Page 36 of Resisting Isaac

Isaac smirks. “Week One is all about safety and fundamentals. That means understanding ranch rules, barn etiquette, and horse behavior. You can’t work with something if you can’t read it.”

He gestures toward the group of grazing geldings in the pasture.

“They’re not props. They’re animals with instincts, emotions, and boundaries. You’ll learn how to approach a horse, how to read body language, how to tell when they’re spooked or relaxed.”

Next to me, Mikayla whispers, “I’d like to let him readmybody language.”

I might throw up.

“Grooming is essential,” Isaac continues. “You’ll all learn to brush them out, clean hooves, and tack up with proper equipment. No shortcuts. No assistants. You want to look like cowboys on camera, you need to work like one first.”

“We mucking stalls, too?” Eli asks, already grimacing.

Isaac flashes a wolfish grin. “Only if you’re lucky.”

Mikayla fake-retches.

He walks the line of us slowly now, like he’s measuring something deeper than posture. I feel his gaze before it hits me.

“By the end of this week, you’ll mount and dismount like you’ve done it your whole life, even if you haven’t. You’ll hold your reins with control. Sit tall in the saddle. And when we walk around the arena, you’ll stop your horse like you mean it. Every move is intentional.”

A shiver tiptoes down my spine. His voice is steady but firm, and for some reason, every time he says with intention, my core clenches.

“Week Two, we move into horsemanship and arena skills,” Isaac says. “We’ll go over saddle types and fitting, and you’ll all learn how to post at the trot?—”

“What’s posting?” Mikayla cuts in, batting her lashes.

“It’s when your hips rise with the rhythm of the horse’s trot,” he answers smoothly, not even reacting to the flirt.

I bite my lip and look away. I shouldn’t care.

But I do.

Mikayla isn’t satisfied. “Is that where the saying posture like a lady, hips like a whore, comes from?”

Kyle snorts. Nora frowns. I try not to care if Isaac indulges her.

He doesn’t. He just smirks and continues his monologue.

“We’ll cover rein steering, leg pressure, and leading a horse through poles on the ground. It’s harder than it looks. You’ll learn emergency stops, one-rein stops, and arena spacing so no one gets trampled. Safety comes first. Every time.”

I’m nodding before I realize it. As much as I hate to admitit, I’m impressed at how seriously he’s taking this and that he knows his stuff.

“And then?” Kyle asks, already sweating through his flannel.

Isaac leans against a post and folds his arms. “And then we see who has what it takes to be a cowboy.”

His gaze locks with mine. I think it’s accidental. But maybe it isn’t.

My stomach gives a strange, fluttery kick.

His eyes on mine is a bad idea every time. Instantly I’m transported back to that damn hotel room, feeling him sinking deeper inside me as my body opens for him.

“You gonna line up with the others?”

I cross my arms and lean against the fence, feigning being casual. But my heart is hammering blood into my ears a million miles an hour.

My voice comes out firmer than I mean it to. “Are we seriously pretending I need to learn how to mount a horse?”