“The challenge was for you to ride the horse. Right now, you’re just sitting in the saddle while I lead the horse around in circles.”
She grimaced at that because it was true. “Perhaps you should more completely define what you would consider ‘riding’, please?” She shifted in the saddle, trying to get more comfortable. But she suspected that sitting on a horse would never be comfortable. She had an enormous animal between her legs that could bolt and tear off into the sunset at any moment. It wasn’t a comforting thought.
His eyes moved to her backside and, as soon as she saw the heat flare in his eyes again, she sat absolutely still. He looked back up into her eyes again, silently telling her he understood what she was doing and it didn’t matter. Then chuckled when her cheeks flared a becoming shade of pink.
“Good color on you,” he muttered.
“Too much sun,” she replied back, looking away from him.
“Right,” he said, knowing the truth. “As for riding, when you do an acceptable posting trot, then we’ll talk.”
She shook her head. “Oh no! We’re not going with that ambiguous ‘talk’. You’re going to define what I have to do.”
He smothered yet another chuckle. Damn he liked this woman. She was direct, funny and beautiful. A dangerous combination. “Fine. Since you want an absolute, you’ll have to give me a perfect posting trot.”
She stared down at him as if he’d just spoken Greek. “What is a posting trot?” Her stomach tensed with the direction. She briefly considered option B but then shook her head, mentally dismissing the idea as ludicrous.
His grin widened. “You were thinking about the other possibility, weren’t you?” As he watched her cheeks turn that beautiful shade of pink again, his body hardened, making him almost wish she weren’t so stuck on this horseback riding lesson. But he’d already made up his mind and had to pull back. Patience was the most important issue with this little beauty, he reminded himself. In the end, he was sure he would succeed with his ultimate goal.
“A posting trot is when you’re lifting yourself up with a rhythm. You’ve probably seen riders do this before.” He waved over to the stable hand who had been holding Midas. “I’ll show you.”
Nikki was nervous for a moment when he released the reins on Nella but then she saw him striding over to the larger horse and her mind was completely distracted. She watched with fascination as Nazar took the reins and lifted himself onto the horse as if he’d actually flown up into the saddle. A moment later, he was walking the horse over to where she and Nella were waiting. “Watch me,” he commanded. With a flick of his heels, the stallion leapt forward.
She couldn’t believe how amazing the man looked as he rode through the sunshine. She’d thought he looked sexy when he walked, but that wasn’t even close to how he looked as he rode the amazing horse. They were like one, riding together and she could barely see him giving the animal directions but the two of them turned to the right and the left. And she saw the rhythm and her face flamed as images of the man in another…completely different scenario popped into her head.
And then he was right back next to her and she looked up at him, unaware that her mouth was open in awe and a clawing need that she didn’t completely understand. “That was….” She swallowed, not sure what to say.
Nazar saw the flush on her cheeks and his body hardened even more. Gritting his teeth, he tamped down the surge of lust and focused on helping her learn to ride. He suspected she would really enjoy it once she got the hang of it. “Your turn. Don’t try and go fast. Just put your heels to her belly and ask her walk.”
Nikki took the reins in her hand and said, “Walk,” to the horse, touching her heels delicately to Nella’s belly. The horse just stood there.
She heard the chuckle but refused to look at him. “A little harder. She needs to really make sure you want her to go.”
Nikki glared at him and then turned her head forward. “Walk,” she said with a firmer voice and nudged the horse in her belly once again.
Nazar grinned, but kept his amusement silent. “By nudging her in the belly, you’re telling her to move forward. You don’t really need to say the words, but some horses can be trained to listen to voice commands.”
For the next hour, Nikki listened to his instructions, determined to do everything perfectly so she could get this trotting stuff out of the way. Heels down, nudge to the right, nudge to the left, stop, go, sit up straight, heels down, right, left…..over and over again he called out commands. And poor Nella just went around in circles, probably bored out of her mind.
Nikki could feel the muscles in her inner thighs starting to burn but she didn’t say anything, ignoring the pain so she could learn the next step. She was determined to learn it all, and now it wasn’t just because of Brianna. She was just as determined to show that obnoxious man that she could do this, that she wasn’t an imbecile. And there was a small part of her that wanted to prove to herself that she could overcome her fear of the horse. She had to admit, Nella really was a kind animal. She just continued to follow Nikki’s instructions, never once showing any sign of impatience.
“Okay, I think that’s enough for now,” Nazar called out, riding over to her and pulling on Nella’s reins.
Nella apparently didn’t like Midas being so close and tried to step away, but Nazar pulled on her bit, settling the horse down. “You look tired. Why don’t we go back inside and cool down?”
Nikki shook her head. “No. I can do more. We haven’t trotted yet. You said I had to trot.”
“You can’t do this all in one day, Nicole,” he cautioned. “You’re using muscles that you aren’t used to using. You’ll be painfully sore by tomorrow just from today’s lesson.”
Nikki didn’t care, especially when he implied she would be here for several days. “How long is this going to take me?” she demanded even while one of the stable hands rushed over to grab the reins and take the horses, leading them back to the stables.
“It depends on how quickly you pick things up.” He pulled her into the darkness of the stables and Nikki looked around, worried that they were in a quiet, obviously unoccupied area. “How determined are you to get away from me?”