His Marriage to Remember - By Kathie DeNosky Page 0,38
move. Seduction was out of the question. For one thing, she was still under the assumption that they were getting a divorce and had gone out of her way to avoid making love with him.
No, his best course of action would be to court her the way he had done when they first met—the way he probably should have done before she left the first time. They had watched movies, gone dancing and spent hours talking about how they wanted their lives to turn out.
All those things had worked for him to get her to say yes when he asked her to be his wife. Maybe they would work again in his effort to get her to stay married to him.
* * *
When the microwave beeped, Bria removed the bag of popcorn and, opening it, poured the fluffy kernels into a bowl. She had no idea what made Sam think back to when they had first started seeing each other, but why did he have to recall that at this stage of the game? Why couldn’t he have seen that the many times she had pointed out that she wanted them to spend time together as a couple the way they had in the beginning of their relationship?
“Sweetheart, the movie is about to start,” he said from the family room.
“Go ahead and make yourself comfortable on the couch,” she called back as she removed a tray from the cabinet to place the bowl of popcorn and two soft drinks on it. “I’ll be right there.”
When she carried the tray into the family room to set in on the coffee table, Sam was already positioned in a corner of the couch with one long leg stretched out across the cushions. She knew what he intended. He wanted her to sit between his legs and lean back against his chest the way they used to sit and watch movies when they first started seeing each other.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” he asked when she moved to sit in the chair flanking the couch. He caught her hand as she walked past him. “We can’t have a date night if I’m over here and you’re over there.”
“But I thought you’d be more comfortable—”
“Sweetheart, you’ve been entirely too worried about my comfort lately.” He gave her a grin that caused her lower stomach to flutter with anticipation. “I’ll let you know if something goes to sleep and starts hurting.”
She wasn’t as concerned with something going to sleep as she was with something waking up. But there really wasn’t anything she could think of to explain why it was a bad idea to cuddle on the couch with him while they watched the movie.
Sighing, she sat down between his legs and tentatively leaned back against his chest. Sam immediately wrapped his arms around her and held her snuggly to him.
“You’re way too tense,” he said, kissing the side of her neck. “Relax and lay your head against my shoulder, sweetheart.”
When she did as he requested, Bria closed her eyes as his warmth surrounded her. She tried to fight the feeling flowing through her, but there was no denying that in Sam’s arms, she felt as if she was where she belonged—where she would always belong.
She told herself she should move, that she should escape the temptation Sam posed to her peace of mind. But for the life of her, she couldn’t seem to find the strength. Just as had happened since returning to the ranch, each time he held her, each time he kissed her, the will to resist became that much weaker. This was the man she used to know, the man she fell in love with. She had missed the teasing touches, the subtle hints of how she made him want her and the feel of his body as he let her know his desire was only for her. There hadn’t been enough of that in the past couple of years. If there had been, maybe they could have worked past his not being with her when she miscarried and she wouldn’t have left him.
Reaching for the bowl to keep from turning to reach for Sam, Bria started to get some popcorn. When her fingers came into contact with Sam’s, her heart skipped a beat and she felt as if an electric charge coursed all the way from her fingertips up her arm to her shoulder.
“I think this is yours,” he whispered as he brought a piece of popcorn up to