While dropping her soldier son off at the airport Stella meets one of his old school friends. He's also a soldier and about to leave for combat. He is charming and she decides to give him a patriotic sendoff and something to come home for. Two of his buddies are in town and she invites them to join them too, making the lusty fun even wilder. 

How does a cougar mom follow that?

~~~~~ PG Excerpt ~~~~~

"I'll be fine, mom," Bud said. She wrinkled her nose but managed to smile before she looked over at him. 

Of course, he would say that. He was in the Army now, needing to assert that he was a man, make his mother realize he was all grown up. And he was already bigger than his father  over six feet tall and proud of the muscles that he'd developed in boot camp. He'd become a reasonably handsome young man. 

She sighed. All the kids he grew up with were adults now. That fact, when it slapped her in the face, still gave Stella a bit of a shock. Kids who had been skinning their knees falling off trikes and playing football yesterday were suddenly going off to other countries  some to war zones. Most of Bud's friends were in the Army too.

She stopped the car in front of the departure zone. Bud hopped out, eagerly, grabbed his duffle bag, and then kissed her cheek. "I'll be fine," he said again. She smiled, then she watched him, walking proud, as he disappeared through the security checkpoint.

When he was gone, Stella felt an overwhelming loneliness. It had come on when Bud went to boot camp, but she'd known then that it was only for a few weeks. Now he was going off to Iceland, for Pete's sake  for two years. She'd never heard of anyone going there before. It had something to do with cryptography  Bud was a technician, in electronics.

She shook her head, trying to clear it. The problem was that the lonely feeling lived in the pit of her stomach, not her head.

With nothing left to see, she got back in her car. She'd go back to the lonely hotel room for the night. She'd driven down for Bud's graduation from specialty school and to see him off. Tomorrow she'd drive back to the lonely house she shared with his father  the big deal guy who couldn't get away to see his son. Of course, that man, as she thought of him these days, couldn't get away for anything unrelated to business, especially family.

As she walked out of the automatic doors to cross to the parking lot, she saw a familiar face. "Carl Thompson, is that you?"

The young soldier turned around and gave her a startled smile. "Hello Mrs. Roberts, it sure is. It's Corporal Thompson now, though."

She smiled at his desire for her to see him as a soldier, a man. Well, he had certainly developed into one. He had the build of a powerful man. He'd been in school with Bud, but he'd grown up even more. In short, he was hot. "I thought you were in the same unit as Bud. I just saw him off to Iceland."

He shrugged. "I was, but I flunked out of the specialty school. I never had the academic ability Bud has. But I'm big and do well with physical stuff."

She stared at his body and felt a rush. I just bet you do. That this young man turned her on was unsettling. He was Bud's age.