Page 99 of Middle Ground

“Hands on the headboard, baby.”

A thrill travels my body at the order. Still, I can’t make ittooeasy for him. It would be against my nature.

“And if I refuse?”

He shrugs. “You’re sitting on my face either way. I just figured you’d appreciate having something to hold on to.”

My surprise hardly has time to register before Jackson slides down the bed, maneuvering until I hover, straddled over his face. I quickly take hold of the headboard, heeding his advice. But then he grabs my hips and pulls me down further, and I let out a squeak of surprise.

The first sweep of his tongue sends a jolt through me.If I wasn’t already on my knees, it would have sent them buckling. My fingers dig into the headboard.

The feel of his tongue on me, inside me, is the most overwhelming sensation. My knees crowd his ears as I try not to put all my weight on him, butfuck, he makes it hard. Especially when he adds his fingers into the mix, inserting one inside me as he sucks on my clit.

“Jackson,” I moan.

“Yes, baby?”

I’m getting close, but I don’t want to finish this way. Right now, I want him. This yearning won’t be sated until I have him inside me.

“Jackson,please.”

“Please what?” he taunts.

“I want you inside me,” I reply, not caring about his smug tone. “I need you.”

Something in my voice must convince him because he removes his finger from inside me, and then he slides up against the headboard, half sitting.

I rest back on his thighs as I reach between us, taking his cock in hand. His fingers dig into my hips as I stroke him. He is impossibly hard in my grasp, and when wetness beads at the tip, I swipe it away with my thumb. Then I bring my thumb to my mouth, and Jackson watches, enraptured, as I lick the wetness away.

“Sometimes, I can’t believe you’re real,” he says in awe. The words slip out under his breath, almost like he didn’t mean to utter them.

My lips part as I struggle for a reply. Jackson shakes hishead, and then with purpose, he takes hold of my chin, tugging me into him so he can claim my mouth.

Our lips part with a groan. His or mine, I’m not sure. Maybe both. And then he eases me onto my back, my head resting at the foot of the bed.

Leaning over, he grabs a condom from the bedside table and rolls it on before he settles himself between my thighs.

My eyes lock on his, and I’m drowning. But if this is sinking, then I never want to float. Something has changed between us. Some kind of gravitational shift that leaves me breathless for an entirely different reason than the weight of his body on mine.

“You are so fucking beautiful, Meyer,” he says. The look of devotion in his gaze makes me want to weep.

I have never had someone look at me this way. Like I am both the beginning and the end of their deepest desire. My first instinct is to push him away, but I’m tired of enforcing that wall. Fuckingtired.

So I let it fall.

Trailing a finger down his chest, relishing his answering shiver, I say, “You are the most beautiful man I’ve ever met.”

“You’re so good at stroking my ego.”

I arch a brow. “Just your ego?”

My finger has trailed all the way down his stomach now, so I reach down, taking hold of his cock and positioning it at my entrance. I think I’ve waited long enough.

“No, baby,” he replies. My lips part on a gasp as he thrusts forward, pushing himself partially inside. “I love the way it feels when you’re wrapped around my cock.”

Then he thrusts again, filling me completely. The slideof his hips is slow and sensual. Unlike the other times we’ve slept together, this isn’t rushed. And I don’t want it to be.

Warmth spreads through me. With one arm braced on the mattress beside my head, he reaches between us with his other hand, finding my clit.