Dating A Cougar (2 page)

Chapter 1

“Why so glum, gorgeous?” Sydney asked, unwrapping his own sandwich with great anticipation. “Trust me. I made sure you got double avocado.”

Something was up, Sydney thought. Normally, Alexa would have been three bites of ahead of him by now.

“I don’t know. Do you think fifty is old, Sydney?”

Alexa Ranger watched her thirty-five-year-old assistant and good friend take a giant bite of his club sandwich and swing his gaze to hers in shock at the same time. Then she watched him pound his chest to keep from choking as he attempted to swallow the bite around a coughing fit.

At six two with a trim waist and shoulders like a football player, the brown-haired, brown-eyed Sydney could easily be the most handsome man Alexa had ever known. He designed and wore his own line of clothes and looked like a male model himself.

When Sydney didn’t answer right away with one of his usual smart-ass quips, Alexa concluded he was really surprised by the question. Surprise was okay. If he looked at her with pity, she would probably throw her sandwich at him.

“It’s all about the quality of the preservation,” Sydney said at last, joking to give himself time to think.

In the ten years he had known and worked for Alexa, Sydney had never known the woman to be truly insecure about anything, especially her age. Not that Alexa hadn’t let herself go a little bit in the last couple of years. A lack of male companionship had taken a negative toll on her. She hadn’t shown any real interest in anyone specific in some time, nor in making a fashion statement. Most days the woman wore jeans and a shirt, which in Sydney’s mind was barely better than a uniform.

Still—
insecure
? Alexa was not the type of person to worry about much of anything for long. Alexa was brash, boastful, demanding, and many, many other things, but the woman was not at heart insecure.

Pulling himself from his contemplation, Sydney noticed Alexa was intently waiting for his reply to her question. Sydney made himself focus on the possibility of being fifty. Naturally, his stunning life partner came immediately to mind.

“Do I think fifty is old?” Sydney said, repeating her question. “Well, Paul is fifty-two. I certainly don’t consider him old. The man just gets sexier with each passing year.”

Despite being starved, Sydney took a smaller bite of his sandwich this time just in case Alexa shocked him again.

“It’s different for men,” Alexa said with a wave of her hand, hating the self-pity in her voice and the dark cloud of female worry over her head. “Men get better with age, and Paul is proof. Women—well, women just get old, Sydney. Even women like me.”

“Okay, this is too weird,” Sydney said, putting down his sandwich. “That was definitely self-pity I heard in your voice. What’s wrong with you today, Alexa? Years of good maintenance are paying off big-time for you, honey. You look great.”

Alexa shrugged her shoulders. She enjoyed her looks. In fact, she built her business on her looks. The problem was that looking younger at fifty didn’t make her feel as good as it had in her thirties or forties.

Now, regardless of how she looked on the outside, inside Alexa
felt
fifty.

“Oh, never mind me. Forget I said anything. I don’t mean to whine—you know I hate whining.” Sighing over her depressing thoughts, Alexa took another bite of her sandwich

Sydney hurriedly finished his last bite and leaned back in the chair. “When was the last time you had a date?” Sydney asked, inspiration striking. “I mean a real date where you dressed up and went out somewhere nice.”

“Don’t remember,” Alexa said around a bite. “It’s been a while I guess. Nine months, maybe? It’s harder at my age to find someone interesting.”

Which was mostly true, Alexa thought, if you didn’t count the attraction she’d felt shaking hands with Casey Carter last month. The retired Marine was appealing, but definitely too young, and definitely too related to her daughter’s boyfriend. Her life was talk show worthy enough as it was—she certainly didn’t need to add to it.

“I can’t believe turning fifty is making me this crazy. Most women have their mid-life crisis at thirty or forty,” Alexa protested.

Sydney laughed. “Needing sex is not a crisis, honey. It’s a highly solvable problem,” he told Alexa, studying the shifting expressions on her face with a frown.

“Who says I need sex?” Alexa asked, rolling her eyes at the statement.

Okay, so maybe it had been nine months ago with a friend, and who knew how long ago with a man she genuinely desired. Maybe, Alex thought, maybe she even secretly worried on some level about never wanting sex again, because not dating had been a relief instead of a sacrifice. Determined not to sink into an even deeper funk dwelling on her voluntary celibacy, Alexa took a big bite of her awesome sandwich and chewed.

Sydney looked at her and smirked. “Do you have a booty call man you haven’t told me about?”

“No,” Alexa said sadly. “Not anymore, I gave him up too. He started talking about setting up a regular time for us every week. I stopped seeing him about nine months ago.”

“Bad call. Abstaining does not suit you, Alexa. You are a vibrant woman. You need sex,” Sydney argued. “I could hook you up with one of my straight friends. I have several who think you’re hot.”

“Good lord, you’re offering me a pity date?” Alexa laughed, shocked under her amusement. “Am I that bad off?”

Sydney nodded. “Your insecurity is showing, honey, which is so not like you. I think you need someone in your life who can make you feel young.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t even let Regina and Lauren fix me up with dates. I prefer to just meet a guy and follow a little feeling that says he’s worth getting to know.”

“Well, I hear you there. Certainly sounds like the best motivation, but when was the last time you had a feeling about a guy?” Sydney asked with a grin.

“Last month actually,” Alexa confided, revealing the truth to Sydney, who would never betray her, mostly because he valued his life too much. “It happened with Seth’s older cousin, but Jenna would simply kill me if I put any moves on him.”

“So don’t tell her,” Sydney said, laughing. “Swear the man to secrecy.”

The idea of asking the former Marine to indulge in a secret love affair with her struck Alexa as more funny than possible. What would Casey Carter want with an older woman like her when he could have any number of younger, more attractive ones?

And if she did get that far, what would she do with Casey when they weren’t in bed? There might be different problems dating younger men, Alexa concluded, but all dating had the same damn depressing outcome for her.

Not to mention, there would likely be hell to pay if Jenna found out.

“Right,” she smiled, drawing the word out. “You expect me date Seth’s macho cousin, and convince him never to mention it to Seth or Jenna? That’s a bold play, even with my dating history.”

Sydney stood and gathered their lunch trash. “Since when is Alexa Ranger afraid of being bold?”

Alexa shook back her reddish brown mane of hair, her eyes glittering in amusement as she laughed. If only she could find a straight man who understood her as well as Sydney. He knew just which buttons to press.

“What would I do without you, Sydney? You’re absolutely right,” she said nodding, not wanting to argue further about his plan.

“Of course I am. Now go be bold,” Sydney replied sternly. “And make notes so you remember the details. You know how forgetful people are at your age.”

Alexa swore at him, laughed, but ultimately blew Sydney a kiss as he headed back to his desk.

Even if Casey wasn’t a possibility, now that Sydney had all but dared her to date someone younger, the idea was churning inside her. However, a decision this important needed more than the sanction of a gay friend. It required the advice of female experts, Alexa decided.

Fortunately, she was already meeting her two favorite experts for dinner that evening.

*** *** ***

The food at Lucinda’s was always good. If it hadn’t been, Alexa would have rousted the manager for a heart-to-heart. Not just because she was part owner, but because she truly loved meeting there for dinner. Part of what she liked was that the management trained the staff well on deflecting unwanted attention from its more famous customers. Anyone with a press badge or camera had to check their electronics at the door.

Both she and Regina felt safe there.

“So when was the last time you felt a genuine interest in getting to know a man,” Alexa asked the two women seated at her table.

They had demolished three plates of appetizers in less than twenty minutes with no complaining about calories. It was a point of honor between them never to feel guilty about food.

Regina—aka Dr. Regina Logan—was polishing off the last of the veggie pizza.

“I love pizza. It’s such happy food. And all those carbs make for a good snooze after. Did you ask a question, Alexa? Sorry, I was in the middle of a pizza orgasm,” Regina explained.

Alexa laughed when Lauren McCarthy—one of The McCarthy’s of Falls Church, Virginia—rolled her eyes at Regina’s response. Lauren had the sexual sensibilities of a twenty-year-old and the sexual urges of a forty-year-old. It was not a happy combination in a woman who worried daily about what people thought of her. Stranger still, Lauren risked her reputation weekly by hanging out with Regina and Alexa, definitely two of the most sexually notorious women in Falls Church.

While she waited for them to think about it, Alexa thought about the differences between the women she trusted with her deepest secrets. Regina and her work as a sex therapist drew the interest of the press regularly. Fortunately, Alexa’s notoriety had dwindled when she’d stopped dating so much. Only Lauren avoided the press, rarely even making the society pages. They teasingly called her
‘Saint McCarthy’
because the woman never did anything even remotely scandalous.

The worst thing Alexa had ever known Lauren to do was buy a vibrator after her divorce, but what single woman didn’t own at least one of those?

Alexa looked at Regina, smiling as the woman licked cheese off her fingers.

“I asked when was the last time you felt a genuine interest in getting to know a man,” she repeated.

Regina frowned as she wiped her hands on a napkin.

“Wow. I just realized I don’t have an easy answer to your question. That’s so depressing. I guess it’s been almost a year for me,” she said.

Alexa looked at Lauren, who squirmed whenever any of them talked about sex. Only Lauren could make forty-two look as innocent as twenty, Alexa thought, amused.

“Like you want to get to simply know him, or you want to—you know, get to know him in the biblical sense?” Lauren asked.

“Biblical sense,” Alexa answered around a grin.

Lauren sighed, “I guess I’d have to say about two years ago and for yet another womanizing man. The one before him was six years ago when I first got divorced. I developed an urge to date my lawyer.”

Regina arched an eyebrow, “Your lawyer? Honey, that was gratitude, not a sexual urge. Haven’t you ever wanted a man so much you just went for it?”

“Absolutely not,” Lauren answered honestly and sincerely. “Technology is a much better solution and more satisfying.”

“No, it’s not,” Alexa said gently, but with great conviction. “There’s nothing like falling into a satisfied sleep after you’ve had a man inside you two or three times. There’s no substitute for that kind of connection.”

“True. Have you been connecting to someone lately, Alexa?” Regina asked, smiling at the thought of her gorgeous friend getting lucky.

Alexa laughed and sighed, “No. I’m just a little attracted to someone, that’s all. It’s been a while for me, too. It’s complicated because the man is a lot younger than me.”

“Younger can be good. How much younger?” Regina asked, inspecting the appetizer plates for any lingering bites.

“I don’t know,” Alexa said frowning. “Why?”

“Less than eight years makes you a Puma. Over eight years makes you a Cougar,” Regina said wisely, as Lauren nodded in agreement. “That kind of hookup is happening a lot these days and women are benefitting greatly. I wish I had an eye for younger men. I could have a lot more dates. Unfortunately, I get irritated with their conversation long before the mating urge can happen.”

“So who’s the younger guy you like?” Lauren asked, truly interested in the answer.

Both Lauren and Regina looked at Alexa, who just stared back silently, blinking. Alexa’s reluctance to share his identity had both of them giggling.

“Hmmm . . . this is interesting, Lauren. Alexa doesn’t want us to know. Is the boy-toy in question at least of legal age?” Regina asked Alexa, teasing.

“Of course. He’s around thirty-eight I think,” Alexa finally confessed.

“You’re a Cougar then, but honestly—thirty-eight is not that young,” Regina exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “When you said young, I was picturing a twenty-something who checked himself out in the mirror every two seconds.”

Lauren laughed at Regina’s description because it fit her own mental image. “I was thinking the same. Anyone over thirty-five is fair game, Alexa. Though I’m a bit like Regina, I like men closer to my own age. Younger men seem to be too anxious and needy.”