Exclusive Excerpt (+ a Giveaway): Make Me Stay by Jaci Burton

Today we have an exclusive excerpt (and a giveaway!) of Jaci Burton’s Make Me Stay to share with you. Make Me Stay is book 5 in the Hope series and I have to tell you, I’m crazy excited for it. Plus, look at that cover. Mmm.

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.

Check out the exclusive excerpt:

Sam looked Reid over from head to booted feet, admittedly enjoying the view. “You don’t look as dirty as you did the other day. I take that to mean demolition is moving along more smoothly?”

His lips ticked up. “I guess it is. But I managed to wipe down the dust before I headed this way.”
“What brings you to my store?”
“Uh . . . I need to ask you a question.”
“Sure.” Maybe he needed to order flowers, though it wasn’t Martha or Ben’s birthday. It wasn’t Logan or Luke’s birthday, or Emma or Des’s birthday. Or any anniversaries either. The benefit of being the town florist was she pretty much had all the important dates in her head.
“Des is hosting a dinner party thing Saturday night at the ranch.”
“She is?”
“Yes.”
Des had already told her about the couples dinner party several weeks ago. She’d been invited, but she’d put that on hold, because that would have meant she had to scrounge up a date, which hadn’t been on her radar at that time.
“That sounds fun.”
“Yeah. It’s a couples thing, though, so I need a date.”
This was interesting, especially since Reid looked very uncomfortable. She was going to go with it to see how it played out. “Is that right?”
“Yes. So I was wondering—and you’re under no obligation, of course—but if you weren’t busy or anything, would you want to go?”
But now it looked like she did have a date. And an extremely hot one at that. “I’d love to come. So I’d need to bring a date?”
He frowned. “Uh, no. You’d go with me.”
“Oh, I see. You didn’t actually directly ask me to be your date so I was kind of confused.”
“Shit. Sorry. Samantha, Des is having a couples dinner party at the ranch on Saturday night. I would very much like to bring you as my date, if you’d like to come with me.”
She knew she’d made it hard on him, but it had been too much fun to see him squirm a little. “I’d love to, Reid. Thank you for asking.”
He exhaled. “Thanks. I’ll come pick you up around six thirty.”
“That’s not necessary, since it’s a long drive out to the ranch. I can drive over.”
“No, you won’t. I asked you to be my date, so I’ll come pick you up. At six thirty.”
Wasn’t he being chivalrous. And wasn’t she enjoying it oh so much. “Okay. Then I’ll be ready at six thirty.”
“Great.”
She waited while he stood there and stared at her as if there was something else he wanted to say. Or do.
Like catapult himself over the counter, pull her into his arms, and kiss her.
Or maybe that was just her wishful thinking.
“So I should get back to work,” he finally said.
No catapulting. How disappointing. “Yes, I should, too.”
He grasped the dog’s leash. “I guess I’ll see you Saturday night then.”
“Okay.” She drummed her fingers on the counter, waiting for . . . something. She didn’t know what. Just some kind of signal that him asking her to be his date hadn’t been a painful experience for him.
“I’ll see you later, Sam.”
“Bye, Reid.”
He and the dog left, and despite having been asked to be his date, she couldn’t help but feel . . .
What? Disappointed? She had no idea what she felt. But whatever the sensation was, she had no time to feel it, because she had loads of work waiting for her in the back room to deal with.
Thankfully. Nothing like immersing herself in the creation of beautiful flower arrangements to take her mind off the mystery of men.
Or, rather, the mystery that was one man.
Reid McCormack.

*GIVEAWAY We have one print copy of Make Me Stay to giveaway! Use the rafflecopter widget below to enter! (US shipping addresses only)

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About Jaci:

After spending too many years to count in the high stress business world, New York Timesand USA Today Bestelling Author Jaci Burton is happy to be living her dream of writing passionate romance. She has written over forty-five novels and is contracted to write ten more. Jaci has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business that she is thrilled not to be using in the corporate environment anymore. She grew up in Missouri but migrated to California, where she lived for thirteen years, but now makes her home in Oklahoma with her husband and five dogs. She enjoys being outdoors in the summer and she and her husband are avid Harley riders.

Jaci writes in multiple genres, from erotic romance to romantic suspense to contemporary romance. She has won the RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice Award, and has been nominated for the award four times. She has been a finalist in the Bookseller’s Best and National Reader’s Choice Awards, and has won The Romance Studio’s CAPA Award four times.

She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Novelists, Inc., RWA’s Published Author Special Interest Chapter, the Oklahoma chapter of RWA and Thriller Writers International.

You can find Jaci on the web at the following locations:

Website: jaciburton.com. | Blog: jaciburton.com/blog | Find Jaci on Facebook | Twitter: jaciburton

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