dating a cougar book 1 of the never too late series

8/13/2019 Dating a Cougar Book 1 of the Never Too Late Series

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Dating A Cougar

Book One of theNEVERTOOLATESeries

by

Donna McDonald

SMAS!"ORDS ED#T#ON

Co$yright %&'' by Donna McDonald

Co(er by L)D De*ign* for Author*

Edited by Toby Minton and +aren La,*on


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Edition License Notice

Thi* ebook i* licen*ed for your $er*onal en-oy.ent only/ Thi* ebook .ay not be re*old orgi(en a,ay to other $eo$le/ #f you ,ould like to *hare thi* book0 $lea*e $urcha*e an

additional co$y for each $er*on/ #f you are reading thi* book and did not $urcha*e it0 or it

,a* not $urcha*ed for your u*e only0 then you *hould delete it fro. your de(ice and$urcha*e your o,n co$y/ Thank you for re*$ecting the author1* ,ork/

Thi* book i* a ,ork of fiction/ Na.e*0 character*0 $lace*0 and incident* either are the

$roduct of the author2* i.agination or are u*ed fictitiou*ly/ Any re*e.blance to actual

$er*on*0 li(ing or dead0 bu*ine**e*0 co.$anie*0 e(ent*0 or locale* i* coincidental/

This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.


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Ackno,ledge.ent*

# ,ould like to thank RA Bette3 for taking the ti.e to read thi* book *e(eral ti.e* and

$ro(ide feedback/ 4our effort at hel$ing .e ,ith the content ,a* *econd only to

$ro$$ing .e u$ e.otionally ,hen # really, really, reallyneeded .oral *u$$ort to kee$

,riting/

# ,ould like to thank .y fianc5e0 Bruce McDonald0 for being .y real6life Marine

in*$iration/ 4ou taught .e there are t,o thing* to *ay to our *oldier* after their *er(ice0

and # no, *ay the. to you ,ith ut.o*t gratitude/ 7Thank you for your *er(ice to our

country8 and 7"elco.e !o.e8/ 4ou are e(ery hero to .e/ Semper fi/

# ,ould al*o like to thank in ad(ance e(ery reader thirty6fi(e or younger ,ho read* thi*

*tory ,ith an o$en .ind about ,hat it .ean* to be older and in lo(e/ # ,rote thi* book for

you *o do,n the road ,hen you are li(ing ,here # a.0 you ,ill ha(e lea*t ha(e heard thi*

fro. one other $erfectly a(erage ,o.an/ Lo(e and *e9 are great at any age/


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:rologue

All Ale9a ,anted in the ,hole ,orld ,a* a hot bath and an early night2* *lee$/ Day*

like today ,here *he ended u$ arguing ,ith her entire *taff .ade her *eriou*ly ;ue*tion

,hy at fifty *he *till ,anted to be the creati(e force behind her lingerie bu*ine**/ Tonight

*he *hould be *oothing her fra33led ner(e* ,ith -a33 .u*ic and bubble*/ #n*tead0 *he ,a*heading to a cocktail $arty *till dre**ed in her ,ork clothe*0 e(en though la*t .inute

*ociali3ing ,a* definitely not her idea of fun any.ore/

But then ,ho ,a* *he kidding< Nothing ,a* fun the*e day*/Lately her .ood* *hifted fro. contented to .audlin in the blink of an eye0 .uch

,or*e than u*ual/ #t ,ould ha(e been nice to bla.e tho*e feeling* on half6century

birthday blue*0 but that didn2t account for the fi(e or *o re*tle** year* $receding thi* one/She hadn2t been able to ,ine0 dine0 or $lea*ure thi* *ort of .ood a,ay in fore(er/ Being

angry ,ith her*elf for agreeing to *o.ething *he didn2t ,ant to do only .ade it ,or*e/

Ale9a fro,ned a* *he $ulled into the $arking lot of Seth Carter2* condo0 her .ind

finally *lo,ing do,n enough to think about checking her a$$earance/ She $arked in the

fir*t *$ace *he *a, o$en and fli$$ed do,n a .irrored (i*or that had *een a lot of u*e/:ulling a li$ glo** fro. her $ur*e0 *he ;uickly and e9$ertly da*hed it acro** the

generou* line* of her .outh/ !er .a*cara and eye *hado, *till looked okay at lea*t/ Noneed to add .ore0 *he decided/ And thankfully0 the .ineral $o,der *he2d u*ed to *eal her

foundation *ee.ed to *till be kee$ing do,n the *hine on her face/

She $ondered her reflection for a fe, .o.ent*0 trying to be ob-ecti(e0 but at the *a.eti.e ,ondering ,hy *he didn2t care .ore/ 7Lea(e your hair alone and *to$ ,hining08 *he

*aid to the ,o.an in the .irror/ Second* later laughter o(er her *elf6cha*ti*e.ent filled

the car/Bru*hing her hair ,ould only .ake it flatter0 *o Ale9a e9$ertly finger co.bed it

in*tead/ E(entually0 *he had achie(ed ,hat *he con*idered to be an attracti(ely

di*he(eled look0 falling *o.e,here bet,eenslutty-just-out-of-bedand alluring-come-mess-me-up-further/ At lea*t the lu*h lock* *he in(e*ted hea(ily in .aintaining ,ould$artially *a(e her thi* e(ening fro. looking like =enna2* fru.$ .o. in her -ean* and a

*hirt that had *een too .uch action that day/ So ,hat if a coffee *tain decorated one

brea*tdarling2 and >*,eetie2/

7#2ll kee$ a *har$ eye out for Mr/ Carter/8Ca*ey ,atched hi. relea*e the interco. button and lo,er hi.*elf to the chair/

74ou2ll ,ait fifteen .inute*0 and then #2ll let you go back/ She2* .eeting ,ith her

officer*/ Sydney *ay* they chat about fun *tuff the la*t fifteen .inute* of the .eeting0 *oyou ,on2t be interru$ting any i.$ortant bu*ine** by that ti.e/8

Ca*ey *aluted and *.iled0 eliciting a genuine laugh/

7# *er(ed one three6year tour in the ar.y/ # got out ,hen # ,a* t,enty6t,o to beco.e

a $rofe**ional ,eight lifter/ "hen # found # couldn2t $urcha*e dre** clothe* that actuallyfit .y lifting body0 # decided to $ur*ue clothing de*ign/ # recently fini*hed .y degree/ #

gue** thi* -ob i* *ort of an intern*hi$/8

7"hat ,a* your -ob in the Ar.y


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their full attention to hi* entrance/ All of the. ,ere *.iling e9ce$t Ale9a0 ,ho ,a* all

but laughing/ #t ,a* i.$o**ible not to be char.ed by the $icture they .ade/ Doubly hard

not to ru*h o(er and ki** Ale9a2* laughing .outh/7Sorry08 he *aid0 ob(iou*ly not .eaning it/ 7A. # interru$ting


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All the ,o.en laughed at her co..ent a* they got u$ to lea(e0 each fer(ently

denying *he ,ould go**i$ about it/

Ca*ey *.iled at the ,o.en but ga(e Ale9a a ,icked look/ 7No0 don2t tell the. to bedi*creet/ # ,ant the. to talk about it/ # need ,itne**e* ,ho can (ouch for .e ,ith

Sted.an/ !e al.o*t thre, .e out of the office ,hen you lied/8

Ale9a laughed and follo,ed the ,o.en to clo*e the door behind the./ She noticedtheir head* ,ere already together a* they ,ent the do,n the hall/ #t had been *o.e ti.e

*ince *he2d generated internal go**i$0 e*$ecially o(er a .an/ #t ,a* kind of fun to ha(e

the attention again/"hen *he looked back0 Ca*ey ,a* *itting co.fortably in a chair0 -u*t ,aiting for her/

De*$ite hi* tendency to try to control e(ery *ituation0 he ,a* al*o turning out to be the

lea*t *elf6ab*orbed0 .o*t $atient .an *he2d e(er kno,n/

E(en though *he ,a* *till $lenty .ad at hi. for calling her a flirt in the derogatory*en*e0 if Ca*ey hadn2t co.e to her0 Ale9a ,ould ha(e gone to hi. ,ithin a day or t,o/ #n

the internal debate Ale9a ke$t ha(ing0 $hy*ical de*ire for Ca*ey ,a* ,inning hand* do,n

o(er her irritation at hi* lack of under*tanding about her character/

Maybe it ,a* nai(e to think Ca*ey .ight e(entually acce$t ,ho *he ,a*0 but it ,a*the ho$e *he clung to0 ,hich .ade her ,onder if at fifty *he had learned a* .uch about

.en a* *he thought *he had/ Maybe Regina ,a* right about her being the ulti.ateo$ti.i*t0 though *he had ne(er thought of her*elf that ,ay/

#n*tead of arguing about their di*agree.ent0 all *he really ,anted ,a* to hug Ca*ey

and *ho, hi. ho, ha$$y *he truly ,a* to *ee hi./ The kno,ledge had her *ighing/Ca*ey had been nothing but $olite in front of her *taff0 grudgingly ,inning her

ad.iration again/ Da.n the .an for .aking her feel *o conflicted/

Ale9a *ighed and ,alked the *hort di*tance to ,here Ca*ey *at/

7@ot roo. in your la$ for .e


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button* on the light $ink *hirt *he ,ore/ 7So are you e(er going to *lee$ ,ith .e0 Ale9a

dating a cougar book 1 of the never too late series

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