Page 81 of Cougar Chronicles

“I know all about Michael Moretti that I need to know. He used me. Case closed.”

“Stacy, please listen. He hasn’t had an easy life.”

“Who has?” Stacy shook her head. “I’ve really got to go, Ronnie. I don’t want to miss this plane.” She gave Veronica a quick hug. “Keep in touch.”

Before Veronica could say anymore, Stacy lugged her suitcase outside and entered a waiting cab. Veronica rushed out the door as the cabbie drove off.

Home.

Home in her own bed would be the perfect spot for one last cry over Michael Moretti. Then she’d move on.

Nine

Freaking tears again.

Stacy sniffed. She’d been home for three weeks, and still she was crying rivers over Michael Moretti. How had this happened? Her work lay unfinished on the computer. Luckily, she didn’t have any pressing deadlines to worry about, but normally, she prided herself on writing at least one thousand words every day, usually much more. She hadn’t written more than a couple of hundred since she got home.

Time to suck it up, Oppenheimer.

She could get something out of this, use her experience for her next installment in the Starr Shannon urban fantasy series. The beauty of urban fantasy was that she didn’t need a happy ending every time, and Starr could have a new love interest for each book. Stacy would take Mary’s advice and make Starr a cougar this time, give her a younger lover. Starr was thirty-nine, so her lover could be thirty or younger. Twenty-nine, Stacy thought, was a good age for her hero. Her sex with Michael could serve as the basis for the sex scenes. Stacy smiled to herself. This time she wouldn’t have to guess what an orgasm felt like.

Now, some research on cougar and cub relationships. She sat at her computer and starting typing into her search engine. Over a million hits! Well, starting at the beginning would work well, she guessed. She scanned the pages…perfect! The Cougar Club offered advice and, better yet, a chatroom! What better place to research than with real live cougars?

And she could stay anonymous. She registered with a screen name, StacyStarr, and logged in.

HollyGolightly:Hi, Stacy!

MrsRobinson:Hi there, Stacy!

StacyStarr:Hello

MrsRobinson:What brings you out tonight?

Stacy inhaled. What should she say? Should she be honest that she was a writer doing research? Yes, that would probably be best. But perhaps the other women wouldn’t appreciate being asked questions?

No, honesty was best.

StacyStarr:I’m a writer. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?

HollyGolightly:Of course not.

MrsRobinson:Go right ahead. Or go “write” ahead, lol.

HollyGolightly:Lol, Megan.

Geez, had these women been drinking? But they seemed open to her quest for information, so she dived in.

StacyStarr:I was wondering, I guess, what younger men see in older women?

HollyGolightly:There’s not really an easy answer to that question, Stacy. Stacy is your name, right?

StacyStarr:Yes, my name is Stacy.

HollyGolightly:My guy and I met on a one-night stand, to be honest. I was in a bad place, and he really helped. I never meant to see him again, but we found each other later, and the connection was still there.

MrsRobinson:Holly’s right. Honestly, most cougar/cub relationships that I know of began with a connection, not with any conscious thought on the woman’s part to go after a younger man or on the man’s part to go after an older woman.

Hmmm. Interesting.

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