Second Chance Hero by Liz Lee

the attraction problem. But he continued before she could tell him to stop.
    “When I’m on the floor, I have these vivid fantasies of you naked and me making you that way. I can’t sleep in bed with you. Sorry.”
    Oh whoa. What was she supposed to say to that anyway? She fought to catch her breath. “We’re adults David.”
    “Exactly,” he laughed. “Adults extremely attracted to one another.”
    “I’m not…”
    “Don’t lie.”
    She blew out a breath. “Okay, so I am. But I’ll wear my flannels. You wear yours. You’ve got a big bed. Huge. We could practically be in different zip codes in that thing.”
    He laughed again. “Babe, once upon a time you and I christened every square inch of that great big, huge, giant, separate zip codes bed on a regular basis. Remember?”
    Oh yeah. Definitely.  
    She fought to catch her breath and blushed when he laughed at her. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
    “So sleeping together isn’t such a great idea.”
    She nodded. “Because I’d hate myself in the morning.”
    He tilted his head sideways, ran his index finger down her cheek then stepped back. “There is that.”
    “So sleeping bag it is.”
    “Unless you want to take that chance. I mean you’re already way out on the edge now. What’s a little more danger.”
    He was teasing her. And she was liking it. “Shut up, David.”
    “You know you want me.”
    God yes she did. “You’re so romantic.”
    “I see that look in your eyes.”
    “You see me ready to roll my eyes.”
    “Yeah,” he said. “I seem to remember making you do that more than once on that bed. It was….”
    “A long time ago. Point made. You’re right. No sleeping together.”
    He dragged out the sleeping bag, grabbed his pillow off the bed. “It would be good.”
    She shrugged. “Good sex is not enough.”
    Wrong thing. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
    She felt the difference in the room immediately. She’d ruined their good time. They’d been having fun. Flirting. Teasing. And she’d blown it.
    “You’re right,” he said, this time completely serious. “You deserve more than good sex. I can do good sex. I can’t do what you deserve, Lil.”
    She laughed and tried not to take it personally. “We’re both perfect products of our upbringing.”
    He tossed the pillow on the floor. “Families can really suck.”
    “You say that because you’ve had the real deal,” she said. “I want the real deal. I want to sit at a table surrounded by my kids. I want to tease and nag and discipline as needed. I want to love that much and be loved back. No nannies. No trust funds. No country clubs or debutant balls.”
    Her words should be freaking him out. Instead they were turning him on. Damn. David focused on the pillow, on the UT throw Scamp was dragging out of the room.
    He stepped on the throw and Scamp curled up on his sleeping bag.
    “Anna would kill for the chance to go to a debutant ball,” he said as he looked across the room. “It’s not all positives. It hurts sometimes.” He thought about Pete’s funeral. About his mother’s tears. “It hurts a lot.”  
    “So does being alone.” She whispered the words and he felt like the world’s biggest jerk. She was so sad over there by that big bed. Sad and sexy as hell and what he wanted to do was slip that rock show t-shirt over her head, those well-worn jeans off her legs and slide inside her again and again until she came apart in his arms.
    But that would be a bad idea on a colossal level.
    So instead he tried to go back to teasing. “Hey cariña . Quit being so serious. I bet I can find Scrabble. You up for a game?”
    She laughed and, thank you Jesus, the moment was broken. “I’m not playing naked Scrabble with you.”
    “And here I thought you were living life on the edge,” he said. “Fine. You can keep your clothes on. But it’s not my fault you lose.”
    “You cheat,” she said but he could tell she didn’t really believe it.  
    “Like you can