Calendar Boy (The Cougar Chronicles 2)

“Michele”—she scooted her chair closer to him, cupped both his cheeks in her soft hands—“as much as I want grandbabies, I want you happy more. If this woman can make you happy, I don’t care if she a hundred years old. Can this woman make you happy?”

“I think so, yes.”

“Why you not with her then?”

“I screwed it up.”

“Then fix it.”

He chuckled. If only if were that simple. “I don’t think it can be fixed, Ma. I tried.”

“You love her?”

He closed his eyes, gripped the edge of the table. “Yes,” he said, his heart opening, freeing what he’d locked inside for so long, since Beth had died. “I love her.”

God, how he loved her. Her incredible big brown eyes, her silky auburn hair. He loved her shyness, yet how her inhibitions seemed to cease to exist at opportune times, like when she’d told him her breasts were real the first time they met. He loved how she’d fought him tooth and nail about sky diving but then how her face had lit up as she’d described the experience later. He loved how she kissed him, how she’d painted his hard cock with chocolate sauce and then licked it all off in the best blow job of his life. He loved how perfectly she fit into his arms when they danced, when they showered, when they made love.

“I love her,” he said again softly.

His mother touched his forearm, but her gentleness didn’t extend to her face. Her features were taut, her lips pursed. “Try harder.”

Chapter Eleven

StacyStarr: I found out something about Michael.

Hollygolightly: What?

StacyStarr: He had a fiancée. She died nine years ago in a car accident.

Hollygolightly: Oh, wow, that’s awful.

StacyStarr: That’s not even the worst of it. She was pregnant with his child.

Hollygolightly: I take it you haven’t contacted him yet.

StacyStarr: No, I couldn’t. Not after I read this. He adored this woman, this Beth. I could never take her place. I don’t think I want to.

Hollygolightly: He’s not the first person to lose a loved one. And it was a long time ago.

StacyStarr: But it makes sense now, why he’s a womanizer. Even why he was looking for a sugar mama. He never got over Beth. I think he may be punishing women now. Punishing them for what he perceived as Beth’s abandonment. I don’t think he’s ever going to let himself have feelings for a woman again.

Hollygolightly: You don’t know that. You’re making a lot of assumptions, Stacy.

StacyStarr: I know. But I’m afraid of rejection, Holly. What if he really only wants a sugar mama?

Hollygolightly: Remember that he tried to make up with you once already. You won’t know until you ask.

StacyStarr: If he really wanted me, he’d come to me.

Hollygolightly: Not necessarily. He may be afraid of you rejecting him.

Michael Moretti afraid of rejection? Was she kidding?

StacyStarr: I don’t think that’s an issue. I guess I haven’t given you his full name, but trust me, if you saw him, you’d know he would have no fear of rejection.

Hollygolightly: Stacy, good looking people have just as many insecurities as the rest of us, lol.

StacyStarr: He could have any woman he wanted.