what could have been and fighting the overwhelming desire to turn to him, to have him love her once again as only he could. But that wouldn’t make their problems go away and would only make it more difficult for her to leave once Sam recovered his memory.
“I was thinking that I might read for a while to wind down,” she said, hoping he would go upstairs without her. If she waited until he went to sleep, maybe she could go to bed in the guest bedroom and actually get some much-needed sleep. “But you should go on and get your rest.”
Sam didn’t look pleased, but giving her a quick kiss, he started toward the door. He hadn’t gone more than a couple of steps when he stopped suddenly and started to sway.
“You’re light-headed again, aren’t you?” she said, rushing to his side.
When he closed his eyes and put his arm around her shoulders to lean against her, he took a deep breath. “I’ll be okay in a second or two.” A muscle along his jaw worked furiously as he fought the vertigo. “I guess I might have done a little too much the past couple of days,” he finally said, opening his eyes.
“Can you make it into the house?” she asked.
Her concern increased when he gave her a short nod, then closed his eyes against another wave of dizziness. What if he became dizzy and fell down the stairs as they tried to get to the bedroom for him to lie down?
“Maybe you should sleep downstairs tonight, Sam.”
He shook his head. “I’ll make it, sweetheart.”
Her heart felt as if it was in her throat until they reached the top of the stairs and entered the master suite. As soon as he was sitting on the side of the bed, she released the snaps on his chambray shirt and slid it from his broad shoulders.
“I can undress myself,” he said tightly.
“I’m not going to argue with you, Sam.” She pulled off his boots and socks, then tossed them aside. Reaching for his belt, she made quick work of unbuckling the tooled-leather strap. “Do you think you can stand up for me to get you out of your jeans?”
“There’s not a man alive who would say no to that, sweetheart,” he said, slowly rising to his feet and placing his hands on her shoulders to steady himself.
She shook her head. “Really, Sam? You’re thinking about making love even now when you’re so light-headed you can barely stand up? Is that all men think about?”
“It’s a guy thing, sweetheart.”
“It must be,” she muttered as she unbuttoned his waistband, carefully lowered the zipper at his fly, then pushed the denim down his muscular thighs. Even though he was trying to make light of the situation, the fact that he was willingly allowing her to undress him caused her concern to increase. It was something he normally wouldn’t even consider unless they were getting ready to make love.
“Do you want me to call Nate or one of the others?” she asked, wishing his brothers hadn’t already left.
“No, the dizziness is letting up,” he said, stepping out of his jeans. “I just need to stretch out for a while.”
This bout of vertigo had been worse than any of the others and she needed to check the instructions they were given when he was discharged from the hospital. She might need to call the doctor or take Sam to the hospital E.R. “Do you think you’ll be all right while I go downstairs for a minute to get the discharge papers?”
Sam caught her hand in his. “Sweetheart, don’t worry. It was just a little dizzy spell. I’m okay now.”
Bria searched his face. His eyes were clear and focused and he didn’t seem to be in any pain. “Are you sure?”
He nodded. “As long as I have you with me, I’ll be just fine.”
Sam’s words caused her chest to tighten and tears to burn at the backs of her eyes. Why couldn’t he have said something like that to her during the past three years? Why did he have to wait until their divorce was almost final to come to that conclusion?
Needing a moment to compose herself, she motioned toward the bathroom. “I’m going to go change and brush my teeth. I’ll only be a moment.”
Bria hurried across the room and barely managed to get the bathroom door closed before her emotions took over. As tears trickled down her cheeks, she couldn’t help thinking about all the