Strolling outside - watching the moonbeams dance in and out of the trees. So serene. Each passing day was finding me stronger and more sure of myself. I absent-mindedly played with the ring on my left hand. Remembering Hando...bent down on one knee...offering himself to me...looking as if he'd break if I were to say anything other than 'yes'. A heady experience indeed. Someone of Hando's nature and reputation, breaking the stereotype. He was close enough, at Isobel's house, that I could feel him as if his hand was on my shoulder. The vibes were of a nervous yet vigilant condition with a touch of, what is that? Mischief? Oh no...

Dominic entered my thoughts. He was whooping it up inside with the sisters at the post hen-party bash. Impromptu. Temple brothers, sisters, add music and alcohol. Instant party. I've seen more smiles and high hearted banter from the boy in the last two days then I have seen of him - well, the entire time I have known him. I would catch his stare from across whatever room we happened to occupy simultaneously. He was thinking about what I said yesterday. One more day, then I'll make the first move - if he can't. Dominic was turning into a need. No Hando around to watch my activities. I was a free woman to prey on whomever I chose.

Soon, I was chuckling to myself, musing over Heather's Hen Party. What fun that was! I should take my act on the road... Second guessing myself - hoping I wasn't too crude, hoping that Heather took it with a grain of salt.

"Shouldn't walk around alone at night." The voice scared the wits out of me. I hadn't noticed that my jaunt had taken me so close to the barn. I could see him in the moonlight. Shirt unbuttoned, hanging open. Jeans unbuttoned. Barefoot. A glint from his horseshoe ring caught my eye.

East. 

"Had no clue I wandered this far. Why aren't you at the Temple with your brothers tonight? I saw you there earlier..."

He didn't answer verbally nor did he gesture a response. 

"It's just such a nice night, huh?" 

He pulled the piece of hay out of his mouth and looked up, around. "Yes. Nice night for a lot of things." 

When my eyes met his again, I saw big round dark pools of lasciviousness. 

"Don't be shy. Come closer. I don't bite...much."

I felt like a lamb...and he was the Big Bad Wolf. Why am I drawn to men such as this?

"Ever seen the moon from a hayloft?" 

I shook my head - I couldn't move my lips to speak. He held his hand out to mine and led me into the barn. Once up in the loft, he motioned me to what seemed to be a solitary retreat - his private place. His guitar leaned against the wall. His boots. His hat. A blanket and a couple of pillows were spread out on the hay and mussed - he had been laying there moments before he greeted me on the path.

I walked up and looked out the opening, sure enough - a perfect view of the moon - and the path from the Temple. 

East was as close to me as he could be without touching. I felt his breath on my neck. My senses stood on end, jammed in overdrive. The horses...the crickets...the sound of the wind in the trees. East humming a tune that seemed familiar, but I couldn't name.

"I've been watching you. For a long time. Here at the Temple, we know what goes on outside the gates." I shuddered. His voice was deep, husky, full of unsatisfied craving. "I've wanted to have you as long as I can remember my existence here. I've wanted to take you, to make you mine - if only for a short while. I want to feel you, taste you. I want you to cry out my name and then ask me for more."

Surely not...Someone perving me from a distance? It had been so long since I'd been someone's object of desire like this. I wasn't sure that I remembered how to act. What do you say to someone who's laid it all on the table? You had to respect a man who knew exactly what he wanted...

I turned to face him and granted my silent approval. Sliding down his body to my knees, I paused as he lowered his zipper and presented his manhood to me. East ran this fingers through my hair, moving it to one side so that he would watch himself disappear into my mouth. His thumb stroked my cheek in time with my rise and fall.

Humming. Mumbling that familiar tune. Pausing to moan and to direct my ministrations. Gentle, patient. As with all of the brothers, I couldn't take him entirely, and one hand wasn't enough. Both my hands surrounded the root of his length, moving in concert with my mouth. I made eye contact and he smiled, head cocked to one side, his eyes glossed over with lust. I wondered about this man, who I had only known about through the sisters (besides his movie). On cue, as if he was reading my thoughts, "You'd be surprised what you are missing here... Hando is a lucky man, but you shouldn't be so stingy with your affections, love. You can't judge a book by its cover."

Me? Judging? Certainly not. I just never...

Pausing my movements, he offered his hand to help me to my feet and led me over to the blanket. Without breaking eye contact, he began to disrobe me. My heart was racing to the point that I had to part my lips and take in air through my mouth. I felt like an amateur. Control of my body and my thoughts was slipping away like the tide back into the sea. The only thing that remained was the oasis forming between my legs.

Had I been judging this book by its cover? Was I so wrapped up in the serial that is Hando, that I may have missed out on this great epic? 

East sank to his needs as he guided my shorts and panties down my legs. Hovering near my sex, he inhaled and blew lazily. I quivered, my knees on the verge of failing me. I gulped audibly and mewed for attention.

"Lay down. Let me show you what you've left behind..." he pushed my legs open, baring my fruit to his appetite. He licked, suckled, and teased me with his tongue and fingers, looking for the exact areas and movements that reaped the reaction he desired.

I lay there, a prisoner to my need and to East - looking at the moon - watching us. I can't tell you how many times I came, but I will venture to say it was the best I'd ever had. He was cruel in his intention to see how far he could draw it out...how long I could last...when I would break? Like breaking a horse.

My voice gone from squealing and calling his name, he gathered me up into his arms and stood me at a vertical 4 x 4 structural beam. Reaching up, he pulled a length of narrow leather straps hanging from the roof.

What was he doing? I looked around, uncomfortably, still reeling in my post-coital haze. I wasn't in control of the situation and I didn't like it one bit...

Kicking over a crate, he pushed it to the beam with his foot. "Stand on this ...don't be afraid."

Against my better judgment, I did what he asked. Silently, he gathered my hands together over my head and tied them to an iron ring that was bolted to the beam, inches above my head.

"Yeah, just as I thought. I need to hobble you to keep you from running away. You spook to easily. I gotta get in the saddle and make sure you respond to my commands correctly."

Oh my...

East's hungry mouth devoured mine, ruthlessly. With a firm grasp on my right leg, he lifted it and aimed himself to my opening. "First time in the saddle is a little rough. You'll get used to it just fine..." And with that he entered me slowly, steadily until his length could find no more room inside me. Satisfied, he lifted my other leg, held me under my ass, and rode me. It was a white-knuckle ride. I was hanging onto the ring, begging him to give me all that he had. I was so tight around him. He was so deliciously deep in me.

With my legs in a tight grip around his waist, pulling him into me, I growled with frustration at not being able to touch him with my hands. East stilled me against the beam and untied my hands. He managed to carry me back to the blanket without pulling out. I thought I was to be treated to a view of the moon once more, but he kept me firmly in place on his lap as he sat and reclined. Guiding my hips with his hands, he engaged a rhythm that was pleasing to both of us.

"Yesssss. Ride me...oh..." I heard him murmur. Tempted to joke about the style of riding I should pursue, I bit my tongue. I leaned over him, letting my hair fall about on his body, tickling him. It wasn't long before he was too close to his edge to allow me control. Holding me in place, he pumped into me from below.

Sweat dripping from me, slicking our bodies and amplifying the slapping noise we made together. I knew I would have finger bruises on my hips...I welcomed them. I begged him to squeeze harder. Don't let me go...

I couldn't hold out any longer, and came with a cry to heaven. East followed moments later, shooting his river into me, overflowing. 

Spent, he turned me so that he could spoon behind me with a view of the moon. He hummed a tune and lulled me into a sated sleep...