Meet Me Halfway (Learning to Love Series)

The click of the door echoed out into the silent room, reverberating through my body. I could feel each pump of my heart as it raged against its cage.

I couldn’t yet bring myself to raise my head, nervous of what I’d see in his face and how it’d compare to the way he might look at me after. Instead, I watched his bare feet slowly eat up the space between us.

“Eyes on me.”

My head snapped up, eyes locking on his with that single demand. When his voice lowered to that deep, gravelly tenor, I wasn’t sure there was a thing I could deny him. And by the smirk curling at the corner of his lips, I was fairly certain he knew it.

“There you are.”

He grazed his hand across the side of my jaw, the feel of his calluses against my skin sending butterflies loose in my stomach. He continued until his fingers reached the back of my head, tangling into the curls at my nape and gently pulling.

My head tipped up even more, throat bared to him, my mouth forced to part from the sharp angle. His other hand gripped my hip, and in one rough movement, he yanked me flush against him.

“Caveman much?” I tried to joke, resting my hands on his chest, but I could feel his hardness against my stomach, and my voice betrayed me, coming out airy and quiet.

“You’d be surprised how primal my thoughts are when it comes to you.” He lowered his head enough to brush his lips across my forehead, down my nose, pausing over my mouth.

I licked my lips, wanting to close the distance, but unable to move my head. “That sounds a little dominant.”

He still didn’t kiss me, and I swore I could feel my sanity fissuring. But then the hand on my hip relaxed its vicious grip and traveled down the curve of my ass. Slowly. Like he was memorizing the shape. “You’d like it that way, wouldn’t you?”

I couldn’t immediately form an answer, my mind zeroing in on the hand that was now tracing small circles over the fabric covering my upper thigh. “What way?”

“Rough.”

I nearly combusted. Straining my neck, I again tried to move my head forward, but he held firm, his smile growing sinful. His fingers danced back and forth across my leg, teasing me but never venturing farther up. I rotated my hips, grinding against him, seeking any form of pressure.

He tsked me, lightly pinching the inside of my thigh. “Use your words.”

I glared up, curling my fingers and digging my nails into his chest. “Yes, I’d like it rough.”

“Yeah?”

He lifted that teasing hand, slipping it past the waistband of my pants and gliding down my center with the firm pressure I needed.

“I believe it, because something tells me an independent woman like you wouldn’t appreciate being treated as though you were breakable.”

He said the words right as his fingers slid just low enough to discover the obvious arousal saturating the fabric of my panties.

A guttural groan escaped his lips a split second before they smashed against my own. It wasn’t a gentle kiss or even a heated one. He devoured me, simultaneously plunging his hand past that final barrier to press his fingers to my clit.

I bucked, my mouth parting on a moan, and he didn’t waste a second to thrust his tongue in. Using the grip on my hair, he tilted my head, placing me exactly where he wanted while lowering his fingers to slide through me.

He murmured filthy words against my lips, and I felt them everywhere, setting me even more on fire. I ground harder against him. I’d never been this close to an orgasm with someone other than myself before, and I craved the experience. I needed it, more than I needed air.

He paused, his fingers resting against my entrance and his lips hovering over my own, sharing breath. His eyes searched mine, and for a moment I thought he was going to pull away from me.

My forehead creased, confusion warring inside me, wondering what I did wrong. But then he barked out a sharp, “Fuck,” and plunged a thick finger inside me.

I cried out as he rocked his hips into me, slowly easing in a second finger until both were buried to the knuckles. “You’re so tight, Maddie.”

The sensation burned, but only for a moment before it was shadowed by the rapidly rising pleasure he was coaxing out of me. I didn’t know it could be like this with another person. My body felt like it might burst if I didn’t have more of him.

The man still had control of my head, so I reached up, grasping his face with both hands and yanking him to my mouth, practically attacking him in my impatience. He responded enthusiastically, his tongue dancing in my mouth in time with his fingers as he stroked them in and out of me.

We stood there for what could’ve been minutes, hours, days, eating at each other’s mouths as he finger-fucked me. Both of us pressed forward like we wanted to climb into the other’s skin, and even then, we’d still never be close enough.

“You need to get control of yourself, baby,” he said when he finally pulled back. His eyes roved over my face, taking in every minute detail while he continued his relentless torture, leisurely working his fingers all the way out and circling my clit before sinking back in.

I moaned, eyes still closed, clawing at his chest. “Why?”

He tightened his grip on my hair until I opened my eyes and met his hungry gaze. Swiping hard up my center, he jerked his hand out of my pants and placed both fingers in his mouth, sucking them clean.

“Because I’m not down there yet, and you’re wasting it all.”

“Oh God.”

Releasing my hair, he moved to wrap his fingers around my jaw and leaned down to whisper in my ear.

“That’s your one freebie. Once I have you naked, the only name I want to hear you call out is mine. You need to send up a prayer when I make you scream? I want it to be to me.”

He slammed his lips onto mine in another scorching kiss, both of his hands skimming down my sides to grip my waistband. I whined when he took his mouth away, but the sound turned into a gasp when he dropped to his knees, taking my bottoms and panties to the ground in one fluid motion.

I was completely bare from the waist down, and he wasn’t just seeing me naked, his face was literally inches away from said nakedness. I tensed, squeezing my thighs together to hide, but that only earned me a stinging slap to my ass cheek.

“Ow!”

He curled his hand behind my left knee, lifting my foot out of my rumpled clothes and resting my leg over his shoulder. Leaning his head back, he unabashedly took me in, his eyes darker than I’d ever seen them before. He seemed to be trying to implant the image of me in his mind, and I’d never felt more exposed—or more turned on in my life.

He circled my clit with his thumb, watching the movement with the same intensity he did everything. “This is mine.”

Circling one final time, he slid his thumb down through me until it met up with my ass, spreading my wetness around the rim before retreating back up. I might have been vividly hallucinating at that point.

“The next time you get wet over me, you better sit on my fucking face until I feel my soul leave my body and tap out.” Then he was on me.

The first touch of his tongue had my spine arching, and when he swirled the tip around my clit, my head fell back as I panted. By the third thrust of it inside me, I wasn’t just seeing stars, I was mapping out entire fucking constellations.

Balancing on only one leg, I sank my fingers into his dark hair, fisting it at the roots to steady myself. He didn’t seem to mind the pain. If anything, he sped up.

He plunged two fingers back inside me as he focused in on my clit, licking and sucking at it until my senses mixed and I was hearing smells and seeing tastes. “Oh fuck, I’m going to—”

“Do it.” His words vibrated against my core, and then he sucked hard.

I broke, clenching around him and yelling out his name among a multitude of incoherent sounds. He never stopped his ministrations, letting me ride his face like an animal as I fell apart.

“Holy shit.”

“Baby, that wasn’t even the half of it.” He gave me one final lick, all the way up with the flat of his tongue, before standing and cradling my head.

I looked into his eyes, and the desire and affection looking back at me made me feel powerful. I reached up and encircled my hands around the wrists framing my face. “Then give me the rest.”

His nostrils flared, and he brushed a soft kiss to the corner of my lips. “I want to. I want you so badly I could saw through these goddamn pants, but I need to make sure you understand something first.”

“Okay.”

“In here, I will take control because you and I both know you need it that way in order to turn your mind off. I will learn your body better than my own and have you writhing and begging me for more.”

He caressed his thumbs across my cheeks and down the line of my jaw to press on my chin, forcing my lips apart. “But outside this room, Maddie, you fucking own me. I will worship the very ground you walk on if you’ll only let me.”

Closing the distance, he kissed me, and it was gentle and thorough. He molded himself to me until I could taste, not just myself on his tongue, but his soul.

He only removed his mouth long enough to drag my top up over my head, then he was back on me. His hands were moving up and down my back, pulling me in and pressing my stomach against the hard bulge fighting against his sweats.

Diving under his shirt, I ran my fingers up his torso, feeling every ripple of muscle as I made my way up to his chest. I raised his shirt high enough to catch a glimpse of his nipples, waiting for him to lift his arms and allow me to remove it all the way.

But he didn’t budge, the control freak apparently taking his claim seriously.

I pouted. “I want to feel you.”

When he still didn’t move, I pressed an open kiss to the divot between his pecs, darting my tongue out to taste his skin. He shuddered, his hands lowering to my bare ass.

I refused to be the only one naked. Continuing to kiss his skin, I worked my way across the muscle until I reached my goal. Digging my nails into his sides, I twirled my tongue around his nipple before pulling it sharply into my mouth.

He lost it. Reaching an arm back, he yanked his shirt over his head, tossing it to the ground. I raked my greedy eyes over his skin, trying and failing, to fight back my smile.

“Keep giving me that shit-eating grin, and you’ll be eating something else in a minute.”

My core turned molten, wetness pooling between my thighs, begging for what he could give me. I pressed them together, not to hide this time, but to provide me with any form of friction.

“Promise?”

His hands came around to squeeze my ass, and he lifted me, wrapping my legs around his waist and kissing me fiercely as he carried me to the bed. I thought he’d lay me down and crawl over me, but he didn’t. Instead, he tossed me on the mattress like a bag of flour, and a startled laugh burst out of me.

His smirk disappeared, and he stared down like he’d just seen a glimpse of heaven. “That fucking sound.”

His fingers moved to his waistband, and I watched hungrily as he shoved both his sweats and boxers down his legs.

My eyes were riveted to his hard length, watching it rise to attention as his clothing dropped to the floor. He was huge. Granted, I didn’t have a whole lot of experience to compare him to, but even I knew he was a fucking magnificent specimen.

A bead of liquid appeared at his tip, and I instinctively licked my lips, wondering if this was how he’d always make me feel. Because seeing him stand there at the foot of his bed, gloriously naked, I couldn’t imagine a day when I wouldn’t want him.

I moved up onto my knees, crawling toward him until I was an inch away. I sat back on my heels, staring up at him under hooded eyes and wrapped my hand around his base.

His eyes fluttered closed, and he groaned deep in his chest, rocking his hips and slowly fucking my fist. “Tighten your—yeah, just like that, baby, damn that feels good.”

“I promise my mouth will feel even better,” I said, swallowing back my nerves. I’d never been one to talk dirty in the bedroom, and I’d definitely never wanted to give a blowjob before. But the way Garrett touched me and looked at me made me feel sexy and alive.

I wanted this man in my mouth, wanted to make him see golden gates and hear trumpets. Honestly, he could thrust deep enough to gag me, and I’m pretty sure I’d thank him.

His eyes snapped open, and his mouth parted. I shifted back, bending my head down, but he stopped me with a firm hold on my jaw.

“I told you, you’re not in charge in this room, Maddie. You want my cock buried in your throat, you’re going to do it my way.”

I sucked on my teeth, narrowing my eyes at him and squeezing his shaft. With all the mock sweetness I could muster, I purred, “Yes, sir.”

One second, I was kneeling on the bed, hand wrapped around him, and the next I was on my back. Gripping my legs with both hands, he spun me until my feet were in the center of the bed and my neck rested over the edge, my head tipped upside down.

Positioned as I was, his heavy length hovered right above my nose, and I found myself second-guessing my brazen behavior. I didn’t have a sensitive gag reflex, but I’d also never tried to take on Garrett Rowe’s monster dick before.

“If you keep looking at me like that, I’ll cum all over your face before I’ve even passed your lips.”

“Now wouldn’t that be a shame.” I grinned up at him, or at least I tried to. I couldn’t see anything else with his cock in my face.

“Open your mouth.”

I thought about demanding he say ‘please’, but I wanted it just as badly as he did. I opened wide, wrapping my arms around him and gifting myself with two handfuls of his rounded ass.

He pushed into my mouth, inch by glorious inch. Sealing my lips around him, I teased him with the tip of my tongue as he slowly eased in and out. His groans mixed with his salty, musky taste like a damn aphrodisiac.

“Good girl, fuck, that’s it.”

By the tremor in his legs, I could tell he was struggling to hold himself back, but he maintained his steady movements, and that just wouldn’t do. I swirled my tongue around his tip, sucking hard, and he jutted forward, picking up speed.

Lying with my head resting on the edge of the bed, I was completely at his disposal as he fucked my mouth in earnest. I couldn’t pull back or control the speed, I could only open my throat and enjoy the ride.

He leaned over me, continuing his erratic thrusts, and reached out to roll one of my nipples between two fingers, pulling ever so slightly. My nipples had always been incredibly sensitive, and I moaned around his shaft.

He moved to my other nipple, and I was a writhing mess. I’d have been begging him to fuck me if I didn’t have a mouthful. Wanting to set him on fire the same way he was doing to me, I reached up, cupping his balls and giving them a light squeeze.

He bucked, ramming sharply down my throat and making me gag. “Fuck.”

He pulled out, my lips making a popping sound at the sudden break of suction. He moved so fast, my mouth was still agape when he cradled one large hand behind my neck and the other under my ass and launched me to the center of the bed.

He hovered the bulk of his body over me and stole my lips in a possessive claim. He plundered my mouth, sucking and sweeping like he’d lost all control. He maneuvered himself until he prodded at my entrance, and only then did he pull back to look down at me.

“Tell me you want this.”

“I want this.”

“Tell me you want me.”

I hesitated momentarily, scared to admit it out loud. But in this case—in a purely physical sense—I felt safe admitting at least that truth. “I want you.”

He pushed in an inch, teasing. I wiggled, lifting my hips, desperate for him to fill me.

“Tell me you’re mine.”

I smacked at his chest. “Just fuck me already.”

“No.”

“Garrett, please.”

He reached up, pinching my nipple and making my back arch, seeking the stimulation. “Tell me you’re mine, Madison.”

“Goddammit, I’m yours, I’m fucking yours!”

In one forceful thrust of his hips, he impaled me. I cried out, unprepared for the sudden stretch of my inner walls.

He let out a long, drawn-out groan, leaning his forehead on mine. “You feel so damn good, baby, you fit me like a glove.”

I heaved in breaths, tensing up from the unfamiliar pressure. It wasn’t anything more than a mild discomfort, and he stayed still, letting my body acclimate. “You could have done that a little less caveman-like.”

“I told you, you’re not breakable.” He pinned me under his gaze. “You want to know why no other man could ever get you off? Because you’ve never been theirs. You’ve only ever been mine. Your pussy was fucking made to take me.” He flexed his hips, driving his point home.

“And I’m going to spend the whole night proving it to you. Tell me you’re ready.”

I nodded, probably looking like a bobble-head with my eagerness. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

“Thank fuck.” He pulled out slowly, watching my face for any sign of pain, and when I didn’t give any, he drove deep, all the way to the hilt.

Some people had sex. Some made love. But Garrett? He fucked, and he fucked hard. His grip on my hips was bruising, and he slammed into me again and again in a punishing rhythm, obliterating the friendship zone into nothing but dust.

I writhed under him, apologizing for wrongs I’d done, promising anything under the sun, and begging him to please not stop, don’t ever stop. He wrapped my legs more firmly around his waist and leaned forward to kiss what little brains I still had, out of my head.

He built that tingling up again, one grind, one thrust, one circle of his hips at a time. The pressure was almost too much to handle, and I wondered how I ever could have enjoyed sex before him. He played my body like an instrument, watching my face and adjusting his motions.

And just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, his fingers found their home on my clit, circling with quick, firm pressure until I hit oblivion, clawing at his back and biting his shoulder to smother my scream.

Before the sensation had fully disappeared, he was flipping me onto my stomach and raising my hips until I was face down and ass up for him. With two hands gripping me, he leaned forward and swiped his tongue through my entrance before rising and slamming back into me.

“Bite down on the comforter.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I’d barely buried my face into the bed when he moved, rutting behind me like a man unhinged. I curled my fingers into the blanket, holding on for dear life as he destroyed me in the best way possible. I’d begun to fear my body might actually give out when he suddenly pulled out and hot spurts landed across my lower back.

He’d pulled out.

Oh God, I hadn’t even thought about that. Me. Me. It hadn’t even crossed my mind to ask him about protection or—

A hand slid up my spine, brushing the now-frizzed curls off my neck. “I can feel you freaking out from up here, baby. I know we got a little carried away, but I swear to you, I’m clean.”

I exhaled jaggedly, what in the hell had I been thinking?

He lowered my hips to the bed and pressed a quick kiss to the center of my back before disappearing into his bathroom. He returned a minute later with a damp cloth and gently cleaned me up before pulling me into his arms.

Neither of us said a word. I could tell he wanted to, but he must have known I was at my mental limit for the moment because he just tucked us in and curled his naked body around my own. Holding me close.

I was panicking, yes, but not over what he thought. Having unprotected sex without an adult conversation about it first was irresponsible and stupid, but I was on birth control, and he’d pulled out. I also trusted Garrett. I trusted that he never would have touched me if there was even a chance he was unclean.

No, I was panicking because of the level of love I felt for this man. I wanted to give him my heart, bruised and battered as it was, and the thought of giving the last remaining piece away without the guarantee it would be safe was terrifying.

I wasn’t sure if I was brave enough to risk it. So, I burrowed closer to him, desperate to enjoy the last dregs of euphoria, basking in the feel of his hands running up and down my skin.

In case it was the only time it happened.