Page 46 of Resisting Isaac

The sound that escapes him is a dark laugh full of dirty promises. “I know the important ones. Like when you’re angry, when you’re nervous, and when you’re coming so hard you aren’t breathing.”

“No, you did not just say that.”

He grins. “I did. And hey, look, you’re flying.”

I don’t say anything for a moment, too focused on how right his hand feels wrapped around mine, how my nerves are still on edge, but the fear isn’t strangling me anymore. The land below us is beautiful. I didn’t realize there were three winding rivers here or how far the ranch property extended toward the mountains.

“Wow,” I whisper. “This is pretty amazing. And huge.”

“That’s what she said.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Right up until you ruined it,” I say, shaking my head. “This is why we can’t have nice things.”

“There they are,” Isaac calls out when he spots the ranch foreman and one of the hands down below. I lean forward and the plane does too.

“Whoa there, spitfire. Look with your eyes, not the whole plane.”

My face heats but he gives my knee a quick squeeze. “I’ll take care of the landing. Gotta save something for next time.”

I do my best not to let him see that I’m excited by the possibility of a next time.

We reach the ridge quickly, the sun a sinking fireball behind us. Below, Antonio’s truck kicks up a cloud of dust while Colter and Marcos wave us down. Isaac lands smoothly, barely jolting the wheels as we taxi to a stop on the dirt. Once I’ve released the harness, he helps me out and lowers me gently onto the ground.

The mustang’s a beautiful fawn-colored female, wild eyes full of fear and pain as we approach. Her front leg is bloodied but doesn’t appear to be broken from what I can tell. She’s in distress though, sides heaving from having exhausted herself trying to get out of a stretch of loose fence.

“She’s spooked but not beyond saving,” Antonio says, tension lining his weathered face. “We just need to get her free and in the trailer.”

“I’ll take left,” Isaac says, already moving into action, his voice low and firm.

I loop the lead rope around my arm and approach from the right, keeping my movements slow. “Hey, girl,” I murmur. “You’re okay. We’re not gonna hurt you. I promise.”

It’s like dancing, the way we move around her. Isaac mirrors me without needing a word. He’s in tune with the horse.

With me. With everything.

I soothe her and keep her calm while Isaac and the hands work to free her from the fence. Antonio stands by the open trailer door.

Once she’s free, together Isaac and I flank her, coiling her space in tighter, narrowing the gap between her and the trailer. Colter and Marcos work to get her on a lead line. The mare tosses her head, lets out a sharp breath—but then Isaac murmurs something I can’t hear, just this calm, gravel-deep whisper, and she… moves.

She steps into the trailer.

Just like that.

The second the gate swings shut behind her, I exhale. My legs shake and my pulse is racing, but Isaac turns and catches my eye.

His smile isn’t smug—it’s something warmer. Something that sayswe did this.

“That charm of yours works on all female mammals, I see.”

“Not bad for your first time,” he says, voice low and rough.

I give him a pointed look. “We both know it wasn’t my first time, cowboy.”

He grins wider, the kind of grin that makes my heart somersault. He stops just short of touching me, eyes tracing my face like he’s trying to memorize every inch.

“Hey, Isaac,” Antonio calls out from the other side of the truck. “We have company.”

We turn to see a massive black male mustang emerge from the wooded area across from us. He blows twice. Hard, loud aggravated breaths coming from him, eyes deadlocked on Isaac.