Page 21 of Cougar Chronicles

Her cub? Jack was her cub? The beginning of a smile curved her lips.

HollyGolightly:He’s twenty-nine.

MrsRobinson:Nice!

ILoveCubs:Have you been together long?

HollyGolightly:No. And it’s not going to work out anyway. There are issues.

MrsRobinson:There are always issues, hon. But we can help, right, ladies?

GoodtimeCharlene:We can try. That’s what we’re here for.

HollyGolightly:Are you ready to say goodbye to Bob, Charlene?

GoodtimeCharlene:No, to be honest. But I love him enough to let him go. If he lets go of his own dream to be with me, he may resent me for it, and I don’t want that.

Holly nodded at the computer screen. Charlene, whoever she was, spoke the truth. Resentment had no place in a relationship. Did she love Jack enough to let him go?

She nodded again. What a mess! She was in love with Jack.

ILoveCubs:Do you have anything you want to tell us, Holly? You’re safe here.

Safe? Safe in a computer chatroom talking to faceless women? Heck, she didn’t even know if they were women. They could be perverted old men who got off on talking about young studs.

Somehow she knew this chatroom was legitimate. She felt it, and she felt safe. And she did need to talk to someone.

She started to type, but the soft thump of footsteps behind her interrupted her thoughts. Quickly she clicked on the logout link.

“Sugar?”

She turned to face Jack, who looked tousled and sexy and way too good for the middle of the night.

Her heart sped up at the sight.

“What’re you doin’ up? You okay?”

She stood to face him. “I’m sorry if I woke you.”

“You didn’t. I just rolled over and you weren’t there. Brought back memories of that morning after, till I remembered I was at your place. Pretty hard for you to run out on me.”

Holly smiled and pushed back a lock of dark hair that had fallen over his eye.

It hit her again, like an arrow between her eyes. She was in love with this young cowboy, and it was time to let him go.

She’d do that in the morning. For the rest of the night, she could lie in his arms and make love to him. For just a few more hours, she could play Pollyanna like Megan and pretend everything would work out.

Tomorrow would be soon enough to end it.

Eight

“What?”

The forkful of scrambled eggs on its way to Holly’s mouth dropped back onto her plate.

Jack smiled at her from across the kitchen table. “I said I want you to spend the weekend with me.”

“You’re kidding.”

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