Page 27 of Before You Can Blink
A shiver rolled down the length of her body, and a stuttered exhale rushed past her kiss-swollen lips when my teeth bit down on her earlobe and tugged.
When all I got in response was the sound of her shallow panting, I chuckled. Grabbing her hand, I brought it to rest on my upper thigh, swallowing roughly when she gave a tentative squeeze, her pinky grazing my barely contained erection.
“Don’t move,” I warned, voice gone gruff. “Not a muscle, you hear?”
Daisy went still as a statue beside me. It was a good thing her apartment over the bar was barely a two-minute drive from the school because I wouldn’t make it much longer than that.
This woman brought out a side in me I didn’t know existed. She drove me crazy and calmed me in the same breath. In the year we’d known each other, she flipped my world upside down.
My whole life was built around taking risks. But the biggest one of all just might be giving my heart over to Daisy and praying she would keep it safe.
Tires screeched on pavement as I stomped on the brakes, having reached our destination. The door was flung open, and I dragged Daisy out of thecabin, not letting her feet touch the ground as I practically sprinted toward her apartment.
I didn’t ask for permission before I reached into her purse and withdrew her keys. Fitting the jagged metal into the lock, I unlatched the deadbolt.
“Jett.” I could barely hear Daisy utter my name over the rush of blood roaring in my ears as I jogged up the steps with her in my arms.
“Almost there, baby,” I promised, chest heaving as I struggled to draw in full breaths with how worked up I was.
I released her body, letting it fall to the bed before covering it with mine. My hands tore at her clothes, mindless in my need to touch her bare skin.
“Jett!”
Her sharp tone, combined with both of her hands shoving at my chest, had me rising to my knees. One look at the sadness etched on her face had a lead weight settling in my gut.
Before I got the chance to ask what was wrong, she blurted, “We need to talk.”
I reared back as if I’d been slapped. Those words were infamous, spelling certain doom for any relationship.
Scooching up the mattress, she sat against the headboard and banded both arms around her bent knees, effectively curling in on herself. “I got a job offer.”
My heart fucking stopped. This had always been a possibility; I knew that. Hell, she’d been actively applying up and down the eastern seaboard since the day I met her. But somehow, I’d managed to push it to the back of my mind, too busy falling in love with her.
The irony of this whole situation was impossible to ignore.
Iwas the one who said I couldn’t offer her more.
Iwas the one who said we were only keeping this casual.
Iwas the one who said I wasn’t sticking around.
The big man upstairs was probably having a real good laugh at my expense right about now.
Voice hoarse, I managed to croak out, “Where?”
Daisy’s gaze lifted, a glassy sheen coating her beautiful blue eyes. “Maryland.”
This was it—the end of us.
The blinding agony of that reality was unbearable, almost as if someone had sliced into my chest with a dull knife to rip my heart out. I could practically feel myself bleeding out, the life slowly draining from my body.
There had to be another way. I couldn’t just let her go.
Then it struck me.
I was off the bed and moving without conscious thought. “I have to go.”
“Jett.” My name came out on a broken sob. “Please don’t. I—”
