Make Me Stay

by Jaci Burton

  Reid figured Brady was an observer. But he'd had some conversations with him, and he was a decent guy and a hard worker, and he knew Sam liked him. So that made him a good guy in his eyes. He was just sorry for what Brady and his family had had to go through.

  They finished up their meal and chatted with Brady for a while, watched the games and then paid their bill. Brady said he was going to move to the bar and hang out a little longer, so they said their good-byes.

  They headed back to the truck and drove off. Sam told him where the flower store was, so they made a stop there. He prepared himself for several hours there, but she told him she knew exactly what she wanted.

  "I need to plant some bulbs in the front garden. Some of my spring flowers aren't blooming any longer, so it's time to replace them," she said as she wandered the aisles at the nursery.

  "Oh. That makes sense. So you're not looking for something for your shop."

  "No. I order those online and have flowers shipped in, unless it's an emergency. Then I'll head out and shop for something I might need right away."

  She filled the cart with the bulbs she wanted. Reid followed behind her as she walked up and down the aisle, selecting tulips and crocus and daffodils and hyacinths.

  "You know," he said as they wandered the store, "I create drawings of homes and buildings, and often those drawings include flowers. So I know the names of the flowers and what they look like. But I've never planted a bulb before in my life. I really know nothing about flowers."

  She gave him a horrified look. "We need to fix this serious gap in your floral education."

  "We do?"

  "Yes. We'll take these back to my house and I'll educate you in the planting of bulbs."

  "How did you know it was just what I was thinking of doing today?"

  She laughed. "I'm sure it was."

  They checked out, and he drove her back to her place, helping her unpack her bags and carry them into the house. She took the clothing items back to her bedroom while he stored the bags of bulbs in the garage. When he came inside, she was in the kitchen.

  "I need to go over to my grandmother's house to check on her. Would you like to join me?"

  "Sure."

  They walked across the street and down the sidewalk. Sam got out her keys, but rang the bell first.

  Her grandmother answered. "Hello, Samantha. And hello to you, too, Reid. Nice to see both of you. Come on inside."

  Sam kissed her grandmother's cheek. So did Reid. "How was your day today, Claire?"

  "I had a wonderful day. Faith and I were busy all day." She led them inside, where she had the television on. "Now I'm tired."

  Sam and Reid took a seat on the sofa. "What did you and Faith do?"

  "We went to several yard sales. Faith picked up an old pitcher that she really liked. I found a garden gnome. It's out in the garage if you want to see it."

  "I'll definitely go look before I leave," Sam said. "I know you love gnomes."

  Her grandmother smiled. "I do. Then we went out to lunch and back to Faith's house, where we played cards for a while and watched some baseball on TV. Faith wanted to check out another sale at one of the shops downtown, so we went there. That woman can run and run. Since she's only a few years younger than me, I don't know how she does it."

  Sam laughed. "She is very active, isn't she?"

  "Yes. Anyway, she dropped me off just a little while ago. I'm going to fix some soup for dinner, then crawl into my pajamas and go to bed early tonight. My legs are tired. How was your day?"

  "Your granddaughter ran my legs off today," Reid said, telling Grammy Claire about all the shopping they'd done.

  Grammy Claire slanted a wry smile Reid's way. "You poor boy. That's Samantha, all right. She does love to shop."

  "You know it," Sam said with a proud grin. "And, surprisingly, Reid held up without complaint."

  "That's because he's a McCormack, and the McCormack men don't complain. Isn't that right, Reid?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "All right, you two. Out. I'm going to take a bath before I fix dinner."

  Sam stood and kissed her grandmother. "I'll call you before bedtime, Grammy Claire."

  "You do that."

  Reid gave her a peck on the cheek, too. "You call if you need anything."

  Grammy Claire grasped his wrist and pulled him down so she could whisper in his ear. "You're good for her. You make her smile."

  Something tightened in his gut. "Thanks. She makes me smile, too."

  Grammy Claire's eyes sparkled. "So I noticed."

  Sam shut and locked the front door. "She seems fine."

  "Yeah, she does."

  "But I have a feeling that won't last."

  He put his arm around her as they walked across the street. "Don't go worrying about things you don't have to worry about just yet, okay? It sounds to me like she and Faith had a great time today, and no issues surfaced. Your grandmother is enjoying her life right now. Can't that be enough?"

  "You're right. It should be." She looked up at the sky. "It's starting to get dark, so we won't be able to plant bulbs today. You're off the hook."

  "Oh, damn. And I was so looking forward to that."

  "I'll bet you were. I guess you'll have to settle for hanging out with me indoors. Where we'll find other . . . activities to occupy our time."

  He opened the front door for her. "I like the sound of that. Unless you mean you have some leaky faucet you'd like me to fix."

  She laughed and took his hand, leading him to her bedroom. "No, my faucets are just fine, thank you. I was thinking something more personal. That requires us to get naked. I have this tension issue I'd like you to assist me with."

  He followed her down the hall. When they got to the bedroom and she turned around to face him, he put his arms around her. "Tension issue, huh? I can definitely help release some of that stress you're holding in your body, Sam."

  She drew her shirt off, then slid out of her shoes. "I knew you could."

  He removed his shirt and tossed it on the bed. "I have an idea."

  "You do? And what is that?"

  "How about a bath? Together."

  "I like this idea."

  They finished undressing, and Sam led him to her bathroom. She turned on the faucet, grateful she had a nice soaker tub big enough to accommodate both of them. Just the thought of relaxing in the tub with Reid made her quiver with excitement.

  When the water reached the appropriate level, Reid held her hand while she climbed in. Then he got in behind her. She turned the water off, letting the steam envelop her--letting Reid envelop her. He put his arms around her and pulled her back against his chest.

  She settled in, sliding her legs along his.

  "This is damn near perfect," he said, smoothing his hands down her arms.

  "Yes." She felt the tension from the day--from the past several days--melt away as his hands moved over her body. And despite the hot water in the tub, her skin broke out in chill bumps from his touch, her nipples puckering as he cupped her breasts.

  "I hope this is relaxing you," he whispered in her ear as his thumbs brushed across her aching nipples.

  Her breath quickened as his erection pushed against her back.

  "I don't know if I can say I'm very relaxed right now, Reid."

  "That's too bad. Let me fix that."

  He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer, his fingers inching down to cup her sex.

  She gasped. In this position, she could watch the movements of his hand just under the water, could see and feel what he did to her.

  "Lean your head back against my shoulder," he said. "Close your eyes and just feel."

  She did, surrendering to the sensations as his fingers worked their magic on her.

  It was as if everything in her mind had melted away, and there was only Reid. Reid and his hands, coaxing her every desire to feverish proportions. She lifted against his hand, needing more and more of what he could give her.

 
; "That's it," he said, his voice low and soft against her ear.

  The water seemed so hot all of a sudden as she grew ever closer to that explosion she knew was imminent, Reid's questing fingers rolling over the throbbing bud of her clit. She cried out as she came and he held tight to her while she shuddered through her orgasm.

  When she settled, his tongue razed her neck. "Now that was good."

  "Definitely for me." She turned around in the water and straddled him, looping her arms around his neck. She kissed him, her body still quaking with hot, liquid passion. And since she was sitting on, and sliding against, the evidence of his passion, it only made her need for him greater.

  Apparently Reid had had enough of bath time, too, because he stood, holding on to her, and stepped out of the tub, both of them dripping water all over her bathroom floor.

  "Wait right here," he said, his voice gruff with passion as he hurriedly dried off his body and stalked out of the room.

  She did her own drying off as fast as she could, and by the time she finished, he was back, condom in hand, his erection still gloriously prominent.

  His obvious desire for her made her body flush hot. Not that she wasn't already seriously warm, from both the bath and the amazing orgasm he'd just given her.

  Reid didn't speak, just put his mouth on hers in a very demanding, very delicious way.

  Her hunger fed on his and she felt the tension in his upper arms as she gripped them, holding on to him while he groaned against her lips. This was no easy, laid-back kiss he gave her. It was fueled with a hard driving passion, and she felt his need when he drew his lips from hers, gave her a look of desperate desire and pushed their discarded towels against the bathroom counter. He lifted her, sat her on top of them, then put the condom on in record time.

  Their mouths and tongues fused again as he slid inside of her, a fury of hot passion and tangled limbs. He cupped her butt to hold her steady as he drove into her with hard thrusts, his body aligning with hers in a way that told her he knew exactly how to take her right where she wanted to go. All she could do was hold on to the edge of the sink and just . . . feel every inch of him.

  She wrapped her legs around his hips and lifted into him, rubbing herself against him as sparks shot right to her core. And when she tightened around him, he pulled back, searching her face. She reached up and rubbed her fingers against his lips, then cupped his neck and brought him forward for a kiss.

  He groaned against her mouth and drove deep into her. She lost it then, her climax taking her breath and her balance. But Reid was there to steady her as she quivered around him, losing all sense of reality. And when it was his orgasm that shook them both, she held tight to him, holding them both upright as his deep kiss threatened to topple them off the counter.

  Afterward, they panted against each other, both of them mingled in sweat and discarded towels.

  "So," he said, pressing kisses along her neck and shoulder. "We might need to get back in the bathtub."

  She smiled against his shoulder. "We might."

  In the end they decided a quick dash into the shower to rinse off the sweat was the best idea. Then they dried off, got dressed, and headed into the kitchen to grab something to drink before curling up on the sofa together to watch a movie.

  She didn't make it through five minutes of the movie they'd chosen before she passed out on Reid's shoulder.

  Chapter 29

  SAMANTHA SAT IN the doctor's office with her grandmother, continually blinking to keep the tears from falling as Dr. Westphal delivered his diagnosis.

  As Sam had suspected but had done her best to deny, Grammy Claire was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's. Sam tried to keep her head clear as Dr. Westphal went over everything, from medication to treatment plans to long-term care.

  Grammy Claire took it better than Sam did, listening and nodding and asking a lot of questions, while Sam just sat there mute and unable to process the fact that sometime in the near future she'd lose the only family member she had left, and the one person she loved more than anything in the world.

  She held her grandmother's hand, and it was her grandmother who squeezed her hand in comfort, when it should have been the other way around.

  She took her grandmother home, then went inside with her.

  "Are you hungry?" her grandmother asked, setting her purse on its usual spot on the table next to the front door. "I could make us some grilled cheese sandwiches."

  Sam's lips curved. Whenever she'd had a bad day in school, Grammy Claire had always made her grilled cheese. She started to say no, then thought better of it. "I think grilled cheese sounds great."

  She wanted everything to be normal for as long as it could be, especially for her grandmother.

  So she sat in the kitchen and talked flowers while she watched her grandmother take out the pan and make grilled cheese for both of them. Then, Grammy Claire sat at the kitchen table and they ate together.

  And for a short while, everything was just like it used to be, the two of them chatting and laughing together. Sam was transported to her childhood, where she didn't have a worry in the world and Grammy Claire took care of everything for her and all she had to think about was her friends and how much playtime she'd get that day.

  "We're going to have to talk about this, Samantha."

  And then the bubble burst.

  Sam inhaled, then let it out. "I know."

  "I'm still lucid enough that I understand the diagnosis--and what it means. Not only for myself, but for you."

  "I'm not concerned about me, Grammy Claire. I only care about your welfare."

  Her grandmother pulled her chair closer and covered Sam's hands with her own. Those lovely wrinkled hands of hers. She stared down at Grammy Claire's rings. The single gold wedding band and the cluster of diamonds Grandpa Bob had gotten her for their fortieth wedding anniversary. The other one, on her right hand, that belonged to Grammy Claire's mother. Sam used to hold Grammy Claire's hand and twirl those rings around on her grandmother's fingers.

  "I'm not a senile child--yet," her grandmother said. "So while I still have all my faculties, we'll need to make some decisions."

  "I should probably move in with you."

  Her grandmother shook her head. "No."

  Sam blinked. "Why not? I'm perfectly capable of caring for you."

  "Yes, you are, and no, I won't let you. You're young and single and the last thing you need to do with your life is to spend it caring for an old woman."

  The tears pricked her eyes again. "Do you believe that's how I think of you, Grammy Claire? As some kind of burden? I love you. You're my family. I'd do anything for you."

  Seeing the tears well up in her grandmother's eyes nearly tore her apart. "I love you, too. Which is why I would never allow you to sacrifice your life for mine. In a short period of time I won't even remember who--"

  Her grandmother couldn't finish the sentence, but they both knew what she hadn't said.

  At some point in the future, her grandmother wouldn't even remember who Sam was. The thought of it was like a knife to the heart. To still have her grandmother, but not be able to talk to her, not be able to reminisce with her, would be heartbreaking.

  But they'd get through this--together. Because when Sam had needed her most, Grammy Claire had been there for her. And now that her grandmother needed her, Sam wouldn't abandon her.

  No matter what her grandmother thought was best.

  Chapter 30

  REID HAD BEEN spending a lot of time on the first floor of the mercantile. The exposed brick had been cleaned and now gleamed as new--or as old-new--as it was going to be. It looked fucking fantastic along the entire west wall of the first floor. The columns had been finished; the ceiling gleamed.

  It was perfect, just as he'd envisioned.

  Loretta was due in this morning to look over the floor plan for the first floor. He didn't want to put walls up until she decided how she wanted the setup.

  Not My Dog strolle
d inside the open front door and dropped a ball at his foot.

  "Dude. It's work time, not playtime."

  The dog just looked at him, so Reid shook his head, picked up the ball, and tossed it to the far end of the space. Not My Dog dashed after it, came loping back, and dropped it at his feet.

  Obviously he'd gotten bored outside, so Reid threw the ball several more times.

  "Clearly the square footage in here is large enough to throw a ball."

  Reid turned to see Loretta Simmons standing in the doorway. Tall and slim, with dark hair pulled into a high ponytail, she pulled off her sunglasses and walked into the room.

  "Yeah, sorry. Took a few minutes of dog time."

  "He's very cute." She crouched down to greet Not My Dog, who had trotted over to check her out. The dog wagged his tail when Loretta scratched under his chin. "Is this your assistant, Reid?"

  "He thinks he runs the place."

  She laughed, then stood. "I imagine he does." She turned around, then looked up. "I love this ceiling."

  "Yeah, I was jazzed about it when we uncovered it."

  She walked around. "The columns are amazing. As is the brick wall. Original to the building, I assume?"

  "Yes. The columns are, too, so the historical society has mandated that those stay."

  She nodded. "I wouldn't want it any other way." She walked the length and width of the space--three times--and he could tell she was formulating ideas in her head.

  He liked that she was thorough, and he could see her mind working as she familiarized herself with the layout of the first floor.

  "If you'd like to see what the capabilities are, I can take you upstairs to the second and third floor. We've done a lot more finishing up there."

  "I would like to see that. Thanks."

  They headed upstairs to the second floor.

  "You'll have to excuse the dust. Some things aren't finished yet."

  She laughed. "I've been in a renovation zone before, so it's nothing new to me. When Tom--my ex--and I renovated one of our houses, it was like living in hell for three months. Trust me, this is nothing."

  "Okay, then." He showed her around the second and third floors so she could see some of the finishes in the offices, the windows, and the bathrooms.

  He took her to the third floor to show off the big office. She stared out the window.