Gustavo eyed him belligerently, breathing heavily, clearly weighing his options while refusing to give way.

There was a soft cough behind them. They turned to see Noni, standing with her head cocked, unsmiling, but with a gleam in her dark eyes.

“Gentlemen,” she said, “everything okay?”

Alejandro took a step back. “Fine, Antonia. Did you need something?”

Noni nodded. “Yes, I just wanted to double-check about shoeing Rosa. I wasn't sure if it was time or not.”

Gustavo nodded stiffly and turned to go. “If you will excuse me…”

Noni stepped back and let him pass. Alejandro made to have the last word, but she gently laid her hand on his arm. “Let it lie for now, Jandro. You can talk to him when you are calmer.”

Alejandro hesitated for a moment and then kissed his sister's cheek. “All right, Antonia. Thank you for your timely interference.”

Noni shrugged it off.

“You met her?” Alejandro asked. “Georgia?”

“Yes. Very nice,” Noni said. “She's not particularly happy with you, though.”

Alejandro felt himself flush. What had she told his sister?

“She wasn't exactly pleased to be sprung on Gustavo like that. And I can't say I would be either. You just made her job that much harder.”

He nodded, relieved. “Oh,
sí,
but that was a mistake. I thought Hendy had informed Gustavo already, and obviously, Hendy thought I had done the honors.”

“Well, in any case, I believe you have some damage control to do.”

Alejandro smiled ruefully.
More than you know.