Moonlight Ride

He woke from a deep sleep to find her lips pressed against his.  She had his full interest and cooperation immediately.  He moved to put his arms around her but she pulled back and put her fingertip against his lips.

“Shhh…”

“Helena?  What time is it?”

“A little after two,” she whispered.  “Come on.  Everyone else is asleep.”

It was dark as a cave in their bedroom.  He felt her sit up and slip from the bed. 

“Come on?  Where are we going?”

“Get dressed,” she whispered, tossing him a pair of jeans.  “And don’t wake anyone.”  She opened the curtains and moonlight streamed into the room.  John grinned.  Moonlight.  He would never tire of it.

He could see her silhouette against the window.  She bent down and pulled on her own jeans which she filled out very nicely.  As she zipped the fly he watched with appreciation.  Her breasts showed nicely against the sheer curtains illuminated by the moonlight behind.  She turned to reach for a shirt and John felt a pang of loss.  He could have watched her stand there forever.  But, he’d never get dressed himself that way.

He pulled on his jeans and found a golf shirt to pull over his head.  He had no idea what Helena wanted.  Her sister was the one fascinated with the barn.  He slipped on canvas shoes and noted that she held a pair of tennis shoes in her hand.  “What…” he started

“Shhh…  trust me,” she whispered. 

They made their way past the door to Mel and Alan’s room.  He could hear Alan’s rhythmic snoring through the closed door.  The children’s rooms were across the hallway.  He peered into the boys’ room and could just make out the lumpy shape of his oldest nephew on the sofa by the window.  Sam’s arm hung from the top bunk and Robbie’s bare foot was propped against the ladder at the end of the bed.  Helena tugged at his arm.

Silently, they moved down the back staircase and into the dark kitchen.  There was a turkey in the oven.  Tomorrow might be the fourth of July, but the family liked turkey, and a large turkey fed a lot of people.  He knew his mother-in-law would have enough food to feed a small army tomorrow including this delicious smelling turkey as well as more traditional picnic fare.  Helena opened the industrial sized refrigerator, the light causing him to blink.  She bent down to open the vegetable crisper and John enjoyed the view of her well-shaped hips.  Unable to resist, he reached over and ran his hand along the pleasing curves of her bottom.  She turned her head and smiled invitingly at him as she pulled two carrots from the drawer. 

She stood and closed the refrigerator door. 

“Mrs. Koenig?  What kind of kinky things are you planning to do with carrots in the middle of the night?”  he asked softly, stepping forward to put his arms around her.

Helena laughed and put her arms around him.  “I want to take a moonlight ride.”

She turned and led him from the house, barely pausing to slip on her shoes as they made their way down the path to the barn.

“A moonlight ride?  You mean on horseback?”  John asked.

Helena chuckled.  “Yes, silly.”

“Isn’t there a convertible around here somewhere?  Your dad’s old ‘vette?”  I could give you a ride in that,” John volunteered.

“Don’t be silly.  It isn’t the same thing at all.  Come on,”  She gave him a steamy look.  “I promise to make it worth your while.”

He looked at her.  Her blonde hair glowed silver-white in the moonlight.  She wore a thin cotton blouse that barely contained her well-endowed breasts and no bra.  He could see her hard nipples through the fabric.  Her jeans were a well-worn old pair that she left here at the ranch.  They seemed molded to her skin.  He wanted to pull her to the ground and take her here in the grass.  His jeans were suddenly tighter.  She gave him a slow smile and glanced down at his crotch, a silent acknowledgement of the effect she was having on him.

She held out her hand, and he took it as if he were hypnotized.  It wasn’t as if he hadn’t ridden before with her, or the kids.  It just wasn’t something he would ever choose to do on his own.  She led him to the barn.  She flipped a switch and one dusty bulb lit up.  It was enough to find the tack they needed.  She headed for a stall and brought out the old gelding that she usually saddled for him.  She made quick work of brushing and saddling him with a tiny English saddle.  Usually she gave him one of the bigger Western saddles, knowing that it made him feel safer.

To his surprise, she didn’t bring out another horse once the big gelding was ready to go.  She had given him the carrots and he had stood at the horse’s head feeding him carrots while Helena got him saddled.  She swung up into the saddle with a gracefulness that amazed him, then held out her hand to him.  She moved her foot from the stirrup so that he could step into it.

“Will the horse hold both of us?”

“Of course,” she said lightly. 

With more effort and less grace than his wife, John put his foot in the stirrup and pulled himself up behind her.  Helena pressed the horse with her legs and he walked forward obediently.  Helena leaned down as they passed the door and flipped the light switch off.  They rode into the moonlight. 

John’s arms were around her waist and he buried his face in her silky hair.  They walked the horse quietly away from the house.  Helena let him have the stirrups, knowing they would make him feel a bit safer.  She held the reins in her hand, but he could tell by the way she was flexing the muscles in her legs that she was controlling the horse more with her legs than her hands. 

He became more and more aware of her body pressing against his as they moved across the field to the north of the house.  She twisted a bit and brushed her lips against his, then settled back against him as the horse walked slowly along. 

It took him a while to relax on the back of the horse.  He began to notice his surroundings and how beautiful everything was in the silver light.  He looked up at the moon, riding high in a cloudless sky above them and felt again the joy that it—and they—were back where they belonged.  He nuzzled her neck.

“Unbutton my shirt,” she said quietly.

“What?”

“Unbutton my shirt.  I want you to touch me.”

He could feel a growing arousal for her again.  His hands were in the perfect spot and he quickly found the buttons on her blouse.  When he pulled the blouse away from her skin she shifted the reins and he helped her remove her blouse.  He kissed her bare shoulder.

“Take off your shirt too,” Helena ordered.

It took a lot of faith on his part to lean back a bit and remove his hands from her, but he had no intention of refusing her.  She slowed the horse anticipating his concern. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall off.”

“Sorry for being such a chicken.”

“You’re just not used to it.  I grew up doing this.”

He pulled the shirt over his head and tucked both his shirt and hers underneath him.  “Taking men for topless moonlight rides?”

She laughed.  “No, this is a first for that.  Although Mel and I used to sneak away to a remote part of the ranch and ride topless.”

“God, I wish I had grown up nearby,” John claimed fervently; the image of the twins as teens, galloping across a field topless was wilder than any teenage fantasy he’d ever had.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Helena said.  “Mel would have probably spotted you first.”

“You’re the only one for me,” John murmured into her ear.  He moved his hands up and down her torso, gently caressing her breasts while he kissed her ear.

“Hold on, we’re going to go faster.”

John squeezed her breasts and she turned her head slightly to kiss his upper arm.

When John rode faster, everything seemed to bounce.  Helena coaxed the horse into a smooth gallop that ate up the ground but felt almost as comfortable as an easy chair.  Her hair flew back into his face and the wind was in his face and rushing across his shoulders.  It felt wonderful. 

“What a rush!” he said into her ear.  She just nodded and shifted slightly, encouraging his hands on her breasts.  He took the hint and fingered her hard nipples and pulled at her earlobe with his lips.

He began to notice the rhythm of her bottom against his crotch.  It was becoming a pleasing agony.  He moved one hand down to her jeans and unbuttoned them.  She leaned her head against his shoulder and he looked over her shoulder at her breasts.  She was so beautiful.

“We’ll be there soon,” she murmured to him.

“Be where?” He asked, unzipping her fly.  Her jeans were tight and with her legs stretched across the horse he could just barely slip his fingers down to her panties.

“A special place,” she responded.  He kissed her neck and continued his caresses.

The horse slowed and they turned and moved up a hill.  Both the horse and Helena seemed to know exactly where they were going.  John had to concentrate more on holding on than touching her as they wound among the rocks.  He could hear the sound of water over the horse’s steps.  Helena stopped the horse beside a rock and they both stepped easily off the horse and down from the rock.  She unfastened the saddle and pulled off the blanket then turned the horse loose.

“What if he wanders away?”  John asked.

“Well, if he does, he’ll go home.  But with the reins dragging the ground like that, he should stay close by.  There’s plenty of grass for him to busy himself with,” she explained.  Then she held out a hand to him.  “Come on.”

She led him across a small meadow to a rock by the stream.  She unfolded the blanket they had used under the saddle and spread it on the rock.  The stream passed by and tumbled over a small cliff, creating a cheerful noise.  John looked out over the moonlit valley.

“This is beautiful, Helena.”

She nodded and turned to him.

“You’re even more beautiful,” he said, pulling her to him.  He placed his hands on her waist and moved them down, pulling down her already unfastened jeans and panties.  He savored the feel of her smooth skin and planted kisses from her ear down her neck to her bare shoulder. 

They quickly removed each others clothes and lay down on the blanket, using rolled up jeans for a pillow.  Both were more than ready, but willing to take their time.  Helena pushed him onto his back and mounted him.  The moon was behind her, giving her a silver halo.  She leaned down, caressing him across his abdomen and up his erection.  She raised up and took his ready member in both hands, then she lowered herself carefully onto him. 

He sighed as he entered her.  He had been wanting this since she kissed him and woke him up.  The need had been building in him since then.  She leaned down to kiss him, moving up and down on him and encouraging his thrusts.  He lost himself in her.

The light had changed from silver to gold when he opened his eyes.  Helena stirred at the same time.  They lay tangled together naked on the Navajo blanket next to the waterfall.  He took in the view of the sunrise over the valley below them.  She was no longer the silver moon goddess, but now golden.  She opened her eyes and smiled at him.  He smiled back.

“Wow”, he said.  Unable to express himself any further.

“Yeah,” she said lazily.  She pushed herself up on one elbow and looked around.  “I intended us to be back before dawn.”  The sun was just peaking over the horizon.

“Will anyone be up yet?”  John sat up and reached for his jeans.

She found her own jeans and underpants.  “Mel sometimes gets up early and goes swimming or running.  And Dad is an early riser.”

“It can’t be more than five a.m.  Surely that’s too early.”

“We can always hope, but it’s quite a ride back.”  She stood and folded the blanket.  Then she looked around.  “John?  Where’s my shirt?”

John looked around.  He picked up the saddle and the blanket and looked under it.  “It should have been with mine and the saddle,” he said. 

They began to search the meadow.  Helena went back to the rock where they had stepped off the horse. 

“I don’t see my shirt either,” John said from one side of the small meadow.  The horse wandered over to him looking for another carrot.  He gently took hold of the reins.  The shirts were missing, he didn’t want to lose the horse too.

“We can’t go back there without my shirt,” Helena said.

John looked at the rising sun.  “The longer we wait, the more people will be awake.”

“John, my father usually has his coffee on the patio in the morning.  I will not ride up there without a shirt on,” Helena said emphatically.  “And how are we supposed to explain this to our children?”

“Honey, I don’t intend to explain this to anyone.  Come on, let’s get back.”

He handed Helena the saddle and she put the blanket on the horse and cinched the saddle into place.  They used the same rock they had dismounted on. 

“Maybe if we come in to the barn from the back side we can find a towel or something to put around you.”

“Hmmm…”  Helena was not happy. 

As they rode, John began to caress her again, kissing her neck, breathing in her ear, cupping her breasts in his hands.  Despite herself she began to relax to his ministrations. 

“We’ll work it out, honey,” he assured her.  “If nothing else, you can drop me off and I can walk inside and get you another shirt.”

“Okay.  We’ll come around the front of the house and up to the back of the barn where they park the cars.”

John patted her thigh.  “That’s my girl.”

Everything looked quiet at the house.  They circled way around the front and came up the driveway.  It took them to the back of the barn.  Helena stopped the horse and John was just about to climb down to open the wide door when it opened from the inside.  Susan stood in the doorway with a shovel in one hand and a bucket in the other.  The three of them stared at each other for a moment.  No one spoke.

Susan moved first.  She was wearing a tank top under a cotton blouse that was tied at her waist.  She quickly set down the bucket and leaned the shovel against the wall.

“You’ll need this,” she said.  She pulled off her gloves and untied the pink plaid shirt. “Melissa is in the pool with most of the kids and your father is watching them.”  She handed the shirt up to her daughter who quickly put it on.

“Ride the horse down the driveway and up to the front door.  I’ll go through the back and let you in.”  Susan kept a straight face while Helena put on the shirt and buttoned it up, but she looked like she was holding in the laughter.  She turned and headed through the barn.  Helena turned the horse back to the driveway.  John noticed that the horse seemed more reluctant to move in this direction.  He had been ready to return to the barn.

Susan was just a bit smaller in the chest than Helena, or else the shirt was worn without being buttoned because it didn’t fit her either.  The buttons strained against Helena’s chest.

By the time they arrived at the front door, Susan had it open.  She slipped past them and took the reins.  “I’ll take care of him,” she assured them.

Helena turned back to her.  “Mom?  Thanks.”

Susan chuckled.  “Oh, Helena.  You don’t think you’re the first person to lose their shirt while out riding do you?” 

She swung into the saddle with a grace John envied and trotted away.  John was certain he could hear her laughter over the hoof beats.

John and Helena heard a child’s voice as the sliding glass door in the living room opened.  They dashed quietly up the stairs.

“Helena?”  John asked.  “You don’t think…”

She cut him off.  “John.  I don’t want to know, I don’t want to think, and I don’t want to remember that just happened.”

“Agreed.”

Maureen J. Long