Free Nacho Figueras Presents by Jessica Whitman Page B

with every length she swam, things started to feel more serious. She relived all the events of the night before, starting with her insane decision to jump onto the polo field, to what felt like her even more insane decision to kiss Alejandro on the boat, and ending with the note of cold fury with which he’d wished her good night when, satisfied MacKenzie would be all right, she finally left the clinic. Georgia was always conscientious to a fault, raking over every professional decision at the end of the day to be sure she had no regrets. But yesterday’s situation ate at her way beyond that. She felt so exposed somehow and couldn’t help doubting everything that had happened, professional and personal.
    She hoped MacKenzie really was all right. She’d already checked her phone, half expecting a morning update, but there had been nothing. The surgeon had said that she’d made the right call, but she couldn’t help worrying. She had acted so impetuously, and Dr. Gustavo had looked so horrified at her conduct. What if she’d gotten things wrong? What if there had been complications after she left, and the beautiful horse was maimed, or worse yet, dead?
    She pushed herself under the water again, willing away the thought. Enough. She knew she’d been right. Her medical decisions were sound.
    But the rest of it. Alejandro…
    The man was ridiculously beautiful and the way he had kissed her—no wonder he got under her skin. He was also unforgivably presumptuous. No doubt he was used to any number of women simply throwing themselves at him. No doubt he assumed that she didn’t know about his young girlfriend or that, even if she did, she wouldn’t care. Well, fine. It was merely a kiss, after all. Well, a kiss or two. And, she told herself sternly, it had practically ended before it began.
    She climbed out of the pool, and Billy called out from the kitchen that they would go out later tonight. A quick glimpse of her pale and hairy legs sent her straight to her glorious guest bathroom for some serious damage control. Half an hour later, legs smooth, razor blunted, she slipped into one of Billy’s hotel-cozy robes and gladly accepted the mojito he handed her.
    While Billy lounged by the pool, Georgia gave her dad a quick call. She’d sent him a text from the airport when she landed yesterday, but she knew he would be uneasy until he heard her voice.
    Sam was with him. They were chatting about farm taxes, her dad said, but from the sound of his half-jocular, half-bellicose tone, it actually sounded to Georgia as if they were a good six-pack in. Georgia shook her head at her own hypocrisy. It was late in the afternoon, and here she was, after all, enjoying her own glass of rum and lime, but there was something about the forced mirth of her father when he was drinking that she found hard to take. Sam was talking over her dad, the two of them laughing and sharing inside jokes. Her dad always seemed to have more in common with Sam than she did. She tried to cut the conversation short with a breezy promise to call tomorrow.
    “Just you hold on,” her dad said. “Sam’s got an idea. He wants to set you up in business in the space below his offices in town. You can work off the rent. Says he’d much rather have a tenant he likes. He wants to invest in you.”
    “I know,” she said. “Sam and I talked about this earlier, but I’m not sure. I need to think about—”
    “What’s to think about?” her dad said, a little bit belligerent from the alcohol. “You’ll be your own boss from the get-go, not saddled by an overhead over which you have no control.”
    “Yes, Dad, I’m sure you’re right. But I don’t know if—”
    “It’s a generous offer, Georgia. Don’t disrespect it. Sam’s a good man. It’s what you don’t do that you regret.”
    She bit her lip, wondering what it was they were really talking about here. She knew her father would like nothing better than to see her settled nearby and couldn’t