Release Blitz Excerpt: Make Me Stay – Jaci Burton

We have an excerpt from Jaci Burton’s newest release, MAKE ME STAY.  Enjoy!

They passed several people on the way to the sandwich shop. As was typical for downtown Hope, a lot of people were out at lunchtime. Though Reid had been gone since college, no one had forgotten him. People never forgot those who’d grown up and gone to school in Hope. Once you belonged, you always belonged. Plus, word had gotten out that the McCormack brothers had bought the mercantile. Everyone knew Reid was going to be working there, so they expected to see him in town.

Sam ran in to the sandwich shop and ordered them two turkey sandwiches while Reid took the dog over to the park for a quick walk around. While she was inside, Walter and Daisy Louis, the owners, asked her questions about the mercantile and about Reid. She told them she knew nothing; that she had stopped by to get a peek inside at the progress but hadn’t seen anything yet.

Walter and Daisy were just as interested and excited about the mercantile as she was.

Once she got the sandwiches, she and Reid ate outside at one of the tables. The dog sat next to Reid’s feet, perfectly calm and content to watch people walk by.

“He’s well trained,” she said as she kept her eye on the dog. “Walks great on the leash, and is very obedient.”

“Yeah. Someone had a pretty damn good dog on their hands and let him go. Some people are morons.”

“Yes, they are.”

She opened the fruit salad she’d ordered with her sandwich. “How’s everything going this morning?”

“It’s . . . dusty.”

She laughed. “I can imagine. Are you making progress?”

He swallowed and nodded. “We started at the back of the first floor. It’s moving along well. So far, no surprises, which is a good thing.”

She reached across and swiped at his jaw with her thumb. “You had a streak of dirt.”

His gaze made contact with hers, and it was like she’d been struck by an electric shock so hard it made her toes curl and all the parts in her middle clench with desire. There was plenty of moisture in the air thanks to the recent rain, so she couldn’t chalk it up to static electricity.

But it was definitely electric, as was the way Reid looked at her.

Finally, he grinned. “Yeah, plenty of dirt on me today, and probably will be for a while.”

“It suits you.”

He arched a brow. “Dirt suits me?”

“Yes. It’s sexy.”

He laughed. “First time I’ve heard that. I’m sexy dirty, huh?”

More like dirty and sexy. She took a bite of her sandwich and decided she should shut up before her mouth got her into trouble.

“I’d like to take a look at the building after we eat, if that’s okay,” she said.

“Nothing much to see. If possible, it’s even dirtier than me, and there’s more junk, wood, nails, and debris scattered around than there was before. Plus, it’s not really safe.”

He looked down at her slip-on pink Chucks, capris, and white polo shirt. “Trust me. You’re not dressed for demolition.”

“Darn. I didn’t get the memo about the dress code or I’d have worn my boots today.”

His lips curved. “They don’t go with your outfit.”

“They do go with my favorite short skirt, though.”

“Now that I’d like to see,” he said.

He cocked his head to the side, sliding her a look she could only describe as pure heat. Her insides nearly melted from his gaze.

The way he looked at her made her really want to wear that short skirt with her boots. She could already imagine . . .

Well. She could imagine a lot of things that had her feeling all melty.

The New York Times bestselling author of Love After All and the Play-by-Play series delivers a new novel about how love sometimes has plans of its own.  

Having left his hometown of Hope years ago, only one thing could persuade architect Reid McCormack to come home for a lengthy stay—the challenge of renovating a historic building. But once the job is finished, he’ll be headed back to Boston, no matter how much he’s drawn to beautiful florist Samantha Reasor.

Samantha watches over her elderly grandmother and pours a piece of herself into every floral creation she designs. Her crush on Reid has been blooming for a while now, but she’s reluctant to act on it. A temporary fling isn’t what she’s looking for, even if Reid is smoking hot and super sexy. She wants a real, permanent, forever kind of love.

Two people with different goals couldn’t possibly work, and yet as their attraction grows into something deeper, maybe falling in love is the one thing Samantha and Reid can build a future on.