Judgment of the Moon and Stars
Tymber Dalton

Suncoast Society
Judgment of the Moon and Stars
Noah’s deep in the closet partially because of his high-profile job, but mostly because of his ultra-conservative family. He’s never been with a guy before, until a night at the Toucan resort with Jackson turns his world upside down in the best way possible. Except a work emergency calls him away before he gets Jackson’s last name…or phone number.
Jackson doesn’t know if the cutie ghosted on purpose or through a simple misunderstanding, but at least he has work to focus on. Except now that Jackson’s had a taste of Noah, he wants more—wants all of him.
After a chance encounter in the unlikeliest of places, Jackson knows he’s willing to do whatever he must to convince Noah this could be for life. Except Noah’s family is a problem and could cause problems for both of them. Can Jackson convince his boy to trust him to fight for their love, or will Noah’s fear drive them apart?
Genre: Alternative (M/M, Gay), BDSM, Contemporary
Length: 29,231 words
JUDGMENT OF THE MOON AND STARS
Suncoast Society
Tymber Dalton

Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
JUDGMENT OF THE MOON AND STARS
Copyright © 2018 by Tymber Dalton
ISBN: 978-1-64243-163-6
First Publication: April 2018
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2018 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
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PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
DEDICATION
For my bestie, Trish, for the idea. For Hubby, especially for answering county admin-related questions for me.
And for Sir, He knows why.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tymber Dalton is the wild-child alter-ego of author Lesli Richardson. She lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC award winner and part-time Viking shield-maiden loves to shoot skeet and play D&D with her friends. She’s also the bestselling author of over one hundred and forty books, including The Reluctant Dom, The Denim Dom, Cardinal’s Rule, the Suncoast Society series, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, the Coffeeshop Coven series, the Good Will Ghost Hunting series, the Drunk Monkeys series, and many more.
She loves to hear from readers! Please feel free to drop by her website and sign up for her newsletter to keep abreast of the latest news, snarkage, and releases. You can also find all of her Siren-BookStrand releases under all four of her pen names on her author page on the BookStrand site.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE
Jackson was briefly introduced in Indifference of Heaven, and that munch scene is the same munch scene in the beginning of this book.
I took a few minor liberties with county government and public services, simplifying a couple of things for the sake of not boring the heck out of you or bogging down the story.
Some of the characters in this book appear in or are featured in previous books in the Suncoast Society series. All titles available from Siren-BookStrand.
While most of the books in the Suncoast Society series are standalone works which may be read independently of each other, the recommended reading order to avoid spoilers and to not miss any backstory information is as follows:
1. Safe Harbor
2. Domme by Default
3. Cardinal’s Rule
4. The Reluctant Dom
5. The Denim Dom
6. Pinch Me
7. Broken Toy
8. A Clean Sweep
9. A Roll of the Dice
10. His Canvas
11. A Lovely Shade of Ouch
12. Crafty Bastards
13. A Merry Little Kinkmas
14. Sapiosexual
15. A Very Kinky Valentine’s Day
16. Things Made Right
17. Click
18. Spank or Treat
19. A Turn of the Screwed
20. Chains
21. Kinko de Mayo
22. Broken Arrow
23. Out of the Spotlight
24. Friends Like These
25. Vicious Carousel
26. Hot Sauce
27. Open Doors
28. One Ring
29. Vulnerable
30. The Strength of the Pack
31. Initiative
32. Impact
33. Liability
34. Switchy
35. Rhymes With Orange
36. Beware Falling Ice
37. Beware Falling Rocks
38. Dangerous Curves Ahead
39. Two Against Nature
40. Home at Last
41. A Kinkmas Carol
42. Ask DNA
43. Time Out of Mind
44. Happy Valenkink’s Day
45. Splendid Isolation
46. Similar to Rain
47. Happy Spank Patrick’s Day
48. Fire in the Hole
49. Pretzel Logic
50. This Moody Bastard
51. Walk Between the Raindrops
52. Rub Me Raw
53. Any World That I’m Welcome To
54. Heartache Spoken Here
55. Roll With the Punches
56. See You Sometime
57. Borderline
58. A Case of You
59. Reconsider Me
60. Never Too Late for Love
61. Blues Beach
62. Happy Spanksgiving
63. Our Gravity
64. Friends in Common
65. Almost Gothic
66. Empty-Handed Heart
67. Steady Rain
68. Indifference of Heaven
69. Like the Seasons
70. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
71. Through With Love
72. Judgment Of The Moon And Stars
TABLE OF CONTENTS
JUDGMENT OF THE MOON AND STARS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
JUDGMENT OF THE MOON AND STARS
Suncoast Society
TYMBER DALTON
Copyright © 2018
Chapter One
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Jackson paused just inside the doorway to the restaurant’s meeting room and carefully scanned the patrons already seated at various tables.
No one he knew.
Not that it would be a huge deal if he ran into anyone here that he knew, but it could potentially make for an uncomfortable evening. Certainly one where he wouldn’t be saying much and would be trying to make his exit as quickly and unobtrusively as possible.
Especially if they were parents of students of his, or fellow coworkers.
At least they’d be here for the same reason he was—they were kinky.
But depending on where he knew them from, his professional life could get…complicated.
He had a damn good job at Sorrellson Academy, teaching history and art. Last year, he’d been appointed the head of the social studies department, which encompassed history, government, civics, and other related classes. It meant it cut his art classes back to one, an introduction to art history that was open to all students from grade five and up, instead of the hands-on classes he’d enjoyed teaching. It was also an increase in his responsibilities, but it also meant a pay raise.
In addition to that, two years ago he’d been named the head of Sorrellson’s development and expansion committee. They were currently working on finalizing the zoning change that would allow them to kick off their big expansion project. All that was left was a final county commission hearing coming up soon.
Going on eleven years at Sorrellson, his first job out of college, he was happy working for them. He made a decent living wage at the private academy, the students were great, the parents usually non-assholish, and he got to do what he enjoyed without worrying about the ridiculous mandatory state testing bullshit public school teachers had to endure.
His job came with better benefits, too.
The only thing lacking at this point was someone to share his life with. After having survived a crushing heartbreak early in his college years, he’d held back his heart and played things cautious, careful.
Except…
Sure, he’d dated plenty of times over the years, and had play partners, but never anyone he clicked well enough with to want to make things permanent. He could find kinky bottoms, or guys who were great in bed yet more on the vanilla end of the scale, but no one who wanted a Dom full-time in their life.
Or he found the opposite end of the spectrum—guys who wanted a sugar Daddy, who wanted every tiny aspect of their life controlled and planned, and Jackson didn’t have the time or energy for that.
He needed a guy who fell somewhere in the middle of the kinky rainbow, one who could run his own life, who wasn’t a doormat, but who would cede control to him on demand.
So far, he’d epically failed in that quest.
If he was physically attracted to the guy, they weren’t kinky—or they were little more than a rentboy. If they matched up on the kinky end of things, he wasn’t attracted to them either physically or emotionally—or sometimes both.
It was starting to feel like he was hunting a unicorn, and the party and club scene up in Tampa was not his thing.
There’s got to be a better way.
Up until now, he’d tried to avoid getting into the local BDSM scene, mostly because of his job. Fortunately, attitudes were looser now thanks to popular movies and book series, and people were less likely to freak out.
Hence after spending the past year lurking on FetLife, Jackson had finally decided to try attending a local Suncoast Society munch. He’d visited clubs up in Tampa and Orlando before, and knew there was a dungeon right there in Sarasota. Except with his job, he’d kept those kinds of outings to a minimum and had never visited Venture.
This seemed to be the safest way to ease himself into the local kinky dating waters since he’d struck out online.
He was tired of being alone, and the benefits finally outweighed the risks.
A man walked over to him. “Hi, I’m Ross, one of the hosts tonight. Your first time here?”
Jackson shook with him. “Yeah. Jackson.”
“Nice to meet you…”
Ten minutes later, Jackson found himself seated at a table with several people, including a blue-eyed blond named Boyd he wouldn’t mind getting to know better. Everyone seemed very friendly and willing to talk.
Except…turned out Boyd was a Top. Nothing against him, but Jackson wasn’t a bottom. Sure, in a relationship for sex he didn’t mind bottoming to his partner, but relationship-wise, he needed a submissive partner who had no desire to be on Top in terms of their life together.
Before Ross and the other hosts called the munch to order, Jackson ended up invited to sit at another table with some other singles.
More his speed, except while everyone was nice, there were three women, two straight subby guys, two straight male Doms…and no one for him.
“You should come out to the club Wednesday night, if you’re free,” one of the Doms said. “There’s a roundtable discussion for male-identified Tops and Doms. Non-play session, just talking. Great for someone new to the local scene. I’ve learned a lot from them.”
“Doesn’t matter that I’m gay?”
“Gay, straight, bi, aro, taken, single—wherever you are on the rainbow, it doesn’t matter. There’s always a good cross-section of people there. This month they’re having a guest speaker before the open discussion session.”
“Maybe I’ll look into that, then.” If nothing else, maybe he could talk to other gay Doms and get some dating pointers since he’d struck out with dating apps.
By the time he headed home that evening, he felt…hopeful. Sure, he’d known the chances of him magically meeting his perfect subby boy that night were slim to none, but he had ventured out, he hadn’t encountered anyone he knew, and he now had another local event he could attend. The more events he attended, the more it stood to reason he’d increase his chances of meeting someone.
It was a start.
At thirty-three, he figured it was time he started somewhere, because he was obviously not getting anywhere by doing things the way he’d been doing them.
* * * *
Jackson’s work day lasted later than he’d planned Wednesday when he got caught in an impromptu development committee meeting after school that ran obscenely long because one argumentative parent newly named to the committee insisted on nitpicking over every point they’d already approved several times over.
Finally, he was able to declare them adjourned, leaving him just enough time to grab takeout from Taco Bell before heading to Venture.
Also, fortunately, he had a spare shirt with him, a plain, short-sleeved collared shirt. In the club’s parking lot, he quickly changed out of his work shirt—a button-up long-sleeved light blue chambray with Sorrellson’s logo embroidered on the left chest—and headed inside with his food.
Joining the club was fast and easy, and once inside the main space he took a seat at a table with two other men.
“Sorry about the food,” he said. “Work ran late. Jackson.”
“No worries. Lots of people do that.” The first man shook with him. “Keith.”
He turned to the other man. “Joel.” They shook, too. “First time here?” Joel asked.
“Yeah. I’m hoping I can learn some stuff tonight.” Jackson snorted. “Including where to date and find single subby guys. I have completely struck out, and before you say dating apps, I’ve ground my last nerve on Grindr, Tinder has burned me too many times, and Plenty of Fish left me with an empty hook.”
The men exchanged a glance and Keith smiled. “Never hit the Toucan, have you?”
“The what?”
Not that he had time to do that. He was wolfing down the last of his tacos when a guy stepped forward and called for attention from the approximately thirty men in attendance and seated at the tables in the social area.
“Welcome, and for those of you who don’t know me, my name’s Ted Collins. I’m the facilitator for this group, and a licensed, practicing mental health counsellor. We have a special speaker tonight, Niall Renard, also a psychologist, who’s going to talk about using hypnosis with play…”
Jackson sat back and listened, intrigued but not sure how he could begin to apply any of it.
Not when he didn’t even have a damn relationship.
During a break in the evening, after Niall finished his presentation and before Ted reconvened them, Jackson stepped out into the office to use his phone to Google for information about the Toucan. He’d started to e-mail himself a link to their website when his eyes caught sight of a community information area. Business cards, postcards—
Including one for the Toucan.
Chuckling, he put his phone away and took a postcard, flipping it over to read the information.
Interesting.
His weekends were usually his to do with as he pleased. Normally, that meant yard work and chores. Or working on grading papers, working on committee plans…
Working.
Not that he had to. He worked every evening after getting home.
